What was so gratifying about Yosef's dream interpretation that caused Paroh to exclaim, הֲנִמְצָא כָזֶה אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים בּוֹ, Could we find another like him—a man with the divine spirit? All the king's men could not satisfactorily explain his strange nocturnal visions: וְאֵין־פּוֹתֵר אוֹתָם לְפַרְעֹה, but none could interpret them for Paroh. But suddenly this young Hebrew prisoner was whisked from the dungeon, coaxed to present an alternative explanation, and his words rang true:

שֶׁבַע פָּרֹת הַטֹּבֹת שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים הֵנָּה וְשֶׁבַע הַשִּׁבֳּלִים הַטֹּבֹת שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים הֵנָּה חֲלוֹם אֶחָד הוּא׃

The seven healthy cows are seven years, and the seven healthy ears are seven years; it is the same dream.

וְשֶׁבַע הַפָּרוֹת הָרַקּוֹת וְהָרָעֹת הָעֹלֹת אַחֲרֵיהֶן שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים הֵנָּה וְשֶׁבַע הַשִּׁבֳּלִים הָרֵקוֹת שְׁדֻפוֹת הַקָּדִים יִהְיוּ שֶׁבַע שְׁנֵי רָעָב׃

The seven lean and ugly cows that followed are seven years, as are also the seven empty ears scorched by the east wind; they are seven years of famine.

Yosef was certainly astute enough to read both of Paroh's dreams as one message, and the pesukim make it crystal clear that Paroh felt the same way: וַיִּיקַץ פַּרְעֹה וְהִנֵּה חֲלוֹם, then Paroh awoke: it was a dream! But Paroh's necromancers had offered a pshat that was even closer to home than national plenty and famine:

וְלֹא הָיָה לוֹ קוֹרַת רוּחַ בְּפִתְרוֹנָם, שֶׁהָיוּ אוֹמְרִים שֶׁבַע בָּנוֹת אַתָּה מוֹלִיד וְשֶׁבַע בָּנוֹת אַתָּה קוֹבֵר

He was not satisfied with their interpretation. They said: “You will beget seven daughters and you will bury seven daughters” (Genesis Rabbah 89:6).

Why did Paroh reject this interpretation?

Rav Avigdor Nebenzahl suggests that Paroh sensed a lack of purpose in receiving a divine dream about seven daughters that would be born and die. What was he supposed to do with that information? There was nothing Paroh could do to control how many daughters he would have (vs. sons), and there was nothing he could do to prevent them from dying. Why, then, would God share this useless intelligence with him, other than to cause pain?

But Yosef's explanation sat well with Paroh, because seven years of prosperity followed by seven years of famine was something he could act upon! And this was even articulated by Yosef: Let all the food of these good years that are coming be gathered, and let the grain be collected under Paroh’s authority as food to be stored in the cities.Let that food be a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which will come upon the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish in the famine. Paroh realized he could do something to mitigate the upcoming crisis, and it was reasonable that he was granted these disturbing visions precisely so he could formulate a careful plan. He could actually do something.

The inability to do anything to alleviate a painful situation resonates with me this week in the wake of the atrocity in Sydney on the first night of Chanukah. We are horrified by the scene, pained by the pictures, frightened for the future of Australian Jewry among other Diaspora communities, and at the same time anguished that there doesn't seem to be anything we can do about the violent hatred which festers and erupts as we play Whac-a-Mole with terrorists on a worldwide basis. It could be ISIS on Bondi Beach or hooligans on the New York City subway. It could rise up in the streets of Europe, in university classrooms and quads, and in the chat rooms that dominate discourse. We have identified and diagnosed the problem - it is impossible to ignore - but we have no satisfying game plan. Seven or seventeen or seventy will be born and die, and now what? We are as stymied and perplexed as Paroh before he achieved clarity, before he adopted a strategy to go along with the intelligence.

Listening to the funerals and learning of the holy martyrs fills us with a burning desire to do something about it! And we do this while cataloging so many failed attempts to snuff out antisemitism, so many experiments that did not end this pernicious hate. Assimilation into secular society has never alleviated the threat. The premise of a modern Jewish State was sold by 19th century Zionists as an antidote to antisemitism, and that certainly has not come to fruition, as grateful as we are to have the State of Israel. We are contending with centuries of societal moral decay, with nary a Yosef to illuminate a path forward for us. 

The rabbis of the Talmud identified a surprising root cause of Jew hatred that could provide some marching orders for us (Shabbos 89a):

דְּרַב חִסְדָּא וְרַבָּה בְּרֵיהּ דְּרַב הוּנָא דְּאָמְרִי תַּרְוַויְיהוּ: מַאי הַר סִינַי? הַר שֶׁיָּרְדָה שִׂנְאָה לְאֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם עָלָיו

As Rav Ḥisda and Rabba, son of Rav Huna, both said: What is the reason it is called Mount Sinai? It is because it is a mountain upon which hatred for the nations of the world descended because they did not accept the Torah.

Deep within the subconscious of the antisemite, according to this statement, lies the sting of rejection and resentment from lack of mission. The moment at Sinai when we accepted a moral and ethical code that distinguishes us from the nations, we were marked for persecution. And if Sinai was the point of departure, it is also the centerpiece of the cure for this condition. At Sinai, the Jewish people were united with God in purpose and covenantal destiny. Our fragmentation and the weakening of our commitment to Hashem and to each other do not serve us well. The first item on our national "to do" list must be coming together as one people with clarity of mission.

The next obligation we have is to never sit back and accept the status quo. We must stand up to the haters and call out their noxious mentality, expose their lies, and act from a position of strength. This has been the near-universal reaction to the massacre at Bondi Beach: defiant Chanukah gatherings all over the world that demonstrate unwavering commitment to Jewish life. We double down on faith and observance while protecting ourselves. 

One of the most powerful explorations of antisemitism was penned by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (https://rabbisacks.org/archive/future-tense-the-new-antisemitism/) and should be required reading by everyone of every faith. Rabbi Sacks, among many other cogent observations, adds another action item for us: cultivating righteous members of other religions to combat Judeophobia. We must be grateful for our allies - both private citizens, law enforcement agencies, and governments - who join us in this fight. We must work together with other peoples to neutralize the threat.  

Rabbi Sacks adds a fourth marching order to our list:

The most important thing Jews can do to fight antisemitism is never, ever to internalise it. That is what is wrong in making the history of persecution the basis of Jewish identity. For three thousand years Jews defined themselves as a people loved by God. Only in the nineteenth century did they begin to define themselves as the people hated by gentiles. There is no sane future along that road. The best psychological defence against antisemitism is the saying of Rav Nachman of Bratslav: ‘The whole world is a very narrow bridge; the main thing is never to be afraid.’

Over Chanukah, while gazing at the lights, we acknowledge the challenges of our era while expressing utmost hope that the state of the world will be dramatically transformed. This year, more than any other time in my life, I have been moved and buoyed by the final stanza of Maoz Tzur, in which we plead with Hashem, our Guardian of history, to put something very important on His to-do list:

חֲשׂוֹף זְרוֹעַ קָדְשֶׁךָ וְקָרֵב קֵץ הַיְשׁוּעָה

Bare Your holy arm and hasten the End of salvation

נְקֹם נִקְמַת דַּם עֲבָדֶיךָ מֵאֻמָּה הָרְשָׁעָה

Avenge the vengeance of Your servants’ blood from the wicked nation.

כִּי אָרְכָה לָנוּ הַישועה וְאֵין קֵץ לִימֵי הָרָעָה

For the salvation is too long delayed, and there is no end to the days of evil,

דְּחֵה אַדְמוֹן בְּצֵל צַלְמוֹן, הָקֵם לָנוּ רוֹעֶה שִׁבְעָה

Push away the Red One in the lowest shadow and establish for us the seven shepherds.