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Life!

T R A

P 0

A Special Place
To Dream

Shabbat Mikketz:
Genesis 41:1-44:17;
Numbers 7:54-8:4;
1 Kings 7:40-50.

p

Each of us needs a spe-
arashat Mikketz
cial place of our own, not
begins with
just in our dreams but in
the story of
real life, where we can stop
Pharaoh's dreams. Only
and take a deep breath and
Joseph's interpretation
think. These are the places
of the king's dreams of
where the problems of
cows and wheat reso-
daily life, both major and
nated with Pharaoh and
minor, can be clearer to
Joseph's warnings about
us and where we are more
years of plenty and years
Rabbi Robert
likely to come up with the
of famine set in motion
Dobrusin
solution that has eluded us
the entire history of our
Special
to the
during our hectic days.
people in Egypt and
Jewish
News
But, like Pharaoh, often
beyond.
we
don't have the time or
As Pharaoh tells his
we
don't
take
the time to go to those
dream to Joseph, the Torah uses two
places and think.
forms of the word hinei, behold.
Our place may be a cottage by the
Pharaoh says to Joseph: "In my
lake
or a trail in the woods just right
dream, hineni omed, behold I am
for
a
walk with a dog. Or it may be
standing on the bank of the Nile."
a
comfortable
chair with a stack of
Then, the word hinei again: v'hinei
good
books
alongside
or a window
min hay'or, and behold up from the
looking
out
onto
the
street
we call
river came seven cows.
home.
Wherever
it
is,
we
need
to visit
It seems to me that by using the
that
place
as
frequently
as
we
can
word "behold" twice, the Torah is
while still fulfilling our obligations as
indicating that Pharaoh knows that
parents, children, employees and all
each phrase, in and of itself, is criti-
cal. When the king says: "Behold I am of the other titles we carry through
our lives. It is often in those moments
standing on the banks of the river,"
of calm that we can see most clearly.
he knows that that fact, in itself, is
Let us most certainly not forget
important even before he reaches the
that
the synagogue or any place we
real content of the dream.
pray,
in community or alone, can be
I imagine that Pharaoh paused
that
special
place. For when standing
and sighed after mentioning that
in prayer, aware of the presence of
he was standing by the river. It was
God, we can see further and can see
a sigh of longing, indicating that he
more clearly and interpret for our-
didn't get many chances to stand by
selves the course we must take in the
the river, the place that he loved, the
future.
place where he could think clearly
about his future and the future of his
Robert Dobrusin is rabbi of Beth Israel
people. Maybe he could only do it in
Congregation in Ann Arbor.
his dream.
Joseph understands that what
was seen in the dream has touched
Conversations
Pharaoh in a unique way. He senses
If you could go to any one place
Pharaoh's concerns and interprets the
to contemplate your present and
dream in a way which responds to
future, what place would be the
the concerns and gives him concrete
most helpful to you?
suggestions as to how to face them.

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December 21. 2006

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