Kingly dreams – Mikketz
A cycle of dream stories plays a major role in the sidrot at this time of year.
Joseph’s dream, from the Holman Bible, 1890
Not long ago the Torah reading described Joseph’s dreams which caused such havoc in the family. Last week it was the butler and baker whose dreams were featured. This week Pharaoh himself has dreams.
Since night-time dreams tend to deal with day-time concerns, it is no wonder that the king dreams about economic issues, wheat, meat, supply and demand; he is standing by the River Nile, which was so important to Egyptian life.
If you ask today’s people what they dream about, some will tell you they never dream, which is highly unlikely; others know they had a dream but remember next to nothing about it.
It is a safe guess that politicians dream of party and parliamentary issues, educators of classrooms and curricula, doctors of patients and potions, and rabbis dream of synagogues and other rabbis.
There is a difference between dreams and visions.
Dreams usually happen at night, though occasionally they intrude upon the day and take the form of daydreams. Visions are day-time flights of fancy. Dreams mostly take no account of realities, but visions do.
If you have a vision it is likely to be a long-term picture of what can be done with the realities of life to create a Utopia.
