Vayaishev: The Life of the Bartender and the Death of the Baker

In this week’s Parsha we encounter Yosef’s experience with two apparently significant folks on the totem pole of the Egyptian monarchy.



One was the chief expert of fine baking and pastry arts on the planet who was the minister of the Tartlet cabinet providing all the delicacies for Pharaoh’s dining encounters. The other was the world’s foremost expert in wine, spirits and beverage science who personally
tended to the kings alcohol hankerings.


These fine gentlemen committed infractions whose repugnant nature resulted in their incarceration in the same penal colony as Yosef. As the story unfolds they both experience rather daunting dreams. Yosef who is a budding expert in dream analysis employs his talents to decipher the perplexities inherent in their visions.

Methodically, Yosef posits that the dreams foretell the eminent death of the baker and the reinstitution of the mixologist to his illustrious post. Yosef’s prognostications turn out to be correct as the events unfold with precise exactitude.

Yosef’s relationships with the two ministers result in his liberty from detention as is told in next week’s Parsha.

Aside from the main thrust of this story a tertiary query arises. Why did the bartender live and baker die? Is there a distinction in their behavior which is apparent in the text of the Torah that reveals the source of their fates?

Truth be told such questions are beyond our comprehension and not within the realm of our judgment as is eloquently elucidated by Rabbi Lipshitz in his commentary on Ethics of Our Fathers (Tiferes Yisrael 4:9).

The Mishnah states, “Rabbi Yonason said, ‘Whoever fulfills the Torah in midst of poverty will fulfill it with wealth. Whoever spurns the Torah in wealth will spurn it in poverty.’”

Rabbi Lipshitz inquires that experience demonstrates that the assurance of the Mishnah is simply not true. There are righteous people who remain poor even though they study Torah and there are evil people who remain rich even though they don’t study Torah?

He answers that the promise of this Mishnah can’t be greater then the pledge of the Almighty in his Torah in the Ten Commandments, “Honor your mother and father in order that you should have long life.”(Exodus 20:12)

The quandary with this pledge is identical to that of the Mishnah? Rabbi Lipchitz answers that we are not privy to all the reckonings of the Almighty. A specific outcome might be generated from a myriad of different variables.

Yes, it is true that honoring one’s parents yields life longevity and studying Torah a change in financial status. However, that is in a binary vacuum. In reality a good child or scholar might not live a long life or gain pecuniary bounty because of some previous infractions or destiny that is their lot.

Therefore, we can’t really authoritatively declare why the bartender lived and baker died. We can only speculate what might have been one of the reasons or contributing factors to their fates.

With that presumption I heard that following explanation to the aforesaid question. In 1992 someone told taught me that a careful analysis of the text will expose the rejoinder.

The Torah states that each of the ministers saw the interpretation of the other’s dream (see Rashi, Genesis 40:5).

That means that the bartender saw that the baker would die. The baker saw that the bartender would live. The bartender didn’t tell the baker that he would die. That was a considerate act of kindness to spare an individual physiological turmoil of his imminent demise.

The baker didn’t tell the bartender that he would live. That was an act of cruelty to leave the bartender in a state of anxiety, travail and worry about his future. Because of the manifest malice of the baker his termination was sealed.