ויהי מקץ, “it was at the end of;” Rashi writes that the meaning of this word corresponds to Onkelos’ translation, i.e. “at the end,” as it does always. If you examine the Hebrew language closely you will find that this word does not always mean “end,” as for instance when Joseph in Genesis 47,2 presents some of his brothers to Pharaoh and the word chosen for “some of” is מקצה. We also find this word in Jeremiah 34,14, meaning: “at the beginning of seven years.

”שנתים ימים, “two years;” these years are counted from the day that the chief cupbearer was released from imprisonment. In other words שנתים ימים means two complete years (i.e. complete with 730 days, just as חודש ימים means a month complete with 30 days). If the Torah had used the word שנתים, which also means “two years,” I might have thought that it could have been as little as one year plus a day, as we find the years of a king’s rule is described in such a way from the moment the second year of his reign has commenced. The Torah wished us to know that Joseph spent a whole two extra years in jail because the chief of the cupbearers did not keep his promise.[Had he kept it, it is doubtful that he would ever have become viceroy and that the Egyptians would have been saved from the ravages of the famine. Ed.] From G-d’s point of view he was punished for putting his trust in that cup bearer instead of praying to G-d for his release. An alternate exegesis: the two years were two years that had been added to G-d’s decree for Joseph to spend time in jail. (Compare Talmud Sotah folio 36) According to the Talmud, Joseph had actually wanted to sleep with the wife of Potiphar when his father’s image appeared to him and helped him to overcome the temptation. According to the description there, he dug his fingernails into the floor and ejaculated semen by that means. The Talmud continues that he was really meant to sire twelve tribes just as had his father Yaakov, but enough semen escaped through the ten fingernails to preclude him from fulfilling his destiny in that respect. Instead, he spent ten years in jail as penance. Pharaoh’s dream occurred 12 years after he had been jailed. The Torah reports that he was 30 years old when appointed to high office. (verse 46). He had served in Potiphar’s house for a year. Therefore he was in jail for a total of 12 years.

מן היאור עולות, “rising up from the river Nile;” they had first descended to its banks to drink its waters.

שבע פרות, “seven cows;” an allusion to the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine to occur. Cows are relevant animals as they do the ploughing in order for crops to grow.

ותעמודנה אצל הפרות, “they were standing alongside the other cows;” the reason they are described as standing, is that they did not immediately consume the seven fat cows. It was a signal that the famine would not immediately destroy the existing crops, as Joseph told Pharaoh in verse 54: ובכל ארץ מצרים היה לחם, “whereas in the whole land of Egypt there was bread.”

ויקץ פרעה, Pharaoh awoke (at this point) in order to let the message of the dream sink into his consciousness before he would be told of the second half of his dream. The two parts should not be mixed up, and to be understood as a single event.

עולות בקנה אחד, “rising on a single stalk;” this was an allusion to plenty, abundance. The message had now become more explicit than in the first half of the dream. Normally, the seven kernels would compete with each other for the nutrients provided by a single stalk. In this dream they did not do so. They were all fully developed.

ושדופות קדים, “and parched by the east wind;” the wind coming from the eastern regions is known as kadim. It had been heated by the sun from which it blew in, as the sun there had risen earlier. This is alluded to in the expression קדמה מזרחה, (Exodus 27,13). The reason why the “west” in Hebrew is called: מערב, is that when the sun sets in the west it is evening.

ותבלענה השבלים, “the kernels swallowed;” some commentators understand this expression as describing the kernels growing so high that they completely covered the ones which had grown earlier so that they could no longer be seen. The word בלע certainly appears in this sense; of course the word ותבלענה in our verse is not to be understood literally, as G-d does not show people things in dreams which are impossible to occur in reality, such as elephants sliding through the eye of a needle.

והנה חלום, and Pharaoh realised that what he had seen was in a dream. Whenever a person is dreaming, he believes that the images shown him represent reality, and that is why he reacts to them with different degrees of joy or consternation. As soon as he wakes up, he realises that what had so emotionally disturbed him had only been a dream. Proof of this statement can be found in Isaiah 29,8: והיה כאשר יחלום הצמא והנה שותה והקיץ ונפשו שוקקה, “like one who is thirsty and dreams that he is drinking, but when he wakes up he finds himself faint and utterly parched.” Pharaoh was meant to react in a similar manner to the cows he saw consuming cows twice their size without gaining weight. However he waited until Joseph had completed his interpretation. Some commentators point out that as far as the cows in Paraoh’s dream are concerned, we do not even find that the Torah writes that upon awaking he realised that this had been only a dream. [as opposed to the dream with the stalks of kernels of grain.] The reason for this is that it does happen in real life occasionally that one cow eats another cow. Kernels of grain consuming other kernels of grain however, is something that is unheard of.” This is why the Torah added the words: “and here it had been a dream,” to describe Pharaoh’s reaction when awaking. Another interpretation of these two words is that Pharaoh now realised that the dream had ended.

ותפעם רוחו, “His mind was greatly disturbed;” even though in Daniel 2,3 when a dream of Nebuchadnezzar is reported and he described himself as ותפעם רוחי, “my mind was disturbed,” this was because when the Babylonian soothsayers were called in for consultation, Nebuchadnezzar could not even remember what he had dreamed, as distinct from here where Pharaoh had a clear recollection of the details of his dream. [According to this view, he therefore had no reason to be so agitated. Ed.] Pharaoh had also forgotten the interpretation of his dream, and when Joseph interpreted it he recalled that he also had dreamt this interpretation. This also brought back to the chief of the cup bearers his own experience in jail with Joseph as an interpreter of dreams.

ותפעם, “it became agitated;” there is a difference in meaning between the words: ותפעם and ותתפעם. The former describes an emotion which cannot be explained as resulting in a definite action by the person so troubled faking his agitation, whereas the reflexive mode ותתפעם, allows for the subject either to take an action as a result of his agitation or to remain passive. The latter is a rule that applies whenever we encounter the use of the reflexive mode. Compare Deuteronomy 29,18: והתברך בלבבו, “he consoles himself by thinking, etc.” There are numerous examples of this. In the case of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2,3, the king was in two minds if to reveal the content of what he dreamt, fearing that if he did so, the soothsayers would exploit this to offer each his own interpretation so that he would be forced to choose which to accept without knowing which interpretation to accept. He therefore decided to act as if he had forgotten the content of the dream. Whichever of the soothsayers would both tell him what he had dreamt, and what it meant would surely have offered the correct interpretation. That interpreter must have been inspired by G-d Himself. Whatever that interpreter foresaw would happen as a result of having heard my dream, would surely occur in reality. Pharaoh, on the other hand, who revealed to all what he had dreamt, acted very foolishly, except that he did not threaten to kill the ones who interpreted his dream incorrectly, as did Nebuchadnezzar.

ויספר פרעה להם את חלומו, Pharaoh told them the contents of his dream.” The reason why Nebuchadnezzar was bound to have forgotten the dream itself as opposed to Pharaoh, [seeing that as it turned out both had received messages. Ed.] was that implementation of Pharaoh’s dream would commence almost immediately, whereas that of Nebuchdnezzar’s dream was long delayed. He would not believe Daniel’s interpretation if he had remembered the dream and told it to Daniel. Only the fact that Daniel proved to even have been privy to his dream itself, convinced him that the interpretation was the true one. Joseph, when interpreting Pharaoh’s dream as being in two stages was that it foreshadowed immediate fulfillment of what he had seen symbolised in his dream. This is why he said: וממהר האלוקים לעשותו, “G-d will hasten to carry out what was in your dream. “

ואין פותר אותם, “and there is no one who can interpret them.” The reason was that Pharaoh’s wizards considered the dreams as two separate dreams.

את חטאי, “my sins;” the plural mode the cupbearer chose here was to admit his sins against Pharaoh as well as his sin in not fulfilling his promise to Joseph through his forgetfulness.

נער עברי, עבד, “a Hebrew lad, a slave;” the chief of the cupbearers was afraid that he might become the cause of Joseph being promoted to an elevated status if he succeeded in interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams. Therefore, he mentioned two adjectives that should militate against any promotion for him, a) his youth and inexperience, b) his status as a slave. An alternate explanation: he wanted to protect himself against the accusation why he had not come forward before with the information he revealed now. This is why he explained that Joseph had two strikes against him; 1) youth, 2) status as slave.

דלות ורעות תואר מאד ורקות בשר, “very thin, badly formed, and meatless;” in verse 20,27, both the cows and the stalks that were inferior are described as רקות, instead of as דקות. The reason that Pharaoh’s dream is spelled out twice was as compliment to Joseph.

את אשר אלוקים עושה, “that which G-d is about to do etc.;” what He wishes to do in His world He has revealed to Pharaoh, seeing that he is a king and has been charged with looking after his people, He has provided him with a means to do his duty.

יהיו שבע שני רעב, “will be seven years of famine.” Joseph started with the prediction of the famine first, as he wanted to show him the problem before revealing the solution.

ועל השנות החלום, “and concerning the repetition of the dream (in a different guises);” you might ask that the dreams of Joseph that the Torah recorded for us are also repetitions, (and were not fulfilled immediately) but took 22 years to be fulfilled? Joseph’s dreams did not occur during the same night so that their interpretation was not subject to the same rules.

וחמש את ארץ מצרים, “the overseer should collect a tax of 20% of the harvests of the next seven years to be put at the disposal for the King,” even though during normal years only 10% was set aside for the King’s use, as we know from Samuel I 8,1415. This advice of Joseph was carried out, as we know from Genesis 47,26: על אדמת מצרים לחומש, “all over the land of Egypt one fifth would be taxed for the king.”

.את כל אוכל, “all the food;” as far as possible;” (compare verse 57)

אחרי הודיע, “since G-d has informed;” this refers also to what follows, i.e. since G-d has granted Joseph so much wisdom: “you shall be in charge of My palace.”

ישק כל עמי, “my people will be mobilised for war at Joseph’s command.” The relevant rootword is נשק, “weaponry.” Compare Psalms 78,9: נושקי רומי קשת, “they rely on the bow and arrow.”

ויתן אותה על יד יוסף, “he placed it on Joseph’s hand.” Pharaoh said to himself that maybe Joseph’s interpretation etc. was only designed to rid himself of Pharaoh’s supervision. This is why he entrusted him with executive power to observe whether he would work for the benefit of the state. If Joseph accepted this task, he would be convinced that he was loyal and upright, as he would know that failure would bring disastrous consequences for himself.

בגדי שש , “garments made of the finest linen that only the highest dignitaries in the land were allowed to wear.

רביד הזהב , “a golden chain of office;” the word רביד is familiar to us from Proverbs 7,16: מרבדים רבדתי ערשי, “I have decked my couch with covers;” [even more so from Proverbs.

אני פרעה ובלעדיך, “I am Pharaoh; but apart from this, you are (in charge of everything).” As an example of Joseph’s wide ranging powers, he added: “only by the height of my throne will I be bigger than you.” It was necessary to remind Joseph of this, since Pharaoh had handed over to him his signet ring.

לא ירים איש את ידו, “no one will dare challenge your authority.” We find a similar expression in connection with (later King) Jerovam, who had dared to challenge the authority of King Solomon and had to flee to Egypt. (Kings I 11,27-28)

ויתן לו את אסנת בת פוטיפרע, “he gave him (as a wife) Ossnat daughter of Potiphera;” according to Rashi, this is the same Potiphar in whose house Joseph had served for a year before his incarceration. If Joseph had married someone of higher rank, he was afraid that his children would be claimed by his former master as slaves, seeing he had owned their father as a slave. When he married his former master’s own daughter, he would be ashamed to say that her children were slaves. A different exegesis: he married her to prove that he had never slept with her mother as claimed. Still another interpretation: Joseph’s wife was called: “the daughter of Potiphar,” only because he had raised her. There was no biological connection with Potiphar. We find something similar in Chronicles I 4,18: אלה בני בתיה בת פרעה, ”these were the children of Batyah, daughter of Pharaoh, as pointed out in Torah Shleymah by Rabbi Menachem Kasher item 111 on this verse, quoting Pirkey de Rabbi Eliezer chapter 38 according to which this was the daughter Dinah who had been raped by Sh’chem, her very name suggesting that she was the product of rape. Having been raised in the house of a high official such as Potiphar, and bearing his name, would help to remove any stigma from her. According to the Midrash, Yaakov, after her birth had expelled her, and placed a charm around her neck and hid her among some cactuses and similar prickly plants, so that when found she was named according to the location where she had been found, סנה, “thornbush.” The angel Gavriel brought her to Egypt, presented her to the wife of Potiphar where she was raised. When Joseph was paraded after his ascension to power and all the young women of Egypt crowded around him to admire his being so handsome (49,22), and throwing flowers at him, Ossnat, who had no flowers, threw her charm at him. When Joseph took a look at the inscription on that charm, he realised that she was the daughter of his half sister Dinah, and decided to marry her.

פוטיפרע, according to Rashi, this was the same man as the one who had been Joseph’s master, but his name has been changed after he had become partially castrated so as to prevent him from carrying out his homosexual designs on Joseph. The word פריעה, almost identical with the name given Potiphar here, describes a condition permitting sexual intercourse with females but not with males. Unless you interpreted this in this way, we would not know how Potiphar was able to produce a daughter. Besides, according to the words of his wife who demonstrated to her husband how Joseph had supposedly raped her or tried to rape her, that line would make no sense. (39,19).

אוכל שדה העיר, “he stored inside each city the kind of food had had grown in the vicinity of that city.” By doing this it would be near at hand when the time came for drawing on these supplies.

בטרם תבא שנת הרעב , “before the first year of the famine commenced.” Rashi explains the significance of this verse being that marital relations during a famine are prohibited under Jewish law. You could ask that his brother Levi certainly had had marital relations with his wife during the famine, else how could his daughter Yocheved have been born during the second year of the famine when Yaakov travelled down to Egypt? (According to our tradition) We must therefore presume that the reason that Joseph abstained during that period was because he realised that his family went through a difficult time, not having any supplies until they replenished them by buying grain in Egypt.

ותכילנה, “they came to an end;” this unusual expression for describing the end of something is based on כלולות יופי, “they were completely beautiful, because fully sated.”

ותחילנה, from חולניות, becoming weak, sickly; when the supply of available food ran out people naturally began to lose weight and become weakened as soon as the famine started. ובכל ארץ מצרים היה לחם, “but in the whole land of Egypt there was bread. (food),” as opposed to the countries adjacent to Egypt.

ויצעק העם לפרעה ללחם, “the people cried out to Pharaoh for food.” They wanted him to sell them food which they knew had been stored. It was below the king’s dignity to become a merchant selling food; in order to remain in good standing with his people, he sent them to Joseph who would tell them how to act. He would share out food according to prices determined by him, the proceeds being delivered to Pharaoh’s treasury.

לשבור אל יוסף, “to buy grain from Joseph;” the unusual construction here, when we would have expected the Torah to write: לשבור מיוסף “to Joseph in order to buy food;” is similar to construction Genesis 30,39: אל המקלות where the word אל also means: “from,” “as a result of,” (seeing the sticks that had been peeled by Yaakov).