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I found the explanation of Yosef's first dream given by RSRH on Bereshis
37: 7-8 most interesting. YL<br><br>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>According to the foregoing, Yosef
told his brothers: “</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>In my
dream<br>
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>we were not so divided.
We were united in our work; we worked together,<br>
piling up the small sheaves into large heaps in the middle of the<br>
field. I, too, was prepared to add my own small sheaf to the large
common<br>
heap, but my sheaf could not be moved. It stood up and remained<br>
upright; it refused to be carried to the common heap in the center.<br>
What is more, your sheaves formed a circle around my sheaf and bowed<br>
down before my sheaf!”<br><br>
This is a perfect portrayal of an isolated individual who towers in<br>
stature above his brothers, who are gathered around him in a gesture<br>
of obeisance. This happened against his will; he had been prepared
to<br>
make his own small contribution to the whole, and thereby be
integrated<br>
with all the others.<br><br>
It is also interesting to note that the objects in Yosef ’s dream
were<br>
sheaves of wheat. Agriculture was not the brothers’ occupation; they<br>
were shepherds. Their destiny to become an agricultural nation was
still<br>
in the distant future. If farming was so much in Yosef ’s thoughts
that<br>
he even dreamed about it, this could have been so only because his<br>
father, Yisrael, had taught him about the national destiny that was
in<br>
store for his family.<br><br>
Precisely for this reason the brothers felt justified in their
response:<br>
“Do you want to become king over us some day? Or do you perhaps<br>
want to be ruler over us even now? Such notions should not occur to<br>
you even in a dream!” And so they hated him all the more, not only<br>
because of the nature of his dream, but also for his impudence — as<br>
they saw it — in telling them of it.</font></body>
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