LONG - SIGHTED

Dear Family,

Hope everyone is well.

Mazal Tov to Shmuel Levy on your upcoming birthday. You should have a Good Year Shmuel.

Mazal Tov to Chanie who also has her birthday next week. Wishing you also a Good Year.

This week (Vayigash) and last week's Sedra has been the story of Yosef, his dream interpretations, rise to power in Egypt and the drama with his brothers etc

I saw a very interesting essay from Rabbi Jacobson discussing Yosefs interpretation of Paroh's dream and his rise to power after his imprisonment.

On the outside, Yosefs interpretation of the dream looks very simple ie 7 fat cows represent 7 years of plenty and 7 thin cows represent 7 lean years etc.

Therefore our Rabbanim struggle with 3 major questions regarding this.

1. Why was Paroh so impressed with Yosefs simple interpretation, and why could none of Paroh's wise men come up with the same interpretation?
2. Yosef had been taken out of prison to come and interpret Paroh's dream, and he was young (I think in his 20's). How could he, standing in front of the King, have the chutzpah to start advising Paroh about storing food in the years of plenty, so that they would have food in the lean years?! Yosef could have been executed for this!
3. And what is so amazing about this advice? One does not have to be a genius to understand that if you are going to have 7 full years followed by 7 lean years, that you should take action in those 7 good years to prepare!

In a Channuka sicha in 1973 The Rebbe explains this as follows:

Paroh's wise men wanted to interpret the dream as Yosef did, but they could not understand why the fat cows and lean cows appeared in his dream at the same time. Ie how could plenty and famine co-exist at the same time? They were therefore compelled to search for other farfetched solutions.

And this therefore was the brilliance of Yosef's interpretation.

He saw that this one important smal detail as needing interpretation.

And therefore his telling Paroh what to do was not advice, but was part of the interpretation of his dream!

And Paroh straight away understood this brilliance, andsaw that his dream was not only predicting a future event, but it was also offering him instruction on how to deal with the problem.

This impressed Paroh so deeply that he straight away appointed Yosef to be second in command of Egypt.

Now all these events in Torah don't just come to tell us a story, they also detail the timeless trends running through each individual's being, and for instruction

We all experience cycles of plenty and cycles of famine in our own lives.

When things are going well with us, we are often smug and feel independent of others ie we may fail to invest time and energy to cultivate genuine emotional intimacy with ones wife or husband, to develop real relationships with friends, and to create a sincere bond with Hashem.

And if, chas veshalom, a time of famine arrives, we suddenly see the need to reach out and connect with our loved ones and Hashem.

But will we have the tools to manage the crisis well?

THIS IS THE ESSENCE OF YOSEF'S WISDOM: ONE MUST NEVER DETACH THE YEARS OF PLENTY FROM THE YEARS OF FAMINE.

WHEN ONE EXPERIENCES PLENTY, DO NOT LET IT BLIND OUR VISION FROM WHAT IS TRULY IMPORTANT IN LIFE. CHECK OUT OUR PRIORITIES IN THE TIMES OF PLENTY, AND TAKE ACTION NOW.

Gut Shabbos to all.