“Yosef dreamt a dream which he told to his brothers, and they hated him even more.” (37:5)
Why did Yosef tell his brothers his dream? Couldn’t he have foreseen the consequences? R’ Aharon Yehuda Leib Steinman z”l (1914-2017; Rosh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, Israel) answers:
Clearly this was part of the Divine plan. Our Sages say, “Dreams follow their interpretation,” i.e., that the interpretation given to a dream impacts whether and how it will come true. Here, Hashem wanted Yosef’s brothers to hear his dream and declare (37:8), “Would you then reign over us?!”
Alternatively, R’ Steinman writes: It is said that if a person could travel to distant stars, his experience would be incomplete until he came home and told someone about it. Perhaps Yosef, too, was so moved by his dream that he needed to tell someone about it. (Ayelet Ha’shachar)
Reprinted from the current Parashat Vayeishev 5785 email of Rabbi Yedidye Hirtenfeld’s whY I Matter parshasheet for the Young Israel of Midwood in Brooklyn.
