Rabbi's Blog

A few of years ago, I wrote about my Rebbi’s theory regarding ‘multiplying hangers’. It’s a well-known but as-yet unproven theory that hangars reproduce, multiplying quickly in our closets. This theory of reproduction also entails the phenomenon that they produce multiple kinds of hangars, morphing from metal to plastic to wood and anything in between. Now, after many years I have come to realize that there is something else in the household that seems to diminish overtime without anyone noticing until it becomes a significant loss. This loss has occurred in my house over the years, but I was starkly reminded of how it probably occurs due to a recent incident related to me by my daughter.

One Motzai Shabbos my daughter finished washing her dishes and sorted out the silverware to place back in the drawer. After meticulously cleaning, drying and putting away the silverware, she couldn’t believe that she only had one soup spoon left from the set of eight! She could not believe it! What happened to all the soup spoons? She and her husband quickly went to the garbage can and realized that my son-in-law had already thrown out the trash. He quickly went out to the communal trash bin where luckily (or perhaps mazal?) their easy-to-spot white trash bags were peacefully lying. (The rest of the building uses the dark colored trash bags.) Lo and behold, as they sifted through the chicken bones and dirty paper plates, they recovered seven soup spoons that had been accidentally thrown out by some of the well-intended guests. My sister, who should live and be well, never throws out her trash after Shabbos until all her silverware is present and accounted for. The silver lining of the story is that because so many spoons went missing at the same time it was obvious that they may have inadvertently been thrown out. In my house, however, we have five partial sets of silverware due to the slow but sure attrition of losing one here and one there slowly but surely going off, alone and unnoticed, to silverware heaven.

Certain things in life increase while others decrease without our paying attention to them. I think it would be a fair observation that we are focused more on the loss of things rather than the gain. We can always use another hangar or two, and if we have too many we just recycle them. Silverware, on the other hand, tends to become a little embarrassing when we slowly realize that we don’t have enough for the number of place settings at the table. The notion of recognizing the loss more than the gain is apparent in this week’s parsha and is also connected to Chanukah.

This week’s Parsha Mikeitz opens with the two sets of Pharoah’s dreams. In Bereishis 41:2-8 Pharoah has two dreams: one with the seven healthy fat cows followed by seven skinny cows devouring the fat ones, and the other which displayed seven fat, good ears of grain growing on a single stalk when suddenly another seven ears of grain grew behind them and swallowed up the seven fat, full ears of grain. Pharoah didn’t wake up when dreaming pleasantly about the abundance of cows and grain; he awoke when dreaming of the consumption of the good by the bad. The Baal Haturim says when the bad stalks are mentioned, it is not written as it is with the good stalks. “V’Hinei Sheva Shibalim Dakos Ushdufos Kadim” “And behold seven ears, thin and blasted with the east wind…” The seven ears of corn were growing on one stalk. The good years were all equally good, and therefore it wasn’t as apparent that it was so good. In contrast, the bad years were not equal. Each year was worse than the preceding one.

In Bereishis 41:8 the Torah states: Vayisaper Pharoah Lahem Es Chalomo, V’Ein Poseir Osam L’Pharoah”. “And Pharoah told them his dream, but there was no one who could interpret them for Pharoah”. The verse is clear: he was not satisfied with his astrologers’ interpretations. The Midrash in Breishis Raba 89 retells the interpretations of both dreams, intertwined as one. The first dream - seven fat cows - represented seven daughters being born to him and the eating of them would be burying the daughters. The second dream was interpreted as Pharoah as conquering seven nations and the other part depicted those same nations rebelling against him. Many commentators ask what was it about those interpretations that Pharoah didn’t like?

The Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh explains the term ‘Pharah’ was not the king’s actual name; it was the title for the king of Egypt. All the kings of Egypt were Pharoahs, and despite the fact he was not Jewish, the king was on a higher level than ordinary citizens, and so his thoughts were loftier as well. The interpretations his magicians gave were of a more personal nature and a bit ordinary and therefore Pharoah did not accept them. Yosef, on the other hand, interpreted his dreams to mean that there would be a famine in the land of Egypt and throughout his kingdom. Seven good years and seven bad years was something he related to as a king of the entire nation; it was not about him personally. The reason is a king is to his nation likens to the heart of a person – the heart gives life to all the other limbs. It was at that point when he awoke from the dream. An additional comment found the Gemaa Brachos 55 mentions that Pharoah woke up at that moment since he knew that the dream would come true. The Gemara states there are three dreams that come true: one of them is dreams of the morning. The passuk mentions that it was the morning. A spirit filled Pharoah because he realized that this was a dream which would come true for both the good and the bad.

Pharoah did not wake up when he saw the good - the blessing of abundance that would be a part of his country. He woke up only when seeing the downside - famine. He didn’t focus on how many hangars he was blessed with, but rather was astounded and shocked to have lost so much silverware. There are many lessons to take away from this story and Yosef’s interpretation. As we continue towards the end of Chanukah, we light an additional candle each night, following the opinion of Beis Hillel. Beis Shammai says we start with eight and go down to one, taking away one candle each night. Chanukah is a time to grow and expand the level of Torah commitment to mitzvos and learning. We need to grow and increase, building upon the previous accomplishments, taking care not to lose that which we’ve gained so far. Let us focus on the positive, on the potential growth within each of us and our families. Chas V’Shalom we shouldn’t wake up suddenly one day realizing how much silverware and how much of our spiritual life was thrown out inadvertently. Let us count the blessings as they come and do whatever is necessary to maintain the blessings to light up our physical and spiritual lives.

Ah Gut Shabbos & Ah Lichtiga Chanukah

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky