VaYeshev from Rabbi Jack Farber

Again thanks for your contribution Rabbi Farber

Parashat HaShavua VaYeshev / And He Settled

This Week's Reading List:
BeReshit / Genesis 37:1-40:23
Zekharyah / Zechariah 2:14-4:7
Ma'asei Talmidim / Acts 7:9-16

As I read through this week's Parasha I could not help but remember the words of Martin Luther King when he said, “I have a dream.” Martin Luther had a dream about African Americans finally finding their place in America – ending once and for all the injustice of segregation. When he had this dream black people were still looked down upon, relegated to menial jobs and sitting in the back of buses. If you asked any white person in the south during those turbulent years they would have said Martin Luther was nothing but a dreamer and desegregation would never happen – never! The facts and history, of course, speak for themselves. Desegregation did happen, the world has changed and Martin Luther's dream has come true – Praise G-d!
Now, I do not believe that it was Martin Luther King that in the end made his dream come true. Sure he worked hard at his dream. He had rallies and he held sit-ins, but still it was not from him that the victory came. Martine Luther King had many disappointments and set backs along the way where he through that his dream would not become a reality. Ultimately it took him having to give up his life before his dream was realized. However, Martin Luther King was not the first dreamer.
Bereshit {37:5} Yoseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more. {37:6} He said to them, "Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: {37:7} for, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves came around, and bowed down to my sheaf." {37:8} His brothers said to him, "Will you indeed reign over us? Or will you indeed have dominion over us?" They hated him all the more for his dreams and for his words. {37:9} He dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, "Behold, I have dreamed yet another dream: and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me." {37:10} He told it to his 'av (father) and to his brothers. His 'av rebuked him, and said to him, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Will I and your 'em (mother) and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves down to you to the earth?" {37:11} His brothers envied him; but his 'av kept this saying in mind.
Yoseph had a dream, but no one paid him any mind. His family though that his dreams were ridiculous. They thought that there was no way what he dreamed could possibly come true, but it did. Everything Yoseph dreamed became a reality. Yet I doubt very much that he himself took them very seriously as the events of his life were unfolding. Can you picture what he must have been thinking while at the bottom of a dry pit waiting to die of thirst, after being placed there by his brothers or when he was sold by them to the Midianites as a slave? It was certainly not about his dreams of being the ruler over his family – it was more about surviving! It took defeat before G-d would bring victory in Joseph's life, just like it took defeat for Martin Luther King for G-d's victory to be realized and his dream to become reality.
I know that we all have had dreams, but the reality is that not all dreams are prophetic. In fact the vast majority are not, but that is not what is important. What is important is that we not take our dreams too seriously. Sometimes we do take our dreams far too seriously. We analyze them, study them and dwell on them so that we can try to find out their interpretation and meaning. Remember it was not until it was all over that Yoseph realized what his dreams really meant and he had to go through some very difficult times before it was realized, but he lived to see it. Sadly Martin Luther King never lived to see his dream realized.
What I am trying to say is that whether or not our dreams are truly prophetic HaShem is the one that is in control and He is the one who will fulfill our dreams. Some of us may live to see their fulfillment and some of us may not but at the end of the day it all depends on G-d.
I, for one, do not put a lot of effort into the interpretation of dreams. Like Yoseph, I am just too busy living my life from day to day, trusting in the L-rd to get me through each day, one day at a time. Therefore, I do not have the time to be preoccupied with what I dreamt last year, last month or even last night. Yes, from time to time I share my dreams, but then I just file them away in the recesses of my mind and go about the task of living. G-d in His wisdom and in His time will make my dreams come true -- or not! Baruch HaShem!
Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) {5:7} For in many dreams and in many words there is emptiness. Rather, fear G-d.
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Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Ya'acov Farber