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In the 1964 movie “Sallah Shabbati”, starring a pre- “Fiddler on the Roof” Topol, is a classic scene which always make me laugh. Sallah, a new immigrant to Israel from Yemen, without much skill, education or ambition, is shown in a tavern with friends. There he leads the group in a song about the “Old Messiah” (Mashiach ha-Zaken). It’s a parody, like the rest of the film, and it focuses on an old man who saves his fortune for a dowry for a desirable bride. It takes so long that he’s seventy before he marries, and his much-younger wife bears him seven children. Unfortunately for him, they’re all girls, meaning he has no heir to his name. Apparently, redemption will have to wait a while – until the actual messiah arrives.
I thought of this scene when reading from the fourth century CE midrash Braishit Rabbah, a rabbinic commentary on the book of Genesis. The portion Miketz opens with Pharaoh having a dream – actually, a double dream – which the magicians of his court couldn’t interpret. The chief butler, whose dream was correctly interpreted two years earlier by Joseph, recommends that perhaps he’s the man to solve this riddle. The rabbis wished to contrast Joseph’s dream-solving capability, the result of a divine gift, with the bumbling attempts of the courtiers. These include the correspondence of the seven cows and grain stalks with – you guessed it – seven daughters, as we read:
- Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin in the name of Rabbi Levi: The magicians would interpret the dreams, but their words displeased Pharaoh. [They would say:] ‘The seven good cows [mean that] you will beget seven daughters. The seven bad cows – you will bury seven daughters.’ Likewise, they said: ‘The seven good stalks [mean that] you will conquer seven kingdoms. The seven bad stalks – seven districts will rebel against you.’…Why didn’t the Torah simply present Joseph’s interpretation first? It was so Joseph would ultimately come, and gain prominence. The Holy One blessed be He said: 'If Joseph will come first and interpret the dream, it will not [earn him sufficient] praise. The magicians could say to him: ‘Had you asked us first, we would have already interpreted it for you.’ Instead, He waited until they exerted themselves, and exhausted [Pharoah’s] spirit. Then Joseph came and restored his spirit. (89:6)
In other words, while Pharaoh couldn’t interpret the dream on his own, he at least recognized a good interpretation when he saw it. The rabbis are subtly amplifying the Torah’s message that this Pharaoh is wise, discerning, and – as later events show – more interested in the administration of the state than in the ethnicity of its office-holders. In fact, the only other Jewish “vice president” who comes to mind is Samuel ibn Nagrela, also known as Shmuel Ha-Nagid, who achieved that office one thousand years ago in Moslem Spain, long after the time of Joseph.
Maybe we should write a song about the “Old Vice-president”.
- Rabbi Scott Hoffman
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