Va’Erah: Nature

 

The Pharaoh, the most powerful person on earth, is confronted with a demand  to allow the enslaved Israelites leave Egypt on a three day journey to demonstrate their loyalty to a greater force.  The Pharaoh ultimately promises to do more,

וַאֲשַׁלְּחָ֣ה אֶתְכֶ֔ם וְלֹ֥א תֹסִפ֖וּן לַעֲמֹֽד׃

I will let you go; you need stay no longer.”

But this pledge remains unfulfilled, just like the previous promises.  Pharaoh repeatedly says he will let the people go to their ritual, starting after the second plague of frogs. He just never gets around to it. This is the great paradigm of delayed liberation, the unfulfilled promise of freedom that dances with  an evolving definition of liberty.

Before Moshe confronts Pharaoh with a demonstration of vastly superior powers, Moshe himself is confronted by Gd. Gd informs Moshe of previous appearances to the patriarchs and the intention of resettlement on the land of milk and honey. The goals are limited, although they seem nearly impossible to the overpowered. There is also an indication of the rarity of Gd’s overt appearance. It has been more than 200 years since Gd has appeared to one of Moshe’s ancestors. Subsequent Gd sightings have been quite (perhaps disappointingly)  rare.

 

The plagues are a contest of power.  Even before the plagues, Moshe demonstrates the superiority of his forces. Gd instructed that the staff be cast down and it will turn into a serpent. We know that this trick is in the repertoire of the Egyptian masters of augmented reality. The demonstration of power comes when the Israelite stick/serpent consumes the Egyptian magicals ( and, perhaps incorporates their magic?).  At this point the superiority of the Gd, Moshe, Aaron system has been established. Resistance will only cause pain and loss. Pharaoh is courageous, he has heart; he stands up to the clearly superior force.  But his cause is immoral and wrong; his bravery in the service of authoritarianism is abominable.

 

Pharaoh knows that his powers are limited.  Nature: the rivers, the animals, the insects, disease, the weather, etc. are beyond his control. The plagues demonstrate an unanticipated entity that can control  these forces with precision. They can be turned on and off on a schedule; they can affect one place and not its neighbor, one kind of person and not another. In the plague of frogs, Moses gives Pharoah an opportunity to share credit for the termination of the infestation.

 

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֣ה לְפַרְעֹה֮ הִתְפָּאֵ֣ר עָלַי֒ לְמָתַ֣י ׀ אַעְתִּ֣יר לְךָ֗ וְלַעֲבָדֶ֙יךָ֙ וּֽלְעַמְּךָ֔ לְהַכְרִית֙ הַֽצְפַרְדְּעִ֔ים מִמְּךָ֖ וּמִבָּתֶּ֑יךָ רַ֥ק בַּיְאֹ֖ר תִּשָּׁאַֽרְנָה׃

And Moses said to Pharaoh, “You may have this triumph over me: for what time shall I plead in behalf of you and your courtiers and your people, that the frogs be cut off from you and your houses, to remain only in the Nile?”

וַיֹּ֖אמֶר לְמָחָ֑ר וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ כִּדְבָ֣רְךָ֔ לְמַ֣עַן תֵּדַ֔ע כִּי־אֵ֖ין כַּ

For tomorrow,” he replied. And [Moses] said, “As you say—that you may know that there is none like the LRD our Gd;

An entity that controls nature is very impressive. Not impressive enough to move Pharaoh to act with immediacy.

The power of this Gd, that is greater than nature, has been the aspiration of a dominant element of humanity. Egypt had canal that controlled the course of the river’s waters to increase the crop yield of the land.  Their art of mummification wrested the power of death to cause decay of the flesh.

 

The sequence of some of the plagues can be understood in a causal framework.  The text tells us that making the river flow blood caused the fish to die and putrefy:

 

וְהַדָּגָ֨ה אֲשֶׁר־בַּיְאֹ֥ר מֵ֙תָה֙ וַיִּבְאַ֣שׁ הַיְאֹ֔ר

and the fish in the Nile died. The Nile stank.

It is easy to think that the altered ecology of the Nile caused the frogs to emerge.

And when the dead frogs were heaped up, they could have been breeding grounds for lice.  The poisoned river could have caused the animals to  roam more widely and intermingled resulting in the generation and spread of new diseases that killed animals and caused a disease of boils in humans.

 

We now deal with an awareness of some of these chains of events. Burning the fuel that was generated from the plants and animals that died millennia ago warms the planet and generates a sequence of self-reinforcing changes.  In the absence of a cataclysm or a technological fix, the earth will continue to warm, at least to a point of undesirable change: with extinctions, droughts, and famines.  This fate was sealed with the control of fire. The issue is how long can we drag it out.

 

Where is Gd in all this? Only Gd can protect us from the nature Gd created.

 

Shemoth: Courage

I wish I had courage. It would seem that wanting it should be all it takes, but it is clearly not.  It is overcoming the fear of the consequences. Courage means choosing the outcome I want and acting to achieve it. This week's parsha is a study in courage.  I want to take a lesson from the stories. 

It begins with a failure.  The Children of Israel are enslaved.  There are no protests.  The Pharaoh recognized this guest nation as a force that can ally with his enemies and a people that can leave. 

וַיֹּ֖אמֶר אֶל־עַמּ֑וֹ הִנֵּ֗ה עַ֚ם בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל רַ֥ב וְעָצ֖וּם מִמֶּֽנּוּ׃ 

And he said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are much too numerous for us.

הָ֥בָה נִֽתְחַכְּמָ֖ה ל֑וֹ פֶּן־יִרְבֶּ֗ה וְהָיָ֞ה כִּֽי־תִקְרֶ֤אנָה מִלְחָמָה֙ וְנוֹסַ֤ף גַּם־הוּא֙ עַל־שֹׂ֣נְאֵ֔ינוּ וְנִלְחַם־בָּ֖נוּ וְעָלָ֥ה מִן־הָאָֽרֶץ׃ 

Let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase; otherwise in the event of war they may join our enemies in fighting against us and rise from the land.

The threatening nature of the Israelites motivates their bondage.  Despite the power that the Pharaoh sees in the Israelites, they allow themselves to be subjugated. 

One sentence is devoted to the process of enslavement: 

וַיָּשִׂ֤ימוּ עָלָיו֙ שָׂרֵ֣י מִסִּ֔ים לְמַ֥עַן עַנֹּת֖וֹ בְּסִבְלֹתָ֑ם וַיִּ֜בֶן עָרֵ֤י מִסְכְּנוֹת֙ לְפַרְעֹ֔ה אֶת־פִּתֹ֖ם וְאֶת־רַעַמְסֵֽס׃ 

So they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor; and they built store cities.” for Pharaoh: Pithom and Ramses

They were taxed. Misim,  מִסִּ֔ים, translated as taskmasters, contains the word mas, tax.  Obligations to the government were imposed upon  them in order to  עַנֹּת֖וֹ, aniso, translated here as oppress them.  But the root is related to ani, poverty. They were impoverished, made dependent...enslaved by their circumstances. They became wage slaves, and declined from there to depend upon the government for food and shelter. 

The Egyptian authorities impose an edict of infanticide. Jews are no longer entitled to life by virtue of their humanity. They ask that the midwives, Shifra and Puah, enforce this law... but they do not because they fear Gd. They obey an authority that is greater than Pharaoh, but an entity that is less likely to enforce the law in an identifiable way. They are courageous. They are models of when to follow a principle that supersedes the law of the land; when not to follow orders. 

Shifra and Puah are models for me. When insurance companies deny coverage for treatments, the path of least resistance is to accept their decisions. I fear Gd. 

Pharaoh's daughter could not bring herself to that mercicless state.  She could look away from the anonymous mass murder, but confronted with a crying infant, she took pity upon baby Moses.  After all, the rules had been followed: the Hebrew infant boy had been cast into the river - but in a boat. Clever. She mothered the foundling. Her pity was so great, it made her strong. The Talmud ( alluded to in today's daf yomi[Megillah 13]) implies that these acts made her an Israelite. My kind of Israelite.

When Moses reacts to the cruelty  of the taskmaster  by murdering him, he has combined courage and passion.  Such an act could have started a revolt, it could have demonstrated that the oppressed are not powerless. Instead, Hebrews detect the behavior of the revolutionary in Moses; and they are ready to  turn him in.  They are invested in the system that Moses threatens to overthrow. The people are not ready for liberation.  Moses runs away.

When he comes to the well at Midian,  he protects the daughters of Jethro from the local shepherds. Moses ( like his mothers) is a protector.  Jethro's daughters do not invite him to their home until their father instructs them to go back for him.  They are not brave enough to welcome this challenge to the status quo, but father Jethro is. At last... a mensch.

At the burning bush,when Moses casts his staff on the ground, and it becomes a snake, Moses runs away. Moses is a person and experiences fear.  But when he is told by Gd to grab the snake by the tail, to hold the wrong end, to relinquish control of the biting head; he does as told. He  obeys the Divine message that does not make (common) sense. Is this courage or  (deranged) zealotry? That boundary  is a challenge.   Moses  has left the realm of ordinary people.  

To bolster his credibility, Moses is told to show these signs to the elders of Israel.  It is not only the marvel that is convincing, it is the symbolism. When you cast down your staff, your solid support, what kept you upright on unsteady ground -  it becomes a serpent, a threat, an enemy from the primordium.  It is only your act of  casting off the tradition that you should have leaned on, the history that should have given you the pride and confidence, that allows you to be enslaved. You have made the symbol of truth into the symbol of deception, the rules to live by, when cast down, bite you and inject a lethal poison. It is dangerous to grab that slithering surrender, but when you do,  then it becomes part of the heritage, the story of redemption joins the legacy. 

The liberation can make you disgusting, like a leper. If you accept it, you overcome it. 

The oppressor has poured the blood of your people as if it was water from the river.  No More!

Moses and Aaron request a holiday to rally their identity,  ro reunite with their heritage, to unionize? Pharaoh reacts by making  the Israelites'  task more degrading, he makes it impossible.  Pharaoh calls them a name: nirpim

וַיֹּ֛אמֶר נִרְפִּ֥ים אַתֶּ֖ם נִרְפִּ֑ים עַל־כֵּן֙ אַתֶּ֣ם אֹֽמְרִ֔ים נֵלְכָ֖ה נִזְבְּחָ֥ה

He replied, “You are shirkers, shirkers! That is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD.’

JPS translates the word as "shirkers": people who want to minimize  their efforts. I see another meaning in this word. The dictionary: 

רָפָה (v) heb

1. to sink, relax, sink down, let drop, be disheartened

1. (Qal)

1. to sink down

2. to sink, drop

3. to sink, relax, abate

4. to relax, withdraw

These people had sunk in their own estimation, so Pharaoh could order them to do anything, including the impossible.  He need not worry that they would rebel. But if they went to sacrifice and derived strength form their Gd and their unity, they would not be so pliable. 

I need to gather strength every day from the Gd that demands mercy for the innocent and oppressed. 

  

Vayechi: funeral arrangements

The parsha is about the death and burial of Jacob/Israel. It opens with:

וַיְחִ֤י יַעֲקֹב֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם שְׁבַ֥ע עֶשְׂרֵ֖ה שָׁנָ֑ה וַיְהִ֤י יְמֵֽי־יַעֲקֹב֙ שְׁנֵ֣י חַיָּ֔יו שֶׁ֣בַע שָׁנִ֔ים וְאַרְבָּעִ֥ים וּמְאַ֖ת שָׁנָֽה׃ 

Jacob lived seventeen years in the land of Egypt, so that the span of Jacob’s life came to one hundred and forty-seven years.

33 verses in the Torah begin with declaring a lifespan.  Generally, the next that sentence ,or the the one following, says that the person died.  In this chapter, Vayechi, for both Jacob and Joseph, the lifespan is followed by additional events, the birth of some great- grandchildren for Joseph and the rest of the parsha for Jacob.   This parsha makes the end of life as a time for the  accomplishing  projects related to legacy. The Talmud says: (Taanith 5b) 

 הָכִי אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: יַעֲקֹב אָבִינוּ לֹא מֵת.

Rabbi Yoḥanan said as follows: Our patriarch Jacob did not die.

As long as his influence on events prevails, Jacob lives.  By keeping his family, in all of its diversity, unified, he continues, as evidenced by their name: the Children of Israel

There are (at least) two mysterious words  in Vayech: asaf, and mitah.  Asaf  means to gather . It also has an  flavor of completion and contains the phoneme sof, the end.   When Jacob gathers his sons  to tell them what will occur at the end of days the verse uses that word:

וַיִּקְרָ֥א יַעֲקֹ֖ב אֶל־בָּנָ֑יו וַיֹּ֗אמֶר הֵאָֽסְפוּ֙ וְאַגִּ֣ידָה לָכֶ֔ם אֵ֛ת אֲשֶׁר־יִקְרָ֥א אֶתְכֶ֖ם בְּאַחֲרִ֥ית הַיָּמִֽים׃ 

And Jacob called his sons and said, “Come together that I may tell you what is to befall you in days to come. ( the end of days).

  Here, the gathering means something shared with the gathering in  that is the harvest, another common use of the word, Jacob was reaping his investment in the family and replanting most of it

When the blessing is completed, the word is used again.. twice in the context of Jacob's death: 

וַיְכַ֤ל יַעֲקֹב֙ לְצַוֺּ֣ת אֶת־בָּנָ֔יו וַיֶּאֱסֹ֥ף רַגְלָ֖יו אֶל־הַמִּטָּ֑ה וַיִּגְוַ֖ע וַיֵּאָ֥סֶף אֶל־עַמָּֽיו׃ 

When Jacob finished his instructions to his sons, he drew his feet into (vayesof) the bed and, breathing his last, he was gathered( vayeoseif)  to his people.

 Jacob gathered his feet into the bed. That bed had made an appearance at the beginning of the parsha. 

 וַיִּשְׁתַּ֥חוּ יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל עַל־רֹ֥אשׁ הַמִּטָּֽה׃

Then Israel bowed at the head of the bed.

When Joseph swore that Jacob would be buried in Canaan,  Jacob bowed in that bed. That bed was the symbol of his offspring. Jacob bowed to his legacy, to the living who can act to carry out theses deathbed wishes.  Rahi quotes Megillah 16b :  תַּעֲלָא בְּעִידָּנֵיהּ סְגִיד לֵיהּ,  when the fox has his time, bow to him.”   There is a time when majesty honors power.  When this oath is fulfilled, Jacob will no longer have the power to act in the present.  This is the bed unto which Jacob's feet are gathered. All of his children accompany Jacob to his burial, and all of them claim his legacy. 

Now we have a departure from the previous stories of birthright. Up until now, there was always a single heir, a unique successor: Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Now, we have 12 who share the endowment.  The story has transitioned from a struggle to be chosen to a narrative of leadership. Joseph, whom we would have predicted to have become the next in line, assumes the role of provider. 

Consider the modern Josephs. Joseph Biden's political agenda appears to be as provider. He wants to provide sustenance to families.  He takes a line from the parsha: 

אָנֹכִ֛י אֲכַלְכֵּ֥ל אֶתְכֶ֖ם וְאֶֽת־טַפְּכֶ֑ם

I will sustain you and your children.

The memory of another Joseph casts a very dark shadow on the idea that central government will provide.  Joseph Stalin, parodied the biblical character by gathering the grain from the ends of his empire, from Ukraine and Belarus to feed the people in Moscow, the capital.  He left so little for the producers that they died from starvation.  

Jacob and Joseph are gathered to their people along with Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael.  There need not be a single winner. 

Vayigash:Is this how we got here? 

Vayigash is an origin story.  It tells of how the Israelites descended to Egypt.  It tells us the source of the sovereign's authority over the people and the land  But these seemingly fundamental developments rest on even more basic, unstated assumptions. 

The international famine seems to be the driver of both stories: the descent to Egypt and the consolidation of the Pharaoh's power. Joseph, having foreseen the years of plenty followed by the agricultural crash, had amassed a vast store of grain in preparation . Since the famine extended to Canaan, and Joseph saw the hunger continuing for several more years, he invited his father and brothers to Egypt so that they would not be impoverished, so that they would not lose some of their number to the impending starvation. 

Joseph did more than this. He established the family of  12 brothers and the tribe of seventy founding members.  Joseph could have rejected the sons of Leah, Bilha and Zilpa, the men who had plotted his murder and settled for selling him into slavery.  Judah tells the viceroy, whom he does not yet know is Joseph:

וַיֹּ֛אמֶר עַבְדְּךָ֥ אָבִ֖י אֵלֵ֑ינוּ אַתֶּ֣ם יְדַעְתֶּ֔ם כִּ֥י שְׁנַ֖יִם יָֽלְדָה־לִּ֥י אִשְׁתִּֽי׃ 

Your servant my father said to us, ‘As you know, my wife bore me two sons.

Jacob had identified Rachel as his (true) wife and (perhaps only) Joseph and Benjamin as his true sons. Judah supplied Joseph with an additional justification for relegating the other 10 sons to a subservient, perhaps a subjugated, or even missing , status. 

Previously, we have the verse:

אֵ֣לֶּה ׀ תֹּלְד֣וֹת יַעֲקֹ֗ב יוֹסֵ֞ף

This, then, is the line of Jacob: Joseph

Joseph is chanted with the  ambiguous gershayim, a tune that sets the name off from the rest of the sentence ( the translation of gershayim could be "divorces")  This can be understood to mean that Joseph was to Jacob what Isaac was to Abraham and Jacob was to Isaac.. the sole carrier of the legacy, divorced from his brothers. 

But Joseph made dreams come true. His dream was leadership over his brothers, not their annihilation. Transience is built into Joseph's dreams  Sheaves rot; the stars  move in the sky. Joseph's leadership might last, and it might not. Now Judah's courage is front and center.  Had Joseph wanted the legacy for himself, he would have crushed Judah.  Instead, he welcomes the 10 brothers who had sold him. This  decision to share the future with his half-brothers is an important part of the origin story. 

Much of the parsha describes how Joseph's grain stores consolidated the reign of Pharaoh. Ultimately, having acquired food ( when it was cheap) and storing it until the predicted famine, Joseph acquired all the wealth of Egypt and the surrounding lands.  Finally, the people sold themselves and their land  and became serfs, eternally indebted servants, to Pharaoh. 

The details of the grain acquisition in the seven years of plenty are vague. 

שֶׂ֣ה פַרְעֹ֔ה וְיַפְקֵ֥ד פְּקִדִ֖ים עַל־הָאָ֑רֶץ וְחִמֵּשׁ֙ אֶת־אֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם בְּשֶׁ֖בַע שְׁנֵ֥י הַשָּׂבָֽע׃

And let Pharaoh take steps to appoint overseers over the land, and organize^aOthers “take a fifth part of”; meaning of Heb. uncertain.  ( or take one fifth from) the land of Egypt in the seven years of plenty.

There is an implication that  one fifth of the produce was taken , but it is not clear whether it was purchased or  a tax.  Regardless, it was the enforcement capabilities of Pharaoh and his minions that protected the grain from theft during the collection process... and prevented liberation when the people were starving. Ultimately, Joseph and the Pharaoh turned might into the  right to rule.

Underlying this process are assumptions. How did the current occupants of the land come to "own" it so that they could sell it for sustenance? Why does the "sale" of an individual come to include all of her offspring? Does the trade of food for land and labor forever indebt the buyer?   All of these are assumed. 

In our time, we can ask whether such a  consolidation of power is the inevitable destiny of  an  unbridled  market system . The wealthy ultimately accumulate all wealth and, eventually, enthrall the populace.  Karl Marx   envisioned a revolution to assert the claims of the oppressed. Can that happen in the era of social media? after the collapse of the Soviet Union that demonstrated that a state that purports to redistribute wealth does so ...  to a different oligarchy. 

Toward the end of the parsha, we are told that  only  the priestly lands were not acquired by the Pharaoh, because the priests were supported; the sovereign gave them a  stipend, so that did not need to sell their land for sustenance.  Jacobs tribe was supported by Joseph.  They had left their land  and the land they purchased, in Canaan. 

וַיֵּ֧שֶׁב יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל בְּאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם בְּאֶ֣רֶץ גֹּ֑שֶׁן וַיֵּאָחֲז֣וּ בָ֔הּ וַיִּפְר֥וּ וַיִּרְבּ֖וּ מְאֹֽד׃ 

Thus Israel settled in the country of Egypt, in the region of Goshen; they acquired holdings in it, and were fertile and increased greatly.

Although they arrived landless, the Isrealites acquired wealth and land. They benefited from their privilege. From Abraham until the end of Deuteronomy: Landless, disenfranchised people strive to enter a Holy Land  that is already inhabited. The Jews in the diaspora did it so many times. Such a life requires training  and a foundational story

We have had many years of plenty.  Watch out!

Miketz: awakenings

 The  relationship between Pharaoh and Joseph is a model that has been reproduced  many times since. The  combination of the powerful and the clever has guided many of the most  important events in history.  The Egyptian hegemony has ended; the Jewish claim on competence remains tenuous and fraught. 

The word מִקֵּ֖ץ miketz, translated here as "the end"  is complex.  The contextual meaning  is that (exactly?)  two years had passed since Joseph had been imprisoned.  Joseph had been cast into the pit and sold into servitude by his brothers because they envied his position in the family.  They had feared that he would rule over them .  He was sent to the pit that is prison because his master's wife had accused him of attempted  adultery. ( I do not think that the evidence supported a charge of  attempted forcible rape; she was holding the garment and he had run into the street). While in this unfortunate  circumstance, Joseph had demonstrated his extraordinary talent and interpreted the dream of the royal wine steward and  charged him with helping Joseph ascend from imprisonment and that took two years. 

Pharaoh had  dreams. He insisted on deriving meaning from these nightmares. The royal advisors did not provide a satisfactory interpretation. Now, two years later, the wine steward fulfills his charge, he mentions Joseph. We are told why the steward has remained quiet:

וַיְדַבֵּר֙ שַׂ֣ר הַמַּשְׁקִ֔ים אֶת־פַּרְעֹ֖ה לֵאמֹ֑ר אֶת־חֲטָאַ֕י אֲנִ֖י מַזְכִּ֥יר הַיּֽוֹם׃ 

The chief cupbearer then spoke up and said to Pharaoh, “I must make mention today of my offenses.

To mention Joseph, he must remind the Pharaoh of his previous felony, a dangerous move. Now, this situation arose, in part, because the cupbearer had delayed.  Had he mentioned Joseph immediately after his release, he would not have been dredging up an old, partially forgotten event, it would have been in the context of his pardon.  But now, it was two years later and the steward needed to muster great courage to remind his master, who had killed his co-inmate, of his crime.

 וָאִיקָֽץ, Va' ekotz, is the word Pharaoh uses to tell Joseph that he awakened.  The root is the same. The sleep comes to an end, the dream is over. No more distorted reality in which anything is possible. But Pharaoh's awakening did not put an end to this dream.  Pharaoh insisted that his dreams must be properly interpreted, and the explanations of the usual  professionals did not satisfy him.  He needed the forbearer of Sigmund Freud. Joseph is cleaned up and brought to Pharaoh.

Perhaps part of the problem with the interpretation of Pharaoh's dreams was that they ended with a negative message: the riches of the past are consumed by subsequent poverty.  It may have been difficult to tell this Pharaoh bad news.  Joseph removes himself from the role of interpreter and defers to Gd

Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “Not I! Gd will see to Pharaoh’s welfare.”

The deflection allows an interpretation that ends with a negative message. 

More important, Joseph immediately offers a system to deal with the doom that he has foreseen: Store the plenty of the first seven years of plenty and distribute it over the seven (or, according to Midrash 2) years of famine. The impending disaster could be leveraged into a way to become fabulously wealthy ( buy low, sell high)  and consolidate  power , ultimately enslaving the entire population to serfdom. 

This plan required a vision of the future, a plan to deal with it, the organizational skill to put that plan into effect, the scientific expertise to preserve the grain for long periods, and the force to prevent theft and corruption. Joseph clarified the vision, the Pharoaoh was the muscle, they shared the credit. 

Joseph's interpretation of dreams may have been a component in their fulfillment. In prison,knowing that Pharaoh decides the fate of prisoners on his upcoming birthday, he told the   wine steward he would be pardoned and the he told the baker he would be hung.  The appearance of the confident  cup bearer and the downcast baker may have contributed to their fates. Joseph's interpretation of Pharaoh's dream may have been known throughout Egypt.  THis could have caused the farmers to work more land harder in the "good" years, depleting its nutrients and causing bad years. 

Is someone poised to profit from climate change? 

Joseph's dreams, the dreams he tells his brothers, are never interpreted.

The Pharaoh was the most powerful person in the world.