Vayeshev 1978

Why did Joseph interpret the dreams of the butler and the baker the way that he did? Why did he say that the butler would be returned to his post while the baker would be hung?  If we look carefully at the dreams themselves we can see why.  What did the butler dream?  He dreamt that he saw a vine with three branches, that he took Pharoah’s cup and pressed into it the grapes that he plucked and that he gave it to Pharoah.  What did the baker dream? He dreamt that he had three baskets of bread on his head and that the birds ate from the basket on head.  The butler did something.  The baker did nothing, he didn't act.  The butler took the grapes, pressed them.  The baker had the bread on his head.  He thought he deserved everything.  The world owed him something.  He didn't have to act, to do.  The butler knew better, he had to act, to do.  In order to have life we must act and do.  We can't just sit back and wait.  That's the way of death.  We also cannot just have intellectual concepts, we must have action.  This is the same message as Chanukah.  On Chanukah we light a candle each night.  We just don't light an eight-day candle.  We must constantly act.  We must constantly rededicate ourselves.  And if we will act to make this world a better place G-d will help us.  We will be ultimately successful.  The Maccabees didn't know whether or not they would be successful but they knew that they wouldn't be for sure if they didn't act. Story about how the Ayatollah found the Shah.  He contacted the Bureau of Missing Persians.