Today we show how Rashi interprets a dream symbolically. In interpreting this Rashi we follow the skillful symbolic methods of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. Rabbi Hirsch explains that a good symbolic interpretation typically has a single theme which when developed interprets the whole dream.

Gn40-09:12 describes the dream of the chief butler And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold,
• a vine was before me;
• And in the vine were three branches;
• and it was as though it budded,
• and its blossoms shot forth;
• and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes;
• And Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.

Rashi introduces the central theme
• three branches = three days

Using this central theme the remainder of the symbolic interpretation naturally flows:
• a vine was before me; [ I was entangled in a mess]
• And in the vine were three branches; [The mess will be resolved in three days]
• and it was as though it bu01ed, [The salvation begings to bud now]
• and its blossoms shot forth; [At the end of the 3 days I will fully blossom into freedom]
• and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes; [I will get my butler job back]
• And Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand. [I will even be working for my old boss, Pharoh, again]

Sermonic points: We see how even in prison Joseph remained loyal to the spiritual prophetic interpretation of prophecy. Here in prison where people very often degenerate into physical beings, we see the divergence between Joseph and Shimon intensify: Joseph as a bratty teenager believed in the spiritual nature of dreams; and now in as a prisoned adult he tenaciously held to this belief. And indeed, it was this belief, the belief in the spiritual prophetic nature of dreams, that ultimately redeemed him.