It’s A Numbers Game

 Parshat Vayeshev 

by Rabbi Avi Billet

Yosef experiences his own dreams at the beginning of the parsha, and he hears of the dreams of the Pharaoh’s officers at the end of the parsha. In the beginning of Miketz, we will read of Pharaoh’s dreams, and then we will watch as Pharaoh recounts his dreams to Yosef. 

In every dream except Yosef’s first dream there is a specific number that is pointed out in the retelling. 11 stars, 3 vines, 3 baskets, 7 cows and 7 cows, 7 stalks and 7 stalks. 

In every case the number is presented as a count of a physical (or celestial) object, but the number, in most cases turns out to be interpreted as depicting a passage of time. Interestingly, Yosef’s dream of the stars is never properly interpreted for him, and it happens to be that 11 years pass from the time of his dream until the time he interprets the dreams for Pharaoh’s officers. This could be a coincidence, but it could also be that his dream meant 11 years would pass before he could see the path to the people of the universe (as represented by the sun, moon, and stars) would be bowing to him. He still would not know how that would come about – because he would not only have to be granted an audience with Pharaoh, but in their few minutes together, he’d have to convince the king that he (Yosef) is the right man for a rulership position in Egypt. 

While dream interpretation is not a very common skill, the idea that Yosef’s dreams of rulership would be translated to taking place in Egypt specifically, especially in light of the circumstances that brought Yosef to Egypt and his imprisonment there, seems beyond even Yosef’s skills to determine from his own dream. 

But nothing is impossible. Yosef was very forward with the officers in the prison – perhaps taking risks that were far beyond his position, status and pay grade – in talking to them and offering his services. He was very bold in telling the Sar HaMashkim (chief wine pourer) to tell Pharaoh about him. Was Yosef hedging his bets? Or did his interpretation of the Sar HaMashkim’s dream include his suggestion because the idea of tendrils blossoming and of a grape producing fine wine spoke to Yosef’s own experience. Perhaps hearing the dreams helped Yosef see that life in Egypt is fluid. Officers are imprisoned, and sometimes executed, at the whim of the king. There is a chance, even for an imprisoned slave, to be taken out of prison and given a chance to rise to power. 

Yosef’s strength as an interpreter, then, is most connected to his ability to see what the numbers mean. Had he told the officers that 3 meant something else, or if he gave a timeframe that turned out to be inaccurate (i.e. 3 weeks, months, years) his ship would have been sunk and the story would have been over. 

It seems, then, that Yosef’s strength is in the numbers, and perhaps, in hedging his bets. 

While it happens every now and then that we have two Shabbos Chanukahs, it is extremely rare to have Shabbos Chanukah coincide only with Parshas Vayeshev. Usually Shabbos Chanukah coincides with Miketz, which makes the haftorah for Miketz that appears in the Chumash – the story of Shlomo Hamelekh and the mothers dispute over whose baby has survived –one of the least-read haftorahs. 

While that Haftorah is not a numbers game, it does contain motifs that parallel the Torah’s narrative – such as Shlomo waking up to realize he had a dream (as Pharaoh did), and the women having their dispute on the 3rd day after having giving birth (3rd day after the dreams is when the officers were given resolution) – including, most notably, Shlomo hedging his bets that the woman whose child died would play her hand wrong and indicate she didn’t care if the baby were put to death. 

While Chanukah is a holiday largely focused on miracles – the miracle of the oil and miracle of the military victory – it also plays a numbers game that demonstrates a strength, fortitude, and resilience that would do us well to remember is part of our shared communal history. 

Moshe tells us in Devarim 7:7, “It is not because you are many that God desired you and chose you, for you are actually very few in number compared to the nations of the world.” 

It seems that our low numbers are in fact our strength. Al HaNissim notes the “Rabbim b’yad M’atim” – how the many (Assyrian Greeks) fell to the hands of the few (the Maccabees). 

Of course it defies logic, but the strength of the Jewish people is not always logical. 

We live with numbers. We count numbers to determine the right time to have a bris, to begin chinukh, to celebrate bar/bat mitzvah. We note the Mishnah in Avos 5 that gives ages for life’s milestones. In Tehillim 90 (“(Tefillah L’Moshe” which we read in Shabbos/Yom Tov pesukei D’Zimrah), Moshe noted that “the days of our years are 70, and if with increase, eighty years…” 

And of course, Chanukah is a holiday of a number – the number 8. Beis Shammai felt we should decrease the number of candles we light each day, beginning with 8 and ending the last night with only one candle. Beis Hillel felt we should increase the number of candles, lighting one the first night leading up to eight candles on the last night. Beis Shammai wanted to parallel the offerings of bulls on Sukkos, where the number of bulls offered daily went down each day. Beis Hillel follows the principle of “maalin b’kodesh v’ein moridin” – that we increase our holiness and don’t decrease it. We have a similar attitude in having a count-up during Sefirat Ha’omer instead of a countdown. 

8 is a unique number in our tradition – it is the day of a bris. It is also the day of a newborn animal’s life when it becomes fit to be a korban. It is also the day when a person who had to undergo certain purification processes became “tahor.” In these Biblical examples, the 8th day becomes a day when the baby, the animal, the newly tahor are raised to a point where a spiritual fulfillment purpose previously unavailable to them and unattainable is now open for them to reach tremendous heights – as a Jew bearing the mark of the covenant, as an animal fit to be a korban, as a person now fit to serve God as far into the Temple Mount as his purity can take him. This is very much contingent on our input and our effort. 

Chanukah certainly reflects this. Whether it is the actions of the heroes of the Chanukah story, or our own efforts to publicly light our Menorahs and display our heritage, that primes us to be ready to engage in level 2 of the Maccabean victory – to return the Temple Service to the most ideal form it could be. 

Like Yosef, we must do what we can to move ahead forging our destiny. If he had sat by, he’d have gotten no promotions in Potiphar’s house, no promotion in the prison, and no audience with Pharaoh. He was patient with his numbers. He waited. 

Chanukah’s increasing number reminds us that we can’t just light candles and expect amazing things to happen. It behooves us to ask ourselves how can we make Chanukah infuse our spiritual connections as well. Like Yosef who remained Yosef HaTzaddik in a foreign land, Chanukah’s message is that we too can thrive in a foreign land, if we have our wits about us and a laser focus on our spiritual goals. 

Beis Hillel is right in this numbers game. We must be rising in holiness so Chanukah and we are not ships passing in the night. The Chanukah lights are needed to reignite the flame of our connection with the Almighty. It is up to us to note it, and ride the Chanukah wave for many months.