Miketz
How does a transformation occur?
Reflection by Galit Toledano, Executive Director of Or HaLev:
"`Teach to the youth according to his own way, and as an old man he will not depart from it` (Proverbs 22:6).
The 19th Century commentator, the Malbim, interprets the verse to mean that each person has natural penchants for certain capabilities and interests, and if we teach youth in accordance with those aspects of who they are, and not in ways that ask them to go against themselves, that they will never depart from those teachings.
The story of Joseph the dreamer supports this assertion. Joseph had dreams from his youth. These dreams and their interpretations led his brother to throw him into a pit, sell him as a slave, and put him through hardships and suffering, but they are the same dreams that brought him out of the pit and turned him from a slave to a central advisor to the king. The parsha opens with the verse. `And it came to pass, at the end of two years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing upon the Nile` (Genesis 41:1). Two years after Joseph solved the dreams of Pharoh’s cup bearer and baker, Pharaoh dreams two dreams, and his lack of ability to interpret them troubles his mind. The midrash says that he began to execute one adviser after another who failed to interpret them, and only then did the Minister of Agriculture turn to him and tell him about the Hebrew slave - the solver of dreams, Joseph.
Pharaoh sends to fetch Joseph. Joseph solves his dreams and discovers that seven years of plenty are followed by seven years of severe famine. He also suggests to Pharaoh to appoint a wise man to save Egypt from destruction. Following this, Pharaoh appointed Joseph to be his second in command. Joseph became ruler over all of Egypt, amasses a great fortune, and marries Asnat, who bears him Ephraim and Manasseh.
The chapter opens with the word `mikeitz,` according to Ibn-Ezra, can mean not only an end but also a beginning. According to this interpretation, ‘the end of two years’ can also be interpreted as the beginning of two years. That is, at the beginning of the two years, Pharaoh dreamed his dream, then two years passed, and then came the seven years, etc. For Joseph, the end was also the end of his slavery, after which he became a great ruler. How does this dramatic change happen? How does such a transformation occur?
It can be found in the power of Joseph’s combination of faith and action.
Despite the freedom that was again and again stripped from him, he stayed true to what he knew, making the best of each situation. This combination ultimately brought him from a Hebrew slave to the most senior advisor to Pharaoh, which in term saved his family and the entire region from the famine.
When we practice, we practice this balance of faith and action. With diligence, we bring ourselves back to practice again and again, trusting that there is something greater that will hold us. We let go and let God. “
In memory of Avraham Toledano, who passed away on the 2nd of Tevet, 5666.