What is the meaning of "Miketz"?
See also Ba'al ha'Turim.
Da'as Zekenim, Hadar Zekenim, Rosh: "Mi'Ketz" can also mean "at the beginning," such as, "mi'Ketz Sheva Shanim [... free your Eved Ivri]" (Yirmeyahu 34:14), where it means, 'at the beginning of the seventh year.' Moshav Zekenim - Rashi means that usually, mi'Ketz means at the end. Alternatively, if something has a starting point and an ending point, Ketz can refer to either.
Why does the Torah add the word "Yamim"?
Rashbam: Without "Yamim," it would mean two incomplete years (even one year and a day). "Yamim" always means a complete year. 1
Ha'amek Davar: ("Yamim" refers to a year.) For a year, Yosef relied on the butler, that he will have the opportunity to tell Pharaoh. After a year, he ceases to think about it (Bava Metzia 24b). He was punished to wait a second year, Midah k'Neged Midah. 2
See, for example, Vayikra 25:29,30. Oznayim la'Torah - Consequently, this teaches us that just as Yosef was freed on Rosh Hashanah, so too, did the butler and baker dream on the night of Rosh Hashanah. Refer to 40:5:1.1:1. See Oznayim la'Torah who elaborates further.
Ha'amek Davar did not explicitly say so; it seems that this is his intent. (PF) Gur Aryeh (to 40:23) does write this explicitly; refer to 40:23:2.2:2 and the note there. (CS)
On which river was Pharaoh standing? Why does the Torah call it "ha'Ye'or"?
Rashi: Pharaoh dreamt that he was standing on the River Nile, the only one of the four major rivers mentioned in Bereishis (2:10-14) to be called "Ye'or," 1 which means a river from which irrigation canals branch off. 2
Ramban: Onkelos refers to all the major rivers sometimes as 'Nahara,' and sometimes as 'Ye'or;' 3 but to irrigation canals as Ye'or (Arisa) [exclusively]. 4
Rashi (to 2:11): In fact, it is synonymous with the River Pishon mentioned there. See Sifsei Chachamim.
Rashi: Because rain falls rarely in Egypt. The Torah also refers to the tributaries as "Ye'orim" - see Shemos 7:19.
Because they are both expressions of light and are rooted in the word 'Or' - See Ramban. In fact, the Pasuk in Daniel 12:5 refers to the River Chidekel as "Ye'or." The Ramban goes on to prove Onkelos' opinion. (But see 41:1:3.1:1.)
That is why he translates "Ye'or" here as 'Nahar,' and later (to Shemos 7:19) as 'Ariteihon' - See Ramban.
How could Pharaoh possibly be standing on the River?
Seforno: It means on the river bank.
The Vilna Gaon: He in fact dreamt that, in keeping with his claim that he was a greater god than the River Nile (which the Egyptians worshipped). 1
Radak: It means near the river; like the word Alav in the verse, "v'Alav Mateh Menasheh" (Bamidbar 2:20).
Ha'amek Davar: He had on ongoing dream (i.e. Safek) - is the success of Egypt and the river due to me, or vice-versa? [The dream, and] the entire episode showed that he stands on (is secondary to) them. The famine came to bring Bnei Yisrael to Egypt. It was decreed that they be in another land, and not that they be under Pharaoh!
Oznayim la'Torah: His was an ongoing dream - "Cholem" is in the present tense - that he was a god; and that the river, the people and the animals that were created, or that he created, were inferior to him and were there to serve him; hence every detail mentioned in the Parshah revolved around him - See Oznayim la'Torah who elaborates.
Why did Yosef's salvation come through dreams?
Da'as Zekenim: This shows that Hashem is unlike people. A doctor wounds with a knife, and heals with a bandage. Hashem heals through the same matter that brought the affliction (it was Yosef's dreams about his brothers that fueled their hatred).
Why didn't Pharaoh have these dreams as soon as Yosef descended to Egypt?
Maharal (Gevuros Hashem Ch. 11, p. 63): Yosef had yet to mature (refer to 39:1:1.7:1). During youth, one's physicality (Chomer) is ascendant over one's Tzurah (purpose and function). 1 In a parallel fashion, the Egyptians were basely materialistic, and Yosef would become their Tzurah (leading them towards achieving a goal). Just as youth must precede maturity, Yosef had to be enslaved to Egypt before he would rule over them.
Maharal: For further explanation of Maharal's terminology (Chomer and Tzurah), refer to 39:1:1.6:1*.
From when were the two years counted?
Rosh, Moshav Zekenim: Do not say that it is after the butler's dream. "Achar" means right after, 1 so Potifar's wife eyed Yosef right after he came to Egypt at the age of 17, and he was 30 when Pharaoh dreamed. I heard that mi'Ketz is after 10 years, just like "mi'Ketz Eser Shanim" said about Avraham (Bereishis 16:3). Yosef was in the pit for 10 years - and another two years for asking Sar ha'Mashkim twice to talk to Pharaoh. It turns out that he had been in Potifar's house for only one year. 2
And "Acharei" is a long time after. (This is like R. Yudan in Bereishis Rabah 44:5. Rav Huna says oppositely there. Refer to 40:1:151 and the notes there.)
Refer to 39:5:151:1.
How can we say Birkas ha'Torah for three verses? We find three verses from which we do not learn Halachos, Isur or Heter; e.g. Pharaoh's dream!
Moshav Zekenim (to 43:7, citing R. Yehudah ha'Chasid): We do learn from it, that if a Nochri's dream affects a country with Yisraelim, we fast due to it, even on Shabbos! 1
Also refer to 36:1:151:2.
Why does it say "va'Yehi," which is an expression of pain (Megilah 10b)?
Ohr ha'Chayim #1: This begins causing the exile to Egypt.
Ohr ha'Chayim #2: This informed of the famine that would come. It is as if Hashem is pained due to affliction of His world, like Chazal expounded from "v'Lo Karav Zeh El Zeh" (Shemos 14:20) - that Hashem did not want to hear the angels' Shirah when the Egyptians were drowning (Megilah 10b).
Ohr ha'Chayim #3: Yosef was pained for an extra two years in prison.
Why does it say "u'Pharaoh Cholem" (present tense)?
Ohr ha'Chayim #1: It is connected to the previous Parshah. Sar ha'Mashkim dreamed, and did not want to tell Pharaoh about Yosef. Therefore, also Pharaoh dreams, and he was forced to tell.
Ohr ha'Chayim #2: For two years, Pharaoh had this dream, but did not know (remember). At the end of two years, he dreamed and did not forget. 1
Ohr ha'Chayim #3: During the dream, he realized that it is a dream based on the bizarre things he saw. Therefore, he knew that it is not imagination, rather, a prophecy from above.
Seforno: Amidst dreaming about what he thought about [during the day], he also dreamed [a prophecy from Hashem,] that he was on the river bank.... This is like Chachamim said (Berachos 55b): 'Just as there is no grain without chaff, so too, is there no dream without Devarim Betelim (idle matters that do not teach anything).' 2
Why does it say "u'Pharaoh Cholem"? Normally, the Torah puts the verb before the subject!
Malbim #1: This is to stress the subject. The Sarim dreamed, but this did not help Yosef at all. Now Pharaoh dreamed, and this helped Yosef.
Malbim #2: The dream was of Hashem. The interpreters could not interpret it, for they thought that it is an individual's dream. The subject is first to stress that Pharaoh (the king) is Kelali (a national figure); the dream pertains to the Klal.
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes: "Mi'Ketz - As Targum translates, 'mi'Sof.'" How else might I have translated it?
Gur Aryeh: I might have interpreted "mi'Ketz" as being derived from "Katzeh" - the edge or extremity. But that term can mean either the end or the beginning; Rashi must emphasize that here, it means "at the end."
Rashi writes: "Mi'Ketz - As Targum translates, 'mi'Sof.'" Seemingly, Rashi could have sufficed to reference Targum, without adding that word means "mi'Sof"?
Gur Aryeh: Rashi is telling us that Targum is not merely interpreting the term in context; he is giving the literal translation of the word.
Rashi writes: "Mi'Ketz - ... 'mi'Sof.'" Why does Rashi need to emphasize that the word means "Sof," and not "Katzeh" (extremity)?
Gur Aryeh: 'Katzeh' can mean approaching the edge, but still within the boundaries. 1 I might have thought that Pharaoh's dream was towards the end, but still within, the additional two years of incarceration that Hashem had decreed upon Yosef. That was not so; it was only after the two years were complete, to the last hour, that Hashem brought about Yosef's release.
Gur Aryeh: E.g., the Keruvim were at the "Katzeh" of the Kapores, but within the bounds of its dimensions (Shemos 25:19).
Rashi writes: "'On the Ye'or' - Other rivers are not called 'Ye'or'; only the Nile." But Daniel 12:5 also mentions a Ye'or [in another land]?
Gur Aryeh: Our verse says "The Ye'or" with the definite article, without explaining to which river this refers; only the Nile would be referred to this way. Sefer Daniel must explain elsewhere (see Daniel 10:4) that the river he refers to is the Chidekel (Tigris).
Rashi writes: "The Nile is called Ye'or, because the entire land [of Egypt] is built upon man-made canals that are watered by the Nile." If so, why does Daniel (see 41:1:3.1:1) refer to the Tigris as a Ye'or; it is not man-made!
Gur Aryeh: "Ye'or" means the hollowed channel 1 through which a river flows - whether it was dug out by man, or created that way by Hashem. The term "Nahar" means swiftly-moving 2 waters (from the word "Maher"). While other rivers can be called Ye'or in certain contexts, their main defining feature is the moving water (Nahar). Only the Nile is defined by its channel, due to its function in irrigating the canals [of the otherwise arid Egypt].
The root Alef-Resh may indicate something dug or hollowed out; as in, "Me'uras Tzif'oni" (the viper's lair) (Yeshayahu 11:8); "Ur Kasdim" (see Rashi to Bereishis 11:28, citing Menachem). (CS)
Gur Aryeh: As in the verse, "... all the nations will stream (Naharu) to it" (Yeshayahu 2:2).
