Parashat Miketz Prophetic Dreams

0:04Here we have, it happened at the end of two years to the day. What is the end of the two years to the day? Yosef HaTzaddik was in prison in a dungeon for 10 years. after the end of last week's parsha, where Yosef interpreted the dreams of the Chamberlain of the Cupbearers and the Chamberlain of the Bakers, the Chamberlain of the Cupbearers saw that the interpretation was favorable, and he was freed. Yosef asked him for a favor, if he would be so kind, to put in a good word for him with Pharaoh to see if he could secure his release. Having faith in a person and not one hundred percent in Hashem, at his level, Yosef got punished with an additional two years added to the divine decree of him being in prison. So instead of it being ten years, it ended up being twelve years. So this Parsha starts: it happened at the end of two years, meaning the end of the two extra years that were added to the sentence of Yosef.

1:14This happened on that day where Par'oh was dreaming that behold, he was standing over a river. When behold, out of the river, there emerged seven cows of beautiful appearance and robust flesh; they were grazing in the marshland. Then behold, seven other cows emerged after them out of the river, of ugly appearance and gaunt flesh, and... they stood next to the cows on the bank of the river. The cows of ugly appearance and gaunt flesh ate the seven cows of beautiful appearance and robust. And Pharaoh woke up. He fell asleep and dreamt a second time. Why is it mentioning a second time? Why do we care about the first and second time? It's telling us that the first dream is connected to the second dream. Behold, the seven ears of grain were sprouting on a single stalk, healthy and good. And behold, seven ears, thin and scorched by the east wind, were growing after them. We see the similarities between the first dream and the second dream: both involve seven, both are, uh, beautiful and ugly.

2:26then we see, then the thin ears swallowed up the seven healthy and full ears, and Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it had been a dream. We see the same thing happen again: the ugly, deathly-looking cows ate the good and healthy ones, and this was a dream. But this was a prophetic dream, and Pharaoh went to his necromancers, his wizards. ask him to interpret the dream. He immediately went to the suit of the mystical, the supernatural, the powers of impurity, but they could not interpret the dream. Then he went to his wise men, and his wise men could not interpret the dream either. Then the chamberlain of cupbearers... throws a suggestion where he brings Yosef, and the Torah tells us that since the sentence is done, the verse says in chapter 41, verse 14:

3:48Super all sent and summoned Yosef, and they rushed him from the dungeon. He shaved, and he changed his clothes, and he came to Pharaoh. See here, we see a little bit of unusual behavior in the words where, on one hand, it says that Pharaoh summoned Yosef to get him out of this dungeon. He wants somebody to interpret his dream; no one else can do it, and they hurry him up. They rush him, but then... see that this rushing wasn't really about getting him to interpret the dream right now lest Pharaoh forget because even though they rushed him out of the dungeon, they didn't bring him to Pharaoh immediately. Rather, they groomed him; they gave him a haircut, a shave, and fit him with brand new beautiful clothes. If it's such a hurry, why do you care what Yosef looks like? He's a prisoner. Obviously, we see here that the The Torah is telling us a different message, which is one of the most critical messages for a person to know: that the divine decree comes from Hashem, who laughs at our efforts. If there is a decree for someone to succeed, no one in the world can cause them to fail.

5:11than they themselves by doing something that would cause them to lose that blessing that they have. On the other hand, if there's a decree for someone to, God forbid, be sick, to die, or to suffer in any other way, no one in the world can change that decree other than the person themselves. This is why When people come to me and they ask me, "Listen, can you please give a blessing or pray for such and such person? Or can you have one of your Dayanim or even the Mekubal that we're connected to, or a couple of them, Baruch Hashem, do a Pidyon Nefesh or do one of the Tikunim or something for such and such person?" The first thing that I ask is if these people are... Torah observant, and if they're not, they have to become. If they're not willing to become Torah observant, if they're not willing to take on mitzvot and keep Shabbat and take on an important mitzvah, then we simply tell them that the prayers are not going to help. And even the times, many times when people offer us money.

6:27say, listen, pray, do such and such for such and such person, and, uh, we'll donate this. And I told them, don't donate anything. I don't want you to donate, not because we don't need the money, because we can certainly use it for a million and a half different things that we have on the, uh, on the list, but rather because I don't want you to think just because you paid money that it's going to work. It doesn't work that way. The money helps, but we need a mitzvah from that person to make it help. Oh, can I do a mitzvah for them? No. They themselves have to help themselves. You can't do a mitzvah for them. You can't do a mitzvah to help somebody that is, in essence, declaring themselves an enemy of Hashem. They're not keeping Shabbat. They're not keeping family purity. They make fun of the Torah. No mitzvah in the world is going to help them other than the mitzvah that they do. And so long as they deny... Torah HaKadosh who denies them the blessing. Now, here we see that the Torah is telling us clearly that if there is a divine decree that a person is supposed to suffer, that divine decree, on the same day that HaKadosh Baruch Hu decrees it, He also decrees its end and...

7:49when it will end and no one in the world can get in the way of that, and therefore he teaches us in this pasuk. So Par'oh sent and summoned Yosef, and they rushed him from the dungeon. Meaning that the moment the decree of Yosef being in the prison was completed, the world was not allowed to continue functioning. with him being in a dungeon, meaning they had to rush him out of this dungeon because the decree is over. Now, as far as meeting with Paro, that's secondary. You need to groom him, you need to take care of him, change his clothes, give him a haircut. We're not in such a hurry for that. The key is that the decree is over. This is very, very important for people, especially those who are either depressed or borderline depressed because they’re, you know, going through a tough time. you know, the financial issues, health issues, marriage issues, zivug issues, all types of things. You should know, as long as you yourself do not ruin your blessing, as long as you yourself do not do things that cause you to get more difficulties. If you're doing everything that you're supposed to do, you're serving Hashem, you pray to Him,

9:15give tzedakah, you learn Torah, you follow the mitzvot. You do all the things that you're supposed to do, and you're not ruining the blessing by violating Shabbat, by wasting seed, by being immoral, by stealing, by gambling. You know, all the same list that causes people to lose their blessing that we always talk about, as long as you're not ruining your blessing. You should know that dark cloud that's above you right now, that's causing you to lose money, that's causing you to be sick, that's causing you to have difficulty, that dark cloud has an expiration date. And that expiration date will come. That expiration date will come. Don't lose hope. Don't jump off. Don't become depressed. Why? There's no point. Depression is not going to make that dark cloud go away. In fact, it may cause it to stay longer. Killing yourself is not going to make the dark cloud go away. It'll just make it permanent.

10:22The key is to know the dark cloud has an expiration date. You can do things to make it go away sooner, but all of them have to do with spirituality and not with beautifying yourself, working out, taking vitamins, or being more aggressive in your search for a new wife. None of that stuff is going to help you. The key is to connect to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. That's going to make you realize that the difficulties have an expiration date. We are meant to be a light unto the nations, not to follow their misguided practices. Remember, every Jew has to remember that he's a Jew and she's a Jew. We don't celebrate non-Jewish holidays, even if they seem harmless. It's a zilzul, disrespect, to the Torah and could lead to Chilul Hashem, desecration of God's name. Stick to our holy Torah and our own holidays. That's the path of a true Jew. to the Torah and could lead to Chilul Hashem, desecration of Hashem's name. Stick to our holy Torah and our own chagim. That's the derech of a true Yid.