Vayeshev 1995

One of the main themes of the Torah portion Vayeshev is dreams. It opens by telling us of Joseph's dreams. He had two dreams. In the first dream he said, referring to his brothers and himself, "We were making sheaves in the midst of the fields. We were binding sheaves, and, behold, my sheave got up and she also stood straight and, behold, your sheave surrounded my sheave and they bowed down to my sheave.“ In the second dream he said, "The sun and the moon and the “ stars would bow down to him." In the two dreams at the end of this Torah portion we learn how the butler and the baker had been thrown into prison. The rabbis say that the butler had been thrown into prison because a fly had come into the cup in which he had served the king, and the baker had been sent to prison because a stone had been found in one of the baked goods. The butler had a dream of a vine and the vine had 3 little branches sticking out of it and on these branches there were blooming buds that became ripened grapes and the butler took these grapes and he squeezed them into the cup of Pharaoh and he gave the cup to the hand of Pharaoh. The other dream of the baker was that the baker had 3 baskets upon his head and in the upper baskets were all types of baked goods. The birds were eating from the basket on top of his head. Joseph interpreted the dreams of the butler to be that in 3 days he would be returned to his duties, while in 3 days the baker would be hung.
It is hard to understand why it is that Joseph gave one interpretation, a very favorable one to the butler, and a very bad one to the baker. Perhaps we can understand this issue more clearly if we understand what it is the sin that the baker and the butler did to Pharaoh. We see that the butler handed him a cup of wine that had a fly in it. Now, a fly could come into the cup of wine anytime. It was something which was completely accidental. A fly could fly into the window and just at that moment when he was handing the cup to Pharaoh then the fly could enter into the cup. So we see that it was totally an accident what the butler

did, but the baker, on the other hand, was something which showed gross negligence. How could a stone come into the bread? They had to knead the bread, pour the bread into pans, desiccate the bread afterwards. How could a stone have come into the bread? We see from here that the baker was completely a passive observer of what was going on. After all, the butler and the baker, themselves, really did not prepare the wine or the bread. They were officers who were in charge of these and perhaps many other duties, too, for the king, just like the Lord High Chamberlain today in England I am certain does not make the beds for the king, although that is what Lord High Chamberlain means. What is meant here is that the dreams of the butler and the baker are indicative of what they conceive their role in the world to be. The butler took the grapes and squashed them and made juice out of them and gave them into the hand of Pharaoh, but the baker, on the other hand, did nothing. He just had 3 baskets on his head and on the top basket there was dainty baked goods and the birds were eating them and he did not even shoo the birds away. He was completely passive.
This teaches us that when it comes to dreams we have to actively make our dreams come true. Dreams do not come true unless we actively try to make them come true. Joseph when he had his dreams they were filled with action. He was actually doing things. He was binding sheaves with his brothers. People were bowing down. The dreams, themselves, had an action which was dependent upon human beings. Why, though, did Joseph suffer so much? Because, as we see in this week's Torah portion, there is also another theme and that is the theme of the garment. Joseph was given a coat of many colors by his father. Actually that is based on the Septugen. In Hebrew it just means a coat with sleeves or maybe a striped coat but it does not mean a coat of many colors. We see later on that when Joseph was accosted by his brothers his brothers stripped him of his coat before they threw him into the pit and before they were eventually going to sell him to Egypt.

Later they dipped that coat into goat's blood    and they gave it before their father
and it was their father who pronounced Joseph    dead. The brothers never said that
Joseph was dead. It was his father who said,    "This is the coat of my son. He
is surely torn by wild animals."
Later on we also learn about a coat with Joseph when the mistress of the house tried to seduce him and she grabbed hold of his coat. He at that time, the rabbis explain, was about ready to give into her charms, but then he saw the face of his father and he ran away and she grabbed his coat and she kept it. This probably in a way saved his life because if he would have had her coat in his hand, if her clothes would have been torn it would be clear that he was the aggressor, but since she had his coat it showed that the situation was ambiguous and he was only sent to prison.
We also learn later on, too, about the coat of Judah after his two sons died, being married to the same woman. First one son was married to her, and then in those days you had to give a second son, too, if there were no children and he died, and he reluctant to give her third son to her, and she contrived to pretend she was a prostitute and he came to her and she asked him for a guarantee that he would send payment later on. He gave her his seal and staff and psilim, which the rabbis explain means his coat. We see here that one of the themes of this Torah portion is the coat. In fact, the word for traitor is beged, which also means coat or cloak, and we all know in English cloak and dagger is a sign of a traitor and the reason for it is cloaks hide. You can hide behind your clothes and you can pretend to be something you are not. You can pretend to be someone's best friend when really you are not his friend at all. Of course, we all know that coats are very important because sometimes we have to cloak what our intentions are. It is not always good to say what we feel because sometimes we can hurt

people unnecessarily. We must cloak what we are going to do in civility, and we always have to bridge gaps between people and between people's ideas. That is also what the cloak shows us to do, too. A cloak will hide many things and, as a person knows, if he has a good tailor that that person can look elegant at every occasion. All sorts of protrusions and defects in bodily structure do not show. We all know, too, that if we wear certain clothes at a certain time to honor a certain person we are fulfilling an important function, and if we do not want to honor that person and we still wear the clothes it means that we are at least pro forma honoring the person, but if we come in inappropriate garments then we know that we are insulting the person. So clothes, in a sense, too, also are a way of showing respect and also a way many times of cloaking our deep feelings, but they are essential in human society so we can mask differences of opinion.
We know that Joseph had a failing when he was young. Why did Joseph suffer so much? After all, Joseph was a talented person and Joseph was the one who really believed that he had to make his dreams come true, that he was responsible for his dreams. He was not like the baker who believed that the dreams that he had would come about if he was completely passive and did nothing. Joseph tried to do something. Joseph reported back to his father about his brothers1 doings. Joseph was active in everything. Joseph was a wonderful manager. When he went to Potifar's house he quickly became the head of the household. When he was sent to prison he became, in effect, the head of the prison, so Joseph was a man of practical affairs, a man of energy. He was a man who took responsibility for his dreams. Why was it that he suffered so much? The reason for it was because Joseph did not know how to cloak his dreams. Not only do you have to many times cloak animosity and differences so people can all get along, but you also many times have to cloak your dreams. Joseph was too much of a braggadocio. He was a person who was so absorbed with his dreams he thought everybody else should be absorbed with his

dreams, too, but many times you can hurt people with your dreams. It is cruel
for a person to talk in glowing terms about his many grandchildren in front of
a childless couple. It does no good for an individual to trumpet about how he
got into the best schools in the country while his friend could hardly get into
the University of Houston. It is a lack of sensitivity to try to bring up a huge
financial success to people who can hardly make a living at all. Many times we
have to cloak our achievements with modesty and we have to choose our words carefully
otherwise we evoke hatred. We evoke all those terrible things which befell Joseph.
Joseph had dreams. In the beginning of this Torah portion we learn about the importance
of dreams and at the end we learn about the importance of dreams. We learn how
we have to work hard to make our dreams come true. We also have to learn how to
cloak our dreams. We also have to learn how to talk without insulting people even
unnecessarily, without hurting them unnecessarily, but if a person is only sensitive
to Mmself and not sensitive to the people around him then he can do an awful lot
of damage.
This, of course, is true in many, many areas. Many times people make all sorts of comments. They say the first thing that comes to their mouth. Judaism does not believe that you should let it all hang out, that you should say everything that comes to your mind. You should not because you can hurt people. We say that you should modestly with the Lord, your G-d, and there are certain things you do not talk about if there is not a need to talk about certain things. We have to learn to cloak our dreams and our ambitions in a way that they do not become offensive to other people.
I am reminded of the story they tell about a couple who came to shul and at the kiddush the wife says, "Hey, did you see the spot on the Rabbi's suit?" Her husband said no. She said, "Did you see how the Cantor has a black eye?" He said no. She said, "Did you see Mr. and Mrs. Goldberg quarreling?" He said no. She said,

"Did you see Mr. Fafufnik flirting with Mrs. Smith?“ Her husband said no. She looked at her husband and said, "What good does shul do you?" We have to know that when we deal with each other there are certain things that we may notice but it is not proper and right to bring them up, especially if they are about our own self. If we are so self-indulged in our dreams and in pushing our dreams that we excite the envy and jealousy of others we are doing a very wrong thing.
Today we are honoring a couple who understands well the importance of cloaking your ambition and dreams in such a way that everybody can appreciate them, not to excite envy, not to do it with Loshan Hora, not to do it with gossip, but to do it always with joy of their participation, that they are part of your dreams. They are not subservient to you but they are part and parcel of you. Someone once asked a couple what was the secret of their long married life, and they answered that they always looked at things in a positive light. Whenever anything happened they always looked at it in a positive light. They asked for an example and the man said, "Well, just last week I gave my wife a new car. Two days later she called me up and said the airbags worked." We must always talk in a positive and nice way. In this Torah portion we learn about dreams and the importance of dreams. We learn how we must take responsibility for our dreams if we want them to come to pass in this world, but we also learn that we must learn how to cloak our dreams so they do not hurt other people. We must understand how to be sensitive to other people and their concerns because only with this sensitivity can we really accomplish our dreams because otherwise the envy and hatred that will ensue from our dreams will destroy not only others but also ourselves. Let us all hope that we will always be sensitive in portraying our dreams and pursuing our ambition so the Mashiach will come quickly in our day. Amen.