This week’s Torah portion, Parashat Vayeshev, features two of Joseph’s dreams, both of which clearly imply that his brothers will bow down to him. Already spiteful toward Joseph because he is their father Jacob’s favorite son, now “they hated him even more” (Genesis 37:5). Soon, they sell him off to a passing caravan of traders heading to Egypt.
Based on the simple line “Joseph dreamed a dream” (Genesis 37:5), the Zohar launches into an extended exploration of the nature of dreams and their significance before finally revealing something remarkable about the brothers’ reaction to Joseph.
Let’s dig in:
And Joseph dreamed a dream. Rabbi Hiyya opened: “He said, ‘Hear My words: If there be among you a prophet of God, in a vision I make Myself known to him, in a dream I speak with him.” (Numbers 12:6) Come and see how many rungs upon rungs the blessed Holy One has made, all standing one atop the other, rung upon rung, this above that, all absorbing suitably, these on the right, those on the left, each appointed over another, all fittingly.
Come and see: All prophets of the world absorb from a single facet, through two known rungs. Those rungs appeared through a dim glass, as is written: “In a vision (ba-mar’ah), I make Myself known to him.” Who is mar’ah? As has been said: a mirror in which all colors appear; this is the dim glass.
Rabbi Hiyya begins by quoting a biblical verse describing prophecy, which he then maps on to the network of sefirot. Within that network, the lower rungs absorb the flow of emanation from higher rungs. “Right” and “left” allude to the sefirot of Hesed (Kindness) and Din (Judgment), the two poles of divine being whose opposite qualities color the world. The “two known rungs” through which prophecy is received are another pair of sefirot, Netzah (Eternity) and Hod (Splendor), which together transmit prophetic vision.
The image of a dim glass (literally, “a speculum that does not shine”) is one we encountered in the Zohar’s exploration of Abraham’s mindset as he prepared to sacrifice his son. It derives from the Babylonian Talmud (Yevamot 49b), which states that while Moses could receive prophecy through a clear glass, the other prophets did so through a dim one.
In the Zohar, the dim glass is associated with Shekhinah, the indwelling presence of God that does not shine on its own, but rather reflects and transmits the other sefirot. Shekhinah is thus the medium through which the prophet perceives his vision. The Hebrew word mar’ah means both “vision” and “mirror.” Shekhinah reflects all the colors of the sefirot to the gaze of the prophet, but not with full clarity. As a result, some degree of falsehood always finds its way into prophecy.
The Zohar continues:
“In a dream I speak with him” — one-sixtieth of prophecy, as has been established. It is the sixth rung from that rung of prophecy, rung of Gabriel, appointed over dreams, as already explained.
Come and see: Every seemly dream proceeds from this rung, so you cannot have a dream without false material intermingling, as they have established. Consequently some of them are true and some are false, and you cannot have a dream that does not contain both this side and that.
According to the Babylonian Talmud (Berakhot 57b), a dream is one-sixtieth of prophecy. Six stages span the phenomena of prophecy and dreams: four sefirot (Netzach, Hod, Yesod and Shekhinah) and the first two archangels (Michael and Gabriel). But because Gabriel, the angel appointed over dreams, stands beneath Shekhinah and thus outside the purely divine realm, demonic forces in the vicinity can smuggle false images into dream material. As the Talmud (Berakhot 55a) teaches: “Just as there cannot be wheat without straw, so there cannot be a dream without nonsense.”
The Zohar continues:
Since a dream includes all, as we have said, all dreams of the world follow oral interpretation. This has been established, for it is written: “As he interpreted to us, so it was.” (Genesis 41:13). Why? Because a dream contains falsehood and truth, and the word controls all, so a dream needs favorable interpretation.
Because dreams contain both some truth and some falsehood, their true meaning depends upon their interpretation. The prooftext for this claim comes from Genesis: “As he interpreted to us, so it was.” This verse is spoken by Pharaoh’s chief cupbearer, who describes how Joseph accurately interpreted his dream and that of the chief baker when all three were imprisoned in Egypt. Given the importance of interpretation, the Zohar then makes a striking claim:
“Joseph dreamed a dream and told it to his brothers, and they hated him even more.” (Genesis 37:5) From here we learn that a person should tell his dream only to one who loves him. Otherwise, he may prove decisive, for if that dream changes tone, he is the cause.
The interpreter of a dream has a powerful effect on the fulfillment of the dream. If a dreamer tells his dream to someone who hates him, this enemy can harm him by the spiteful tone of his interpretation. This notion is now illustrated by the brothers’ interpretation of Joseph’s dream.
What is written? “He said to them, ‘Listen, please, to this dream that I dreamed’” (Genesis 37:6) — begging them to listen; then he revealed that dream to them. If they had transformed its tone, so it would have been fulfilled. But they responded by saying, “Will you really reign over us? Will you really rule us?” (Genesis 37:8). Suddenly they had told him the interpretation of the dream, enacting a decree. That is why they hated him even more.
When Joseph told his dream to his brothers, they reacted angrily: “Will you really reign over us?” Their response guaranteed that precisely this would happen: Joseph would eventually exert power over them as the vizier of Egypt. For the Zohar, the brothers’ added hatred (“They hated him even more”) stems not just from their resentment against Joseph’s dreams, his spoiled nature and his being favored by their father, but from realizing what they had just done to themselves. By verbally expressing their interpretation, the brothers had sealed both their fate and his!
This piece was originally published as part of A Year of Zohar: Kabbalah for Everyone, an original series produced by My Jewish Learning and Sefaria. Sign up for the entire series here.
