The Dreamer
STUDENT
SUMMARIES OF SICHOT OF THE ROSHEI YESHIVA
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With gratitude
and in honor of the bar mitzvah, this year b'ezrat Hashem,
of our twin sons,
Michael and Joshua - Steven Weiner and Lisa Wise
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This shiur is
dedicated in memory of Israel Koschitzky zt"l, whose yahrzeit falls on the 19th
of Kislev.
May the world-wide
dissemination of Torah through the VBM
be a fitting tribute to a man whose
lifetime achievements exemplified the love of Eretz Yisrael and Torat
Yisrael.
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PARASHAT
VAYESHEV
SICHA OF
HARAV
The
Dreamer
Adapted
by
Translated
by
Behold, the dreamer is coming
(37:19).
Yosefs brothers certainly hated him
for the content of his dreams, which included his domination of them, but here
we see that they refer to him as the dreamer (baal chalomot),
indicating their scorn for him over the mere fact that he dreams,
irrespective of the content of those dreams. Likewise, the verse They
hated him even more, because of his dreams and because of his words (37:8)
would seem to indicate that they resent his dreams (the fact that he dreams)
along with his words (their content) although Rashi understands the
verse differently.
Yosef was a dreamer, and this fact
(along with his brothers response to it) sets in motion a chain of events that
profoundly alter the course of his life. Later on, too, we see that his destiny
continues to be shaped by dreams: the dreams of the royal butler and the royal
baker in
Later on he rushes to tell his
brothers about his dream. This, too, represents astonishing naivetי, considering
that the content of the dream is such that it is certain to arouse hatred and
jealousy on their part. Yosef, however, apparently fails to grasp that the
significance of the dream is that his brothers will be subservient to him. And
once his brothers have already responded harshly to his dream and now hate him
even more than they did before, he still does not hesitate to tell them about
his second dream. It does not seem reasonable to posit that Yosef sought at this
stage to rub salt into the wound. A more likely interpretation of his behavior
is that he simply did not perceive what was happening around him; he saw no
reason not to share his dream. We may say that Yosef was naive, absorbed in his
own world and detached from reality, while his brothers were practical people
with their feet firmly on the ground.
While Yosefs behavior seems
undesirable, we cannot reject his experience out of hand. The Gemara
(Berakhot 14a) teaches that anyone who sleeps seven consecutive nights
without any dream is called evil. A person must not confine himself completely
to the present reality and have no dreams at all.
This applies not only to individuals,
but also on the communal and national level. Zionism is, to a great extent, a
dream. It is the dream of all Jews throughout two thousand years of exile, and
the dream of a group of individuals during the 19th century, who knew
how to translate this dream into reality. Today, there is a prevailing sense
that this dream has come to an end: part of it has been realized, part has been
buried, and there is nothing left to dream about. A Jew may not feel this way.
Even if we withdraw from parts of Eretz Yisrael, we may not
relinquish our existential connection to the land. We may not forget the vision
and the dream of dwelling in the whole of Eretz Yisrael and achieving the
full and complete redemption. Our feeling must be as it was in
1948.
On the individual level, a yeshiva
student must not lose his dream; he must not look only at reality. Every yeshiva
student must have dreams both in terms of his learning and in terms of
building his personality and his fear of Heaven. Even if his dreams are
far-fetched and impossible to attain, there is still great importance in having
a dream so that at least some of it will be achieved. Limiting oneself too
closely to reality serves to weaken ones ability to progress and develop. In this sense, we should all strive to
be like the dreamer.
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