Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, and there came up out of the Nile seven sleek and fat cows, and they grazed in the reed grass. Then seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them” Genesis 41:-3
December 22, 2022 11:32
Genesis Rabbah, a midrash edited in the fifth century, asks us what’s so difficult in interpreting this dream (89:6). Is it no obvious that something bad is going to follow something good?
Rabbi Levi tell us that Joseph was not the first to try and interpret this dream. One said that the seven fat cows are seven daughters to be born to Pharaoh and the seven thin ones are seven daughters that would die. Another said they are seven kingdoms Pharaoh would conquer and the seven poor ones are seven countries that would rebel against him.
Both interpretations, I would say, seem reasonable, so why did Pharaoh not still seek yet another? The Midrash uses the somewhat cryptic expression: “Their voice did not enter his ears.” If you have ever tried telling your dream to a friend or a therapist, and they were kind enough to offer their opinion about what it means, you would know exactly what happened to Pharaoh.
Some interpretations stick and some do not. We reject some because they do not resonate with us or, at times, as we are unable to hear the truth they are conveying.
I believe the secret of Joseph’s success is that he, unlike the others, understood that the dream is masking a fear nesting in Pharaoh and any other human being: that of having no control over the future and no power. And the more power one supposedly has, the human reality of helplessness becomes more difficult to bear.
It is not surprising, then, that the birth and death of daughters or the victory or loss in war interpretations do not help Pharaoh. Those just repeat his anxiety in his ears. Joseph, however offers Pharaoh the two things he needs most, a reminder of his potency and hope, not through words, but through giving him something to do: store grain now.
I am not Joseph, and I don’t count in cow years. But this year for Chanukah I am getting a piggybank. It might not give me control over Egypt, but it might bring me, just like Pharaoh, a sense of control, some peace of mind, and the promise that when I break the pig, I’ll know the bad times will soon be over.