## Mei HaShiloach, Volume I, Genesis, Miketz

###### Mei HaShiloach, Volume I, Genesis, Miketz 1
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**ויהי מקץ שנתים ימים.** בזוה"ק (בראשית קצ"ג:) ר"א פתח חי ה' וברוך צורי וירום אלקי ישעי. חי ה' היינו מי שיש לו לב טהור ומנוקה מכל חמדות שבעולם רק דבוק בחיים נצחיים, וברוך צורי היינו מי שמכיר שכל הטובות הם רק מהש"י ולכן יש לו עין טובה, אז וירום אלקי ישעי היינו שישיג ישועות גבוהים, יותר מכפי שכלו. כי טרם יתברר האדם באלו דברים הנזכרים אין באפשר ליתן לו ישועות כי עוד אינו כלי בהיר לקבל, ולזאת ויהי מקץ שנתים ימים היינו אחר שנתברר באלו השני דברים, אז חלם פרעה והשיג תיכף ישועה, עד עת בא דברו אמרת ה' צרפתהו, כי בלילה ההוא גדלה צעקת יוסף הצדיק שובה ה' עד מתי ותיכף השיג ישועה. וע"ז כתיב (תהלים פ"ח,ב') ה' אלקי ישועתי וכו' צעקתי בלילה נגדך, כי כך הוא מדותיו של הקב"ה טרם אשר יתן הישועה מביא בלב האדם צעקה בזה למען אשר יקרא יגיע כפיך.

**Living waters, the Mei HaShiloach. Trans. and edited by Betsalel Philip Edwards, Jerusalem, J. Aronson 2001 [Revised digital edition, 2021]:**
*“And it was, at the end of two years ….”* (Bereshit, 41:1)
It is written in the holy Zohar (*Bereshit*, 193b), “Rabbi Elazar opened and said, ‘God lives and blessed is my Rock, God shall elevate my salvation’” (*Tehilim*, 18:47). “God lives,” meaning one who has a pure heart, cleaned from all the desires of the world, and cleaving only to eternal life. “And blessed is my Rock” means one who recognizes that all good things come only from God, and therefore has a good eye. Then (it follows that), “God shall elevate my salvation,” meaning that he will apprehend salvations beyond the power of his intellect to grasp. Before man has been clarified in the areas mentioned it is not yet possible to give him salvations, for he is not yet a vessel illuminated for reception. And with this in mind it says, “and it was, at the end of two years,” meaning after these two areas had been clarified, then Pharaoh dreamed his dream, and he (Yosef) immediately apprehended salvation—“until the time that His word came, the utterance of God refined him” (*Tehilim*, 105:19). For on that very night the cry of Yosef haTsaddik, “how long before You return, God?” (Psalms, 90:30) reached such great proportions, that he achieved salvation immediately. On this it is said (*Tehilim*, 88:2), “Hashem, God of my salvation … I cried out before You at night.” These are the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He, where before He gives salvation He causes man’s heart to cry out so strongly that it will be called “the work of your hands.”


###### Mei HaShiloach, Volume I, Genesis, Miketz 2
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**ויהי מקץ שנתים ימים ופרעה חלם.** שנתים ימים רומז כי בשני ימים נבראו כל הטובות שבעולם היינו ביום ג' נברא טובת אכילה וביום ו' נברא צורת האדם היינו שורש חיים וכבוד והתנשאות, כי האדם מנושא על כל, וכאשר יזדכך האדם באלו השנים יבא לישועה, וזה פי' ויהי מקץ שנתים ימים היינו כשיהיה הסוף וקץ בהרע שיש באלו השני ימים אז מיד תבא הישועה, וע"ז רומז התחלת המדרש בפ' הזאת היינו כשיבא קץ לחושך היינו להרע הנמצא באלו הדברים אז יבא תיכף הישועה.

**Living waters, the Mei HaShiloach. Trans. and edited by Betsalel Philip Edwards, Jerusalem, J. Aronson 2001 [Revised digital edition, 2021]:**
*“And it was, at the end of two years of days, and Pharaoh dreamed ….”* (Bereshit, 41:1)
“Years—of days” hints that in two days all the good of the world were created. That is, in the third day God created all the good we receive from eating, and on the sixth day God created the form of man, meaning the root of life and the honor of elevation, for man is elevated above all. Salvation comes when man is refined in these two aspects. This is the meaning of “and it was, at the end of two years of days,” meaning when there is a complete end of the evil in these two days, then salvation will comes at once. This is the meaning of the Midrash at the beginning of the *Parsha* [which reads: “He sets an end to the darkness” (Job, 28:3]. He gave a time to the world—how many years would be made in darkness. And what is the meaning of “He sets an end to darkness”? For all the while the evil inclination is in the world there is darkness and the shadow of death in the world, as it is written, “stones of darkness and the shadow of death” (Job, 28:3), meaning the evil inclination will be uprooted from the world; there will be no darkness and shadow of death in the world. Another meaning of “He sets an end to darkness” is, He allotted Yosef the twelve years he would be in darkness in the prison, and when the end came, then Pharaoh dreamed his dream. That is, when an end comes to the darkness, which is the end of the evil existing in these two aspects, then salvation comes immediately.


###### Mei HaShiloach, Volume I, Genesis, Miketz 3
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**ויהי מקץ שנתים ימים.** הענין שהיה יוסף בבית הסוהר תחילה עשר שנים ואח"כ נתוסף לו עוד שניים, כי תחלה נגזר עליו עשר יען כי חטא נגד עשרה שבטים ואח"כ כאשר נתברר בבית הסוהר אז נתוסף לו עוד שנים נגד עצמו ונגד בנימין, כי כך הוא המדה כאשר יחטא האדם נגד הש"י אז יביאהו ה' לברורים אשר האדם יסבול מהם, ואח"כ כאשר יתברר לטוב ויתכפר אז צריך לסבול מזה עצמו כי למה היה צריך להכניס עצמו בדבר הצריך בירר ויוצרך לסבול מזה כי ממה שהאדם סובל גם כביכול הש"י סובל עמו כי בכל צרתם לו צר, ולכן כאשר יברר האדם את עצמו כפי חטאו, אז נוסף לזה הבירר צריך לברר את עצמו גם על צערו, כי גם זה הוא שמץ חטא כמו שמבואר בגמ' (תענית י"א.) אשר חטא שציער את עצמו, לכן בתחילה נגזר על יוסף עשר שנים נגד עשרה אחיו ואח"כ כאשר נתברר בבית הסוהר ככסף צרוף בעליל, אז הוצרך להתברר על צערו ועל צער בנימין אחיו ואחר שבירר גם את זה באלו השתי שנים אז מיד נפדה.

**Living waters, the Mei HaShiloach. Trans. and edited by Betsalel Philip Edwards, Jerusalem, J. Aronson 2001 [Revised digital edition, 2021]:**
*“And it was, at the end of two years ….”* (Bereshit, 41:1)
At first Yosef was in prison for ten years, and afterwards another two years were added to his time. The first ten were decreed upon him since he had sinned against ten tribes; and then afterwards, when he had been refined from this in prison, another two years were added according to himself and Binyamin. Thus it is when a man sins against God, then God brings upon him a process of refinement from which he suffers. Then afterwards, when he is clarified for the good and makes atonement, then he must suffer from asking himself why he needed to enter himself into a state where he needed such a difficult refinement in the first place. He must necessarily suffer from this, for when a man suffers then God also suffers, so to speak, for “in all their suffering He suffers” (Yesahya, 63:9). Therefore after one refines himself corresponding to his sin, in addition to this refinement he must refine himself also concerning his suffering, for this also smacks of sin, as is explained in the Gemara (*Ta’anit*, 11a), “he sinned in that he disturbed himself.” So it was that at first, ten years of captivity were decreed upon Yosef corresponding to his ten brothers. Then after he was refined in prison like silver smelted in a crucible, he had to be refined for his own suffering and the suffering of his brother Binyamin. After this was clarified in the two additional years, then he was immediately redeemed.


###### Mei HaShiloach, Volume I, Genesis, Miketz 4
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**והנה עמד על היאר.** איתא במדרש (בראשית רבה פרשה פ"ט,ג') אמר פרעה מי מתקיים על מי אני על אלהי או אלהי עלי, אמר לו אתה על אלהיך שנאמר והנה עומד על היאור. הענין בזה כי פרעה רצה לדעת אחרי ראותו כי כל אשר יחפץ יצליח, רצה לעמוד על התבוננת הדבר אם אלהיו ויראתו מושלים עליו ולא יבא למחשבתו שום דבר רק מה שאלהיו ישלח לו לפיכך יצליח, או תחילה יבא למחשבתו ולרצונו לעשות ואח"כ אלהיו וכחו עוזרים לו להצליח, ואמר לו אתה על אלהיך, היינו תחילה יבא למחשבתך ואח"כ הכח המושל עליו יכרח לעוזרך. אבל בישראל אינו כן כי ישראל הם מרכבה לשכינה וכפי רצונו ית' כן יתנהגו, רק לעתיד כשיגיעו לתכלית השלמות אז נאמר (איוב כ"ב,כ"ח) ותגזר אומר ויקם לך. וכמו אברהם אבינו ע"ה אחר נסיון העשירי, ויצחק ויעקב כשנשלמו, עליהם נאמר (ישעיה נ"ח,י"ד) אז תתענג על ה'. וזה נרמז בגמ' (שבת ס"ט:) המהלך בדרך ואינו יודע מתי שבת רב הונא אמר מונה ששה ימים ומשמר יום אחד, חייא בר רב אומר משמר יום אחד ומונה ששה. כי ששת ימי המעשה הם השתדלות האדם ושבת היינו הסיעתא מהש"י, ורב הונא מדבר באדם שנשלם בכל, שלבו נמשך אחר רצון הש"י אז מותר לו לעשות השתדלות ואח"כ יבקש מהש"י שיגמור בעדו, אבל בעוד שאין האדם בשלימות אז צריך לקבל עליו עול מלכות שמים קודם כל מעשה, ואם יסכים לו הש"י אז יעשה.

**Living waters, the Mei HaShiloach. Trans. and edited by Betsalel Philip Edwards, Jerusalem, J. Aronson 2001 [Revised digital edition, 2021]:**
*“… and behold, he stood on the Nile.”* (Bereshit, 41:1)
It is written in the Midrash (*Bereshit* Rabba, 89:3), “Who exists because of whom? Do I exist because of my god, or does my god exist because of me? He said to him, ‘you exist because of your god, as it is said, he stood on the Nile’ [his god].”After he saw his dream, Pharaoh wanted to know that all he desired would succeed. He wanted to know exactly how this would come about. Either his god was completely with him, and his thoughts were only what his god would send him, then therefore he would succeed; or, it first came to his own thought and will to do something, and then his power and god would help him to succeed. So He said to him, “you exist by means of your god,” meaning that first the idea would come to you, and then the power that rules over you would be forced to help you. Yet with Israel it is not so, for Israel is a *merkava* (chariot) for the Shechina. They will conduct themselves according to His blessed will, and only in the future when they arrive at the final form of completion, will it be said (Job, 22:28), “you shall decree it, and it will be established for you.”
Like Avraham Avinu, after the tenth trial, and like Yitzchak and Yaakov when they achieved completion, it was said of them (Yesahya, 58:14), “then you shall take delight in God.” This is hinted at in the Gemara (*Shabbat*, 69b), “one who is travelling and does not know which day is Shabbat, Rav Huna says to count six days and then keep one day [of Shabbat], Chaya bar Rav says keep Shabbat and then count six.” For the six days of action are the efforts of man, and Shabbat is the assistance of God. Rav Huna is speaking of a man completed in all ways, whose heart is drawn after God’s will. Such a man is permitted to exert his own efforts, and then after he can ask God to complete the matter for him. Yet as long as a man is not complete, he must accept the yoke of the sovereignty of Heaven before each action, and if God agrees with him he may act.³⁶, the tower (*Menachot*, 110a), “they call Him God of god.” (Though the name of God is renowned through the nations, they do not fear Him. Rabeynu Gershon.) Yet God desires the service of Israel because they are serving only God alone. This is called complete, for it is not effected from anything (only God), as it says in the Midrash (Tanchuma *Shmini* 8), “what does God care whether the animal is ritually slaughtered and eaten, or stabbed and eaten.” For with the service of Israel, corresponding to how much they suspend their (vain) desires does He want to effuse energy to them. This is as He showed him (in the above Gemara) that at the present moment He does not want their service, and at a time that will become clear, then “the rider [as well as the horse] will fall.” For even the heavenly angels of the nations are not complete, and therefore “the horse and the rider fell into the sea” (song at the splitting of the Red Sea). With Israel, God will entreat them because of their service. Giliyon Mei HaShiloach of Gershon Cheinoch of Radzin ZY”A, grandson of the Isbitser.

footnotes:
³⁶ The matter in this is that Pharoah asked to investigate if he had to boundary himself within Divine service, or if he was allowed to extend himself into anything his heart desired. However, unknown to him, he had to act according to God’s will since he was a creation of God. Then God showed him that truly He does not desire his service, for there is no completeness in the service of idolaters, nor is there any completeness in their fear, as it is written (Yesahya 44:16), “he burns half of it in fire, the other half he eats.” Even the most precious intentions with which they serve can afterwards be directed into physical desires, as explained on the matter of the migdal


###### Mei HaShiloach, Volume I, Genesis, Miketz 5
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**וישלח פרעה וכו' ויריצהו מן הבור.** היינו שנתרצה על כל מה שעבר עליו, כי הש"י שלח שמחה בלבו לבל יהיה לו שום תרעומות עליו.

**Living waters, the Mei HaShiloach. Trans. and edited by Betsalel Philip Edwards, Jerusalem, J. Aronson 2001 [Revised digital edition, 2021]:**
*“Then Pharoah sent and called for Yosef … and brought him quickly out of the dungeon.”* (Bereshit, 41:14)
“Brought him quickly out” is unusually expressed with the word *Reetsuhu*, meaning that he was pleased (*nitratza*) with everything he had gone through, because God sent joy to his heart so he would not bear any anger against Him.


###### Mei HaShiloach, Volume I, Genesis, Miketz 6
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**תשמע חלום לפתר אתו.** היינו כי כל עניני עוה"ז הם כחלום הצריך פתרון וכמו שיפתור לו האדם כן יקום אצלו, והאדם המבין בכל כי הכל הוא רק מהש"י ורק ממוצא פיו יחיה הכל, זה מבין טעם בכל דבר ומגיע לחיים אמיתיים, כמו לחם העיקר המחיה הנמצא בו הוא המוצא פי ה' ומי שאוכל פשוט כבהמה, אינו משיג מהלחם רק חיי עוה"ז, והמבין כי מוצא פי ה' הוא המחיה זה ישיג חיי עולם, כי לחם הוא אותיות חלם היינו שצריך פתרון, וכן הוא כל הנאות, כי כל ההנאות והטובות שבעולם נמשלין ללחם.

**Living waters, the Mei HaShiloach. Trans. and edited by Betsalel Philip Edwards, Jerusalem, J. Aronson 2001 [Revised digital edition, 2021]:**
*“… you can understand a dream to interpret it.”* (Bereshit, 41:15)
All of the affairs of this world are like a dream that needs interpretation, and as one interprets it so will it be with him. And for one who understands in everything that all comes only from God, and only from what comes out of His mouth does man live, he understands the meaning in everything and arrives at true life. As with bread, where the principal sustaining force exists within it, so it is the issue of God’s mouth. He who eats simply like an animal will understand from the bread only the life of this world, and one who understands that what comes out of God’s mouth is what gives him life will apprehend everlasting life. For bread, *lechem*, is composed of the same letters as dream, *chalom*, meaning that it needs to be interpreted. So it is with all that we derive benefit from, as everything that gives us satisfaction and all the good things of the world are compared to bread.


###### Mei HaShiloach, Volume I, Genesis, Miketz 7
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**ויקרא פרעה את שם יוסף צפנת פענח.** פירש"י כי מלת פענח אין לו דמיון במקרא, ויראה כי פרעה היה רוצה לומר פותח אך לא היה יכול להוציא משפתיו אלו האותיות, היינו וא"ו ות', כי אות וא"ו מרמז על חיים ואות ת' הוא חותמו של הקב"ה אמת, ובאלו האותיות אין להאומות שום תפיסה כי אין להם חיים אמיתיים רק לפי מראית העין, ולכן אמר במקומם ע' ונ'.

**Living waters, the Mei HaShiloach. Trans. and edited by Betsalel Philip Edwards, Jerusalem, J. Aronson 2001 [Revised digital edition, 2021]:**
*“And Pharoah called Yosef the name* Tsafnat Pa’neach *[solver of hidden things].”* (Bereshit, 41:45)
Rashi comments that the word *Pa’neach* appears nowhere else in the Scriptures, and it seems as if Pharoah wanted to say, “*poteach* - opener,” yet he could not bring these letters out of his mouth, namely the letters *vav* and *tav.* This is because the letter *vav* hints at life, and the letter *tav* is the seal of truth of the Holy One, blessed be He. (“Truth,” *emet*, ends with a *tav*.) The nations of the world have no understanding of these letters, for they have no true life, only as far as the eye sees (on the surface). Therefore he replaced them with the letters *ayin* and *nun*.³⁷, does not appear in the Torah (with a *Vav*, at least in the five books of Moses). The principal (spiritual) root of the word *poteach* is *Vav* and *Tav*, which opens the concealed. He could not say the *dalet* in the letter *Tav*, for the visual shape of a *Tav* is a *Dalet* joined to a *Nun*, with the *Nun* representing property and apprehension, and the *Dalet* representing that we can effect nothing (without God, *d’leit leih meagarmeh clum* – effecting nothing in Aramaic). This is not in the ability of idolaters to understand, for according to them they have power, and thus *Ayin* (one of Pharoah’s substitute letters) hints at the dealings of this world, the opposite of the *Vav. Giliyon Mei HaShiloach*.

footnotes:
³⁷ Pharoah did not speak the holy tongue, Hebrew, anyhow, and had no understanding of these letters. Therefore the word “open,” poteach


###### Mei HaShiloach, Volume I, Genesis, Miketz 8
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**ואל שדי יתן לכם רחמים.** פירש"י מי שאמר לעולמו די הוא יאמר לצרותי די. הרב הקדוש מפרשיסחא אמר על שם שדי, כי כשנברא העולם היה מרחיב והולך כמאמר הגמ' (חגיגה י"ב.) עד שאמר הקב"ה די, והוא כי עיקר בריאות העולם היה כדי שיוכר גדולתו ית' ולכן אמר די שמזה יוכל להוודע, וזה שהזכיר יעקב כאן זה השם, היינו כי הש"י מביא יסורין על האדם כדי לבררו שיכיר את בוראו, ולכן אמר זה השם הוא שיאמר הש"י די שמזה שעבר עלי הכרתי הכל, ובאמת כל דברי האבות לא היו מצד עצמם, רק ממה שהשפיע להם הש"י כן התפללו אליו, וכל תפלתם היה בעתו ובזמנו, כי כאן הסכים הש"י לאמר די על כל צרותיו, וכמו כן אברהם אבינו ע"ה אחר נסיון העשירי התחיל לבקש רחמים מהש"י שלא ינסנו עוד, וזאת היה לפי שהוסכם אז גם דעת הש"י שלא ינסנו עוד.

**Living waters, the Mei HaShiloach. Trans. and edited by Betsalel Philip Edwards, Jerusalem, J. Aronson 2001 [Revised digital edition, 2021]:**
*“And may El Shaddai [the Almighty God] give you mercy ….”* (Bereshit, 43:14)
Rashi explains that *Shaddai* means He who said to His world “*Dai*!” “Enough!” The Holy Rav of Pshiska³⁸ said of the name Shaddai, that when the world was created it would expand and continue, as in the saying in the Gemara (*Chagigah*, 12b), “until He said to His world, *Dai*!” This is because the main reason for creating the world was to show the world the greatness of God, and therefore he said, “Enough,” when this could be certified. This is why Yaakov mentioned this particular name here, to show that God brings suffering upon man to refine him enough to recognize his Creator. Therefore he used this name, as if God would say, “Enough!” In all that I have gone through I have recognized everything. And truly, our Patriarchs did not say anything from their own initiative; they prayed in the direction of what God effused to them, and all their prayers were in the proper time and place, for here God agreed to say “enough” to all their troubles. This is just as Avraham Avinu asked for mercy from God after the tenth trial so as not to test him further, for at that time God agreed to no longer test him.

footnotes:
³⁸ Reb Simcha Bunem ZY”A, a Hasidic master and the author’s Rebbe.


###### Mei HaShiloach, Volume I, Genesis, Miketz 9
[Mei HaShiloach, Volume I, Genesis, Miketz 9](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Mei%20HaShiloach/s/Volume%20I,_Genesis,_Miketz/r/9)

**מה נאמר לאדני מה נדבר וכו' האלקים מצא את עון עבדיך.** במדרש (בראשית רבה פרשה צ"ב,ט') יודעים אנו שלא גנבנו, היינו בזה המעשה יודעים אנו בבירר שאין בנו שום שמץ מנהו, רק אחר כי אנה ה' לפנינו מעשה כזה בטח נמצא בנו איזה ענין כדומה. והיא שגנבנו דעת אבינו במכירת יוסף, ומסיבת זה נתעולל עלינו מעשה הלזו.

**Living waters, the Mei HaShiloach. Trans. and edited by Betsalel Philip Edwards, Jerusalem, J. Aronson 2001 [Revised digital edition, 2021]:**
*“… What can be said to my master, what can be spoken … God has found out the sin of your servants ….”* (Bereshit, 44:16)
In the Midrash (*Bereshit* Rabba, 92:9) it says, “We know that we did not steal.” Now we know for certain that we are not at all flawed. However, since God brought such a situation upon us, surely there exists something similar within us to suit us to the situation. It is because we misled our father (literally “stole his mind”) with the sale of Yosef that we are falsely accused of theft.