Commentary for Genesis 41:2

יפות מראה BEAUTIFUL TO THE SIGHT — This was an indication of a period of plenty, when people show themselves well-disposed one to another, for no-one then envies another person’s prosperity (cf. Genesis Rabbah 89:4).

AND BEHOLD, THERE CAME UP OUT OF THE RIVER. Since the land of Egypt is irrigated by the river, and it is from the river that abundance or famine befalls them, the king saw the cows coming up out of the river. The cows symbolize plowing, and the ears of corn symbolize the harvest, just as Joseph said, in which there shall be neither plowing nor harvest.¹²Genesis 45:6. Thus it is obvious that Joseph understood the characters in the dreams — i.e. the cows and the ears of corn — as symbolizing plowing and harvesting. He saw that the river rose only slightly and there would thus be no plowing, and the little which will be planted in moist places, a wind blowing from the east, a wind from the Eternal¹³Hosea 13:15. would burn them, even as he saw the ears of corn parched with the east wind.¹⁴Verse 6 here.
It would appear to be implied in the verses that the abundance was only in the land of Egypt, even as it said, Seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt;¹⁵Verse 29 here. likewise the verse, And he stored up all the food of the seven years which was in the land of Egypt.¹⁶Verse 48 here. But the famine, on the other hand, was in all the lands. And so did Joseph interpret it when he said, And there shall arise after them seven years of famine,¹⁷Verse 30 here. and did not mention the land of Egypt. It was for this reason that in the other countries they were unable to store up food even if they had heard about it, as they undoubtedly did, for the matter was well known throughout their lands. Perhaps this was alluded to in the dream since with respect to the fat cows, it mentions, And they fed in the reed-grass, for it was there in Egypt that they fed and stood, but the lean ones, after they consumed the fat ones, walked to and fro through the earth,¹⁸Zechariah 6:7. and Pharaoh did not know where they had gone.

והנה מן היאור עולות, it is a common practice to water all the animals at the same time after which they all return to graze in the meadows. [as opposed to what occurred in Pharaoh’s dream. Ed.]

מן היאור עולות, from the river there were rising, etc. The Torah should have written: עולות שבע פרות מן היאור, "seven cows were rising from the river." Why was the river mentioned first? Perhaps the Torah wanted us to appreciate that the existence of those cows was entirely due to the river, as if the river itself had produced them. To this end the Torah first had to mention who it was that created these cows. What the river produced became of secondary importance. Had the Torah employed the normal syntax we would have thought that the cows crossed the river and rose on the far bank but not that they were a product of the river itself. This very fact also made Pharaoh aware that it could only be a dream. In real life rivers do not produce cows. The reason he was given such a vision was to alert Joseph to the fact that two separate products emanated from the river, i.e. the years of plenty and the years of famine. The river was the key to the ability of the cows to rise or not to rise.

והנה מן היאור עולות שבע פרות, this was part of the interpretation, as in Egypt the river Nile rises annually above its embankment irrigating the farmland surrounding it. The cows both pull the ploughs and thresh the grain after it has been harvested. [thus far the dream reflected a well known reality in Egypt and it is difficult to see how the Egyptian wise men could have missed something so simple unless their eyes had been blinded by G’d. Ed.]

הנה מן היאור עולות שבע פרות, “and here seven cows were rising from the river.” Seeing that the Egyptians drink the waters of the Nile, and that river is the key to their enjoying a bountiful harvest or famine, the cows in Pharaoh’s dream are portrayed as “rising from out of the river.” The cows themselves symbolize beasts working the land, whereas the kernels in the second part of the dream portray the eventual harvest. Had Pharaoh only been shown cows in his dream, one might have been tempted to understand them as symbols of nations which Egypt would subjugate. This is why also the kernels were included in his dream. On the other hand, if Pharaoh had been shown only the kernels this would not have sufficed as the repetition of the dream was vital for its proper interpretation. Nachmanides writes that the phenomenon of extra-ordinarily bountiful harvests for seven consecutive years which Joseph predicted was experienced only in Egypt and not in the surrounding countries. This is why the Torah emphasizes (verse 29) שבע גדול בכל ארץ מצרים, great abundance of food in the whole land of Egypt.” The famine predicted by Joseph, however, included all the surrounding countries, all the trading partners of Egypt. Seeing that the seven good years occurred only in Egypt accounted for the fact that the surrounding countries had not laid in any supplies of non perishable food in anticipation of the famine to come.

.והנה מן היאור עולות שבע פרות , “and here seven cows were climbing out of the river.” Egypt’s economic base was the river Nile; it provided the key to its food supply. Isaiah 19,7 already commented on this when he said: “bed-rock will be exposed by the river Nile (as a result of drought and its failure to overflow), everything sown by the Nile will wither and blow away, etc.” Isaiah continues: “the fishermen shall lament and all who cast lines shall mourn. The flax workers too shall be dismayed. Her foundation (Egypt’s) shall be crushed, etc.”

Symbol of the period of abundance... Rashi is answering the question: Why did Yoseif not interpret the fact that the cows were “fine-looking”? In v. 26 it clearly says he interpreted “well-fleshed,” but his interpretation of “fine-looking” is nowhere mentioned. Rashi answers: Just as he interpreted that the seven good cows mean seven years of abundance, so too he interpreted that “fine-looking” symbolizes the years of abundance. For in a period of abundance, people look finely upon one another: they greet each other pleasantly and provide one another with whatever is lacking.

בריא, gesund, feist, dick, alles dies heißt בריא von ברא, äußerlich machen, also בריא: äußerlich geworden, großen Umfang gewonnen habend. — אחו Wiese, von אחה zusammen verbinden, wovon aא, Bruder. Gräser sind Geselligkeitspflanzen, die von selbst in der Regel nie vereinzelt vorkommen. Daher אחו eigentlich: Geselligkeit. — Der Fluss gibt siebenmal gute Kühe und siebenmal schlechte Kühe; da der Fluss jedes Jahr nur einmal spendet, so ist unmittelbar damit gesagt, dass die sieben Kühe sieben Jahre bedeuten, und dies damit auch für die Ähren entschieden. Pharao stand ja sinnend an dem Flusse, dachte an ihn, als den Spender der Fruchtbarkeit, somit des Reichtums an Vieh und Korn. Kühe und Ähren sind Spenden des Flusses. — Ferner: Als die guten Kühe aus dem Flusse gestiegen waren, fanden sie Weide und gingen dorthin zu weiden. Als aber die schlechten Kühe aus dem Flusse stiegen, da standen die guten Kühe bereits wieder an dem Rande des Flusses, weil sie bereits alles abgeweidet hatten. Die schlechten Kühe waren an sich keine Kannibalen. Sie hätten die guten nicht vor Hunger aufgezehrt, wenn diese noch etwas übrig gelassen hätten. So ist auch unmittelbar bereits die Warnung gegeben, nicht alles aufzuessen. Somit ist die ganze Deutung bereits im Traume enthalten. So spricht Gott in Bildern, und diese Deutung Josefs ist Muster und Maßstab für jede deutende Erklärung, die דרש, nichts hineinlegen, sondern nur herausfinden darf.

והנה מן היאור, “and lo, out of the River (Nile)” seeing that famine and satiation have their origin in water, (irrigation or lack thereof of the earth) this was the symbol shown Pharaoh in his dream. (B’reshit Rabbah 89,4)

מן היאור עולות, “rising up from the river Nile;” they had first descended to its banks to drink its waters.

באחו IN THE REED-GRASS — in the marshy land. old French marais; English, marsh. Similar is (Job 8:11) “Can reed-grass (אחו) grow?”

BA’ACHU. Meaning “in the marshy land,” as in the verse, Can ‘achu’ grow?¹⁹Job 8:11. This is the language of Rashi.
This is not correct, as achu is the name of the grass which grows, [and not the land upon which it grows, as Rashi explained it], just as in the verse, Can the rush shoot up without mire, can the ‘achu’ (reed-grass) grow without water? It withereth before any other herb.²⁰Ibid., Verses 11-12. Thus it is obvious that the word achu is not the marsh land. Perhaps Rashi’s intent is that the grass which grows in the marsh-lands is called by the name of the land upon which it grows.
The correct interpretation is that achu is the generic name for all vegetation and grass which grow on the banks of the rivers and the marsh-lands. In that case, the letter beth in ba’achu would be as the beth in the verse, Come, eat ‘b’lachmi’ (of my bread), and drink of the wine which I have mingled,²¹Proverbs 9:5. Ramban’s intent is to say that if achu is the name of the grass, as he said in attempting to vindicate Rashi’s explanation, the verse before us should have said achu, rather than ba’achu. But if achu is a generic name, the term ba’achu is correct, and the verse would mean that they fed in the green foliage or vegetation which was upon the bank of the river. for they were feeding on the bank of the river, just as it is said, near the cows upon the bank of the river.²²Verse 3 here. Now perhaps the word achu is a derivative of achvah (brotherhood), since many varieties of grass grow together.

באחו, a place where herbs grow as we know from Job 8,11 ישגא אחו בלי מים, “can bulrushes grow without water?”

ותרעינה באחו, as they found plenty of grass near at hand.

ותרעינה באחו, “they grazed on a meadow.” The letter ב in the word באחו, is a prefix and not part of the noun. It is analogous to Proverbs 9,5 לכו לחמו בלחמי ושתו ביין מסכתי, “come and eat my bread, drink the wine which I have mixed.” There too the letter ב in both the words בלחמי and ביין are prefixes, the respective nouns being לחם, יין. Here too the noun is אחו, a type of grass (rushes). The meaning of the line then is: “they (the cows) were feeding on a certain type of grass known as “אחו.” Job 8,11 speaks of ישגא אחו בלי מים, “can rushes grow without water?” It is quite plausible that rushes grow along the banks of the river Nile; we know this from Yocheved hiding Moses in such rushes.