Dream On!

Why did Yosef’s brothers hate him?

Conventional wisdom states that they hated him because Yosef presented himself as better than his brothers.

When we look carefully at the text, however, we see that the brothers begin to hate Yosef even before he tells them his dreams. Knowing that Yosef is a dreamer is enough for the brothers to hate him.

What’s wrong with dreaming?

Rabbi Joseph Soloveichik delivered a lecture in which he discusses Yosef and his dreams. The Rav compares Yosef and his brothers to the Zionists and their religious opponents. The Zionists were dreamers. They saw the need for a Jewish State and took the necessary action to try to make it a reality. The anti-Zionist camp could not tolerate the risks involved. They saw the pursuit of a Jewish State as fraught with danger to the Jewish tradition. It was too risky to take Judaism into the sphere of state-making.

Similarly, Yosef was a dreamer. He saw the tremendous possibility for the worldview of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov to elevate the rest of the world through engaging with it. The brothers were satisfied with the way things were going and were resistant to change. Yosef - like the early Zionists - was a dreamer, a visionary, who was willing to go out on a limb and take risks to achieve great accomplishments.

Dreamers may bother us at times because they are seeking to change the status quo. They want to change something that we also feel needs to be changed – but we’re not dreaming. We’re not the ones working to change things. In a way, we resent the dreamer’s willingness to envision a better reality because we are unwilling to do so ourselves.

Instead of dreamers bothering us, we should become the dreamers.

Our Sages teach that dreams are 1/60 of nevuah (prophecy). We may not be nevi’im (prophets), but we are bnei nevi’im, descended from prophets. Dreams are in our DNA.

We all have a responsibility to dream.

The parsha opens with the words, “Vayeishev Yaakov, Jacob dwelled in the land.” The Sages comment, “Bikesh Yaakov leisheiv b’shalva – Jacob wanted to reside in tranquility.” Yaakov had a difficult life. He had been on the run from his brother, was mistreated by his father-in-law, had a large family to feed, and had just endured a lot of drama with Dina. He figured he deserved a little R&R and to live in peace.

Yaakov was wrong.

God comes along and sets Yaakov straight. An easy life is not the lot of the righteous individual. Life is for work. Life is to find issues causes that require our attention and fix them. Life is for dreaming.

Instead of the tranquil life Yaakov thought he deserved, the Yosef saga unfolds.

Yosef’s brothers seemed to embrace Yaakov’s attitude on life. They hated the dreaming type. Yosef reminded them of what they should be doing but weren’t. They needed to get rid of him.

In the end, Yosef was right. Yosef – and all subsequent dreamers – remind us of the need to think big and dream on. We should not sit back and settle; we need to invest effort and move forward.

Chanukah also teaches this message.

According to the Talmud, one candle per household suffices to fulfill the mitzvah of the Chanukah lights. A better form of fulfillment is to light one candle per person. The best way to fulfill the mitzvah is for each person who lights to light an ascending number of candles each night. This is called, “Mehadrin min ha-mehadrin,” the best of the best way to perform the mitzvah.

Unique among Jewish practices, EVERYONE lights Chanukah candles the best way possible. For other observances, “just enough” will suffice, but not for the Chanukah lights. On Chanukah, each of us aims high and dreams big.

Yosef is the dreamer, and it is Yosef whom we call the tzaddik, righteous. He understood that, to achieve righteousness, we must have a dream for which we are striving.

What is your dream? In what way can each of us move beyond the status quo? It may be Torah study. We can aspire to learn a book of Jewish learning, attend a class, or teach someone else more about Judaism. It may relate Israel. What can we do to be more supportive of Israel? It may be to assist those in need. What actions can we take to help them? Can we donate money or volunteer in a way that creates a more caring community?

Israeli singer Hanan Ben Ari sings, “Gam ani choleim k’mo Yosef – I also dream like Joseph.” It’s a contemporary take on overcoming challenges and achieving goals by following Yosef’s example to imagine big and change the world. We need to dream like Yosef to enhance our lives and the lives of those around us.

Dream on!