Pharoah has a problem. He has these two dreams but no one can interpret them. Suddenly, the cup-bearer remembers that there was some Jewish guy named Yosef who interpreted his dream when he was in jail. Pharoah immediately calls for Yosef and explains to him the dream he had. Yosef listens carefully to the dream and properly interprets it. Things suddenly change quickly. Yosef is not only let out of jail but becomes second to the king. Pharoah also starts to call Yosef by a new name: Tzafnas Parneiach. Rashi translates this as revealer of hidden things. The Sfas Emes has a problem with this translation though. The word Tzafnas means hidden and Parneiach means reveal, so the Sfas Emes says the name would have to be Parneiach Tzafnas to mean “revealer of hidden things”. Therefore, the Sfas Emes translates this name differently. He interprets the name in the order the words are written: Hidden Revealed, which means because Yosef was Hidden, things were Revealed to him. The Sfas Emes states that we see from here why Yosef deserved to understand things that were unclear to everyone else. It was because Yosef acted modestly. Yosef did not show off his talents and because he kept himself hidden, G-d blessed him with an understanding of hidden things.

A few years ago, I was walking to shul on Shabbos and passed a bird standing on a person’s lawn. I stared at the bird for a few moments and had an amazing thought (this is one of the reasons why I try to get to shul early – I have time to think about things while I’m walking there). I imagined having the following scene: I was having a conversation with an alien that had never seen a bird before (and this is assuming the alien speaks English). I begin to explain to the alien that a bird can fly and the alien starts laughing. The alien says it is impossible because the bird has no wings.

Look at a bird when it is on the ground and you might think like the alien. The reason is because the bird’s wings are stuck next to its body. It is only when the bird is flying that its wings are spread, but when it is down on the ground, it looks like any other normal animal. I think this is a great lesson! We can learn modesty from a bird. The bird has a talent that no other being on earth has, but it does not show it off. Maybe this is the reason why the bird can rise higher than any other animal in the world.

Moshe was the greatest prophet of all time and no one can even come close to him. Also, Moshe was extremely humble, so humble that the Torah itself states that there will never be anyone as modest as Moshe. The secret that made Moshe so great was his humbleness. The reason why things were revealed to Yosef was because of his humbleness. The reason a bird can fly so high is because of its humbleness. I think the lesson of this week’s Divrei Simcha is that we should try our best to become humble people.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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