This
past Thanksgiving I had the privilege and honor of joining my brother-in-law,
Coach David Zimmerman and his good friend Brian Scott to be a guest on ‘The
Last Call Podcast’, talking about Dallas sports (available on iTunes). In our conversation we talked a lot about the
Dallas Cowboys and the situation with their quarterback Tony Romo. He had been injured during the first part of
the season and little did we know as we were talking that he would be injured
again that Thursday, probably ending his season. Our discussion revolved around the fact that
it is clear that Tony Romo, at his age, is coming towards the end of his playing
career and we talked about how the Dallas Cowboys plan for the future?
In
this week's Torah portion we have Pharaoh's dreams. His first dream involves: “seven cows,
handsome and sturdy, and they grazed in the reed grass” (Gen. 41:2) coming from
the Nile. They are then followed by seven
other cows, ugly and gaunt, and the gaunt cows eat up the handsome sturdy cows. He then has a second, similar dream about
corn. Now I'm not an expert in the interpretation
of dreams and I'm not sure what my answer would have been if Pharaoh had asked
for my explanation. But it is clear that
in both cases these dreams were ripe for interpretation and ripe for an
explanation involving seven good things and then seven negative things.
When
Pharaoh sends for all of Egypt's wise men and magicians none of them can
interpret the dream for Pharaoh. I find
this hard to believe and I wonder if Pharaoh was really looking for an
interpretation of the dream. When his
cup bearer steps forward and tells him of Joseph and his skill for interrupting
dreams, Joseph is rushed from the dungeon to offer the interpretation. And as we read of Joseph’s interpretation it
is not simply that he says that this means there will be seven good years and
then seven bad years; he actually offers the necessary planning for the
future.
Joseph
tells Pharaoh what he must do in order to secure the future for Egypt: “let
Pharaoh find a man of discernment and wisdom, and set him over the land of
Egypt. And let Pharaoh take steps to
appoint overseers over the land, and organize the land of Egypt in the seven
years of plenty. Let all the food of
these good years that are coming be gathered, and let the grain be collected
under Pharaoh's authority as food to be stored in the cities” (Gen 41:33-35). Joseph’s skill in this moment is not just in
interpreting the dream, but it is in planning for the future. He sees the writing on the wall, recognizing
that there will be seven good years and seven bad years, and then he plans
accordingly.
Through
this planning Joseph saved not just Egypt, but ultimately his own family and
therefore, by extension, all of us, the Jewish people. When we see the writing
on the wall, whether we are Joseph, the Dallas Cowboys, or anyone else, the
important thing is that we plan accordingly and prepare for the future.
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