Parshat Mikeitz begins: “It came to pass at the end of [Mikeitz] two full years, that Pharaoh was dreaming, and behold, he was standing by the Nile.”[1] The verse is referring to two years that passed from the time that Joseph interpreted the dreams of the butler and the baker while in jail. Despite Joseph’s request from the butler that he mention to Pharaoh how he was incarcerated falsely, the butler forgot about him. However, when Pharaoh sought an interpretation for his dreams, the butler suddenly remembered how Joseph correctly interpreted his dream and finally mentioned him to Pharaoh.[2]
The key to Joseph’s correct interpretation of the butler and baker’s dreams at the end of parashat Vayeishev, as well as his success with Pharaoh’s dreams in Mikeitz, was his ability to translate the quantities of the physical objects appearing in the dreams into measurements of time. Rashi comments that there were many of Pharaoh’s magi who interpreted his dream, but none to Pharaoh’s satisfaction. They said the seven healthy cows and the seven robust ears of grain signified the number of daughters Pharaoh would give birth to while the seven gaunt cows and the sickly ears of grain symbolized the number of daughters he would bury.[3] Only Joseph realized the intrinsic connection between the space-bound objects in the dreams and time—a connection which Albert Einstein only made at the beginning of the 20th century. Before discussing the specifics of Joseph’s ability to translate the spatial objects in the dreams of the butler, baker, and Pharaoh into spans of time, let us first delve more deeply into the relationship between time, space and soul.
Space, Time, and Soul
The teachings of Kabbalah and Chasidut explain that time is the inner dimension of space, in that the entities within the three physical dimensions of space only “move” or change through time. Sefer Yetzirah discusses five dimensions: three of space (olam), one of time (shana), and one of body/soul or consciousness (nefesh).[4] In the context of Sefer Yetzirah, the dimension of nefesh, at least externally, is associated with different organs in the body. One of the main sources for the correspondence between the Hebrew letters, a major topic of Sefer Yetzirah, and the body can be found in the verse, “From my flesh, I will envision God.”[5] The Chasidic movement revealed a significant innovation based on this verse. Its rebbes interpreted the word translated as “from my flesh” not only literally, but also figuratively, allowing a symbolic correspondence to be drawn between Godliness and human intellect, emotion and instinctual behavior. Thus, the nefesh dimension in Sefer Yetzirah has come to encompass the spiritual symbolism of the body, but even more importantly, the associated concept of soul or consciousness.
Science, which now posits time as well as space as a dimension, still has not acknowledged the soul dimension. Time serves as the intermediary between the dimensions of space and soul, between the physical world and the spiritual worlds. Interestingly, science has recently accepted the critical effect consciousness and observation have on reality. Eventually science will come to understand soul as a dimension as well.
Time functions as an intermediary between the space and soul dimensions because of the insurmountable conceptual distance between God’s infinite light and the finite spiritual and physical worlds. Divine light, i.e., God’s revelation, by its very nature cannot illuminate the physical realm directly. If it were to do so, one of two things would happen: either the physical world would be totally nullified by the tremendous influx of Divine light and cease to exist, or, to prevent this, the light would have to become so diffused and subservient to the lower worlds that creation would lose its Divine purpose for existing. Therefore, God’s light constantly assumes a pulsating rhythm of “run and return.” By doing so, the light can enliven all the worlds but not overwhelm them—dynamically running in and instantaneously retreating out. This dynamic, rhythmic current creates time, as every pulsation is a segment of time. In this way, time—the pulsation of Divine light—becomes the bridge connecting the dimensions of soul or consciousness to the dimensions of space.
This mystical notion fits with the scientific understanding that light is composed of a stream of tiny packets or particles of light called photons. These tiny packets or quanta are the reason that our modern understanding of the physical world is known as “quantum physics.” One of science’s greatest paradoxes is that light (and in fact, all particles) acts as both a particle and a wave. This mystery of light is intrinsically connected to the mystery of time, for the Kabbalistic tradition teaches us that both light and time, which appear to act like waves of a constantly flowing stream, are fundamentally Divine pulsating energy.
An excellent metaphor for understanding the flow of time is to understand how movies were once shown in theaters. Movie reels of individual picture frames moving faster than 23 frames per second projected on the screen were experienced by the brain as continual motion. If something would impede the projector and it slowed down, one could see the individual frames surrounded by black celluloid.[6]
Every morning in our prayers we repeat the statement that God, “in His goodness renews daily, perpetually, the work of creation.” According to Chasidut, the world is recreated literally every moment. So though this would make time similar to the old-time movie reels, with gaps in between the moments, we experience time continuously flowing, not sensing the instantaneous recreation that is occurring. Each moment of time is like an individual movie frame, a state of “being” (yesh) emerging at every moment from the surrounding state of non-being (ayin), again like a movie frame surrounded by the dark, blank space of the celluloid.[7]
The Wisdom of Joseph
With these ideas in mind let us now focus on Joseph and his dream interpretation skills. Joseph was able to recognize the inner essence of time enlivening the symbols in the dreams and interpret them accordingly. When interpreting the dreams of the baker and the butler, he interpreted the number three, which appeared in both their dreams, as days, but not just as days, specifically as the same three days. The butler dreamt of a grapevine with three branches of budding blossoms and clusters of fruit. Pharaoh’s cup was in his hand, and he pressed the grapes into the cup and served Pharaoh. Joseph’s interpretation was that in three days he would be restored to his position. The baker dreamt of three baskets on his head full of a baker’s delicacies, yet from the top basket birds were eating the baked goods. Joseph once again interpreted the number three in the dream as three days; in three days Pharaoh would have him hung and birds would eat his flesh.[8] Both of Joseph’s interpretations were in fact realized: the butler was returned to his post after three days and the baker was hung after the same three days.[9]
In Pharaoh’s dreams, it is the number seven that is repeated. Pharaoh sees two separate dreams, which Joseph explains are symbolic of a single string of events. The repetition, he explained, is because God wants Pharaoh to know the events foretold in his dream would begin immediately. In his first dream, Pharaoh sees seven healthy cows emerge from the Nile and graze until seven ugly, gaunt cows emerge and swallow them. In his second dream, seven healthy ears of grain sprout on one stalk, followed by seven unhealthy ones. The thin ones, scorched by an eastern wind, swallow the healthy ones. This time, Joseph interprets the number in the dreams, seven, as years, not days. More importantly, the years do not overlap as in the case of the baker and the butler’s dreams. Instead, Joseph says they symbolize seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine.[10]
Understanding Numerical Symbolism
The interpretive leap from spatial objects to periods of time demanded that Joseph possess a deep understanding of numerical symbolism. Beginning with the first book of Kabbalah attributed to Abraham (Joseph’s great-grandfather), the number three refers to the three inner, intellectual sefirot of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, while the number seven refers to the seven lower sefirot, associated with emotional and behavioral traits.[11] One of the differences between the intellect and the emotional/habitual realm is that the intellect operates primarily within the individual, inside his or her private realm, while the behavioral characteristics are primarily directed outwards. As a result, the three intellectual faculties are more unified, and the seven emotional/habitual faculties are more differentiated. This is also hinted to in the description of the seven as “doubles.” Joseph thus understood that in the dreams of the butler and baker the number three signified a single span of three days, after which the butler and the baker’s private fates would be determined but in Pharaoh’s dreams, each span of seven years would be separate.[12]
How did Joseph know that the number three signified days while the number seven signified years?[13] The clue to this insight comes from the objects themselves. In Hebrew, objects have gender. Both the baskets and the branches are masculine in Hebrew, which is reflected in the number three: “three (m) branches” (שְׁלֹשָׁה שָׂרִיגִם) and “three (m) baskets” (שְׁלֹשָׁה סַלֵּי חֹרִי). Both the ears of grain and the cows are feminine and once again this is reflected in the number seven: “seven (f) ears of grain” (שֶׁבַע שִׁבֳּלִים) and “seven (f) cows” (שֶׁבַע פָּרוֹת). Incredibly, “day” (יוֹם) in Hebrew is masculine but “year” (שָׁנָה) is feminine. It seems that Joseph simply associated the masculine three with a masculine unit of time—a day—and the feminine seven with a feminine unit of time—a year!
The Hebrew root of the word meaning “year” also means change. Thus, Joseph intuited that the seven lean cows and the unhealthy ears of grain consuming the seven fat cows and the seven healthy ears of grain, signified a process that would occur over a considerable length of time. Joseph’s ability to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams correctly was also due to his awareness of the mystical insight found in the Midrash that kings dream not just about themselves, but about the future of the world.[14]
Creating a Unified Dream Interpretation
One final insight into dream interpretations relates to how Joseph was able to tie together the various symbols in the dreams—time, physical objects, and numerical allusions—to create a unified interpretation. The Hebrew word the Torah uses to describe a dream interpreter in these stories is “poter” (פּוֹתֵר). The same letters arranged differently spell “one who sews” or “one who ties together” (תּוֹפֵר). Joseph was able to take diverse symbols in a dream and rearrange them, sewing them together to create a unified garment or interpretation. When Jacob blesses Joseph at the end of his life, he begins the blessing with “Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall.”[15] The Hebrew word for fruitful is “porat” (פּוֹרָת) containing the same letters as to interpret and to sew!
[1]. Exodus 41:1.
[2]. Ibid 41:9-14.
[3]. See Rashi on Genesis 41:8 based on Bereishit Rabbah 89:1.
[4]. Sefer Yetzirah 3:3.
[5]. Job 19:26.
[6]. The Inner Dimension: Insights into the Weekly Torah Portion, Parshat Balak.
[7]. Ibid.
[8]. Genesis 40:9-19.
[9]. Ibid 40:20-23.
[10]. Genesis 41:25-29.
[11]. In the language of Sefer Yetzirah, there are “ten sefirot, without substance” and they divide into 3 origins and 7 doubles, corresponding to the 3 origin letters in Hebrew and the 7 double letters so-called because there are two ways to pronounce each.
[12]. Yayin Yitzchak, Mikeitz, §2.
[13]. Mivchar Shiurei Hitbonenut vol. 15, pp. 90-91.
[14]. Bereishit Rabbah 89:4.
[15]. Genesis 49:22.
