פירוש על בראשית 40:16

In our country there are many such baskets and sellers of fancy rolls — old French oublies — usually put them in these baskets.

THAT THE INTERPRETATION WAS GOOD. Onkelos rendered it that he interpreted it well. A similar use is found in the verses: Teach me fair discernment and knowledge;²⁸¹Ibid., 119:66. That they were ‘tovoth’ (fair),²⁸²Above, 6:2. which means “pretty.” The intent of the verse is to state that this man [the lord of the bakers] had scorned Joseph, thinking of him as not ever knowing how to interpret the dream, and he would never have told him the dream had he not seen that he interpreted for his friend in a fair and proper manner. It may be that the verse is saying: “And the lord of the bakers saw that he gave a favorable interpretation to the lord of the butlers and he rejoiced. He then told him his own dream which had caused him more anguish than that of his friend.”

כי טוב פתר, his interpretation sounded very convincing, was accepted as the true interpretation.

כי טוב פתר, he was encouraged to think that Joseph would also come up with positive explanation of his own dream. Our sages use the words “as Joseph had interpreted to them,” (verse 22) to state that most dreams turn out to be in accordance with how the interpreter saw them.

וירא שר האופים כי טוב פתר, When the chief of the bakers saw that Joseph had interpreted well, etc. Since he himself had dreamt the interpretation of the dream of the chief butler he was in a position to evaluate Joseph's interpretation. The same could not be said of the chief butler as the latter did not know whether Joseph's interpretation would prove correct until it would be fulfilled.

וירא, he realised in his heart when he had heard the interpretation Joseph had given to the Chief cup bearer that this was both a true and a positive interpretation, and he was confident that Joseph would also have a similarly positive interpretation for his own dream. He based himself there on something which our sages have called: “most dreams follow the interpretation (by the interpreter).” (Berachot 55). Joseph interpreted the two dreams according to what his reason told him was the most likely interpretation. He was not concerned whether his interpretation would be considered favourable, i.e. as portending something good in store for the dreamer or if the reverse.

כי טוב פתר, “that he had interpreted the dream positively;” the fact that Joseph predicted fulfillment of the dream within three days convinced the baker that he was telling the truth as otherwise he would be proven a liar within such a short span of time.

כי טוב פתר kann nicht heißen: "etwas Gutes gedeutet". Misst man dem Traume und der Deutung irgend einen Wert bei, so kann nicht das Erfreuliche oder Nichterfreuliche des Inhaltes, sondern die Wahrheit oder Wahrscheinlichkeit des Inhaltes über den Wert einer Deutung entscheiden. Es muss sich über den Wert einer Deutung übrigens schon vor dem Erfolge, somit unabhängig von diesem eine Meinung bilden lassen. Denn auch Pharao später erkennt Josef die Palme der Einsicht und Weisheit sofort nach gehörter Deutung zu, ohne erst den Erfolg abzuwarten, ja, glaubt durch den Charakter der Deutung schon des Erfolges im voraus versichert zu sein. טוב פתר heißt jedenfalls "gut gedeutet", obgleich allerdings wenig Beispiele für einen solchen adverbialen Gebrauch des טוב vorkommen. Denkt man bei Träumen oder anderen symbolischen Zeichen, dass derjenige, der den Traum in das Gemüt eines Menschen sendet, ihm damit etwas sagen will, so muss das Symbolartige in dem Traume so sein, dass der Betreffende es sich selbst erklären könne, es muss klar und durchsichtig sein. Wer die Deutung hört, muss, wenn sie richtig ist, sich sagen können: darauf wäre ich auch gekommen, und zwar muss nur eine Deutung möglich sein, wie wir dies schon in dem Worte פתר gefunden zu haben glauben. Dem Schenkfürsten hatte geträumt, ein Weinstock stehe vor ihm usw. Was Josef hinzufügt, ist nichts, als: drei Ranken, die der Weinstock noch zu Blüte und Frucht zu treiben hat, sind drei Tage, die noch vergehen müssen. Alles übrige ist damit von selbst so klar, dass der Schenk sich hätte sagen können: so hätte ich es auch verstehen müssen. Wenn nun aber diese Träume sicher die Vorsehung gesandt und so den herrschenden Glauben an Träume benutzt hat, um Josef zu retten, so sehen wir hier, wie הב"ה in Bildern spricht, und dürften daraus lernen, wie die Deutung seiner Bilder immer das Einfachste und Nächstliegende suchen müsse, nie hinein, sondern heraus deuten müsse und nur dann glauben dürfe "טוב פתר" das Richtige getroffen zu haben, wenn die Erklärung sich so eng und nahe dem zu Erklärenden anschließt, dass man sich sagen muss: es könne fast nicht anders sein und ergebe sich von selbst aus der Sache. — אף אני בחלומי. "Auch ich war in meinem Traume" d. h. wohl, auch ich war der Mittelpunkt, der Gegenstand meines Traumes. Auch mein Traum hat sich um mich bewegt. — סלי חורי, da חורים die Freien, Adeligen bedeutet, so kann סלי חורי: eines Vornehmen würdige Körbe, feine, nicht gemeine Körbe bedeuten.

BASKETS OF ‘CHORI.’”Baskets made of peeled willows, made so that they have many holes.” This is Rashi’s language.
Rav Saadia Gaon²⁸³See the Commentary of Abraham ibn Ezra. interpreted it as “baskets of white bread,” white as befits the king’s bread, with the word chori being derived from the Hebrew, Neither shall his face now wax white (‘yechvaru’),²⁸⁴Isaiah 29:22. as well as from the Aramaic where the word chivar means “white.” This is the correct interpretation, for all the baskets in the dream contained the king’s bread, and in the uppermost basket there were all manner of baked goods for Pharaoh.
You find it similarly in the language of our Rabbis in the Mishnah:²⁸⁵Beitzah 2:6. “Large loaves and white cakes (v’chivri) [may be baked on a Festival Day].” And in the Jerusalem Talmud on this Mishnah: “The Rabbis [in discussing the permissibleness of baking extra fine white breads on the Festival Day even though they require more work than ordinary bread] derived the meaning of chori from this verse: And, behold, I had three baskets of ‘chori’ on my head. “²⁸⁶This establishes that the word chori in the verse and chivri in the Mishnah were considered by the Rabbis of the Talmud as identical. For just as in the case of the king’s bread it means “large and white,” as befits such bread, so does it have a similar meaning in the Mishnah. It is thus obvious that the Rabbis understood the word chori, as did Rav Saadia Gaon, to mean “white.”
Mikeitz

סלי חרי; full of holes. The word חורים, appears as meaning holes in Job 30,6 חורי עפר וכפים, “holes in the ground and in rocks.” It also appears in this sense in Isaiah 19,9 ואורגים חורי, “and the weavers making holes.” Baskets which are usually of woven palm frond leaves have these little holes as the nature of weaving does not permit the resulting texture of the material to be airtight and waterproof.

סלי חרי, the word חרי is related to the same word in Kings II 12,10 ויקוב חור, “he bored hole.” The baskets are made of thin strips, peeled, with little holes so that they are elastic and look as if plaited. There is no difference between the meaning of the ending י in חרי, and the noun in the regular plural mode חרים. We find such an ending with the letter י in Samuel II 23,8 ראש השלישי, where the noun שליש means “a type of hero, warrior, leader of a contingent of troops.” Sometimes the author contents himself with a partial plural ending, i.e. י, whereas on other occasions he uses the full plural ending ים. According to my teachers (Jerusalem Talmud Beytzah 2,7) the word חרי is derived from חררה, a type of cake baked on hot coals, and according to this interpretation the baskets the baker saw resembled these cakes in appearance. Whereas the lower two baskets contained these kinds of flat cakes, the topmost basket contained the kind of baked goods served to Pharaoh, i.e. superior goods, pastries, baked in an oven or in an oiled pan.

סלי חורי, “baskets of patisserie.” Rashi explains the word חורי as describing the kinds of baskets, i.e. wicker work. Rabbeinu Saadyah Gaon explains the word חורי as referring to bread made of white flour, a delicacy reserved for kings. Linguistically, the word would be related to חיור, “ (Arabic word?)

The words טוב פתר could also mean that Joseph had given a favourable interpretation to the dream of the chief butler. Thus encouraged, the chief of the bakers told Joseph his own dream hoping that Joseph would have a favourable interpretation for him also. His hope was based on the prophecy of Jewish exile that the dream contained. He saw the nations of the world who are compared to vultures consume the Jewish people (compare Targum Yonathan on Genesis 15,11). Israel, on the other hand, is compared to bread as we know from Psalms 14,4: אוכלי עמי אכלו לחם, "who devour My people as they devour bread." When the chief of the bakers spoke about carrying the baskets על ראשי, on my head, he hinted that Israel would be on top of all the nations. You will note that in the description of Pharaoh's activities in the dream of the chief butler, he is not described as drinking the wine, i.e. consuming the Jewish people. He only held the wine in his hand, an expression of paying homage to its worth. Contrast this with the fact that in the dream of the chief of the bakers, Pharaoh, i.e. the vultures, are reported as consuming part of the Jewish people.

כי טוב פתר, “that he had predicted something positive, and he believed him;” his reasoning had been that if someone interprets untruthfully, he does not take a chance to be called a liar after three days.