Biblical Parallels Index – Bereshit 41

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Concordance – The concordance highlights that of the 14 occurrences of the root "חלם" in Sefer Bereshit, 13 appear in the Yosef narratives, highlighting the recurring motif. There are, in fact, three sets of dreams in the narrative: Yosef’s own dreams (Bereshit 37), the dreams of Pharaoh’s servants (Bereshit 40), and Pharaoh’s dreams (Bereshit 41).

In Joseph: Master of Dreams, Dr. Hillel Chiel explores the three narratives of Yosef’s dream interpretation and how they represent the transition from the Patriarchal period to the national story of Israel.
In his lecture, Dreams and Interpretations: An Inquiry into the Development of Yosef’s Dreams, Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom explores how Yosef’s understanding of dream interpretation develops throughout the story of the three sets of dreams.

See Yosef, Esther, and Daniel for a three-way exploration of parallels and contrasts.The article questions: Should the goal of Jewish life in the Diaspora be survival, as exemplified by Yosef and celebrated by Esther? Or should Jews be more ambitious, and attempt to demonstrate the power and beauty of the Jewish religion to others, as practiced by Daniel?
See Yosef and Megillat Esther for an in-depth of analysis of the parallels between the stories of Yosef and Esther. The article notes that though the hand of God is less blatant in exile, it still guides events. This is explicit in the Yosef narratives and the allusions to the story might serve to teach the reader that this is true in the story of Esther as well.
See Yosef and Daniel for an in-depth analysis of the parallels between the stories of Yosef and Daniel and the difference in emphasis in each on public observance of Judaism in exile.
See Esther and Joseph by Professor Yonatan Grossman and R. Dr. Yehoshua Reiss for further exploration of the parallels between the narratives of Yosef and Esther in foreign courts.
See the lecture, Jews in Foreign Palaces: Yosef, Daniel and Esther, by R. Mordechai Torczyner for analysis of the three characters' different approaches to Jewish identity in exile.

Use the Tanakh Lab to compare the narrator's version of the dream and Paroh's retelling.

Literary Variation – See R. Shemuel b. Chofni Gaon, Ibn Ezra, Radak and others that since the overall meaning is the same, the changes are insignificant. It is the way of the text to vary its language and the way of people to add or remove details when retelling a story.
Intentional Changes – Tanchuma posits that Paroh's changes were intentional; he wanted to test Yosef to know if he knew the original dream on his own.

See Yosef: Dreamer and Interpreter by R. Tamir Granot for analysis of the differences and how they relate to the development of plot in this chapter.

Biblical Parallels Index – Bereshit 41/0