Rabbi Daniel: Thoughts on Torah

Dear friends,

In 5786, we are reading the first triennial each week, which means starting each parsha at the beginning.  The fourth verse of the first aliyah (41:4) is: 

וַתֹּאכַ֣לְנָה הַפָּר֗וֹת רָע֤וֹת הַמַּרְאֶה֙ וְדַקֹּ֣ת הַבָּשָׂ֔ר אֵ֚ת שֶׁ֣בַע הַפָּר֔וֹת יְפֹ֥ת הַמַּרְאֶ֖ה וְהַבְּרִיאֹ֑ת וַיִּיקַ֖ץ פַּרְעֹֽה׃
and the ugly gaunt cows ate up the seven handsome sturdy cows. And Pharaoh awoke.
 
The story of Pharaoh's dreams are well documented, (Pharaoh sings) "Well I was walking along by the edge of the river and seven fat cows came out of the Nile, Uh Huh..." (Joseph and the Amazing Technocolor Dream Coat).  The King has what appears to be two dreams;

 one with lean cows swallowing fat cows and one with scorched ears of corn devouring the seven healthy stalks.  What the readers and the Pharaoh come to learn is that these dreams are two expressions of the same forecast for the future. Seven years of plenty in Egypt followed by seven years of famine.  

Now, I am no dream connoisseur, but it is interesting that Pharaoh has the first half of his dream, then wakes up, and then falls back asleep for the rest of it.  The 13th century French commentator Chizkuni says:

"Pharaoh awoke (at this point) in order to let the message of the dream sink into his consciousness before he would be told of the second half of his dream..." 

The commentary of the Chatam Sofer, 19th century Hungary,  doesn't agree that Pharaoh's awakening had to do with the capacity of his consciousness to internalize a message.  Rather, it was a literary device to show God's role as the source of the dream (since most people would wake up at the end of a dream rather than an "awakening" being sandwiched in like that). This Joseph narrative clearly wants us to see God working behind the scenes, so the later commentary makes a lot of sense.  

May nothing interrupt the dreams we are meant to have and may they be for good. 

Hanukkah Sameach,

Rabbi Daniel