DECEMBER 14 • 2023 | 45
from prisoner-without-hope to
viceroy of the greatest empire of
the ancient world.
Why this extraordinary
chain of events? It is telling
us something important, but
what? Surely this: God answers
our prayers, but often not when
we thought or how we thought.
Joseph sought to get out of
prison, and he did get out of
prison. But not immediately,
and not because the butler kept
his promise.
The story is telling us some-
thing fundamental about
the relationship between our
dreams and our achievements.
Joseph was the great dreamer of
the Torah, and his dreams for
the most part came true. But
not in a way he or anyone else
could have anticipated. At the
end of the previous parshah —
with Joseph still in prison — it
seemed as if those dreams had
ended in ignominious failure.
We have to wait for a week, as
he had to wait for two years,
before discovering that it was
not so.
There is no achievement
without effort. That is the first
principle. God saved Noah
from the Flood, but first Noah
had to build the Ark. God
promised Abraham the land,
but first he had to buy the
Cave of Machpelah in which
to bury Sarah. God promised
the Israelites the land, but they
had to fight the battles. Joseph
became a leader, as he dreamed
he would. But first he had to
hone his practical and admin-
istrative skills, first in Potiphar’s
house, then in prison.
Even when God assures us
that something will happen,
it will not happen without
our effort. A Divine promise
is not a substitute for human
responsibility. To the contrary, it
is a call to responsibility.
But effort alone is not
enough. We need siyata diShe-
maya, “the help of Heaven.
” We
need the humility to acknowl-
edge that we are dependent on
forces not under our control.
No one in Genesis invoked God
more often than Joseph. As
Rashi says, “God’s Name was
constantly in his mouth.
” He
credited God for each of his
successes. He recognized that
without God he could not have
done what he did. Out of that
humility came patience.
Those who have achieved
great things have often had this
unusual combination of charac-
teristics. On the one hand, they
work hard. They labor, they
practice, they strive. On the
other, they know that it will not
be their hand alone that writes
the script. It is not our efforts
alone that decide the outcome.
So we pray, and God answers
our prayers — but not always
when or how we expected. (And
of course, sometimes the answer
is “No.
”)
The Talmud (Niddah 70b)
says it simply. It asks: What
should you do to become rich?
It answers: Work hard and
behave honestly. But, says the
Talmud, many have tried this
and did not become rich. Back
comes the answer: You must
pray to God from whom all
wealth comes. In which case,
asks the Talmud, why work
hard? Because, answers the
Talmud: The one without the
other is insufficient.
We need both: human
effort and Divine favor. We
have to be, in a certain sense,
patient and impatient — impa-
tient with ourselves but patient
in waiting for God to bless our
endeavors.
The week-long delay between
Joseph’s failed attempt to get
out of prison and his eventual
success is there to teach us this
delicate balance.
If we work hard enough, God
grants us success — not when
we want but, rather, when the
time is right.
SPIRIT
Develop Your
Talents
J
oseph is a man on a
lengthy journey to
become the person he is
meant to be. As a rabbi, I am
particularly aware of the myriad
actions I do every sin-
gle day that shape who
I am and how others
see me. In Joseph,
I find a model who
grows from self-ab-
sorption to being in an
active relationship with
God. Joseph’s three
instances of dream
interpretation shine a
light on his spiritual
development over time.
When we initially
encounter him, Joseph
is a swaggering youth. He
eagerly shares his dreams and
their interpretations with his
family, who seem to consider
them irritating delusions of
grandeur that simply add to the
list of his annoying behaviors.
Joseph comes off as self-aggran-
dizing and obnoxious, with no
regard for how others might
experience him. The early ver-
sion of Joseph is highly self-
oriented.
The next time Joseph has the
chance to interpret dreams, we
encounter a person living in
entirely different circumstanc-
es with an entirely different
attitude. He has been sold into
slavery by his own brothers,
bought by an Egyptian man to
serve in his household and then
sent to jail after falsely being
accused of rape.
When his fellow inmates
mention that they are trou-
bled by bad dreams and lack
an interpreter, Joseph steps in
right away. Yet this is hardly the
egotistical Joseph of yesteryear,
eager to show off and unaware
of the impact of his behavior.
Instead, he responds, “Surely
God can interpret. Tell me
[your dreams].
” (Genesis 40:8)
Joseph has the same tal-
ent as before and does not
deny or minimize it. Yet,
now we find that God is a
key part of the team as well.
In fact, this is the first time
that Joseph acknowledges
God in any way. Through
the same inborn skill that
previously got him into
trouble, Joseph now finds
room to connect with the
Divine.
Joseph’s transformation
is further underscored in
this portion when, two years
later, he is called upon to inter-
pret Pharaoh’s dreams for him.
Pharaoh summons Joseph
from jail and remarks on his
skill. This time Joseph’s answer
is even more dramatic, “Not
I. God will see to Pharaoh’s
welfare. (Genesis 41:16) Now
Joseph claims to remove himself
entirely from the process while
also running the risk of offend-
ing the most powerful man in
his universe with his answer.
Yet, Joseph is determined to
honor God with is gift.
We, like Joseph, can choose
to seek out God in whatever
form He might take and to
connect with God through the
practice of our own skills and
talents.
I pray we will all pursue the
transformation and connection
that Joseph found that led him
to his better self.
Rabbi Megan Brudney is a rabbi at
Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Township.
This article originally appeared in the
JN on Dec. 29, 2016.
TORAH PORTION
Rabbi Megan
Brudney
Parshat
Mikketz:
Genesis
41:1-44:17;
I Kings
3:15-4:1.