Joseph asks the cup bearer to remember him to Pharaoh. The cup bearer forgets about him. This teaches us that, while we have to make all preparations to succeed, we have to remember that it is God who will redeem us in the end.
This week’s parsha ends with the story of Yosef and the dreams of Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker. They come to Yosef troubled, and they somehow sense that he can interpret dreams. Yosef tells the baker that in three days he will be executed, and the cupbearer that in three days he will be restored to his position.
Yosef asks only one thing of the cupbearer: “When things go well for you, remember me to Pharaoh.” But the Torah emphasizes that the cupbearer promptly forgets him.
There’s an interesting detail here. Chazal note that Pharaoh would hold his goblet resting in the palm of his hand. Many Jews have a custom to hold the Kiddush cup this way on Shabbat—because Shabbat is the day when we are like royalty. Why does the Torah bother to tell us such a detail? Perhaps to remind us that even small moments in Torah contain hints meant to elevate our lives.
But back to the cupbearer: when he finally remembers Yosef in next week’s parsha, he refers to him dismissively: “A Hebrew boy, a slave…” Rashi says this teaches us that even when a wicked person tries to do good, he does it in a degrading manner.
Yosef had done everything he could to create his own salvation. He interpreted the dream correctly, built a relationship, and made a request. He did the hishtadlut, the human effort. But in the end, salvation didn’t come from the cupbearer at all—it came two years later, directly from God.
And that’s the lesson:
We prepare. We plan. We train. Soldiers drill. Doctors practice. We put in effort. But ultimately, the results are in God’s hands. We are obligated to act—but never to assume we control the outcome.
There’s a story from the great earthquake in Safed in 1837. A rabbi leading Mincha had a sudden premonition and motioned for everyone to flee the synagogue moments before it collapsed. Everyone survived. Only the rabbi himself suffered a broken arm from falling debris.
When asked why he alone was injured, he explained:
“God was giving me a message. If I believed there was danger enough to tell others to leave, I should have left as well. You don’t rely on miracles. Do the right thing—and trust God with the results.”
That captures our message perfectly.
We must take action—but we must also remember that the outcome rests entirely with Hashem.
Something to think about as we head into Shabbat.
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