Parashat Miketz

“Ha’ikar chahser min hasefer.”

This expression, arguing that the essential idea that one proposed was untenable simply because the source for the approach was not to be found in the text. It is commonly found within rabbinic literature when challenging an opinion based upon facts that are not found in the source itself. I thought of this expression when studying this week’s interesting—but rarely read—haftarah, one that is read only 10% of the time.

Allow me to explain: Our haftarah for this Shabbat is taken from Sefer Melachim A and tells the very well-known story of Shlomo adjudicating the case of two women, each of whom argued that she was the legitimate mother of the newborn child. The newly anointed king creates a “scenario” that successfully reveals the true mother, a plan that impresses the nation with the wisdom of the young regent and realizing the divine promise that Shlomo would be wiser than all who preceded or followed him.

So why was I reminded of the expression that the essential theme is missing from this haftarah?

Most people who study the haftarah reading adopt the approach that its connection to the parsha is found in the first four words: “VaYikatz Shlomo, v’hinneh chalom, Shlomo awoke and behold!—it had been a dream,” echoing almost the exact words that the Torah uses in our parsha: “VaYikatz Par’oh, v’hinneh chalom, Par’oh awoke and behold!—it had been a dream”—and, no, it is not because the opening word “VaYikatz” reflects the parasha’s opening word “Miketz,” they are different words. But it is doubtful that Chazal would base their choice of haftarot simply upon the fact that both kings had dreams and they woke up. Nor would Pharaoh’s dreams be the “inspiration” of Chazal’s choice of this haftarah—despite that they were the focus of the first aliyah—because Shlomo’s dream was not included in the haftarah. In fact, we might be surprised as to why the ancient scholars consciously omitted the dream itself and began the haftarah in the middle of the perek with Shlomo’s awakening from his dream!!!

And so, the dreams—both of Par’oh and Shlomo—could not have been the focus of Chazal in their selection of this reading. After all, if that were their goal, “Ha’ikar chahser min hasefer, the essential idea (Solomon’s dream) is missing!”

And, indeed, the dreams were not the common theme that our ancients saw in these two stories. Nor was Par’oh’s dreams of any significance in the seeing a link between parsha and haftarah. Rather, our Rabbis considered the common message of the two sources to be one that would resound throughout the generations: God will always keep His promises! The haftarah clearly carries that message as Hashem fulfilled His promise to Shlomo, the promise He had given to the new king in the dream that preceded the haftarah. And God also kept His promise in Parshat Miketz—not the prediction hidden in the dreams of Par’oh of years of abundance and of scarcity, but the promise found in the dreams of Yosef, of his rise to power and seeing his brothers kneeling before him. It was this message that Chazal saw significant enough to eternalize for future generations.

And, truthfully, do we not daily recognize the fulfillment of the words of the neviim, the words that Hashem spoke centuries ago? Do we not see, with the return of Israel to her homeland, the realization of God’s promised redemption? And do we not anticipate the haftarah each week to uncover what other promises of Hashem of which we may have been unaware, have indeed been actualized? I know that I do!

Rabbi Neil Winkler is a past rabbi of the Young Israel of Fort Lee and now lives in Israel.