Shabbat Parashat Shelach 5772

Ein Ayah: The Arrangement of the Various Factors to Bring a Dream to Fruition

Gemara: “… I dreamed a dream … if they are good, strengthen them like Yosef’s dreams …”

Ein Ayah: The portending element of a dream comes from the connection between the spirit and the general situation of matters in the world, as well as the connection between the future and the present. In general, regarding events that are to come about in the future, all the basic conditions are present for them to transpire. Especially factors that bring about events that relate to man are connected to olam hamachshava (the world of thought) and are based on the desires of the spirit of the people who cause the events to happen. The spirits, their feelings, the images they see, and the spiritual factors that cause them to act, together with the natural matters that help them occur, are always prepared in the world. However, in order for the foreseen hope or goal to come to fruition, there is a need for the incorporation of many factors for it to come about.

The above is the background behind the prayer mentioned in this gemara. If the dream portends something good, then it is likely that the main causes that will bring it to fruition are in place, specifically in regard to the spiritual factors that come from the olam hamachshava. However, it is often necessary to connect these spiritual factors to actions and events in the physical world. The prayer relates to Yosef’s dreams as an example. There were many special things that had to happen before Yosef was able to emerge as a leader, over Egypt and within his family, as his dreams predicted.

Many of the elements that were missing related to spiritual factors related to the emotional sides of other people. For example, the hatred of Yosef’s brothers was a matter of their feelings, as the attraction to Yosef by his master’s wife was her personal matter. Subsequent factors were the fact that Potiphar trusted his wife and became as angry as he did. The story continues with the contribution of Paroh’s anger at his servants and the emotional state of the butler and the baker until they had their dreams. Finally, Paroh’s emotional state on his birthday, his emotional state leading up to his dreams, and the relationships that the butler had with Yosef and Paroh after he got out of jail played a role in the unfolding of events. All of these events were spiritual matters, which all needed natural events to take place to give them their context. For example, the matter that caused Paroh to get angry at his servants was a natural event that transpired [but was brought about by Hashem’s Providence], as was the removal of Yosef from the pit in Cana’an and his sale. The strengthening that Hashem is asked to provide refers to these natural events, as the more spiritual matters are usually in existence in advance, especially in the world of the spirits, where there is a hidden relationship between various things and people. It is the seemingly chance events that flow with the passing of time that need to be put in line with the goal that Hashem prepared to carry out His will.

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