TAKING INITIATIVE

“Pharaoh said to his servants: Can we find someone like this, a man in whom there is the spirt of God?” Pharaoh said to Yosef: After God has disclosed all this to you, there is none as insightful and wise as you.” (Bereishit 41:38-39)

The head of the greatest empire of antiquity was mightily impressed with Yosef after the former jailbird and slave had interpreted Pharaoh’s dream to the king’s satisfaction. What was it that so impressed Pharaoh?  Rabbi Steinsaltz (Weisfeld Edition of the Humash) suggests, “Pharaoh was deeply impressed by Joseph.  Perhaps Joseph’s appearance contributed to this, as he appeared in civilian clothes and presumably, by this point, spoke fluent Egyptian. Like most of those who accounted Joseph, Pharaoh recognized his wisdom and potential, and he realized that Joseph merited even divinely inspired insight.”

This is certainly correct but I believe there was something else. A careful reader of the Torah will notice that Pharaoh described Yosef as being both “insightful”, navon and “wise”, chacham. These are not mere synonyms but rather refer to different aspects of intellectual ability. When Hashem informs Moshe that he has selected Betzalel as the head craftsman of the Tabernacle, He enumerates his various qualities (Shmot 31:4), “I have filled him with a divine spirit, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship.” Rashi explains: “Wisdom (chochmah) – this is what a person hears from others and learns.  Understanding (tevunah) – this refers to one who understands things on his own out of things that he has learned.” This ability could best be called the power of extrapolation, an act or instance of inferring an unknown from something that is known. Wisdom, the first level, is the mere retention and knowledge of facts. Insight or understanding is the power to take those facts and find new meaning in them, to build new edifices of wisdom with existing knowledge.

At the beginning of his epic address to the Israelites prior to his passing, Moshe reminds the people that God had instructed him to appoint judges (Devarim 1:13), “Get for you men, wise, and understanding and known to your tribes and I will place them at your head.” Once again, the qualities of wisdom and understanding are specified. Here Rashi (citing the Sifrei 13) elaborates, “Understanding (nevonim) – They can logically derive one thing from another. This is what Arius (a 4^th century CE Christian theologian) asked [the Mishnaic sage] Rabbi Yose, “What is the difference between ‘those who are wise’ and ‘those who are understanding’? Rabbi Yose answered, ‘One who is wise’ is like a rich moneychanger. When they bring him dinars to examine, he examines, and when they do not bring him money to examine, he sits and wonders. ‘One who is understanding’ is like an enterprising moneychanger. When they bring him money to examine, he examines, and when they do not bring him money to examine, he goes about and brings in business on his own.”

In this second comment of Rashi, he seems to be adding a further aspect to the quality of tevunah, understanding, and that is initiative. The navon takes the bull by the horns and attempts something new. He is not content with the status quo. He does not wait until wisdom is brought to him, he goes out to seek it, using his existing knowledge as a base from which to grow. This is the quality that Pharaoh saw in Yosef. In the verses 25 to 32, Yosef interprets the dream of Pharaoh. He explains the significance of the seven healthy cows and the seven sickly cows as well as the seven full ears of grain and the seven withered ears of grain.  They represent, explained Yosef, seven years of plenty followed by seven years of crippling famine. The repetition of the dream signifies that the matter is close at hand and that Hashem is rushing to do it. But then, from verses 33 to 36, Yosef does something surprising. He offers Pharaoh unsolicited advice: “Now, let Pharaoh look for an insightful and wise man and install him over the land of Egypt. Pharaoh should proceed and appoint officials over the land, and he shall supply the land of Egypt during the seven years of plenty.  They will gather all the food of these coming good years and mass grain under the control of Pharaoh; they will collect food in the cities and they will preserve it. The food shall be for a security for the land for the seven years of famine that shall be in the land of Egypt, and the land shall not perish in the famine.”

Yosef could have been content with simply interpreting Pharaoh’s dream. He was good at dream interpretation as we saw at the end of the previous parsha in respect of the chief butler and the chief baker.  It is highly likely that Pharaoh would have pardoned him and allowed him to live as a free man in Egypt rather than sending him back to the dungeon or to the house of Potiphar. However, in that unique, once-in-a-lifetime moment before the king of Egypt, Yosef saw a great opportunity. He could save an entire country from starvation and at the same time, promote himself to a position of power and authority that would ultimately allow him to bring his father and family to Egypt. In a split second, he decided to take the initiative and present his plan to Pharaoh. His plan worked. He was promoted to viceroy of the empire; he was given a wife, riches and incredible power. And he did indeed save the country and bring his family from Canaan. I am reminded of Mordechai’s words to Esther when the former was trying to convince her to go into the king and beg for her nation (Esther 4:14), “For if you are silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish; who knows whether you have attained royalty for as time like this?” Mordechai was saying, “Do you ever wonder why you of all people was made queen of Persia? Why was it that from all the hundreds of maidens that were brought to the king, it was you that he selected? Could it not be for this precise moment that you use you influence and position to plead for the lives of your brethren! Now is the time to step forward and to show initiative!”

I have met many chachamim but very few nevonim. Baruch Hashem, the Jewish community is not short of very smart people. We value education as a basic foundation of our faith. But mere knowledge of facts and information is not sufficient. For our communities to flourish, we need people who are prepared to take the knowledge they have and apply it to new situations that have not existed before. And we need this in every sphere of life from the holy to the mundane. Don’t wait for someone else to take the initiative, if you have the skills and the knowledge – put yourself forward, like Yosef did. And the rest is history.

Lee, Chani Merryl & Naomi join me in wishing you Shabbat Shalom.  Rabbi Liebenberg

Rabbi’s YouTube message for Shabbat Chanukah (from the archive): https://youtu.be/66aKufzmXwk?si=efllUeH0z35pRyll

*Tuesday 31 December and Monday 1 January – Rosh Chodesh Tevet

Tevet contains the final days of Chanukah and also the Fast of the Tenth of Tevet (Friday 10 January) which commemorates the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in the era of the First Temple. The Molad (appearance of the new moon) for Tevet is on Monday 30 December at 17h33 and 16 chalakim. (A chelek, literally a “portion”, is a Talmudic measure of time equal to one-eighteenth of a minute, or 3 and 1/3 seconds).