5784/2023

In Parashat Mikeitz, Yosef is taken out of prison to interpret

the dreams of Paroh. Similar to when he interpreted the

dreams of the Sar HaMashkim and the Sar Ha’Ofim, Yosef was

believed that his interpretation was correct. Why is that? Why

did the Egyptians believe such a low-ranking person? In fact,

when the Sar HaMashkim describes Yosef to Paroh, he refers to

him as בד׳׳ֶ עֶ֚ ריִ֗ בְ עִ ערַ נַ֣׳׳,” a boy, slave, and a Hebrew” (BeReishit

41:12). A slave was the lowest one could go in ancient Egyptian

society, so why would anyone believe him?

If we go back several Parshi’ot, we find Yaakov Avinu in a

similar position. He makes a deal with Lavan that he will get

any sheep that are speckled and Hashem helps him become

very successful even though Yaakov agreed to get the “bad”

sheep. So too here, Yosef claims before he tells Paroh his

will d-G but ,me Not “,׳׳ִּב ְל ָעָ֑די ֱאֹלקים יֲַעֶ֖נה׳׳ :interpretations

answer” (ibid. 41:16). He does his portion of the work and puts

the things that are out of his control into Hashem’s hands. Yosef

was able to recognize that everything is from Hashem

But why didn’t Paroh listen to the Egyptian interpreters who

were considered the country’s greatest minds? Rashi (ibid

41:8) writes that Paroh was distressed by the interpretations

of the Egyptian interpreters as they didn’t address him being

king, and he thus did not think they were accurate.

Another explanation is brought from the Bechor Shor. He says

that Yosef’s interpretation came only from Hashem, and Yosef

is just saying what Hashem wants him to say. Here Yosef is just

being the messenger, and therefore he can’t get into trouble if

he is incorrect in his interpretation. The Egyptians, however,

most certainly could be punished for falsehood.

The Ibn Ezra similarly says that Paroh listened to Yosef because

he was humble and made sure Paroh knew that it wasn’t Yosef

interpreting but rather it was Hashem. He affirmed that his

explanation wasn’t from a physical being, like the Egyptians

claimed, rather it was from a supernatural source. Everyone

else claimed their interpretation was from themselves, but

Yosef was different, he was, as the Sar HaMashkim called him,

.עברי an

The Tur comments that Yosef was different because he just

wanted peace with Paroh. Whereas the other Egyptians wanted

to achieve high positions as reward, Yosef just wanted to get

out of jail because he was wrongfully convicted. We see from

the Tur that whoever was wrongfully convicted, Hashem will

put him in a higher position than the one who jailed him

.

Similarly, the Orach Chaim writes that Paroh thought that Yosef

would explain the dream like everyone else when he came out

of jail. By Yosef saying that his words were really the words of

G-d, he reversed Paroh’s thoughts and ultimately impressed

him.

We can learn a lot from this small section of the Parashah. Just

like Yosef didn’t credit himself for his interpretation, so too we

have to always say and know that Hashem is controlling and is

involved in everything we do. We also need to have the same

humility that Yosef had by only looking for peace and not to

show off or advance positions because, ultimately, Hashem will

put you wherever He wants you to be.