Parashat Mikeitz famously begins with Pharaoh’s two dreams—dreams neither he nor his wise men could interpret satisfactorily. This signals the greatest comeback of all history, with Joseph—the lowly Hebrew slave boy, sold by his own brothers, who had just spent 12 years in prison—being rushed to hear the dreams and solve them for Pharaoh, a triumph that thrusts him into the limelight of ancient politics and lands him the position of viceroy of all of Egypt.
Dreams are a perennial topic in human thought especially in our speculation about the workings of our psyche. In the Talmud, the ninth and last chapter of the tractate Berachot—the Mishnah and Talmud’s first tractate—is predominantly dedicated to dreams, their meaning, their interpretation, and some of the laws surrounding them. In modern times, it was Freud’s 1899 work, The Interpretation of Dreams, that was very much responsible for catapulting him and psychoanalysis into the famous theory it is today.
We are all fascinated by our dreams. And rightly so. They seem to be a parallel world that we enter at night (or sometimes in the day; Kabbalists note that the dreams one has during Shabbat afternoon are some of the most vivid and powerful)—a world that seems to mix the remains of the day with the residue of our past experiences in life and then sprinkles the fantastic on it all for seasoning. So many times, we feel that dreams are harbingers of future events. Other times, they feel like they are trying to make us aware of our own sequestered feelings.
It is important to realize that before Moses, most of (if not all) the dialogue between God and man took place during the night, while in a dream state, or something very close to it.[1] The sages captured this in several well-known sayings, of which the most powerful one is, “a dream is one-sixtieth of a prophecy.”[2] Every dream has a sprinkling of prophecy in it.
Dreams in the Torah
In all, the Torah recounts 10 dreams:
- Avimelech’s dream to return Sarah to Abraham (Genesis 20:3-7)
- Jacob’s dream of the ladder (Ibid. 28:12)
- Jacob’s dream of the flocks (Ibid. 31:10-13)
- Laban’s dream not to harm Jacob (Ibid. 31:24)
- Joseph’s dream of the sheaves (Ibid. 37:5-7)
- Joseph’s dream of the sun, moon, and 11 stars (Ibid. 37:9)
- The dream of Pharaoh’s cupbearer (Ibid. 28:12)
- The dream of Pharaoh’s baker (Ibid. 28:12)
- Pharaoh’s dream of the cows (Ibid. 28:12)
- Pharaoh’s dream of the grain (Ibid. 28:12)
It would make logical sense to simply correspond them in order with the ten sefirot. There is another reason for following this logic. Apart from the first dream, Avimelech’s dream, in most years, we read the Torah’s account of all the dreams during the month of Kislev. The special sense of Kislev is the sense of sleep,[3] which is understood by most commentaries as referring to the sense of dreaming. The connection between Kislev and dreams is also reflected in in the High Priest’s breastplate, which has 12 gems. Each of the 12 gems corresponds to one of the tribes and to one of the months of the year. The tribe that corresponds to Kislev is Benjamin and this tribe’s gem is Achlamah[4] (usually identified with amethyst), which literally means, “I will dream.”[5]
Following this logic, Pharaoh’s two dreams described at the beginning of Mikeitz would correspond to foundation (yesod) and kingdom (malchut). To better understand this correspondence, we need to get into some Kabbalistic symbolism.
Pharaoh’s two dreams are not independent; rather, “Pharaoh’s dream is one.”[6] This alludes to the unification of the foundation and kingdom referred to as the “Chamber of the Sapphire Brick” (הֵיכַל לִבְנַת הַסַּפִּיר), the first and lowest of the seven chambers described in the Zohar[7] used to describe the sefirot relative to the level of prophecy they afford.
In his dreams, Pharaoh was standing by the Nile, which also hints at the unification of foundation and kingdom since the Nile symbolizes the “River of Peace” (נְהַר שָׁלוֹם), the channel of influence between the two sefirot (with Pharaoh standing by the Nile to receive from it). Moreover, the numerical value of the four words, “Behold, he was standing by the Nile” (וְהִנֵּה עֹמֵד עַל הַיְאֹר) is the same as “kingdom” (מַלְכוּת).
Regarding the content of the dreams themselves: the first dream, about the cows, corresponds to Joseph, who is described as “the firstborn of his ox, grandeur is his.”[8] The second dream was about sheaves growing from the earth—the earth itself corresponds with kingdom. As long as the sheaves are rooted in the ground, they are legally considered part of the earth.
Continuing with this logic, we note that the first dream described in the Torah was dreamt by Avimelech,[9] a king of the Philistines. Being the first it would correspond to the first sefirah, crown (keter), and thus, the first and last dreams were both dreamt by kings, as one might expect.
Another principle that the logic of organizing the dreams in their chronological order fits is that of “first darkness, then light”[10] (בְרֵישָׁא חֲשׁוֹכָא וַהֲדַר נְהוֹרָא) or in one of its other variations, “chaos precedes order” (תֹּהוּ קוֹדֵם לְתִקּוּן). We find hundreds and even thousands of phenomena that when they first appear in the Torah do so in a non-rectified, or chaotic context, but then later appear a second or third time in a rectified context. Thus, the first dream is dreamt by Avimelech, the king of the Philistines who obviously is unrectified and the next dreams are dreamt by Jacob and Joseph. The dreams of Laban, the cupbearer, the baker, and Pharaoh are all in the service of Jacob and Joseph.
Organizing the Dreamers by the Dreamer
Though corresponding the dreams to the sefirot in order of their appearance in the Torah is possible, we will opt for a different methodology: we are going to organize the dreams according to the person who has them. After all, the subject of the dream seems to be more central than its chronological order in the Torah.
|
crown-keter כֶּתֶר Pharaoh (cows)
|
||
| wisdom-chochmah חָכְמָה
Jacob (ladder) |
understanding-binah בִּינָה
Joseph (sun, moon, stars) |
|
| loving-kindness-chessed חֶסֶד
Laban |
might-gevurah גְּבוּרָה Avimelech |
|
|
beauty-tiferet תִּפְאֶרֶת Jacob (flocks)
|
||
| victory-netzach נֶצַח
Pharaoh’s cupbearer
|
splendor-hod הוֹד Pharaoh’s baker |
|
|
foundation-yesod יְסוֹד Joseph (sheaves)
|
||
|
kingdom-malchut מַלְכוּת Pharaoh (grain) |
||
Let’s explain the logic of this correspondence. We start off with Pharaoh. He is obviously a king and so his two dreams correspond to kingdom and crown, which is called the crown of kingdom; at times these two sefirot are referred to as the supernal crown (כֶּתֶר עֶלְיוֹן) and the mundane crown (כֶּתֶר תַּחְתּוֹן). Avimelech is also a king, and his correspondence with might follows the maxim, “kingdom is constructed from might” (בִּנְיַן הַמַּלְכוּת מִן הַגְּבוּרוֹת). In addition, in his dream, God frightens him, and he is full of fear, the inner experience of might, causing God to comfort him by telling him that it is known that he did unwittingly took Sarah.
Jacob’s association with beauty (tiferet) is well-known as established, as is Joseph’s with foundation (yesod). Jacob is also associated with the foundation of wisdom (יְסוֹד אַבָּא). The relationship between wisdom and beauty is referred to by the phrase, “What is his name, and what is the name of his son,”[11] where “his name” refers to wisdom and “his son” refers to the sefirah of beauty (tiferet).[12] The word “what” is the filling of God’s essential Name, Havayah that equals 45, the value of “what” (מָה). Thus, Jacob’s dream of the flocks represents the spreading out of his essence through his offspring (symbolized by the flocks) and the ladder symbolizes his yearning to ascend to heaven to connect with the Divine and draw it down into his offspring.
Joseph’s second dream corresponds to understanding, following the association of a river’s greatness known as “the width of the river” (רְחוֹבוֹת הַנָּהָר) with the sefirah of understanding.[13] Among the kings of Edom, which we read about in parashat Vayishlach, the sixth king is Saul of Rehoboth on the River (שָׁאוּל מֵרְחֹבוֹת הַנָּהָר), whose origin is literally, “the width of the river,” corresponds to the sefirah of foundation, Joseph’s archetypal association.
Laban in the supernal role of his soul is all loving-kindness (chesed). In that capacity, he is known as “the supernal whiteness” (לֹבֶן הָעֶלְיוֹן). It seems that his dream caused him to reconnect with his supernal soul, so much so that on his departure, “Laban rose early in the morning and kissed his sons and daughters and blessed them.”[14]
Pharaoh’s cupbearer was victorious, connecting him with victory (netzach), while the baker lost his life, following the verse associated with splendor’s (hod) tendency to falter, “My splendor has turned against me”[15] (וְהוֹדִי נֶהְפַּךְ עָלַי לְמַשְׁחִית).
Since we have focused on the names of the dreamers, let us conclude with a point that will strengthen this choice. If we write out their names in Hebrew, we find that they have exactly 49 letters,[16] or 7 squared letters, which we can also write out in the form of a 7 by 7 square, as follows:
אבימלךי
עקביעקב
לבןיוסף
יוסףשרה
משקיםשר
האופיםפ
רעהפרעה
Whenever elements placed together sum to a square number or have some other relationship with a square number, this is a sign of their strong relationship, as seen also through the partzuf constructed.
Note that the value of the letters in this square’s corners spell the word for “awe” (יֵרָאֶה), or “sight” (רְאָיָה).
(based on a class given on the 24th of Sivan, 5754 in Shechem)
[1]. As Maimonides (Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 7:2) writes,
There are a number of levels among the prophets…. They all, however, share certain commonalities. They receive prophetic visions only in a visionary dream or during the day after slumber has overtaken them, as (Numbers 12:6) states: “I make Myself known to him in a vision. I speak to him in a dream.” All this apart from Moses, who is the master of all the prophets and who, “would prophesy while standing awake” (Ibid. 7:6)
[2]. Berachot 57b.
[3]. Sefer Yetzirah 5:1, which is elucidated in the Arizal’s summary of Sefer Yetzirah titled Kelil Tochnit.
[4]. Exodus 28:19.
[5]. Ibn Ezra (extended commentary) on Ibid. Radak, Sefer HaShorashim, s.v. חלם.
[6]. Genesis 41:25.
[7]. See in length in Pardes Rimonim 24:1 and ff.
[8]. Deuteronomy 33:17.
[9]. Genesis 20:3.
[10]. Shabbat 77b. See also the article on the Kings of Edom in Wonders, issue 129.
[11]. Proverbs 30:4.
[12]. Zohar 2:79b. In short, these two meanings of the מה, refer first to the relationship captures the statement that “Moses is the interior and Jacob the exterior.” Moses’ attribute is self-nullification (בִּטּוּל) stated when he says, “And we are naught” (וְנַחְנוּ מַה), i.e., that the word that can be translated as “what” (מָה) also means “nothing.” Self-nullification is the inner experience of the sefirah of wisdom. Second, when the four central “fillings” of Havayah are denoted by their values: עב סג מה בן, and correspond, in order, to wisdom, understanding, beauty, and kingdom. Thus, the filling that equals מה (45) corresponds to beauty. Many different explanations have been given for this relationship in Chasidic teachings. Often it represents the yearning that we have to understand not just the Torah in its revealed aspects (halachic), represented by the sefirah of beauty (tiferet), but also the manner in which these aspects reflect our connection (through our service of) our Father, the mind of God, as it were, represented by wisdom.
[13]. Explained in length in the Mittler Rebbe’s Sha’ar HaYichud; see particularly Reb Hillel of Paritch’s commentary.
[14]. Genesis 32:1. See Alter Rebbe’s Likkutei Torah on Shir HaShirim 11a.
[15]. Daniel 10:8.
[16]. We write “minister of bakers” (שַׂר הָאוֹפִים), in its full form, as it appears in Genesis 40:2.
Partzuf
The Torah’s Ten Dreams
Parashat Mikeitz famously begins with Pharaoh’s two dreams—dreams neither he nor his wise men could interpret satisfactorily. This signals the greatest comeback of all history, with Joseph—the lowly Hebrew slave boy, sold by his own brothers, who had just spent 12 years in prison—being rushed to hear the dreams and solve them for Pharaoh, a triumph that thrusts him into the limelight of ancient politics and lands him the position of viceroy of all of Egypt.
Dreams are a perennial topic in human thought especially in our speculation about the workings of our psyche. In the Talmud, the ninth and last chapter of the tractate Berachot—the Mishnah and Talmud’s first tractate—is predominantly dedicated to dreams, their meaning, their interpretation, and some of the laws surrounding them. In modern times, it was Freud’s 1899 work, The Interpretation of Dreams, that was very much responsible for catapulting him and psychoanalysis into the famous theory it is today.
We are all fascinated by our dreams. And rightly so. They seem to be a parallel world that we enter at night (or sometimes in the day; Kabbalists note that the dreams one has during Shabbat afternoon are some of the most vivid and powerful)—a world that seems to mix the remains of the day with the residue of our past experiences in life and then sprinkles the fantastic on it all for seasoning. So many times, we feel that dreams are harbingers of future events. Other times, they feel like they are trying to make us aware of our own sequestered feelings.
It is important to realize that before Moses, most of (if not all) the dialogue between God and man took place during the night, while in a dream state, or something very close to it.[1] The sages captured this in several well-known sayings, of which the most powerful one is, “a dream is one-sixtieth of a prophecy.”[2] Every dream has a sprinkling of prophecy in it.
Dreams in the Torah
In all, the Torah recounts 10 dreams:
- Avimelech’s dream to return Sarah to Abraham (Genesis 20:3-7)
- Jacob’s dream of the ladder (Ibid. 28:12)
- Jacob’s dream of the flocks (Ibid. 31:10-13)
- Laban’s dream not to harm Jacob (Ibid. 31:24)
- Joseph’s dream of the sheaves (Ibid. 37:5-7)
- Joseph’s dream of the sun, moon, and 11 stars (Ibid. 37:9)
- The dream of Pharaoh’s cupbearer (Ibid. 28:12)
- The dream of Pharaoh’s baker (Ibid. 28:12)
- Pharaoh’s dream of the cows (Ibid. 28:12)
- Pharaoh’s dream of the grain (Ibid. 28:12)
It would make logical sense to simply correspond them in order with the ten sefirot. There is another reason for following this logic. Apart from the first dream, Avimelech’s dream, in most years, we read the Torah’s account of all the dreams during the month of Kislev. The special sense of Kislev is the sense of sleep,[3] which is understood by most commentaries as referring to the sense of dreaming. The connection between Kislev and dreams is also reflected in in the High Priest’s breastplate, which has 12 gems. Each of the 12 gems corresponds to one of the tribes and to one of the months of the year. The tribe that corresponds to Kislev is Benjamin and this tribe’s gem is Achlamah[4] (usually identified with amethyst), which literally means, “I will dream.”[5]
Following this logic, Pharaoh’s two dreams described at the beginning of Mikeitz would correspond to foundation (yesod) and kingdom (malchut). To better understand this correspondence, we need to get into some Kabbalistic symbolism.
Pharaoh’s two dreams are not independent; rather, “Pharaoh’s dream is one.”[6] This alludes to the unification of the foundation and kingdom referred to as the “Chamber of the Sapphire Brick” (הֵיכַל לִבְנַת הַסַּפִּיר), the first and lowest of the seven chambers described in the Zohar[7] used to describe the sefirot relative to the level of prophecy they afford.
In his dreams, Pharaoh was standing by the Nile, which also hints at the unification of foundation and kingdom since the Nile symbolizes the “River of Peace” (נְהַר שָׁלוֹם), the channel of influence between the two sefirot (with Pharaoh standing by the Nile to receive from it). Moreover, the numerical value of the four words, “Behold, he was standing by the Nile” (וְהִנֵּה עֹמֵד עַל הַיְאֹר) is the same as “kingdom” (מַלְכוּת).
Regarding the content of the dreams themselves: the first dream, about the cows, corresponds to Joseph, who is described as “the firstborn of his ox, grandeur is his.”[8] The second dream was about sheaves growing from the earth—the earth itself corresponds with kingdom. As long as the sheaves are rooted in the ground, they are legally considered part of the earth.
Continuing with this logic, we note that the first dream described in the Torah was dreamt by Avimelech,[9] a king of the Philistines. Being the first it would correspond to the first sefirah, crown (keter), and thus, the first and last dreams were both dreamt by kings, as one might expect.
Another principle that the logic of organizing the dreams in their chronological order fits is that of “first darkness, then light”[10] (בְרֵישָׁא חֲשׁוֹכָא וַהֲדַר נְהוֹרָא) or in one of its other variations, “chaos precedes order” (תֹּהוּ קוֹדֵם לְתִקּוּן). We find hundreds and even thousands of phenomena that when they first appear in the Torah do so in a non-rectified, or chaotic context, but then later appear a second or third time in a rectified context. Thus, the first dream is dreamt by Avimelech, the king of the Philistines who obviously is unrectified and the next dreams are dreamt by Jacob and Joseph. The dreams of Laban, the cupbearer, the baker, and Pharaoh are all in the service of Jacob and Joseph.
Organizing the Dreamers by the Dreamer
Though corresponding the dreams to the sefirot in order of their appearance in the Torah is possible, we will opt for a different methodology: we are going to organize the dreams according to the person who has them. After all, the subject of the dream seems to be more central than its chronological order in the Torah.
| crown-keter כֶּתֶר
Pharaoh (cows)
|
||
| wisdom-chochmah חָכְמָה
Jacob (ladder) |
understanding-binah בִּינָה
Joseph (sun, moon, stars) |
|
| loving-kindness-chessed חֶסֶד
Laban |
might-gevurah גְּבוּרָה
Avimelech |
|
| beauty-tiferet תִּפְאֶרֶת
Jacob (flocks)
|
||
| victory-netzach נֶצַח
Pharaoh’s cupbearer
|
splendor-hod הוֹד
Pharaoh’s baker |
|
| foundation-yesod יְסוֹד
Joseph (sheaves)
|
||
| kingdom-malchut מַלְכוּת
Pharaoh (grain) |
||
Let’s explain the logic of this correspondence. We start off with Pharaoh. He is obviously a king and so his two dreams correspond to kingdom and crown, which is called the crown of kingdom; at times these two sefirot are referred to as the supernal crown (כֶּתֶר עֶלְיוֹן) and the mundane crown (כֶּתֶר תַּחְתּוֹן). Avimelech is also a king, and his correspondence with might follows the maxim, “kingdom is constructed from might” (בִּנְיַן הַמַּלְכוּת מִן הַגְּבוּרוֹת). In addition, in his dream, God frightens him, and he is full of fear, the inner experience of might, causing God to comfort him by telling him that it is known that he did unwittingly took Sarah.
Jacob’s association with beauty (tiferet) is well-known as established, as is Joseph’s with foundation (yesod). Jacob is also associated with the foundation of wisdom (יְסוֹד אַבָּא). The relationship between wisdom and beauty is referred to by the phrase, “What is his name, and what is the name of his son,”[11] where “his name” refers to wisdom and “his son” refers to the sefirah of beauty (tiferet).[12] The word “what” is the filling of God’s essential Name, Havayah that equals 45, the value of “what” (מָה). Thus, Jacob’s dream of the flocks represents the spreading out of his essence through his offspring (symbolized by the flocks) and the ladder symbolizes his yearning to ascend to heaven to connect with the Divine and draw it down into his offspring.
Joseph’s second dream corresponds to understanding, following the association of a river’s greatness known as “the width of the river” (רְחוֹבוֹת הַנָּהָר) with the sefirah of understanding.[13] Among the kings of Edom, which we read about in parashat Vayishlach, the sixth king is Saul of Rehoboth on the River (שָׁאוּל מֵרְחֹבוֹת הַנָּהָר), whose origin is literally, “the width of the river,” corresponds to the sefirah of foundation, Joseph’s archetypal association.
Laban in the supernal role of his soul is all loving-kindness (chesed). In that capacity, he is known as “the supernal whiteness” (לֹבֶן הָעֶלְיוֹן). It seems that his dream caused him to reconnect with his supernal soul, so much so that on his departure, “Laban rose early in the morning and kissed his sons and daughters and blessed them.”[14]
Pharaoh’s cupbearer was victorious, connecting him with victory (netzach), while the baker lost his life, following the verse associated with splendor’s (hod) tendency to falter, “My splendor has turned against me”[15] (וְהוֹדִי נֶהְפַּךְ עָלַי לְמַשְׁחִית).
Since we have focused on the names of the dreamers, let us conclude with a point that will strengthen this choice. If we write out their names in Hebrew, we find that they have exactly 49 letters,[16] or 7 squared letters, which we can also write out in the form of a 7 by 7 square, as follows:
אבימלךי
עקביעקב
לבןיוסף
יוסףשרה
משקיםשר
האופיםפ
רעהפרעה
Whenever elements placed together sum to a square number or have some other relationship with a square number, this is a sign of their strong relationship, as seen also through the partzuf constructed.
Note that the value of the letters in this square’s corners spell the word for “awe” (יֵרָאֶה), or “sight” (רְאָיָה).
(based on a class given on the 24th of Sivan, 5754 in Shechem)
[1]. As Maimonides (Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 7:2) writes,
There are a number of levels among the prophets…. They all, however, share certain commonalities. They receive prophetic visions only in a visionary dream or during the day after slumber has overtaken them, as (Numbers 12:6) states: “I make Myself known to him in a vision. I speak to him in a dream.” All this apart from Moses, who is the master of all the prophets and who, “would prophesy while standing awake” (Ibid. 7:6)
[2]. Berachot 57b.
[3]. Sefer Yetzirah 5:1, which is elucidated in the Arizal’s summary of Sefer Yetzirah titled Kelil Tochnit.
[4]. Exodus 28:19.
[5]. Ibn Ezra (extended commentary) on Ibid. Radak, Sefer HaShorashim, s.v. חלם.
[6]. Genesis 41:25.
[7]. See in length in Pardes Rimonim 24:1 and ff.
[8]. Deuteronomy 33:17.
[9]. Genesis 20:3.
[10]. Shabbat 77b. See also the article on the Kings of Edom in Wonders, issue 129.
[11]. Proverbs 30:4.
[12]. Zohar 2:79b. In short, these two meanings of the מה, refer first to the relationship captures the statement that “Moses is the interior and Jacob the exterior.” Moses’ attribute is self-nullification (בִּטּוּל) stated when he says, “And we are naught” (וְנַחְנוּ מַה), i.e., that the word that can be translated as “what” (מָה) also means “nothing.” Self-nullification is the inner experience of the sefirah of wisdom. Second, when the four central “fillings” of Havayah are denoted by their values: עב סג מה בן, and correspond, in order, to wisdom, understanding, beauty, and kingdom. Thus, the filling that equals מה (45) corresponds to beauty. Many different explanations have been given for this relationship in Chasidic teachings. Often it represents the yearning that we have to understand not just the Torah in its revealed aspects (halachic), represented by the sefirah of beauty (tiferet), but also the manner in which these aspects reflect our connection (through our service of) our Father, the mind of God, as it were, represented by wisdom.
[13]. Explained in length in the Mittler Rebbe’s Sha’ar HaYichud; see particularly Reb Hillel of Paritch’s commentary.
[14]. Genesis 32:1. See Alter Rebbe’s Likkutei Torah on Shir HaShirim 11a.
[15]. Daniel 10:8.
[16]. We write “minister of bakers” (שַׂר הָאוֹפִים), in its full form, as it appears in Genesis 40:2.
