An important part of Parshat Vayeshev is the concept of dreams. Yosef’s dreams suggest his own future. Yosef also has the gift of reading into dreams as he interprets the troubling dreams of others. It is interesting to note that Yosef is not considered a prophet and does not have interactions with God as do Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
We all dream and we all have startled awake at the end of a disturbing dream.
This is a whimsical poem about the Dream Weaver.
The Dream Weaver
The Dream Weaver barges in uninvited.
He doesn’t even knock;
just barging in
with his muddy shoes
and wild eyes;
with his long peppered beard
filled with ancient crumbs of matzah.
He snatches mismatched memories out from the old sock drawer;
and then carelessly
weaves them
into a saga
which plays and replays
at random intervals;
deep purple strands
of shame
and embarrassment tossed in;
all to the the swinging music
of the Glenn Miller Band,
with the windows wide open
and topaz rain clouds dancing
and the wind blowing in from the north;
snuffing out the candles
and setting your hair on fire,
which the Dream Weaver
expertly extinguishes
with a stream of seltzer
purchased on the Lower East Side
in 1918
on final markdown.
The Dream Weaver tosses you around
carelessly
to the east,
to the west
until you don’t which is Haman and which is Mordechai
and when you cry out
with a child’s high and plaintive call
into the churning night,
"Are we there yet?"
then The Dream Weaver knows that he has done his job.
With a twinkle in his hooded eyes
he sprinkles dust from The Garden
on you
and you forget all that has transpired
as he circles you seven times
and slowly, slowly fades away
like the final shot of Fellini film
and
with one final kick
on the front door with his
mighty, muddy boot
he leaves the house
behind.
BANG !
At that moment
you startle awake,
sit up,
wild eyes
opening wide
and ask
"Was I dreaming?"
Once Joseph had a dream which he told to his brothers; and they hated him even more.
He said to them, “Hear this dream which I have dreamed:
Genesis 37:5