Parashas Vayeishev

This week's parashah concludes with correctly Yosef interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh's Chief Butler and Chief Baker.

The Butler had a vision of himself squeezing grapes into the cup of Pharaoh and placing the cup into the king's hand. Yosef explained that this foretold that the man would be reinstated to his position.

 

 

The Baker had seen himself with baskets on his head, the top one filled with the special pastries he would serve Pharaoh, and birds were eating from the baskets. Yosef explained this dream to mean that  the Baker would be hanged.

 

Many explanations have been given for how one dream indicated the restoration of the person's former stature while the other indicated he would be killed,

 

Some years ago (I think it was in 1977), Rabbi Moshe Weitman zichrono levrachah, founder of Torah Academy for Girls in Far Rockaway, spoke at a melaveh malkah at the Yeshivah of Staten Island, and offered the following insight:

 

Both the Butler and the Baker were providing food.

 

But the Butler was active; he was alive. He would regain his position.

 

The Baker, on the other hand, was passive; he did nothing. He was dead.

 

The true measure of life is not about how much we know. It is about whether we worked to achieve our knowledge. It isn't about how many people are helped though our being passive (although that, too, is rewarded), but through our efforts to help others.

 

Perhaps Descartes was wrong: I think AND DO, therefore I am.

 

Gut Shabbos.