Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Sforno · Torah

Sforno on Genesis 41:1/ספורנו על בראשית מ״א:א׳

אוַיְהִי מִקֵּץ... וּפַרְעֹה חוֹלֵם. בִּהְיוֹתוֹ חוֹלֵם עִנְיְנֵי רַעְיוֹנָיו, חָלַם גַּם כֵּן שֶׁהָיָה עוֹמֵד עַל שְׂפַת הַיְאוֹר, כְּאָמְרָם רַבּוֹתֵינוּ זִכְרוֹנָם לִבְרָכָה (ברכות נה.): "כְּשֵׁם שֶׁאִי אֶפְשָׁר לְבָר בְּלֹא תֶּבֶן, כָּךְ אִי אֶפְשָׁר לַחֲלוֹם בְּלֹא דְּבָרִים בְּטֵלִים".
1ויהי מקץ..ופרעה חולם, while he was dreaming about all kinds of matters of no relevance, matters reflecting what he had experienced during the course of the previous day, he also dreamt something totally unrelated to matters he could relate to, i.e. he saw himself standing on the banks of the river. The word חולם in the present tense, as opposed to חלם in the past, recalls Daniel’s statement as well as the Talmud’s statement in Berachot 55 that generally the subjects one dreams about are unfinished business of what one had been thinking of in the course of the previous day.