Mikeitz 5774:    Have A Heart

By Rabbi Joshua (empathically known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

 

            Pharaoh, after hearing from his cupbearer of Yosef’s talent for interpreting dreams, sends for him to interpret the troubling dream he just had. Yosef then tells him, “Not I: God will give an answer that will bring peace to Pharaoh” (Bereishis 41:11).  Onkeles translates the words “Not I” to mean, not from my wisdom.  Rav Aharon Dovid Goldberg, in his Shiras Dovid to parshas Mikeitz, cites Rav Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik, known as the Brisker Rav, as explaining this to mean that Yosef attributed his ability to interpret dreams as coming from divine prophecy.  This is similar to what Yosef told the baker and cupbearer: “Doesn’t God interpret dreams? Tell them me now” (Bereishis 40:8). Yosef interprets Pharaoh’s dream to mean that Egypt will experience seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. He then advises Pharaoh to appoint a man of understanding and wisdom to administer Egypt’s resources in a way that will avert catastrophe.  Pharaoh, apparently recognizing that Yosef's interpretation came through prophecy, tells his servants, “Will we find anyone like this, a man in who there is the spirit of God” (Bereishis 41:38).  Onkeles translates “spirit of God” to mean divine prophecy.  Pharaoh then tells Yosef, “since God has let you know all this, there is no one as understanding and wise as you” (Bereishis 41:39), and proceeds to appoint him as his viceroy.

            Rabbi Goldberg, after citing the explanation of the Brisker Rav, asks a number of questions on the idea that Yosef interpreted dreams through prophecy. The Talmud tells us that God does not give prophecy to a person unless he is, among other things, wealthy and wise. Yosef, as a prisoner, was presumably not wealthy, and he told Pharaoh that his dream interpretations were not due to any wisdom he had.  As an alternative, Rabbi Goldberg suggests an alternative explanation based on a Talmudic passage (Bava Basra 12a), as interpreted by the Ramban.  The Talmud says that, after the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, prophecy was taken from the prophets and given to the sages.  Ramban explains this as referring to the creative spark that a person gets that takes him beyond his usual intellectual capacity. This spark is a form of ruach Hakodesh, a holy spirit coming from God, a level somewhat below prophecy, but referred to as such.  It was this divine spirit that enabled Yosef to interpret dreams successfully. We need to understand, however, how Yosef merited this holy spirit, if, as he said, according to Onkeles, his wisdom was not responsible for his talent. 

            In a recent memorial service for Rav Ovadya Yosef, zt”l, Rav Meir Goldvicht, cited a midrash brought in the Yalkut Shimoni at the beginning of Mikeitz, which mentions a Tannaitic dispute as to whether the seat of wisdom is in the heart or in the head.  My teacher, Rav Aharon Soloveitchik, zt”l, would often cite this midrash, and say that both opinions are true, because these are two kinds of wisdom, or logic: wisdom of the heart and wisdom of the mind.  Rav Goldvicht brought many verses in Scripture that refer to wisdom of the heart, and emphasized particularly the verses in Melachim I 3:9 and 3:12, which relate that Shlomo, upon becoming king, asked God for a heart that can hear the people and judge them properly and that God, in response, gave him a wise and understanding heart, the likes of which did not arrive before or after him. Wisdom of the heart, explained Rav Goldvicht, takes into account the emotional element, rather than viewing things from a purely intellectual viewpoint. The emotional element is necessary in discerning people’s true needs, and, we may say, is especially important for the king, whose heart, as the Rambam says in his Sefer Ha-Mitzvos, is the heart of the Jewish nation.  Shlomo, demonstrating by his request that he understood the need for wisdom of the heart, was granted a high level of intellectual wisdom, as well.  Rav Goldvicht suggested that this occurred in regard to Rav Ovadya Yosef, zt”l.  As a result of his devotion to the people and his desire to educate them in Torah he was granted an extraordinary level of intellectual wisdom, to the extent that he became a most prolific author of halachic responsa. 

            Perhaps, then, we can suggest that, in the case of Yosef, as well, he demonstrated that he possessed wisdom of the heart, when he saw that Pharaoh’s baker and cupbearer looked sad, and asked them why they were so. That led to his dream interpretations.  In regard to Pharaoh, after interpreting the dream, he gave advice on how to save Egypt from suffering, even though he wasn’t asked to do so.  Rav Avraham ben HaRambam says that he gave this advice because he cared for the Egyptians, and did not want them to perish in the coming famine.  These displays of wisdom of the heart led, in turn, to intellectual wisdom, through which Yosef served ably as the viceroy of Pharaoh and helped Egypt survive the years of famine. 

 

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