Vayeishev 6 - Random Thoughts

1) Why did the brothers feel sin'ah for Yosef after he was favored and after his first dream, but kin'ah after his second dream? To the contrary, it would seem more logical that they should be jealous of his father's favoritism and hate him after he shows his desire to rule over them.

The ba'al Parsha Potpourri noted on his blog that the Beis HaLevi gives an answer to this question. He explains that the first dream was a dream about physical domination and wealth, aspects that are external to a person (as seen by the fact that it was their bundles that bowed to Yosef's bundle, not they to him). The brothers hated him for desiring to rule over them and for foreseeing their future reliance on him, but were not jealous of him. The second dream, though, symbolized spiritual superiority - and this, indeed, is a proper type of jealousy.

2) Rashi comments that the Baker and Butler each dreamed their own dreams and their colleague's interpretation. Why did HaShem do this?

We see from the story of Bar Hedya the dream interpreter in the last perek of Brachos that dreams follow their interpretation. Therefore, the fact that Yosef's interpretations came true would not necessarily have been a basis to say that there was anything special about him. Hence, perhaps the Butler was also shown a vision of the Baker's interpretation, so as to indicate that Yosef's interpretation was Divinely sanctioned.

3) Why did the Baker first say that the three baskets cointained in them "Chori" and then said that the top basket had in it "Kol ma'achal Par'o ma'aseih ofeh"? I would understand if it were the reverse, since the former is more specific than the latter.