You're not a Hellenist.

 

Hebrew-  reading Hanerot Halalu

https://www.studystack.com/users/ryruss/picmatch-3132102

https://www.learnhebrewpod.com/vocabularies/52/bathroom

 

 

AND THEN WHAT HAPPENED? (Hanukkah edition) Can your team get the history right as we trace the story  of the Jewish people from the fall of Jerusalem  in 586 BCE  to the story of the Maccabees in 167 BCE?

After we read about each point in history, we will offer each team a choice of three options  for “And then what happened?”.  The team can confer for 30 seconds, then they must submit a vote in writing.    Correct answers earn a point.  Wrong answers earn nothing.  There are eight history points.

 

+*+*+*+*+*+*+**+*+*+

 

 

It’s 586 BCE and the Zhou dynasty in China, Bantu speaking migrants are bringing iron-age weapons and cattle into South Africa, and the Olmecs rule Mexico. 

The Jewish people have fallen to the Babylonian Empire, and most have been dragged off to exile in Babylon.   The temple is destroyed, and the city of Jerusalem lies ruined.  After a generation, the Jewish people adjust to life in Babylonia, but the Babylonian empire is  conquered by the Persians led by King Cyrus.  And then what happened?

1)     The Jewish people fight to push Cyrus out of Bavel.

2)    The Jewish people find Cyrus hates the Jews and wants to wipe them out.

3)    Cyrus says the Jews can go back to Eretz Yisrael and rebuild the temple.

 

 

It’s 515 BCE.  The Jewish people, with the support of King Cyrus and his sons,  head back to the land of Israel toe rebuild Jerusalem.  The great teacher of Torah, Ezra, brings the Torah with him, and leads the people as they try and rebuild, but local peoples  harass them with violent attacks.  And then what happened?

 

1)     The Persian emperor calls off building temple, which is why it was never rebuilt even till today

2)    The Persian emperor sends Nechemiah, a Jewish former army officer, to help them fight off the locals

3)    The Jews bribe the locals with thousands of silver coins to leave Jerusalem alone.

 

 

It’s 475 BCE.   The Persian Emperor Artaxerxes rules over a massive empire that is economically stable. He picks a new prime minister so he can devote himself to enjoying his wealth and power.  And then what happened?

 

1)     The prime minister planned to kill the  empress’ entire family in an act of revenge, and the emperor has him executed.

2)    The prime minister was trying to poison him and take the throne, and the emperor has him executed.

3)    The prime minister was hoarding the equivalent of millions in tax dollars, and the emperor has him executed.

 

 

It’s 440 BCE.   A small, rebuilt temple lies at the heart of a small, rebuilt Jerusalem.

The High Priest rules along with council of 120 known as the People of the Great Assembly.   A famine strikes Rome, Pericles rules Athens,  and Ezra the scholar dies.  And then what happened?

 

1)     The Jewish people live quietly and not much happens for a while.

2)    The Jewish people get into a bloody war with the Syrians over access to the water of the Jordan river.

3)    The Jewish people enter a state of war that lasts for 100 years.

 

 

It’s 333 BCE.   Alexander the Great sweeps through the middle east, and comes to the small nation of Judah.  In order to convince Alexander that the nearby Kuteans are in fact lying when they tell Alexander that the Jews are planning to attack ,  the Kohen Gadol,  Shimon the Righteous, dons his white Yom Kippur garments and leads a delegation.  They march all night by torchlight to reach Alexander,  and as the sun rises, Alexander sees the delegation led by Shimon.  And then what happens?

 

1)      Alexander accuses the Jews of rebellion and holds them prisoner for a year until they are ransomed.

2)    Alexander demands the Jews bow down to him, and when they refuse he has them whipped.

3)    Alexander gets down from his horse, and  bows down to the Kohen Gadol. His generals think  he’s gone mad.

 

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When Alexander saw Shimon HaTzaddik up close at last, he descended from his chariot and bowed down low before him. His generals, including Ptolemy and Seleucid said to him: “Why is your majesty bowing down to this Jew?”, for they feared he had lost his mind.

He said to them “Each night before I go into battle, I have a dream,  and the image of this man’s face is what I see in the dream before I rise up and go to conquer.  I saw his face when we were in Macedonia at Dio, and before our first battle with the Persians, and before we conquered Gaza. Let no harm come to this man or his people, but rather put his enemies into his hand.”   Alexander came to Jerusalem, offered sacrifices to God on the Altar,  and was welcomed throughout the land.   

It’s 281 BCE.  Seluecus has died. When Alexander dies,  his generals divide up his empire.   The land of Israel winds up under the rule of Alexander’s general Seleucus, who like Alexander before him is religiously tolerant and lets people live and worship as they wish, as long as they pay their tributes and taxes. Seleucus dies and rule over land of Israel passes down to his son, Antiochus the first.  So then what happens?

1)     Antiochus builds a statue of Zeus in the Temple of Jerusalem’s courtyard.

2)    Antiochus continues his father’s policy of religious tolerance.  Boring.

3)    Antiochus considers converting to Judaism, but is assassinated by his son, Antiochus II before he can.

 

 

It’s 222 BCE.   Antiochus III becomes ruler the Seleucid empire.  Jews in the Selucid empire have come to know about many parts of the culture of the empire-  theatre,  races,  Greek poetry and mythology,  all known as the Hellenist culture.  Some Jews become very Hellenized,  rejecting every part of their religion,  while others adopt some Hellenist ideas and practices,  such as Greek names and reading Greek literature while keeping their Hebrew Names and Jewish holidays.  And then what happens?

1)     Antiochus III continues his great-grandfather’s policy of religious tolerance.  Boring.

2)    Antiochus III demands greater taxes and gold, taking it from the temple when the jews do not pay enough.

3)    Antiochus III is insulted by a Jew who refuses to bow down whenever Antiochus is in the city gate, and begins a plan to wipe out the Jews.

It’s 168 BCE.   Antiochus IV had usurped the throne from his nephew Demetrius in 175, and deciding to take a more active role in the economically vital Temple in Jerusalem, he starts taking bribes to determine who will be high priest.  Come 168 BCE, Between a war in Egypt and a rebellion that happens when a rumor breaks out that Antiochus is dead,   Jerusalem is plunged into chaos.  In response,  Antiochus decides that Judaism is the problem. And then what happens?

1)     He takes the side of moderately Hellenized jews.

2)    He takes the side of Traditional Jews- but that will change.

3)    He bans all forms of Judaism.

 

 

 

 It’s 167 BCE.  Antiochus  puts a giant  idol of Zeus in the temple of Jerusalem’s courtyard,  sacrifices a pig to it and eats the ham.  He then orders the same thing to be done throughout the land of Israel.  And then what happens?

1)     Hanukkah.

2)    Hanukkah.

3)    Hanukkah.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

41

BEREYSHEET CH. 41

Now at the end of two years’-time it was that Pharaoh dreamt:  now here, he was standing by the Nile river,  and suddenly! Out of the Nile, seven cows were coming up, beautiful of appearance and well-nourished in body,  and they grazed in the reed-grass.

And then! Seven other cows were coming up after them out of the Nile,

ugly in appearance and diseased in body, and they came up behind the other cows on the bank of the Nile.  And the ugly, diseased cows ate up the seven nourished beautiful cows. And then Pharaoh woke up.

He fell asleep and dreamt a second time:  and suddenly! Seven ears-of-grain were going up on a single stalk, lush and good. And then!  seven ears, scrawny and scorched by the east wind, were springing up after them.  And the scrawny ears swallowed up  the seven lush and full ears.

Pharaoh awoke. It was a dream!

But in the morning he was so agitated he sent and had all of Egypt’s magicians and all of its wise-men called.  Pharaoh recounted his dream to them,  but no one could interpret them to Pharaoh.

Then the chief cup-bearer spoke up to Pharaoh, saying:

“I must call my sins to mind today! Pharaoh was [once] infuriated with his servants

and placed me in custody, in the house of the chief of the guard, myself and the chief baker. And we dreamt a dream in a single night, I and he; we dreamt each one according to the interpretation of his dream.  Now there was a Ivri/Hebew lad there with us, a servant of the chief of the guard.  We recounted them to him, and he interpreted our dreams to us;  for each-one according to his dream he interpreted.  And it was: as he interpreted to us, so it was—

I was restored to my position, and he was hanged.”

Pharaoh sent and had Yosef called.

They quickly brought him out of the pit;

he shaved, changed his clothes, and came before Pharaoh.

Pharaoh said to Yosef:

I have dreamt a dream, and there is no interpreter for it!  But I have heard it said of you

that you [but] need to hear a dream in order to interpret it!

Yosef answered Pharaoh, saying:  “Not I!  God will answer what is for Pharaoh’s welfare.”

Pharaoh spoke to Yosef:

In my dream….

Now I have spoken with the magicians, but there is no one that can tell me [the answer]!”

Yosef said to Pharaoh: “Pharaoh’s dream is one. What God is about to do, he has told Pharaoh. The seven good cows

are seven years,

and the seven good ears

are seven years;

the dream is one.

And the seven diseased cows that were coming up after them

are seven years,

and the seven ears, hollow and scorched by the east wind,

will be seven years of famine!

That is the word that I spoke to Pharaoh:  what God is about to do, he has let Pharaoh see.  Look!  Seven years are coming, of great plenty in all the land of Egypt.

But seven years of famine will arise after them, when all the plenty in the land of Egypt will be forgotten.  The famine will destroy the land, and it will not be remembered, that there had ever been lots of food beforehand,  because of that famine afterward,

for it will be exceedingly hard.

Now as for the repetition of the dream to Pharaoh, twice over: [it means] that the matter is determined by God,  and God is hastening to do it.  

So now, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man,  and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh do [this]: let him appoint appointed-overseers for the land,  and divide the land of Egypt into five parts during the seven years of plenty.  Let them collect all kinds of food from these good years that are coming,  and let them pile up grain under Pharaoh’s hand as food- provisions in the cities, and keep it under guard.

So the provisions will be an appointed-reserve for the land

for the seven years of famine that will occur in the land of Egypt,

so that the land will not be cut off by the famine.”

The words seemed good in Pharaoh’s eyes and in the eyes of all his servants,  and Pharaoh said to his servants:  “Could we find another like him, a man in whom is the spirit of a god?”

Pharaoh said to Yosef:

“Since a god has made you know all this,  there is none as wise and discerning as you;

you shall be [The One] Over My House!

To your orders shall all my people submit;

only by the throne will I be greater than you!

And Pharaoh said to Yosef:

“See, I place you over all the land of Egypt!

And Pharaoh removed his signet-ring from his hand and placed it on Yosef’s hand,

and he had him clothed in linen garments and put the gold chain upon his neck;  he had him mount the chariot of his second-in-rank, and they called out before him: Avrekh!/Bend the knee!

Thus he placed him over all the land of Egypt.

Pharaoh said to Yosef:

“I am Pharaoh, but without you, no man shall raise hand or foot in all the land of Egypt!”

And Pharaoh called Yosef’s name: Tzafe’nat Pane’ah/The God Speaks and He Lives,

and he gave him Asenat, daughter of Poti-Fera, priest of On, as a wife.

And Yosef’s influence was over all the land of Egypt.

Now Yosef was thirty years old when he stood in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

And Yosef went out from Pharaoh’s presence and crossed through all the land of Egypt.

In the seven years of plenty the land produced in handfuls.  And he collected all kinds of provisions from those seven years that occurred in the land of Egypt,  and placed provisions in the towns.  The provisions from the fields of a town, surrounding it, he placed in it [as well].  So Yosef piled up grain like the sand of the sea, exceedingly much, until they had to stop counting, for it was uncountable.

Now two sons were born to Yosef, before the year of famine came,

whom Asenat, daughter of Poti Fera, priest of On, bore to him.

Yosef called the name of the firstborn: Menashe/He-Who-Makes-Forget,

meaning: God has made-me-forget all my hardships, all my father’s house.

And the name of the second he called: Efrayim/Double-Fruit,

meaning: God has made me bear fruit in the land of my affliction.

There came to an end the seven years of plenty that had occurred in the land of Egypt, and there started to come the seven years of famine, as Yosef had said.

Famine occurred in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.

Then all the land of Egypt felt the famine, and the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread,

so Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians: “Go to Yosef, whatever he says to you, do!”

Now the famine was over all the surface of the earth.  Yosef opened up all [storehouses] in which there was [grain], and gave-out-rations to the Egyptians,

since the famine was becoming stronger in the land of Egypt.

And all lands came to Egypt to buy rations, to Yosef,  for the famine was strong in all lands.

Yaakov saw that there were rations in Egypt,

so Yaakov said to his sons:

Why do you keep looking at one another?

And he said:

Here, I have heard that there are rations in Egypt;

go down there and buy us rations from there,

that we may live and not die.

 

 

Dreams and the Ketonet Passim

 

 

PARSHA: VAYESHEV

1)    

a.   Dream quiz 

What’s the fanciest / most expensive thing you have ever worn?

b.  Why do people play favorites?

c.   Why do parents play favories

d.  Text

e.   Commentators on the ketonet

2) The power of dreams

a.   Do we care about our dreams these days?

b.  Why did our ancestors? No snapchat or netflix?          

c.   Dream interpretation Game: 

d.  Text

e.   Dreams in Talmud- Handout

 

 

1.               מַטְבֵּחַ

a.              Matbucha

b.             Maetbaecha

c.               Matbeacha

d.            Meetbeecha

e.              Matbae’ach

 

 

 

 

 

2.              הַמְנַבֵּחַ

a.              Ham’nabea’ach

b.             Haminabea’ach

c.               Ham’nabeecha

d.            Hamaynabaycha

e.              Hamanyabubu

 

3.              בְּשִׁעְבּוּד

a.              Besheea’bohd

b.             Be’sha’bohd

c.               Be’sha’bood

d.            Be’shee’bood

e.              Bansheeaboo

 

4.            הַסְּגֻלָּה

a.              Hasgeelah

b.             Hasgalah

c.               Hasgulah

d.            Hase’gulah

e.              Hasnackisraw

 

5.              הֱבִיאַנִי

a.              He’eviani

b.             Hevi’ani

c.               Hevani

d.            Have’ani

e.              Haveaniceday

 

6.              זְרֻבָּבֶל

a.              Zar’babel

b.             Zur’babel

c.               Zerubabel

d.            Zerubavel

e.              Zerobarbells

 

 

 

 

 

 

7.              וְקִנְיָנָיו

a.              Vekinyanav

b.             Vekine’yanav

c.               Vekinyanaiv

d.            Vekinyaneev

e.              Venkmanlives

 

8.              הַמְּדָתָא

a.              Hamdatah

b.             Hame’datah

c.               Hama’datah

d.            Hame’datai

e.              Hamadaughter

 

9.              חַשְׁמַנִּים

a.              Chamishim

b.             Chashmanim

c.               Chashmainim

d.            Chashmonim

e.              Chashbrowns

 

10.    מֵאֻמָּה

a.              Me’umah

b.             Ma’umah

c.               May’umah

d.            May’umeh

e.              Maybenot

 

 

 

 

 

Hebrew			English
אֲנִי			I, me
אַתָּה			you (m. sing.)
אַתְּ			you (f. sing.)
הוּא			He/Him
הִיא			She/Her
אֲנַחְנוּ			We/Us
אַתֶּם			You/Y’all (m. pl.)
אַתֶּן			You/Y’all (f. pl.)
הֵם			They/them (m. pl.)
הֵן			They/them (f. pl.)

 

 

 

 

 

Quiz on Sleep and Dreams

 

1)   What is the name of the stage of sleep where you dream, and what does it mean?

a.   PIFF- Prefrontal Involuntary Focus Formation

b.  SED- Serological Evolution of Dreaming

c.   STP-  Serological Transient Programming

d.  REM- Rapid Eye Movement

e.   BURP-  Bulging Underneath the Retina’s  Pringle

 

 

2) How many stages of sleep are there before REM sleep?

a.   1

b.  3

c.   6

d.  10

e.   Close to 200.

 

 

3)  What are those  three stages called?

a.   Aleph/bet/dalet

b.  Alpha/beta/delta

c.   Ichi/Ni/San

d.  I/II /IV

e.   Frazzle /Glibble/Ping

 

 

 

4) What happens when the body enters the delta stage of sleep?

a.   Brain activity is minimal, breathing is deep and slow

b.  Brain activity is high, breathing is normal.

c.   The body rarely enters delta stage, we know little about it

d.  Dreams have begun, breathing is rapid.

e.   No brain activity or breathing at all.

 

 

 

5)  How many hours of sleep do adults need nightly to stay healthy?

a.   4

b.  6

c.   7

d.  8

e.   3 if they have coffee

 

 

6) What is the difference between a nightmare and a night terror?

a.   Only Children get night terrors

b.  Only Adults have nightmares

c.   Nightmares are upsetting dreams,  a night terror is a frightening short-circuiting of the sleep cycle.

d.  Night Terrors can happen every night for months on end.

e.   There is no such thing as Night Terrors, Mar Hirsch made it up.

 

7)  What happens in a Lucid Dream?

a.   You are yourself and the dream is 1^st person

b.  You know you are dreaming and may be able to control the dream

c.   You have an omniscient view and know what will happen next

d.  You are someone other than yourself in the dream

e.   You meet Lou and Syd in your dream.

 

8) Hey,  I had a cool dream!  In it I…

a.   Was a Jedi Knight

b.  Was President of the USA

c.   Was part of Taylor Swift’s band

d.  Was living in Tokyo

e.   Was selling used cars in Cleveland. 

 

 

 

9) What is dreamcatcher in Native American culture?

a.   A healer or Medicine Man who interprets dreams

b.  A person of destiny or great potential who can achieve greatness

c.   A special tent or lodge which blocks nightmares

d.  A willow hoop with a netting and other elements.

e.   Dreamcatchers are Brazilian, not Native American.

 

 

 

 

10)                 What actually causes sleepwalking?    

a.   Hormonal imbalances from stress

b.  Positron emissions from fresh lumber

c.   Pollution from Plastics

d.  Excessive exposure to UV rays

e.   We don’t know what causes it.

 

 

 

 

Vayeshev: Genesis 37 1-11

Yaakov settled in the land of his father’s journeys,
in the land of Kena’an.   These are the (stories of the) offspring of Yaakov.
Yosef, seventeen years old, used to tend the sheep along with his brothers,
for he was serving-lad with the sons of Bilha and the sons of Zilpa, his father’s wives.  And Yosef brought a report of them, a nasty one, to their father.

Now Yisrael loved Yosef above all his sons,  for he was a “son of old age” to him,
so he made him a ke’tonet passim.

His brothers saw that it was he whom their father loved above all his brothers,
so they hated him, and could not speak to him in peace.

Yosef dreamt a dream, and told it to his brothers
—from then on they hated him still more—;

he said to them:
“So listen to this dream that I have dreamed:

So there we were, binding sheaf-bundles out in the field,
and suddenly, my sheaf of wheat arose, and it was standing upright,
and suddenly, your sheaves were turning round and bowing down to my sheaf!”

His brothers said to him:

“Would you imperially be emperor over us?
And would you ruthlessly rule over us?”
From then on, they hated him still more—for his dreams, for his words.

 

But he dreamt still another dream, and recounted it to his brothers;
he said:  “Look, I have dreamt still [another] dream:
See, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me!”

[When] he recounted it to his father and his brothers,
his father rebuked him and said to him:
"What kind of dream is this that you have dreamt!
Shall we certainly come,  your mother and your brothers,
to bow down to you to the ground?”

His brothers were jealous him,
and his father kept thinking about it.

 

 

WHAT’S A KETONET PASSIM?

Sa’adya Gaon,   Babylonia, 9^th Century:  Linen in its warp, silk in its woof. (Silk would have been immensely expensive). Silk, as we learn in tractate Sanhedrin (Babylonian Talmud)---  Raba bar Mehasia also said in the name of Rabbi Hama ben Goria in Rab's name: “A man should never favor one son among his other sons, for on account of the two sela's (ancient pounds) weight of silk, which Jacob gave Joseph in excess of his other sons, his brothers became jealous of him and the matter resulted in our forefathers' descent into the house of slavery.”

Chizkuni (13^th Century France): A different explanation sees in the word פסים as a “compensation,” for being a half orphan, not having a mother anymore. Yaakov tried to compensate him by having a costly garment made for him.

Daat Zkenim (group commentary, 11^th and 12^th century France and Spain)

כתונת פסים, “an embroidered garment;” extending down to the palms of his hands (and likely to his ankles as well).  [Not a garment for working in.]

 

Ibn Ezra (Spain, 13^th Century) A COAT OF MANY COLORS. Ketonet passim means an embroidered coat. The word passim (many colors) is similar to the Aramaic word pas (part) in part of (pas) a hand (Dan. 5:5).

                                                     

Malbim (Rabbi,  Meir Leibush ben Yehiel Michel Wisser,  19^th Century Poland, later Chief Rabbi of  Romania)

Ketonet Passim--A long colorful cloak. The other brothers were dressed like shepherds, but because Yosef was his father’s attendant he was required to dress in a dignified manner.

 

Rabbeinu Bahya (14^th Century, Zaragosa): ועשה לו כתונת פסים, “he made for him a striped coat.” This was a superior quality garment. It even resembled the כתונת תשבץ/ketonet tashbetz worn by the High Priest (Exodus 28,4). The brothers were envious of Joseph on account of this garment. According to Bereshit Rabbah 84,6 the expression פסים (plural) is used because these stripes were as wide as two פסות ידיו, two handbreadths.

 

Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi, Provence, 13^th century): ועשה לו כתונת פסים, the word פס is related to the same word in Daniel 5,5 פס ידא, palm of a hand. The cloth was made of differently colored surfaces similar to garments made of soft wool which are made in a number of differently colored stripes or sections. The garment looked very impressive, arousing the hatred of the brothers in addition to the fact that they hated him for spreading tales about them to their father.

 

AND TO SUM IT ALL UP…..

 

Rav Jonah Berele, z”l  (one of Mar Hirsch’s teachers): “Any of the possible answers to what made this garment special meant it took time to source its elements and create it. Surely the brothers were expecting this to be Jacob’s  robe indicating his status as patriarch, chieftain, and father of many.   Surely they watched it being crafted, or had to bring progress reports from the artisans making it to their father. Add in that  fact, and then imagine the brothers reaction when this garment fit for royalty,  long under construction, now winds up not around their father’s shoulders but wrapped around Joseph!”    

 

 

 

 

1.    I dreamt I was on a long flight,  on Spirit air.  Every time I went to the back of the plane to use the bathroom, my bubbe Phyllis got in my way and said  very angrily: “Why don’t you like my brisket?”  Then I woke up.

 

2.  I dreamt I  was rich and happy because I had a great job.  One day, I took the morning off and went to help rabbi Dror build a new building .  When I was done helping him,  I had lost my job and had to go work in a soup factory.  Then I woke up.

 

 

 

3.   I dreamed I was a cat, dreaming I was a cat.   I woke up and I was still a cat. Then I woke up.

 

 

 

4.  I dreamed I was a roach, and I was leading the other roaches on a long journey.  We came to the light at the end of a long tunnel, and we came out onto the stove  in my best friend’s house and she was cooking bacon. She screamed and smushed me.  Then I woke up.

 

 

5.   I dreamed I was at my summer camp and everyone was telling me to call the new kid a “mudblood”.  They kept yelling at me  until I said “BUT Harry Potter books are bad for Basketball players.”   Then I woke up.

 

 

 

6.  I dreamt I was studying for my bat/bar with Cantor Josh, who gave me a page of music and said “Don’t lose it, no matter what!”   But when I went home I was hungry, so it turned into a pizza and I ate it.  Then I woke up.

 

 

 

7.   I dreamt I was working in a particle accelerator lab, and when the director came  to ask me to work an extra day, I said “I don’t roll on Shabbes.”  He said I had to work on Shabbat or I would be turned into a unicorn.  I said “not if I get you first,” fed him a rainbow, and he turned into a half-unicorn half-snake.  And then I woke up in the main sanctuary- I had fallen asleep during Shabbat morning services.

 

 

8.  I dreamt I was reading Torah for my brother’s bar Mitzvah, but I was floating above the bimah because I was wearing a jet pack.  Rabbi Seigel  told me my application to Rabbinical school had been accepted, and handed me a kitten with black fangs. Then I woke up.

 

 

 

9.  I dreamt I was Google, and everyone just kept asking me questions all day, and some of them made no sense, like “How heart pumps to California sideways?”  Eventually, I just put up a few pictures of cats being cute, and then sat and cried for an hour. Then I woke up.

 

 

 

BERAYSHEET/GENESIS CH. 40

It happened after these things, that the chief butler [in charge of the wine]  of the king of Mitzrayim and his chief baker offended their lord, the king of Mitzrayim.  Par`oh was angry with his two officers, the chief butler and the chief baker.  He put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Yosef was bound. 4The captain of the guard assigned them to Yosef, and he took care of them. They stayed in prison many days.

They both dreamed a dream, each man his dream, in one night, each man’s dream with a different meaning, both the butler  and the baker of the king of Mitzrayim, who were bound in the prison. Yosef came in to them in the morning, and saw them, and saw that they were sad. He asked Par`oh's officers who were with him in custody in his master's house, saying, "Why do you look so sad today?"  They said to him, "We have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it." Yosef said to them, "Don't interpretations belong to God? Please tell it to me."

The chief butler told his dream to Yosef, and said to him, "In my dream, behold, a vine was in front of me, and in the vine were three branches. It was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters of it brought forth ripe grapes.  Par`oh's cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Par`oh's cup, and I gave the cup into Par`oh's hand." Yosef said to him, "This is the interpretation of it: the three branches are three days. In three more days, Par`oh will lift up your head, and restore you to your office. You will give Par`oh's cup into his hand, the way you did when you were his butler.  But remember me when it will be well with you, and show kindness, please, to me, and make mention of me to Par`oh, and bring me out of this house.  For indeed, I was stolen away out of the land of the Ivrim/ those over the river, and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon."

 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Yosef, "I also was in my dream, and, behold, three baskets of white bread were on my head. In the uppermost basket there was all kinds of baked food for Par`oh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head." Yosef answered, "This is the interpretation of it. The three baskets are three days.  Within three more days, Par`oh will lift up your head from off you, and will hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from off you."

It happened the third day, which was Par`oh's birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants, and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and the head of the chief baker among his servants. He restored the chief butler to his position again, and he gave the cup into Par`oh's hand; but he hanged the chief baker, as Yosef had interpreted to them.  Yet the chief butler didn't remember Yosef, but forgot him.

 

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THOUGHTS ON THE MEANING OF DREAMS

FROM THE TALMUD BAVLI, BRACHOT 57A-57B  (200-500 CE)

 

A) Rabbi Johanan also said: “Three kinds of dream are fulfilled: an early morning dream, a dream which a friend has about you, and a dream which is interpreted in the midst of a dream.” Some add “also, a dream which is repeated, as it says in Genesis,‘the dream was given in two forms to Pharoah, it will soon come to pass, etc.” 

 

B) Bar Kappara said to Rabbi [Judah the Regent]  “I dreamt that my nose (aph)  fell off!”  He replied to him “It means you will no longer lose your temper (charon aph).“

 

C) The elephants in a dream are a good omen  if saddled, a bad omen if not saddled.   If one dreams that he is reciting the Shema', he is worthy that the Divine presence should rest upon him, but his generation is not deserving enough. If one dreams he is putting on tefillin, he may look forward to greatness.

 

D)The Emperor [of Rome]  said to  Rabbi Joshua bar  Rabbi Hananyah “You [Jews] profess to be very clever. Tell me what I shall see in my dream.” Rabbi Joshua said to him “You will see [your enemies] the Persians making you do forced labor, and robbing you and making you feed unclean animals with a golden shovel.”  The Emperor thought about it all day, and in the night he saw it in his dream!

 

E)  Rabbi Samuel bar Nahmani said in the name of  Rabbi Jonathan: A man is shown in a dream only what is suggested by his own thoughts, as it says in the book of Daniel, “To you, O king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this….”    Or if you like, I can derive it from here: “So that you  know the thoughts of the heart.”    Raba said “No- this is proved by the simple fact that a man is never shown in a dream a date palm of gold, or an elephant going through the eye of a needle-- that is to say something he has never seen before or that is impossible.”