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Torah Portion -
Miketz
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Written by d fine
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In perek 41 pasuk 46 we are informed that ‘Yosef was thirty years of age when he stood before Pharaoh’ (and successfully interpreted Pharaoh’s dream). The Torah is not a storybook; it does not tell us details that are unimportant. So why is Yosef’s age an important thing for us to know? The Sforno writes that the Torah tells us this detail to inform us that Yosef was fitting and significantly mature for this job. The Netziv, however, writes that the key here is the rest of the pasuk. The full pasuk reads ‘and Yosef was thirty years of age when he stood before Pharaoh the king of Egypt. And Yosef went out from Pharaoh’s presence and surveyed the entire land of Egypt.’ The Netziv writes that the pasuk is highlighting the fact that Yosef managed to tour the entire land and weigh up the food-preserving opportunities in each province within his 30th year. He did it all in a year (without a limousine) Thus, we can see the immense zerizus that Yosef had for this project - he made sure that he took his job of ensuring the survival of a country of people seriously (and he probably knew from his dreams that his brothers would come down to him too) and went about it with alarming alacrity.
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Torah Portion -
Miketz
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Written by d fine
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We are told that when Pharaoh asked for Yosef to be taken out of prison to interpret his dreams, they ‘quickly’ brought Yosef out (41:14). Why do we need to know that Yosef was granted his freedom so speedily? The Chofetz Chaim answers with two points. Firstly, it’s important to note that the removal of Yosef from prison was actually the start of the redemption of the Jewish People from Egypt. For Yosef coming out of jail led to his interpreting of Pharaoh’s dream, which in turn guaranteed Yosef’s rise to power - and thus the ultimate safety and separation of the Jewish People in Egypt was sorted even before the brothers came down to Egypt. This is why Rashi (Psachim 108a ‘arba’) writes that the four cups of wine on seder night represent the four cups in the butler’s dream. Why the butler’s dream; what does that have to do with the Exodus? For, as we have said, Yosef’s being freed from prison was the first step in our redemption - which was facilitated by the butler’s dream. For Pharaoh only knew about Yosef’s dream-interpreting skills from this butler who had seen Yosef successfully interpret his dream two years earlier. Based on this, the Chofetz Chaim writes that the reason we are told that Pharaoh’s officers hurried Yosef out of prison, is to teach us that when the time for the redemption comes, HaShem will not delay it by even a second - just as the time of Yosef’s redemption was calculated and precisely on time, so too will our ultimate geulah not be delayed by an instant; bimheirah beyomeinu - literally
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Torah Portion -
Miketz
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Written by Rafi Jager
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This week's Torah portion opens with the recounting of Pharoh's fascinating dream, the first part about the weak cows consuming their strong counterparts and the second about the thin sheaves of corn swallowing the healthy sheaves. The Torah then repeats the whole dream as Pharoh, searching for a satisfactory interpretation, describes his unusual experience to Joseph.
Interestingly, there are several differences in the description of the cows and the sheaves between the first time
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Torah Portion -
Miketz
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Written by Rabbi A Savage
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This week witnesses the most dramatic turnaround possible in the fortunes of Joseph. In a matter of moments he is transformed from forgotten prisoner, destined to spend the rest of his life rotting in jail for a crime he never committed, to the King’s right hand man, and national hero. Included in the tale of this meteoric rise from ‘rags to riches’ is the somewhat glossed over story of Joseph’s marriage. Yet the story behind the identity of Joseph’s wife contains lessons which are fundamental to Jewish philosophy - our understanding of G-d and the way He interacts with the world in which we live. The Torah explains that Joseph, having been appointed prime minister, married
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Torah Portion -
Miketz
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Written by Daniel Sandground
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Parashas Mikeitz
I had a complaint that my Chanukah Dvar Torah didn’t have any jokes in it so I am going to start this week with a joke… man walks into a bar… hurts his head…
This week’s sedra starts with the words ‘It happened at the end of two years [to the day]’ … that Pharaoh had his famous dream. What the Torah is really trying to tell us here is that exactly 2 years after the butler was freed (from last weeks sedra), Yoseph is called to interpret Pharaohs dream. So why 2 years from this event that Yoseph has to wait until he is released from his imprisonment? It is brought down that Yoseph was actually supposed to be freed at the same time as the Butler but these extra 2 years were a punishment for asking the Butler to put in a good word for him after interpreting his dream for him. This lack of faith in Hashem and reliance on a goy to try and free him led to him being punished with this extra time… so why 2 years then?! When Yoseph interprets the Butlers dream last week he informs him that he will be released in 3 days, he the proceeds to almost immediately asks the Butler to mention him to Pharaoh, giving him this whole shpiel about how he is innocent and was kidnapped etc, this appears to be almost desperate behavior by Yoseph. For these 2 days in which Yoseph couldn’t wait to be freed (because it was supposed to be 2 extra days in prison with the 3rd day him being released with the butler), he is punished with 2 extra years! We see this same form of punishment at play with the incident of the spies in Parashas Bamidbar; they are given 40 extra years in the desert for spying the land out for 40 days. This is not to say that we are
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