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Share(ט) וַיַּחֲלֹ֥ם עוֹד֙ חֲל֣וֹם אַחֵ֔ר וַיְסַפֵּ֥ר אֹת֖וֹ לְאֶחָ֑יו וַיֹּ֗אמֶר הִנֵּ֨ה חָלַ֤מְתִּֽי חֲלוֹם֙ ע֔וֹד וְהִנֵּ֧ה הַשֶּׁ֣מֶשׁ וְהַיָּרֵ֗חַ וְאַחַ֤ד עָשָׂר֙ כּֽוֹכָבִ֔ים מִֽשְׁתַּחֲוִ֖ים לִֽי׃
(9) And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brethren, and said: ‘Behold, I have dreamed yet a dream: and, behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.’
חלום אף על פי שמקצתו מתקיים כולו אינו מתקיים מנא לן מיוסף דכתיב (בראשית לז, ט) והנה השמש והירח וגו'
A dream, though it be fulfilled in part, is never completely realized. From where is this learned? From Joseph; for it is written, "And behold the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me" (Gen. xxxvii. 9);
Rab Hisda also said : An uninterpreted dream is like an unread letter. Rab Hisda also said: Neither a good nor a bad dream is fulfilled in every detail. Rab Hisda also said: A bad dream is preferable to a good dream. Rab Hisda also said : When a dream is bad, the pain it causes is sufficient [to prevent its fulfilment], and when the dream is good, the joy it brings is sufficient.
(ה אמר רב ביזנא בר זבדא א״ר עוקבא א״ר פנדא אמר רבי נחום א״ר בירים משום זקן אחד ומנו רבי בנאה עשרים וארבעה פותרי חלומות היו בירושלים. פעם אחת חלמתי חלום והלכתי אצל כולם מה שפתר לי זה לא פתר לי זה וכולם נתקיימו בי לקיים מה שנא׳ כל החלומות הולכין אחר הפה אטו כל החלומות הולכין אחר הפה קרא הוא, אין וכדברי אלעזר דאמר רבי אלעזר מנין שכל החלומות הולכין אחר הפה שנאמר (בראשית מא יג) ויהי כאשר פתר לנו כן היה:
( R. Bizna b. Zabda, in the name of R. Akiba, who spoke in the name of R. Panda, who, in turn, spoke in the name of R. Nachum, who quoted R. Birim, said: "A venerable man by the name of R. Bana'ah had told him there were twenty-four places in Jerusalem for the interpretation of dreams ; that once he had a dream and went to each one of these places; each one gave a different interpretation and each was fulfilled." This establishes what is written : "Every dream is in accord with its interpretation." Is this a passage? Yes, as R. Elazar said, for R. Elazar said: "Whence do we learn that every dream is realized according to its interpretation? It is written (Gen. 41, 13.) And just as he interpreted it, so it was."
(א) ויחלום, החלום הזה מבואר הפתרון, כי השמש והירח הם אביו ואמו, ואחד עשר כוכבים הם אחיו שהיו אחד עשר. והחלומות שנכתבים שבאו דרך משל וחידה כמו חלומות יוסף וחלום המשקה והאופה וחלום פרעה וחלום נבוכדנאצר וחלום גדעון בן יואש שהתאמתו לפי הפתרון היה בהם חלק גדול מהנבואה והיו מאת האל לצורך עבדיו:
(1) ויחלום, in this dream the meaning is crystal clear. Sun and moon refer to Joseph’s parents, whereas the stars refer to his brothers, seeing there were 11 stars in the dream and Joseph had eleven brothers. All the dreams the content of which the Torah described are to be understood as posing a riddle, a challenge to translate the symbols described in the respective dreams into the matching reality in the “real” world. This is true not only of Joseph’s dreams, but equally of [other dreams in the Tanach]....All of them became reality in accordance with the manner in which they had been interpreted.
- [There] is a distinction between nightmares and "night terrors." A nightmare is a bad dream. A "night terror" attacks a child physically, bringing on screaming, thrashing, bulging eyes and facial contortions. A night terror might last considerably longer than a nightmare, but, paradoxically, it leaves no memory when the child awakens in the morning.
- A dream, then, is not a single reality, and not least because an instinctive question about dreams is this: Are they real? The answer, mirroring the question, is often yes and no…
- THE TALMUD discusses dreams at length (Berachot 55). One of its distinctions is this: A bad dream is better than a good dream, for a bad dream may arouse one to repent, while even a good dream contains some degree of nonsense… Dreams in the Pentateuch are vehicles of prophecy…
- If by dream we mean a visual experience when asleep, there are only nine dreams in the Pentateuch, and all are in Genesis. Joseph is connected with six of them. He has two of his own (37:7, 9) and interprets two of the chamberlains of Pharaoh (40:9-19) and two of Pharaoh (41:1-36). Dreams and Judaism intersect in Joseph - so do the concepts of inevitability and totalitarianism.
- Through dreams, G-d may enable a person to see a reality in his own life that attains a spiritual existence before a physical existence. A reality is just around the corner, so to speak, and it is revealed by G-d through a dream. This kind of dream -- a vehicle of spiritual awareness -- occurs to many people. G-d occasionally opens a portal to a personal future through a dream.
- [D]reams of prophecy…yield clarity and have occurred only to a limited number of people. An ordinary person's spiritual dream is different from prophecy -- specifically, from Joseph's dreams and his interpretation of others' dreams.
- As messages from G-d to an ordinary person, dreams may not involve any discomfort. As prophecy, however, dreams are "night terrors." Prophecy, in Maimonides' words, occurs only through a "dream, a night vision" or, if at day, through a "deep sleep." Day or night, a prophetic dream is accompanied by "trembling limbs, a weakened body and disrupted thoughts," leaving the mind "free to understand what it sees" (Yesodei ha-Torah 7:2).
- As messages from G-d, dreams may be difficult or impossible to decipher…
- Prophetic visions, such as Jacob's ladder or Jeremiah's staff, are symbolic references to the presence of G-d. They are vehicles of G-d's transmission of His message, especially in its highest, unutterable form. The message is innate in the prophetic symbol, just as a message is innate in a mathematical symbol. One need only know how to read, for example, a plus or minus sign. The same is true of the symbols in Prophets' dreams.
- The Joseph story …[stretches] across 11 chapters and three Torah portions. The story begins with Joseph's dreams. If understood as prophecy, these dreams constitute an exegetical key to much of the narrative. If understood as Divinely revealed symbols with clear meaning, rather than confusing personal messages, these dreams render many of the otherwise baffling twists and turns in the narrative coherent.
- As prophecies, [Josephs] dreams must come true. His brothers must bow before him, all 11 of them. Therefore, when Joseph's brothers first appear before him in Egypt and only 10 bow down (because Benjamin is back in Canaan), the prophecy is unfulfilled. Benjamin must appear and bow, too.
- We reach the key to Joseph's apparent abuse. He must impose a set of conditions, no matter how harsh, that will make the dreams come true. Joseph accuses his brothers of spying because this will keep them from snooping around Egypt and discovering his identity. Joseph imprisons his brothers to intimidate them -- to make certain they will return with Benjamin. To prevent the effects of his intimidation from wearing off when his brothers are back in Canaan, Joseph changes his tactics and takes one brother hostage. Now his brothers have no choice but to return with Benjamin when they need more grain. Then all 11 brothers will bow down to Joseph and fulfill his prophetic dreams.
- JOSEPH IS COMMITTED to inevitability. Because his dreams are prophecy, they must come true. Was Joseph, then, a revolutionary?
- Sir Isaiah Berlin has written how two opposite conclusions flow from the idea of inevitability. The conservative conclusion maintains that historical inevitability is comparable to a river, which is "useless and perilous to resist or deflect, and with which you [can] only merge your identity." The radical conclusion -- Joseph's? -- maintains that although history, like a river, is a rushing force that cannot be controlled, the individual may nonetheless perceive the direction in which history is moving. He may sense "the pangs of [the] new world struggling to be born"; "the crust of the old institutions... about to crack under." His perception may lead him to identify with the inevitable revolutionary flow and therefore to murder anyone who resists, and therefore impedes, the inevitable, glorious future.
- On the ideal of hastening the inevitable triumph of the proletariat, Soviet Communism's Stalin justified the murder of millions of peasants and "counterrevolutionaries"; on the ideal of hastening the inevitable triumph of the master race, Hitler justified the murder of millions of Jews and others. Totalitarians of both the left and the right committed history's worst crimes all because of a beautiful, inevitable future. Was Joseph -- who manipulated his brothers to hasten a prophesied, inevitable future -- also a totalitarian? Did Joseph play with fire? Is prophecy dangerous?
- Joseph differed from totalitarian dictators in two senses. First, Joseph never lost his human qualities. In dealing harshly with his brothers he never resorted to violence; for Joseph there were no irreversible means (murder, permanent imprisonment, permanent exile) that justified the ends. He was harsh, but not irreversibly so. Second, Joseph never brutalized the present for the sake of a future. Joseph's harsh behavior was designed to restore peace to his family in the present; he sacrificed no one for an imagined (and imaginary) future.
- IS PROPHECY DANGEROUS? If so, it is not because Biblical Prophets were totalitarians. Only Joseph intervened to actualize his prophecies and, as we have seen, his harshness did not compromise his essential humanity. Other Prophets did hammer at the social order, but not to hasten or even predict its inevitable disintegration. Prophets railed against injustice to cure it peacefully, not to end it dangerously. Their intent was to stir self-scrutiny, to arouse Israel to remedy injustice. Prophecy was dangerous only when Israel failed to heed Prophets' warnings and G-d, indeed, overturned unjust societies.