At the end of parshas VaYeshev Yosef the tsaddik is joined in prison by Pharaoh's wine steward. Over time they become well acquainted. One night the wine steward is shaken by a nightmare. Attempting to calm him down, Yosef offers to interpret the dream.
In the dream grapes develop on a vine, which are made into wine, that the wine steward gives to Pharaoh. Yosef's interpretation is that he will be given back his job. The next sentence in the Chumash is cryptic. It is typically understood as, “But remember me when things go well with you, and please do me a favor and mention me to Pharaoh, and you will get me out of this place”, (Genesis 40:14)*. He continues, “For I was stolen from the land of the Hebrews, and here too, I have done nothing, for which they should have put me into the dungeon”.
The steward is unlike a second servant who is too shrewd for his own good. When Yosef interprets his dream, he condemns him to death. The Or HaChaim observes that the development of the grapes was not necessary for the wine steward rather it was enough for him to dream about placing the cup in Pharaoh's hand. The idea of development was for Yosef, hinting that he has to develop.
Many commentaries understand this as Yosef pleading with Pharaoh's servant to use his power to get him released. This would be problematic because it would mean that the waiter has unique independent power of his own; as opposed to he is simply one of many possible agents to do the will of the Almighty. The Or HaChaim, though, sees the servant's intercession as a condition for things going well. Specifically things will go badly if he doesn't talk to Pharaoh on Yosef's behalf. More extreme the verbs are in past tense (זְכַרְתַּנִי) or kind of in past tense (וְעָשִׂיתָ, וְהִזְכַּרְתַּנִי, וְהוֹצֵאתַנִי) as if this had already been done. Yosef's comment that he was not legitimate war booty in Canaan rather he was kidnapped, in this light comes across as a compliment for doing the right thing. It can also be a hint as to how he should talk to Pharaoh. Specifically a horrible injustice has been done that we must promptly rectify.
This approach is used in the Tanakh when Hashem or the prophets speak. The language portrays that Hashem is above and transcends time. In other words the human perceptions of present, past, and future are all the same to Him. This is something that is not fully understandable by flesh and blood.
The wine steward in fact consciously forgets Yosef. When it is clear that the steward is not intending to take up Yosef's case, he is compelled to do so. Pharaoh has a horrible nightmare, and an agitated Pharaoh can be extremely dangerous. At this point in a less than glorious fashion the steward explains the merits of Yosef.
The result is that Yosef is given absolute power in the most powerful country in the world. He then has two children. The first is an expression of forgetting the miserable experiences with his family. The second expresses a feeling of being persecuted in Egypt.
Later on Yosef's brothers, because of famine, come to him and prostate themselves. He has a range of options. He could kill them in a painful and humiliating way. He could let them starve. Or he could sell them food, send them away, and forget the whole thing. He then remembers his dreams. However, now it is more of an obligation as opposed being an honor and a joy as it was before. His response is to properly chastise them and put them under his control.
What Yosef learns that Egypt is not an option, not for him and certainly not his descendants. Relations with his brothers will be satisfactory and with his father very good. It is much better for the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh to grow up as part of Israel. The glory of Egypt will fade and the promise of Israel will be kept.
לע"נ האמא מלכה בת חיים ז"ל נלב"ע טז ניסן תשנ"ח
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