D’var Torah by Rabbi Kasriel Gewirtzman
One night Pharaoh had two dreams that disturbed him immensely. The first dream
was of seven thin and ugly cows who were eating seven large, healthy cows. The
skinny cows remained thin! The second dream was of seven thin, wilted ears of
grain swallowing up seven healthy and full ears of grain. The wilted ears remained
wilted. Pharaoh was desperate to find someone to interpret these dreams, but he
couldn’t find anyone.Pharaoh was told by the chief sommelier that Joseph had
interpreted dreams in jail. Pharoh had him summoned. Joseph told Pharaoh that
his dreams meant that Egypt was going to have seven years of great abundance,
which would be immediately followed by seven grueling years of famine. After
Joseph interpreted these dreams for Pharaoh, Joseph offered some unsolicited
advice and said:
“Now let Pharaoh seek out a discerning and wise man
Genesis 41:33
and set him over the land of Egypt.”
But Pharaoh didn’t ask Joseph for his advice! He just asked for an interpretation for
his dream. Joseph went on to advise Pharaoh on just how he should deal with the
situation.
Most people standing before a king would only do what he or she was told, and
nothing more. It is a special person who identifies a problem and then comes up
with a solution for it.
There’s so much to do, fix, and change in the world and there certainly isn’t a
shortage of people who can point out all of the problems that exist. They’re only
too excited to share their negative thoughts with anyone who will listen. But how
many of these people will just as eagerly and readily offer up solutions? Not many.
Our minds can be compared to a garden. Whatever seed you plant in a garden,
that is the seed that will grow. But if you don’t plant anything in the garden, then
weeds grow in abundance. Our minds work the same way. Absent of our thinking
of productive thoughts, our minds will naturally drift toward something negative
and unproductive.
People who are moving and growing, tend to have many positive and productive
thoughts while those who are stuck and not moving will usually focus only on
negative thoughts.
A way to instantly rid yourself of negative, unproductive thoughts is to focus on a
positive future, be action-minded, and work each day toward meaningful
objectives.
We live in a world where people love to point out all the things that are wrong. But
you can be different. You can be part of the solution! Use your mind to plant
productive seeds of positive thoughts and then go make a difference in this world!
Shabbat Shalom,
The JET Team
