We need to make good choices based on the information we have and the values we believe in. But we need to know and accept that the real purpose of the choices we make might be very different from the reasons we made those very choices.
Yoseif, the first management consultant
Last week, in Parshas Vayishlach, Yaacov prepares for the possibility of war with his brother Eisav. He prepares gifts for Eisav, sends messengers to appease him and then still divides his family into two camps in the hope that at least one would escape to safety if the other were attacked. Even though Yaacov trusted in Hashem and had been promised Divine protection he did everything he reasonably could to secure his and his family's survival, leaving nothing to chance. Yaacov is never criticized for taking these strategic measures. This week however, Yoseif, languishing hopelessly in an Egyptian dungeon having been incarcerated on a trumped up charge of seduction, sees a glimmer of hope and is criticized for acting on it. He should have trustingly left his fate in the hands of Hashem rather than in the hand of a fellow human. Why the different treatment for the two?
Here's the background: Parroh's chief butler, also a prisoner with Yoseif, has a dream and comes to Yoseif for its interpretation. Yoseif interprets the dream favorably, predicting the butler's return to his former position at court. But Yoseif has a unique style of dream interpretation that manifests in next week's Parsha. He goes beyond the content of the dream and includes the purpose of the dream in his interpretation. In Mikeitz he does not merely interpret the imagery of Pharroh's dream about cows and corn; he also advises Parroh in great detail what to do about it. He doesn't stop at articulating the problem; he provides a detailed action plan.
"And now Pharroh should seek out an insightful and wise man and appoint him over the land of Egypt. He should appoint officers over the land who should motivate the people (to save) during the seven good years." (Bereishis 41:33-34)
Yoseif is the first management consultant in recorded history, but wasn't he going beyond his brief when he offered solution? Did the king not engage him just to interpret his dream? Why, after describing the seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine, does he continue to tell the king how to run his country?
Purpose: The essence of meaning
Yoseif's unique style of dream-interpretation goes beyond the content of the dream to also uncovers its purpose. It is in the purposeof the dream that its true meaning lies. The solution that Yoseif offers Parroh provides the answer to the 'why?' question: Why did Hashem send the king with this foreknowledge? Yoseif takes the 'why?' question even further: "Why did Hashem arrange for me to be the interpreter of this particular dream? Clearly this opportunity is the key to my freedom and to my future destiny." As such, like a good consultant, Yoseif not only offers the action plan to solve the problem he identifies, but he also sets it up in such a way that he can support the king in its implementation.
Yoseif uses precisely the same methodology of dream-interpretation with the chief butler at the end of Vayeishev. Not only does he interpret the dream's content, but also its purpose. He answers the 'why?' question in his interpretation: "Why did Hashem cause the chief butler to have this dream?" The answer is so that the butler can tell Parroh about Yoseif's wisdom and his potential value to the king. He shares the purpose of the dream with the chief butler: "For (you were given this dream so that) you will remember me when things are good and I ask you please to do a kindness to me and mention me to Parroh thereby removing me from this prison." (Bereishis 40:14)
So far it all makes sense except for the Targum Yonassan's (40:14) surprising comment that at that moment Yoseif abandoned his trust in Hashem and adopted trust in a fellow human being. Is the Targum Yonassan's comment fair? Yoseif was merely providing a full interpretation of the chief butler's dream including its purpose just as he would later do for Pharroh. He planted a seed for his redemption in the same way that his father, Yaacov, had done before reconnecting with his vengeful brother, Eisav. Why does the Targum Yonassan castigate him for this?
Purpose vs. Strategy
The answer is in the last Rashi on the Parsha (40:23) quoting the Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 89:3):
Because he (Yoseif) said to the Chief Butler, "remember me," and "mention me" he languished in prison two years longer than he otherwise would have.
It was his repetition of the request to be remembered that cost Yoseif an extra two years. When Yoseif first mentioned the fact that the chief butler would remember him, he was fully interpreting the dream by including the dream's purpose in his interpretation. There was no reason, however, for him to repeat the request to remember him a second time. The second request was no longer the description of the dream; it was Yoseif's exit strategy. If Yoseif had fully trusted his interpretation of the dream and its purpose, he wouldn't have needed an exit strategy; his exit strategy was already in place and being overseen by Hashem Himself. Yoseif's repetition of the request to be remembered indicated in a most subtle, deeply subconscious way, that he himself did not have complete faith in his own interpretation of the purpose of the chief butler's dream. If Yoseif truly believed that the purpose of the dream and of Yoseif being the one to interpret it was so that the chief butler, impressed with Yoseif's interpretive prowess, would mention him to the king, then there was no need for the second request. Hashem would take care of the unfolding of history; Yoseif had already done his bit.
We're left with another nagging question though: Why did he get two extra years, the implication being one for each request to be remembered? If one request was legitimate, why two years of punishment rather than only one?
Serve your client; never yourself
On analysis, even the first request to be remembered was superfluous. It is true that the purpose of Yoseif being asked to interpret the dream was so that the chief butler would bring Yoseif's genius to the attention of Parroh. However, that would have happened without his being asked to do so. In fact we are told at the end of the parsha that the chief butler did not remember Yoseif and that he totally forgot him. Nevertheless he recalled Yoseif's talent when the time came two years later. There was no value to Yoseif's client, the chief butler, nor to Yoseif himself in asking the butler to remember him. This is different from the situation when Yoseif interprets Parroh's dream. There there was value to Parroh and to the Egyptian people in every word of interpretation and advice that Yoseif offered. Since there was no value in telling the chief butler that he would, or should, remember Yoseif to Parroh, even the first indicated a subconscious insecurity in Yoseif. Yoseif subconsciously feared that the butler would forget him, and this manifested a minute flaw in his bitachon (trust in Hashem).
Patterns of Destiny
Often in retrospect we understand the reason why certain things transpired in our lives. As we get older and patterns emerge we begin to connect dots that we never before understood were in any way connected. The art is to be able to do so in the moment, especially when things happen which are out of the ordinary. We need to be alert to the extraordinary circumstances of our lives, both positive experiences and negative ones. We must seek to understand the purpose of the extraordinary events that affect us. And, when we do, we need to learn to trust our intuition and to allow our destinies to play out. It is at times like these that we learn we are not in control even of our own lives and certainly not of our ultimate destinies. We need to make good choices based on the information we have and the values we believe in. But we need to know and accept that the real purpose of the choices we make might be very different from the reasons we made those choices. After making our choices, and in all our actions doing our very best to serve Hashem and people, we need to surrender, relax, and let Hashem do His piece. This is the majestic partnership between the Jew and his or her God.
