12 Dec PARSHAS MIKETZ: HELP WANTED

Help Wanted: Ish
Navon V’Chachom
— Bureaucrats
Need Not Apply
Our Parsha begins
with the story of
Pharoah’s dream. Yosef interpreted
that the seven thin cows swallowing
up the seven fat cows symbolized
seven good years that would be
followed by seven lean years. To
prepare for this impending famine,
Yosef suggested the establishment of a
governmental agency to collect food
during the years of plenty and distribute
food during the years of famine. The
specific language of the suggestion
was “Now let Pharoah seek out a
‘discerning and wise man’ and set him
over the land of Egypt” [Bereishis
41:33].
The author of Shay Le’Torah asks the

following question. Why did Yosef
stress the attributes of wisdom and
understanding in describing the
individual who should be in charge of
the new agency? The task required a
bureaucrat par excellance. It would
seem that the most important
qualifying attribute for the director of
the new agency should have been
excellent organizational skills, rather
than wisdom or intelligence.
The answer is that Yosef felt that this
situation required someone who was a
Chochom [wise person]. “What is the
definition of a Chochom? One who
foresees what will be.” [Tamid 32a]
When a country is enjoying seven
years of plenty, rare is the person who
can imagine that the bubble is going to
burst — that products, which are now
in abundance, will become scarce
commodities.

People who lived through the “boom
years” of the 1980s when it was so
easy to make money in real estate,
have difficulty imagining a market
where one can not sell anything, or
even rent anything. In the “good old
days” when gas was 35 cents or 40
cents a gallon, surplus oil was burned
off at the oil wells. They had too much.
They did not know what to do with it
all. “Unproductive wells” which were
not producing 100 barrels a day, were
abandoned. Later, when we all stood in
the gas lines, we looked back and
thought, “We remember the fish that
we ate…” [Bamidbar 11:5]. We
remembered the good old days when
we could just pull up and the attendant
would wash our windows and check
our oil.
The same thing was true in Egypt.
When grain was so plentiful, it was
very difficult to convince people that it

was necessary to save, to put away for
tomorrow. Who would be able to
inspire the people that the “good
times” would not last forever? It could
not be done a bureaucrat. Only a “wise
and discerning individual” might
prove equal to the task. The task
required a “Chochom” who could see
the future and help others perceive the
future and convince them of the reality
of that future. That is why only
someone of the caliber of Yosef met
the qualifications for the job.