Vayeshev - I May Be Dreaming But I'm Wide Awake

2:05 And in the topmost basket were all kinds of paros foods, the work of a baker, and the birds were eating them from the basket on top of my head. And Yosef interprets this dream completely differently. From the function word, he says the three sentences, just like the three tendrils in the grapes, represent three days. So in three days' time What's going to happen? Paro is going to remove your head from you and hang you on a gallows, and the birds will eat the flesh off of you. So we have two dreams with two radically different interpretations. The Sarimashkim will be restored to his previous position. The Sarafim is going to have the flesh eaten from him. Why does Yosef interpret the dreams so differently? When we look at the actual content of the dreams, they appear to be exactly the same. In both cases, you'll see on the board. I wrote this down. There were three clusters of grapes, and there were three wicker baskets. They seem to be exactly the same. In each case, we're dealing with the specialty of the person we're talking about.

3:15 The Sarah Mashkim naturally dreams of grapes. The Sarah Ophim dreams of bread in a basket above his head And finally, in each one, the person himself is present in the dream. The Sarah Mashkim is in the dream, and the Sarah Ophim is in the dream. When the dreams appear to be exactly the same Why is it that Yosef HaTzaddik interprets these dreams so differently? That's one. Question that we need to ask tonight. That's our first question. The second question is as follows: The only difference that trails off or ends with a function word. The only difference that we could see somehow seems to play some relevance here, but we don't know exactly what it is yet, is the Sarah Mashal goes first. And he offers his dream to Yosef HaTzaddik, and Yosef interprets it. The Sarah Ophim, when he comes to have his dream interpreted, what does he say? He says Afani Me too. Interpret my dream as well.

4:14 Now I don't yet know what the difference is, and why this makes a difference. But it's the only discernible difference right now. In the dreams themselves, the dreams seem to be exactly the same. As we'll see, it's not exactly true. But on the outside, the dreams appear to be exactly the same. The only difference, at least in the story itself, is that the Sar Ha Ovim When he asks to have his dream interpreted, he says, "Interpret my dream as well." What's the significance of the fact that Sara Ophim says 'me too'? I also went in on this. What's the difference over here? And finally, there's one difference that is very clear. I think there's a cynical use of language in the pasuk. If you look at the pasuk from the Sara Mashkim, Yosef HaTzaddik says Yisa paro esro shecha Yosef says Paro will lift up your head Meaning you're going to be restored to your previous position.

5:17 But when Yosef speaks to the sarah ofim, he uses the same language. He says Yisa paro esro shecha, me alecha. Paro will lift up your head from off you. Do you hear the difference? In other words, to the Sara Mashkim, what does Yosef think is the answer? Yisa paro es roshecha. Paro will lift up your head. To Sara Ophim, he says, Yisa paro es roshecha. Paro will lift your head. May alecha from right off your head, from right off your shoulders. So there's like a fascinating parallel that you see here. Obviously, Yosef HaTzaddik is drawing our attention to the fact that each one of these dreams appear to be exactly the same, each one of them will be lifted up, but one of them will be restored to his previous position, and the other will be decapitated, and that's exactly what happens. So that's our final. Those are our three questions for tonight. Okay, the first question is why does Yosef interpret the dreams so differently when they appear to be exactly the same?

6:21 The second thing is the only discernible difference that we can see is that Yosef Atadik. When he speaks to the Sarafim says, "Afni, me too. Interpret my dreams as well." What's the significance of that? And finally, why does Yosef use this cynical type of language? "Yisa paro esro shecha me alecha." He'll lift up your head from you. Why does Yosef, the tzaddik, call us to compare these two dreams? One of them, you'll be restored. The other, you'll have your head lifted off your shoulders. So listen to the words of the Dubna Magid. There's a number of people that we're going to be quoting from tonight. Each one of them is beautiful. Each one of them contains similar ideas, but ideas that are so gorgeous, so worth opening your heart to. They're such amazing, incredible ideas, especially for our generation. So the Dubna Magid To explain this question.

7:19 Tells the following mashal, and that's what the Dubnemagid always did. The Dubnemagid always used a mashal to explain what was going on. Listen to the mashal of the Dubnemagid. There was once a very famous painter And this painter was known to be able to make the most lifelike paintings that ever existed. And if you saw his paintings, it was almost like you were seeing reality itself. Not like today, where a person cuts themselves, bleeds onto a canvas, sticks a banana peel on there and sells it for a million dollars in the Metropolitan Museum of Art because it's the plight of the homeless as they bleed out onto the canvas. This was an actual artist who could tell you, who could show you what life was actually like. So the artist is commissioned by the king to paint something exceptionally realistic. And he paints a man with a bread basket on his head.

8:14 And the painting is so exceptionally lifelike, so real, so authentic and authentic. That when the when they brought the painting out For people to see, birds would swoop down in an attempt to eat the bread off of the canvas. And the king was so pleased with his painting, it's so lifelike, it's so real, it's so authentic. He said, "I defy anyone to find any flaw in this painting. Anyone that could find a flaw in this painting," I'll give them a fortune of money. And so people came from all over the land, and they would examine it with a magnifying glass, and they could not find any errors. Every single aspect of the painting was 100% perfect, and nobody could get the fortune. Nobody got the prize until one elderly man came, and he said to the king, 'There's not just one flaw. There's a major flaw that makes this painting totally unrealistic.'

9:16 And he whispered in the king's ear, and the king nodded, and he handed over the fortune of money to this elderly man. What had the elderly man said? The elderly man said "If the painting was so lifelike If it was so real If it was so authentic, then the man himself would have been completely alive to those birds. And if the birds saw that the man was alive, they never would have swooped down to take the bread off of his head, because they would have been afraid of the person. It's like if you have a scarecrow right in a field. The birds, in theory, are supposed to be afraid of the scarecrow until they realize that it's not a person, and it prevents the birds from coming. If the person himself was so lifelike. Then the birds themselves wouldn't swoop down to eat the bread. The fact that the birds are looking at this painting and saying "I think that we could eat that bread," tells us that the birds themselves saw the bread as real. But the man said, "No, I think it's just a painting." And so there's a contradiction in the painting. On the one hand, the bread is so real to them. On the other hand, the man is so not real to them.

10:30 And of course, the nimshal is as follows. The Dubna Magid says Yosef HaTzaddik. This is the beginning of our jump into this. Yosef HaTzaddik. Here are two dreams. In one dream, the Saramashkim is telling his story that he's holding the cup, and he's holding it. He brings it to Paro. That seems to be that he's alive. But in the second dream, in the dream of the Saraquim, what does it say? Okay, let's look carefully at the dream again. Listen to what he says. He says, 'In my topmost basket were all kinds of food for Paro, the work of a baker.' Meaning, what did he have in his upper basket? He had all of these delicious breads. And in that basket, he said, "What happened in that basket? Birds were coming down and eating from on top of the basket." Says the Dubnemagid Why, in his dream, were the birds coming?

11:26 If he was alive in his dream, then the birds wouldn't be swooping down. To take the bread from his basket, the fact that he saw in his own dream that the birds were coming down to eat the bread from his head meant what? That's obviously, if the bread, if the birds are coming down, the man in the dream cannot be alive. Because if the man in the dream was alive Then the birds never would have come down. Do you understand the genius of Yosef Atzadik's interpretation of the dream? In the dream of the Saramashkim, he's clearly alive. It looks to be the same exact dream, but when you analyze it carefully, says the Dubnemagid. When you analyze the dream carefully, you'll see it must be that in the second dream, in the dream of the Sarahofim That he is dead, because otherwise the birds wouldn't swoop down.

12:20 Which means as follows, and this is the beginning of our year. This dream. Is not about For us. It's not about a sarah mashkim and it's not about the sarah ofim. That's not what the dream is about. This dream is for us. There are two dreams. The dreams are as follows: there are people that are dreaming and they're alive. And there are people that are dreaming and they're dead. Two dreamers in this world. Everyone in this room is a dreamer. Everyone's having a dream. But in some of our dreams we're alive, and in some of our dreams you may not realize this. But in some of our dreams we're dead. Everyone's having a dream. If you're a human being, you're dreaming. There's no such thing as someone who doesn't dream. Everyone dreams. People dream at night. People dream during the day. One of my favorite things to see. Unfortunately, we don't get to see it as much anymore because everyone's on their phones. But it used to be that before people were on their phones, it used to be that people would space out.

13:29 And one of the most beautiful things to see in Shear is you're sitting and giving Shear, and you'll see a kid, a girl, a guy, whoever it is, whatever age, and they're in the back of the classroom, or the front of the classroom, or the middle of the classroom. It doesn't matter where they are, and you see them, and they are far, far away. You ever see somebody's face when they're far away? Would you like to see what it looks like from my perspective? This is what you look like when you space out. And there's a moment One of my favorite things to do is to watch people snap back into reality. Would you like to see what it's like? I think it's very good. It's like this. They travel thousands of miles in the span of a moment. Would you like to see what it looks like? Go like this. Go. That's it. That's the whole thing.

14:19 It's just they came back. They have to make a tefilas aderich. They just traveled thousands of miles. They have to do it. They have to make a gomel. They crossed many, many seas. They traveled in time. They were ten years ago. They were ten years from now. You see a girl in Shear. You think she's paying attention. I know she's not. This is what she looks like. She looks like this to me And I know what she's thinking. What will my family look like? What will it look like by my chuppah? Who is my chassam? They're traveling back in time. Everyone's waiting. The summer after, this is what I do to bring people back. They're traveling back in time. They're sitting in a shiur. You know where they are? Summer after tenth grade. That's where they are. Summer after tenth grade. They're like this. I kind of regret it, but it was kind of awesome.

15:08 But I know I'm going to have to pay for it later. Berg's giving me a shiur now. Here we go, and they come right back. You ever sit and dream to yourself, what would it have been like if in ninth grade I made this decision and not that decision? What would life have been like if I was popular in high school? What will life be like? Welcome back. What would life be like if I was ten years from now, living in Yerushalayim Eretz Yisroel? You have all sorts of different. What will life be like if I marry somebody who's fabulously wealthy and I'm a big Balas Tzaddikah? What will it be like if I'm hosting parlor meetings at my house? Everyone has the dream that they're having. The only question is In that dream Are you alive? Or are you dead? Chaval, we lost dreams. We lost dreams because today, why should I dream, if I can have somebody put a screen on in front of me that I don't need to imagine reality anymore, because the screen imagines reality for me.

16:05 That's the godless of books. The godless of books is two people could be reading the same book, but they envision the main character completely differently. In fact, I venture to say that when the author describes the main character, it doesn't even matter to you. If the author describes the main character as he was blond. But in your head he's got no, he's brown hair. This guy, I know, that's what it is. Because you're not even reading the words. The book is just a vehicle to your imagination. But you can't do that when you're watching a show. When you're watching a show, they tell you this is the person. So we lost dreams. It's chaval. We lost dreams. But still, even so. We dream from time to time. That's why Torah Devora has a policy: no phones. They have a policy: no phones because they want you to daydream. Some girls are still on their phones, but there's whatever. There's there's a not so much today, but only one or two of you. But I'm trying to get those girls to pay attention. I care about. I'm like a great machanich. That's what my gaiva tells me. I'm a. So I care about the two girls that are on their phones right now. It's not true. It's just very distracting to me personally. I wish I could say it was coming from a good place

17:09 But as one young lady told me from Shunabet. Clearly, you're triggered by this, Rebek. Thank you very much for letting me know that. Chaval, chaval that we lost dreams. What's the difference? How do you know if you are alive or dead in your dream? I'd like to share with you. Listen to this vart. This is a vart, unbelievable vart. It's a vart. It's from Uvleblah Eger. Eventually But I want to point out a couple of differences here. The first way to know. If you are alive or dead in your dreams, is ask yourself in your dream, Are you active Or are you passive? In the dream of the Sar Amashkim, listen to the dream. What does it say? In my dream, there was a vine before me, and on the vine there were three tendrils, and it seemed to be blossoming, and the buds came out, and its clusters ripened to grapes. And Paro's cup was in my hand, and listen to what he does. And I took the grapes and I squeezed them into Paro's cup and I placed the cup in Paro's hand.

18:11 How does Yosef Fattadik know that the Sara Mashkim is alive? Because he's alive in his dream. He's an active player in the dream. If you take a look at the dream of Sara Ophim, you'll see he does absolutely nothing in the dream. Look at his dream again. Listen to the words of the dream. He says there were three wicker baskets on my head. How did they get there? It doesn't say. And in the topmost basket there were all types of baked goods. How did those baked goods get there? It doesn't say. And the bird is eating them from atop my head. What did Sara Ophim do in this dream? Do you want to know the litmus test of whether or not you are alive or you're dead? Ask yourself: Am I actively pursuing my dreams or am I passively pursuing my dreams? Only somebody who is active is considered alive.

19:07 And that's the biggest move we're going to make in today's shiur. If you are a passive person in life, you're dead. Everyone is in some form of a prison in their lives. Everyone has some mitzrayim in their lives that constricts them and restricts them. But there are people that say, "Look, what can I do? This is my reality now." And they're passive. They go through life passively. They don't own anything. They just say, 'This is who I am now. What could I do?' And then there are people that, in their dreams, are stuck in a prison. Everyone is in some sort of prison. But what do they imagine? They imagine, 'What will I do with my life?' Such a person is still considered alive. I want to give you an example of this. I want to tell you two quick stories to illustrate this point. They're amazing stories. They're true stories.

20:03 The first story we'll say is about somebody who's alive. I may have said this story before, but it bears repeating a million times. There's an organization called Boneyolam. You've heard of the organization called Boneyolam. Boneyolam is an organization that helps people with fertility. And there are women and men that get married and they struggle with fertility issues. It's a big problem. We cannot imagine the pain of what that's like. And so there's this credible organization that you can call them up, and they can tell you who the best doctors are, and they can get you the best guidance, and they can get you the best medical attention, and into the best laboratories, and everything that's needed in order to help you have children. And since the inception of Bnei Olam Over eight thousand children have been born. Millions upon millions of dollars of tzedakah have been collected, and over eight thousand children have been born since Bnei Olam started their holy work. How did Bnei Olam start?

21:08 It's an exceptionally painful story. Bnei Olam was started by a family, the Bachners, tzaddikim. The Bachners, unfortunately, do not have children. They went from doctor to doctor, and the lab. Everything was normal. Okay, but they couldn't have kids. They just couldn't do it. Finally, the very last appointment. This is the appointment with the doctor who's going to tell them there's still hope. Or it's over. Could you imagine what the Bachners were doing on that drive over to that doctor? Their dreams are about to be either kept alive or destroyed. That's quite the prison that they're living in. And they went to the doctor. And the doctor said to them,"We've reached the end of the line. Unfortunately, you're not going to be able to have children. Dream dead Dream over. The Bachners have never had children. And in the car ride back After that doctor's appointment, I think 很好 Robertson Bachner turns to her husband.

22:12 And she says The Rebbeinu Sholom said no to us. The question is, what do we do now? And she decided right then and there in that car ride. She said, "I have expertise in all of the areas around fertility. We've seen every doctor, we know every treatment, we know every lab." I'm going to start an organization that's designed to help people have children." She started it in the car ride on the way back from being told by the doctor that she's never going to have kids. She said, "The last twenty years of my life have not been in vain. The last twenty years of my life have been leading me to this moment. I have all this knowledge. I'm going to share it with everybody, and that's how Bnei Olam started. From a car ride where she was told no, the speaker says, 'over eight thousand children, over eight thousand Jewish children have been born.' Do you know how many invitations the Bachners get to bar mitzvahs, to bat mitzvahs, to brises, to shalom zachers, to pidyon haben's, to weddings already of children that were only born because they decided in their prison I am not going to choose a life of passivity.

23:27 I'm going to choose what to do with my pain. I'm going to be active. I'm going to be alive. They weren't just dreaming. They were alive. They said to the Panovitcherav, Zechariasadik Lebracha, when he was telling people about his dreams of rebuilding Bnei Brak and of rebuilding Yisheva's Panovitch, they said, "Rabbi, you're a dreamer." And the Panovitcherav said, "Yes, but I'm wide awake." Some people have dreams and they're shlufedik; they're dead, they're passive. Person has a dream. You say, 'What are you going to do about it?' They go There's nothing really I can do. I'm stuck in this prison. I'm stuck in this family. I don't have any money. It's hard to get a shirach. They're stuck. They're passive people. Some people have dreams and they're alive. One of my closest friends in the world is Dr. Jonathan Donath, who was my roommate when I was shnabed, and we've maintained a relationship. Baruch Hashem, now for over 20 years.

24:21 And a couple years ago, John Donath calls me up and he goes, "I have a dream. The dream is for every single Jew to give a dollar a day to Stakka." And since that time. And keeping his chiropractor practice, he does it on nights and weekends and early mornings and any break he gets for no money. John Donath has now raised over seventeen thousand dollars a day, coming up on eighteen thousand dollars a day. That's millions and millions of dollars of stucca every single year because he had a dream. I'm going to give a dollar every single day to Stucca, and I'm going to get everybody to give a dollar with me. He's awake. He's alive. There are people that they dream. I'm going to do. I'm going to do so much. And then you always have the guy who comes to yeshiva, and he's got big dreams. And this year is going to be the year. Just like many of you girls, you came to Torah Devar, you came to Yeshalayim Yerakodesh, and you had dreams. Remember? Remember when you were being interviewed last year in February? Remember that?

25:24 Or January? Whatever it is for the girls. Remember that you sat down with Rabbi Fix or Mrs. Trank, and you had to be on her status. Remember that whole matzav. And then I think that's what people do. They ask you that question that everybody asks: What do you want to accomplish in your year in Israel? And even though you answered the standard answer that everybody answers, and you know, I think you weren't authentic, and you didn't really respond in a deep way. For most of us, just said the same thing like, yeah, I think it's like, I really want to grow, you know, like some sort of part of a thing. I really want to grow. What does grow mean? Sem seventy. Grow could be in a lot of different ways. I just have to keep you awake. Want to grow? You have guys in yeshiva. Every time I go for an interview, you have guys in yeshiva. What do you want to do with your year in Israel? I don't want to, but I want to. I don't know if I want to, but I want to. I don't know if I want to, but I want to.

26:18 I just really want to be inspired. You know what that means when a guy is talking about being inspired? It could be anything. But if he's alive and he's looking for inspiration, and he's going to every single one of those shuls and he's taking notes and he's following up with the rebbe and he's asking a question and he's making a chavruta And then you have guys that go. I'll tell you the best way I ever heard it in my entire life. A lot of people have different ways, but this is the one that stuck with me. It was from a dear friend of mine many years ago. We used to go to the market every single Shabbos Shuvah. And Shabbos Lagado, and many other times, we would run to hear Moshe Weinberger Shlito, the Rav of Veish Kodesh in Woodmere. We would run to hear the Rebbe speak because the Rebbe's speeches are unbelievable. They're so inspiring. And Shabbos Shuvah, because the Rebbe's drasha is so inspiring, they give it on Matzei Shabbos to give a chance for everyone from all over the place to come. And you have to come early so you can get a seat. So right after Shabbos, me and my friend Avi

27:08 We run in the car and we park by the gas station on Matzei Shabbos. Nobody's there by the gas station. It's a good place to park. And we get there, and we get really good seats right up front, so that we're going to be able to see the Rebbe. And this friend of mine, Avi, he's hysterically funny. He sits down in his chair. He leans back and he goes "Okay, Weinberger Inspire me. And obviously, I burst out laughing. It was like one of the funniest things, and it was classic Avi. He's an amazing man. But how many of us are showing up to Sem "Okay, Toma Devora Inspire me. That's not the way this works. That's passive. That's dead. If you're sitting here and it's Hanukkah time, and you're asking yourself, "I know what I had in my heart." I know what I had in my heart. Have I done it yet?

27:55 Maybe I haven't been active enough. Maybe I can't wait any longer for my dreams to come true. Because if they're your dreams, then you chase them with all of your heart. Those people are alive. We live in a world of dead people walking. You see it all over the place. I'm not here to pick on technology, but it used to be that people could ride the bus in Yerushalayim and they would sit there and they didn't necessarily have a sefer and they didn't necessarily have a phone and they weren't necessarily listening to music. They just dreamed. It was a beautiful thing. A bus full of dreamers. Hayinu kecholim. We're like dreamers. That's what it's going to be like in Yemos HaMashiach. We're going to be tapped into our dreams. We're going to look back and everything and say, all of the dreams that we had, all of those dreams came to reality in Olam Habah.

28:44 Today, everyone's plugged in. I think nobody wants to dream anymore. Nobody gets to daydream. Nobody has hopes and aspirations. And even if they do in their dreams, they're just sitting there as the victim of circumstance. Rabbi, what do you want from me? I wasn't gifted with the ability to sit and beis medrash. I have all the letters, Rabbi. I have ADHD and all the different letters that they could give me. They threw the letters at me and they threw the medicine at me. What do you want? I can't learn. It's not true. Just because you have letters doesn't mean that you're incapable in life. Some people know how to have letters and they say that's a superpower. That's a superpower. People with ADHD also have this gift called hyperfocus. People don't know what ADHD is. They think ADHD is you can't focus. ADHD is you could focus on a million things. ADHD is you're in the middle of writing a paper and then a squirrel walks by the window and three hours later you're the world's expert on squirrels.

29:36 People think it's like, I was doing this and then this. No. ADHD. You have the capacity to hyperfocus. It's just a question of harnessing it. But some people are victims of their letters, and some people know that their letters are superpowers. That's the first difference. Another difference, and this is a var from Rav Leibler Eiger. And if you came to Eretz Yisrael just for this It's worth it. An unbelievable var. Listen to what Rav Leibler Eiger says. When did the fly come into Paro's cup? The whole reason that the Saramashkim was in jail was because a fly landed in his cup. And Paro saw a fly in his cup. I have a question: When did the fly land? Everyone always assumes it's when the Saramashkim had it and then he gave it to Paro. Is that true? We don't know when it landed. Maybe the Saramashkim did everything perfectly.

30:28 And then right after he handed it to Paro, Paro blinked. The fly went into Parol's cup. Maybe the Sarah Mashkim did nothing wrong. He does bless her. You should know. I love the brachos, but he does bless her. The Sarah Ophim. The pebble was in the bread. When did the pebble get into the bread? The flour was there. You sift the flour. You're supposed to sift out what? The pebble. You're supposed to make sure that there's no pebble there. So, the question is, what is the responsibility of the Sara Mashkim? We don't know when the fly landed. Maybe it landed beforehand, and maybe the Sara Mashkim should have caught it, or maybe it landed afterwards. But we know for sure that somehow a rock ended up in the bread. The Sara Ophim has some level of responsibility here. So listen to where Rav Leible Eiger says. Rav Eytan says Look at what the Sara Mashkim does. He's dreaming of the vines growing. He's dreaming of the grapes sprouting. He's dreaming of squeezing the grapes to produce the wine and serving the wine to Paro.

31:30 In other words, the Sara Mashkim says, "I think I'm going to need to get a few more examples. I don't know if I slipped up or not, but if I did, I'm going to have to replay this scene over and over in my head to make sure that when I get the chance to do it right, I do it right." I'm going to nail it. The Sara Ophim We never see anything like that. The Sara Ophim isn't concerned at all with the process. He says the loaves are in the basket; they're ready to be served. He doesn't dream about the process of bread baking. He says, 'I think it's a good idea.' I'm going to try to make this relevant to girls. I don't know if it's going to work. If it doesn't work, please forgive me. I just don't know necessarily enough about your world, but I'll try to like make it somewhat relevant. I'll start with the muscle from the guys. This way, maybe you'll understand where I'm trying to go with this.

32:19 If a guy has a big basketball game. You know what he does the entire day before the game, maybe even a week before the game. He plays the game in his head. And he imagines himself in the gym, and he imagines all of his boys in the stands, and his parents are there, and maybe his cousins came to the game, and he imagines all the rival fans. He imagines himself sitting on the foul line. It's basketball, by the way. He imagines himself sitting on the foul line with three seconds left in the game, and they're down one, and he's got two shots. And he hits the first one. He even imagines it, how it bounces around, and then it falls in. And now it's the second shot. He sees himself breathing. He dribbles three times. He flips the ball in his hands. And he releases, swoosh. And they get the ball with two seconds left and they try to inbound it. And he knocks it away. He's the hero and everyone is all over him, lifting him up. He won the game for the team.

33:16 By the way, that guy who's imagining that. Might be the like eighth or ninth guy on the team who sees two minutes of the game But he's living it in his head over and over again. It's real to him. And when that happens, by the way, when you have that moment in the game, it's almost like it's familiar. Right? When that pass is being made, it's like I've dreamed of this moment before. I'm ready for it. I'm prepared for it. And so he knows to jump in the lane to get that steal, and he sees the defender coming over. So he makes a behind-the-back pass just in time to get it to that person who goes in for the layup. He's dreamed that dream a thousand times. So when it happens on the court, he's already ready for it. I imagine that for girls, it's something like this: it's the big night of production. See, I'm failing at this already. I'm trying my best. I don't know what you girls do.

34:05 You're a future manicure. You're future. You're a future manicurist. You're a future. You're you're imagining yourself as a speech therapist, a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, a water therapist, an art therapist. They've got a music therapist. A music therapist, a therapist, right? And which type of therapist? An IFS therapist, a CBT therapist, right? It's the big day of the production. You see yourself on stage. People who are alive prepare for great moments. Okay, so like, people who are dead, they just imagine great moments having happened to them. You want to know who the great player is? People who are alive They dream of preparing for great moments. People who are dead Imagine themselves having great moments, not preparing for great moments. They imagine the future, not the present. They imagine great moments happening to them. It's a huge difference. If you find yourself dreaming about what can I do to do this better, I made a mistake. What can I do to do this better?

35:14 That's awesome. You're alive. You're preparing yourself for a great moment. The Saremashkim says, I don't know if I messed up or not, but I want to dream this over and over again in my head. I want to imagine it into reality so that when it comes time for me to serve Paro, I'm gonna nail it. The Sara Ophim just imagines great moments happening to him. He's there. Bread is on his head. He didn't do anything to make that bread. He didn't put it on his head. The birds are swooping down. He's done nothing to prepare for that moment. He's just having a great moment happen to them. And finally, last but not least The difference between the Sara Mashkim and the Sara Ophim is the Sara Mashkim cares about the process because he loves what he does, and the Sara Ophim. Hates the process because he hates his job. He only cares about the results.

36:09 The sarimashkimi imagines himself squeezing the grapes. Okay, why? Because I want to serve Paro. That's what he dreams. At the end of the day, what does he do? He puts the cup. He imagines himself coming to Paro with the cup and putting it in Paro's hands. The sarahofim. He doesn't care about Paro. Paro's not interesting to him. He just wants the accolades that come along with being the sarahofim. He doesn't care about paro and he doesn't care about the process. Many, many years ago, I heard a shiur from Rabbi Orlovsky. Girls know Rabbi Orlovsky. It's very, very, very funny. And he spoke about what dreams you have. And he said there's nothing wrong with being a dentist. He said, but I never saw in my life somebody who, their tombstone is a giant tooth And on the tombstone, it's inscribed: he filled cavities better than anyone else.

37:01 You gotta love what you do. Some people love being a dentist; they really do. They love being a dentist. And you know what? Maybe they would have on their tombstone, "When people were in pain, I healed their pain." I gave people. There's an orthodontist in my neighborhood. Unfortunately, he had to move back to America, but he was an amazing guy. His tagline was, "We make smiles beautiful." If you ask this guy, "Do you love what you're doing?" He goes, "Yeah, I love what I'm doing. I make people have a beautiful smile. Some people smile like this. Have you ever seen people who smile like this? I smile like that because I had big buck teeth as a child. And if you have big buck teeth, everyone thinks it's funny to go do this for me. Do it. This is my relived trauma to keep you awake. I'm glad that I could entertain you with the years of orthodontia that I had to go through.

37:56 Some people don't know how to smile. An orthodontist can love what he does. An accountant can love what he does. But do something that you love doing. If you do something in your life that's just like I do it because I need to make money. It's crushing. The burden is crushing. There's a guy I know. He happens to be a very funny guy. He's a comedian on the side. And he's an accountant. Now I don't know what you know about accountants and I don't know who I'm about to offend. But comedian and accountant don't always go together. Like if you know accountants and you know the jokes that they tell, they suck. It's no. That's a very nice way of saying it. Sure. It's not exactly the type of people that do standup comedy. But this guy does standup comedy and he's really funny. And he told me that going to the office for him is a death sentence every day, especially in the busy season where he's working fifteen or sixteen hours a day.

38:52 He has a dream, but he's dead. He doesn't care about the process. All he wants is the paycheck. A person who's alive doesn't dream about the paycheck. The paycheck is just there to support the dream. Of course, we have to feed our families. But I don't get paid. I hope that's clear. I mean, if you're not in chinuch, let's say you don't get paid for it. Because that's going to be something that's going to be able to feed your family. That's an important part of it. You get paid to give yourself permission to do the thing that you love. And unfortunately We made this little box, and we told all the firm girls, "Go in that box." All do the same thing. You got to all do the same thing because you got to make money to live in the Jewish community. You girls are exceptionally talented.

39:39 You all have these amazing dreams. You have these amazing talents. You don't have to be what they tell you to be. Do the thing that you love to do. You'll figure out how to monetize it. But do the thing that you love to do. Enjoy the process, not just the result. It's an important part of being a human being. Listen to what Yosef HaTzaddik says to the to what's called. Listen to what Yosef HaTzaddik says to these two people. He says, "For you Yisa paro es roshecha. Paro will lift up your head, and for you, Yisa paro es roshecha mealecha. He's going to lift up your head from upon you. And the medrash says this is connected to Seuas Rosh Kol Adas Bnei Yisrael. All the way later in Vayikra, we're going to have the pasuk to count all the children of Klal Yisrael. And the medrash says it's connected to Yosef HaTzaddik. If you merit, you'll live. If you don't merit, you'll die.

40:33 Listen to what the medrash is teaching us. The Saramashkim was alive. He's a person who lifted up his head to be counted. He said, 'Hinei, here I am. I have what to contribute to this world.' I'm active. I love the process. I imagine what it would be like to take responsibility for my actions. That's a person who's alive. What he's saying to the Sara Ophim is Yisah paru es roshecha. Paru is going to lift up your head, mealecha. Because you're the type of person to lift up your head and go, "Why not me? Why isn't this happening to me? Why don't I get to have all these things?" Because you never took these things for yourself. You never made it your life. Yosef Atadik is telling the Sara Ophim, "You're mis," and he's telling every one of us. He's not just telling the Sarah Ophim; he's telling every one of us. Because the truth is, we don't need to know about the Sarah Ophim.

41:21 All we need to know is that Yosef HaTzaddik interpreted the dream of the Sarah Mashkim, and then eventually the Sarah Mashkim remembered him to Paro, and that's how Yosef HaTzaddik got to be there at the very end. No, no, no. The Torah is speaking to us. There is a Sarah Mashkim. There is girls in this room that you are alive. Yisa Paro as Roshacha. You are going to be lifted up because you lifted up your head. And there are those that lift up their head like the Sarah Ophim and go. How come it doesn't happen to me? Why am I not being counted? And Yosef Hatzadik says, "You'll be counted." Yisaparo es roshecha mealecha. If you stand up like that, you're already dead. You're not taking accountability for your life. You're not enjoying the process. You're not imagining what success looks like. You didn't stand up to be great. You stood up to complain. There's a lot of that about.

42:08 It's that time of year. I have no knowledge that anyone in this seminary is doing that. I'm just saying, in all the seminaries and in all the yeshivas, it's that time of year where people who aren't living out their dreams go. I just don't know if I'm getting what I need here. Maybe they should be doing more for me, or maybe if I was in a different chevra, or maybe if I was right. That's just standing up and saying, "How come nobody is doing it for me?" That's not taking responsibility. That's not being alive. That's being dead. That's isaparos roshecha mealecha. You're standing up, but you're not really standing up for anything. You're standing up to complain. Yosef HaTzaddik is punished with two extra years in prison because he tells the Saramashkim. Remember me. That's so counterintuitive. The whole story of the Saramashkim is that we just said is be active and take responsibility. So Yosef HaTzaddik does exactly that. In fact, maybe we could say that the reason that Yosef HaTzaddik comes to the Saramashkim and says, 'Remember me' when you go to Paro is because the message is clear.

43:11 But there's an amazing lesson to be learned here, and we'll finish with this. Emuna is also called active. There's a lot of. I'm not saying I'm just saying if you know what I'm saying. There's a lot of. Anytime I speak about emuna, there's a lot of. But what about istadlus? Anytime I speak about istadlus, people don't come to me. But what about emuna? Why is that? Why anytime I speak about emuna, I'm going to get a response from five girls who go, yeah, but what about istadlus? And when I speak about a stahl, those people don't go to me. They go, but what about the other side? How much emuna do you have to have? I want to have more emuna. How come it doesn't work on both sides of the aisle? Emuna is not passive. Having emuna that Hashem is going to work it out for you is also active. Yosef Atadik was in jail, and his job in jail was to give over his entire life to Hashem. The reason why Yosef was quote unquote punished, which was really just the consequence of his action

44:03 The reason why Yosef was punished is because he got the message. He just interpreted it in the wrong way. He got a message from the Saremashkim. Take responsibility for your life. You're in jail. Dream about what your life could be like. Isn't Yosef the Balachalamos? Isn't he the ultimate dreamer? Everything in Yosef Atzadik's life is about dreams. He sent down to Mitzrayim because of his dreams. So he's getting the message. Be active. But he only made one small mistake. Emuna is not passive. Having emuna that Hashem is going to make your dreams come true is not passive. It's not just optimism. Hope is not optimism. Hope is a way of seeing the world. Hope is the belief that things will change. A person with deep faith knows that life will certainly change. So Yosef HaTzaddik was in jail, and he was dreaming the entire time. I can't wait to see how this story plays out because I know for sure the story is going to have a good ending. Because if it's not good, it's definitely not the end of the story. So Yosef HaTzaddik is rotting in an Egyptian jail. This is as low as it gets. He knew it was going to get better.

45:08 His avodah was to be active, not in talking to the saramashkim, and increasing his emuna. Hashem is going to take me out. Girls. This year It's a bit crazy to think about. Only three more months to Purim. And after that It's a quick week you have after that till Pesach, and then you have six or seven weeks after Pesach. Crazy to see how time is going through the hourglass. The sand is going through the sieve. And for those who are in shnabets, even for those who just returned Or maybe especially for those who just returned. Those sands, girls, they keep going through the hourglass. What happened to your dreams? Are you alive? You're taking responsibility for your year. Do you love the process? Do you imagine what success looks like in an active way? Or are you letting this year just happen to you? Girls, have a wonderful Shabbos.