When Pharaoh had his dreams, he sought the council of his advisors and wisemen. They offered explanations that made sense, explaining that the seven good cows and ears of grain meant that Pharaoh would father seven daughters. The seven bad cows and ears of grain indicated that he would bury seven daughters.
Yet the Torah says that “they could not interpret the (the dreams) for Pharaoh”. Rashi explains that whilst they were able interpret the dreams, their interpretations did not satisfy Pharaoh.
Yosef explained that the seven good cows and seven good ears represented seven years of plenty in Egypt. They would be followed and consumed by the seven bad cows and seven bad ears, representing the seven years of famine that would follow. On completing his interpretation, Yosef then advised Pharaoh to store grain during the years of plenty, to ensure provisions for the years of hunger. On hearing this, the Torah tells us that the interpretation was good in Pharaoh’s eyes and he praised his wisdom.
We can ask a number of questions on this account; Yosef’s interpretation seems straight forward, so why did the wisemen of Egypt not see it? What was the wisdom in Yosef’s interpretation that led Pharaoh to praise him? And why after giving his interpretation, did Yosef offer Pharaoh advice on what to do?
The Alter Rebbe explains that the enigma of a dream that makes it so hard to understand, is the existence of paradox. When we are awake, our rationale mind cannot accept or tolerate paradox, but in a dream, contradictions can co-exist. A true dream-interpreter is one who is able to interpret and resolve the contradiction. With this we can understand Yosef’s mastery.
In Pharaoh’s dream, he saw the seven good cows. He also saw the seven bad cows that swallowed up the good cows. But there was one detail in the dream that didn’t make sense. Before swallowing the good cows, the seven bad cows stood alongside the good cows, suggesting that at one point, the two coexisted. If the good cows represented years of plenty and the bad cows, the years of famine, how could the two coexist? How could there simultaneously be plenty and famine together? Since they could not explain this illusive paradox, the wisemen had to offer different explanations where no contradiction existed.
Yosef was able to explain the paradox and weave the two opposites together. His advice to collect grain during the years of plenty, was not just advice. It was part of the interpretation. By collecting grain during the years of plenty, there could be an abundance of grain even during the first years of the famine. This is the meaning of the seven good cows and seven lean cows standing side-by-side.
The contradiction in the dream was not a contradiction at all. It was part of the prophesy and was the key to the survival of Egypt and the surrounding lands in the years of famine. Yosef was able to see the underlying oneness that was hidden within the contradiction. This is why Pharaoh praised Yosef and why he only did so after Yosef’s advice.
Pharaoh’s dreams also carry a spiritual message. The seven good cows represent our G-dly aspirations and the seven emotions of the G-dly soul. The seven lean cows represent our worldly pursuits that come from the seven emotions of the animalistic soul, which threaten to swallow up our G-dly experience. How can these two opposites coexist side-by-side?
The power of Yosef is the ability to synthesise the two— that both the physical and spiritual parts of our lives and the two souls within us; our spiritual involvement in prayer and Torah study and our physical involvement in business etc. are not meant to be contradictory. They are both part of one common Divine purpose.
The two sets of cows standing side-by-side represented Yosef’s own life. Yosef was fully investment in the world as a businessman, running the global economy. At the same time, he maintained an absolute connection to Hashem. His “business” was a spiritual service of gathering sparks and elevating the world.
In Tehillim, every Jew is likened to Yosef. We all have the ability to interpret dreams, by synthesising the tensions in our lives between the material and the spiritual, between our body and our soul.
