GENESIS XXXVII:1-XL:23

THE INEVITABLE REALIZATION OF DREAMS

Dreams are a staple of our chapters, on which will depend the future of the emerging nation that Yaakov’s family will spawn. Following in the footsteps of this patriarch, the illustrious dreamer of the ladder that unites heaven and earth, Yosef, the son loved by the father above his other sons – a fact that led to the hatred of the brothers – would unleash a succession of events due to his dreams. 

Yosef dreamed, he told his brothers, and they hated him for it. Yosef related that in his dream his sheaf was in the middle and the sheaves of his brothers prostrated themselves before his sheaf. “Will you set yourself up as our king and ruler?” the brothers exclaimed, increasing their hatred for him, for his dreams and words.

Yosef had an additional dream. This time eleven stars, the sun and the moon bowed down before Yosef. Yosef related the contents of his dream to both his father and brothers. The brothers were jealous of him, and the father recorded the event. The reaction of the brothers was no longer only hatred, alsoenvy. The dream predicted that Yosef was destined to play a leadership role within the family. They wanted to get rid of him and ended up banishing him, selling him into slavery to prevent him from assuming his destiny of command.

The fundamental proposition is whether dreams have an inescapable outcome. Knowing the content of the dreams, the brothers wanted to prevent what was foretold from coming true, so they tried to eliminate Yosef and not allow him to play a role in future events. Our chapters teach that the brothers’ attempts were thwarted because Yosef rose to high office in Pharaoh’s court. His leadership capacity was unstopable. Moreover, due to the famine that broke out in the region, the brothers would have to go to Egypt to stock their empty food supplies and prostrate themselves before the person in charge of selling food, who was none other than Yosef himself, and in this way, what was announced in the dream was fulfilled.

It is possible that the cruel treatment of the brothers—who first threw Yosef into a pit, abandoning him to a fate that would be an undoubted death, and finally sold him to a caravan of slave traders—was intended to test the energy and veracity of Yosef‘s dream announcement. Could they alter the course of events, or did the dream foretell an inevitable situation? Although many years had passed since that episode, the brothers always bore the blame for their crime, or perhaps they were part of a higher biblical strategy that called for exile as a precondition for the formation of a new nation. 

The Hebrew people had to go through a period of slavery, just as the Creator had announced to the first patriarch Avraham: “Know for sure that your seed will be strangers in another land where they will be enslaved for 400 years.” Although slavery lasted only 210 years, exegetes propose various explanations for this numerical divergence.

Why was the period of slavery necessary? One of the dictates of the Chachamim is that one cannot judge one’s neighbor until one has had the same experience. To develop a sensitivity and empathy for the afflicted and despised, for the social stratus that has the least appreciation; to become the defenders of minorities and the persecuted, it was necessary for the Jewish people to live the experience in their own flesh. To learn firsthand what suffering and handicap are to become the champions of human rights.

Ancient history proves this, and contemporary history attests to it. The Jewish people were present in the struggle against discrimination against the black population in the United States. They were the first to parade through Moscow’s Red Square to demand respect for their rights. They are always present in all public demonstrations whose aim is the rescue of universal human values.

The modern State of Israel continues that path and tradition. Several years ago, we read the opinions of Abraham Burg, in which he severely punishes the apparent betrayal that is being perpetrated against Zionist ideals. We disagree with much of hisassessment, but we can highlight the fact that Israel allows criticism, even when it includes a challenge to the foundations of its national identity.