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.