Parshas
Miketz
and
Chanukah
See
the Light
By:
Daniel Listhaus
וַיֹּאמֶר
פַּרְעֹה אֶל יוֹסֵף אַחֲרֵי הוֹדִיעַ
אֱלֹקים
אוֹתְךָ אֶת כָּל זֹאת אֵין נָבוֹן וְחָכָם
כָּמוֹךָ
“Then
Pharoah said to Yosef, 'Since G-d has informed you of all this, there
is no one so discerning and wise as you'.”
-Miketz
41:39
After
Yosef had interpreted the dreams of Pharoah to Pharoah's
satisfaction, he advised that the Egyptian government do something to
prepare itself for the years of famine. Yosef advocated that there
should be an overseer set up to organize a
country-wide hoarding of
food during the seven good years so that they would be able to make
it through the seven years of famine.
Pharoah immediately demanded that Yosef take the position. He
commanded that everyone listen to whatever Yosef tells them to do.
Yosef's tale was the ultimate from-rags-to-riches story. One day, he
was a slave thrown into prison; the next, he had the entire Egypt at
his fingertips having to answer to no one but Pharoah himself.
One
of the most fundamental laws of Mitzrayim (Egypt) at that time was
that a slave cannot rule. As a matter of fact, when Pharoah was
bothered by his dreams and the Sar
HaMashkim (cup-bearer)
informed
him of Yosef – the master dream interpreter, the Sar
HaMashkim told
Pharoah that Yosef was a “youth, a Hebrew, and a slave”.
Rashi
explains that the Sar
HaMashkim was
hinting to Pharoah that Yosef was a fool, not capable of greatness,
not familiar with the culture and language of Mitzrayim,
and is anyway unable to rule because it says in the constitution of
Mitzrayim
that
a slave may not rule or even wear royal clothing. If this was true,
why did Pharoah allow Yosef to take such a high position?
When
Pharoah appointed Yosef as the overseer of Mitzrayim, he said, “Since
G-d has informed you of all this, there is no one as discerning and
wise as you. You shall be in charge over my house and by your command
shall all my people be sustained; only by the throne shall I outrank
you.”
The Beis
HaLeivi
writes
that when Pharoah was telling over his dreams to Yosef, he purposely
changed some details of his dream in order to test him. However,
Yosef saw through these fabrications and was able to construct a
logical and true explanation of Pharoah's
dreams,
even including the parts that Pharoah left out. When Pharoah saw that
Yosef was able to interpret his dream, he immediately saw that Hashem
must have helped him and therefore appointed him as vice president of
Mitzrayim.
There
is something basic missing from this whole picture. What is so
special about being able to interpret dreams correctly that merits
such respect? Interpreting dreams sounds like something anyone can
do. As a matter of fact, the Gemara
brings a statement from Rav Huna, who said, “A dream that has not
yet been interpreted is like a letter that has not yet been read.”
The Gemara
continues
and says that all dreams follow after the mouth. It sounds from the
Gemara
that a dream alone is meaningless, and until it is defined by some
interpretation, it will remain having no effect on anything. Only
once it is explained will it come to fruition in this world. The
Gemara
offers
a story of someone who had a dream and went to twenty-four different
interpreters. Each of these interpreters gave their own
interpretation, and indeed all twenty-four came true. Through each
one's explanation, many realities came into being. How could we
understand this concept? Why do dreams follow after the mouth of the
interpreter? Also, still, what is so special about being able to
interpret dreams, if seemingly one could explain it any way? And
furthermore, what does it mean to interpret a dream properly?
In
the society we live in where animals are given almost as many rights
as people – a world where dogs have “Bark-Mitzvahs”
and cats inherit their owners,
it is sometimes hard for us to realize what in fact are the
differences between man and animals. Animals and people seem to share
a lot in common. We both are not only alive, but can move around.
Animals seem to have attitude swings and emotions, just as people do.
We both get hungry, both need sleep, and both could get sick.
However, if one were to stop and contemplate about some of the most
fundamental and basic differences between man and animals, there are
two things which immediately come to mind. The first is that humans
think. Although at times we may seem to sometimes be operating on
auto-pilot or instinct, one of the incredible qualities that we have
is that we have the ability to think, discern, and reason. This is
something that we acknowledge and thank Hashem for multiple times a
day.
Another
incredible aspect of man is his ability to speak. Speech is something
unique to humans who were created b'tzelem
Elokim (in
the image of G-d), because speech is a quality which is special to
Hashem Himself. Every day in davening we declare, “Baruch
She'amar V'haya Ha'olam”
- Blessed is he who spoke and the world came into being. Furthermore,
the Mishnayos
describe that the world was created with ten utterances. It was
through Hashem's speech that the world was created. There is
something G-dly special about the power of speech, and yet, that
ability was given to man to utilize.
It
is not a coincidence that these two G-dly factors are essential parts
of us. Thought and speech are inter-related, and depend heavily on
each other. The mouth is the tool we have to transform our thoughts
and materialize them into words. Speech is the medium between the
spiritual, intangible world, and the physical world we live in. One
can not tune one's ears to hear someone else's thoughts; however,
with speech we could translate the language of thought into something
that could be physically heard.
The
halacha
(law)
is
that when one davens
one must move his mouth and utter the words. Simply thinking
the tefillah
(prayer)
is
not enough, davening
has to be actually expressed in words. This idea is a little
difficult to understand. Why is it so important to mouth the words?
If we know what it means and we are taking the time to think about
it, why should Hashem care how we express ourselves? With our
comprehension of the connection between thought and speech, this
concept makes perfect sense. When we daven,
we are trying to make a connection between us and Hashem. The first
step in connecting our physical bodies to Hashem is through
translating our thoughts into speech. This is the way that we as
humans express the spiritual feelings and thoughts within us.
When
one has a dream, the Gemara
tells
us that it is like an unopened letter. Depending on how it is
interpreted, it will come to fruition in different ways. However, the
quality of the interpretation itself depends on how much a person is
in-tuned to the spiritual world. The better one has an understanding
of the messages that Hashem tries to send us through dreams, the
higher the quality of his interpretation. Such a person has a
stronger relationship with the spiritual realm and therefore his
mouth better conveys what people's thoughts and dreams are trying to
communicate.
This
is what Pharoah realized about Yosef. Yosef did not simply make up an
explanation to fit into Pharoah's dreams, rather he demonstrated that
he knew precisely what the dreams were trying to forewarn. Someone
full of sheker
(falsehood)
will try to fit his definition into a dream. He will squeeze whatever
information he is given to make the shoe fit, like Cinderella's step
sisters trying to squeeze their feet into the glass slipper. However,
someone like Yosef who understood, on his level, the ways of Hashem,
had a deep comprehension of what messages the dreams were trying to
convey. His power of interpretation was strongly linked to his da'as
Hashem
(Hashem's knowledge). He was therefore able to give Pharoah not just
an
explanation,
but the
explanation
with perfect accuracy.
Let
us now take this whole idea a step further. There is only one Torah
and the Torah is emes
– absolute
truth describing the ultimate way that man is supposed to live.
Having said that, Torah is comprised of two elements, two sides of
the same coin: Torah she'bichsav
(the
written Torah) and Torah she'ba'al
peh (the
Oral Torah).
Torah she'bichsav
is
the written Torah we have from Har
Sinai.
Torah she'ba'al
peh,
on the other hand, is its explanation, using the tools and
guidelines
Hashem gave us to decipher the Torah.
Torah is obviously an incredible gift Hashem gave us to help us try
to understand the world from Hashem's viewpoint, and live according
to the system that the Torah demands. However, perhaps the most
profound aspect of Torah is the Torah she'ba'al
peh.
Hashem tells us that the Torah is not in the heavens,
however, it is more than just 'not in the heavens', it is in the
hands of man to achieve great levels and interpret the Torah in a way
parallel to da'as
Hashem,
by utilizing the tools Hashem gave us.
The
fact that one who honestly learns the Torah for the sake of trying to
understand Hashem's ways has the ability to define what the Torah
means to say, is something which is almost too hard to comprehend.
Yet, even this is not the extent of the responsibility that man has
in keeping the Torah. We all know that the Torah is the blueprint of
the world. For example, the Torah titles certain animals as not
kosher and others as kosher. As Jews, we are prohibited from eating
non-kosher animals. We do not necessarily understand why Hashem
decided that there should be these differences among animals.
However, we do understand that because there is a prohibition in the
Torah against eating such animals, there becomes something inherent
to the animal which will cause us to somehow be endangered if we eat
it – even if it may be in spiritual ways which we do not
understand. So, let us re-examine what it means that man was given
the privilege to interpret the Torah: If Hashem gave us the ability
to understand the Torah in different ways, and the Torah is the
blueprint of the world, a conclusion could be drawn that a talmid
chochom
(Torah scholar) has the power to affect the way of the world by
defining the blueprint in a way he has determined to be emes
(absolute
truth and reality).
There
is a famous story of a person in the city of Volozhin
who suffered from a certain form of lung disease. The man consulted
his doctor who advised him to move to Switzerland where the air
quality was better. However, one night, the man's father came to him
in a dream and warned his son not to leave Volozhin. The father
explained, “The type of lung-illness you have is one which is the
subject of a machlokes
(dispute)
between the Beis
Yosef
and the Rama,
regarding if such an illness in an animal renders it treif.
In other words, is such a lung illness one which is life-threatening.
The Rama
holds that such an illness is indeed life-threatening and therefore
considers such an animal treif.
The
Beis
Yosef,
though,
maintains
that it is considered kosher. The Rama's
opinion
is followed by the Ashkenazic
Jews throughout Europe, including Switzerland. However, in Voloshin,
the Rov is the Sha'agas
Aryeh
who rules like the Beis
Yosef
that such an illness is not life-threatening. Therefore, just as in
Volozhin such animals are considered one-hundred percent kosher, so
too your condition, by definition, must be not life-threatening.”
This man's father therefore urged his son to stay in Volozhin and not
move out to Switzerland where he would be putting himself in mortal
risk. The son listened to his father's advice and ended up living a
long life into his eighties, despite having this lung disease.
Similar
to interpreting dreams, a person with da'as
Torah
has the ability to define Torah she'ba'al
peh.
However, unlike interpreting dreams, one cannot do so unless one has
worked on himself tremendously and achieved a level of emes
and
learning with a clarity. One cannot just force an explanation into
Torah, it must follow the guidelines we have from Hashem for learning
the Torah and must match with all the intricacies of Gemara
and
halacha.
When there is a machlokes
whether
a certain illness is deemed as treif,
it is not just a ruling pulled out of a hat. Rather, it is a
conclusion drawn from mesorah
(tradition),
drashos
(exegeses), conclusions from other sugyos
(topics)
throughout shas
(all of Gemara),
and s'varos
(logic).
A person who is on the level to be a poseik
for
the Jewish people has the enormous responsibility to use the correct
tools
to
reach true halachos.
The person who has trained his mind to think along the lines of da'as
Hashem
is able to convert that into p'sak
halacha (a
final ruling in Jewish law) through speech.
Another
basic result of man having the ability to act as a medium between the
physical and spiritual world is that, with our thoughts and speech,
we have the power to transform even the most mundane things we do
into actions of kedusha
(holiness).
By saying brachos
(blessings)
and
having the right intentions, we could modify our lives to be one of
eternal purpose.
Chanuka
is the time when we celebrate these ideas. The Greeks tried to spread
the Hellenistic culture throughout Europe and Asia. They were
particular disturbed about Judaism because so many aspects of Judaism
were so diametrically against their culture. We recite in “Al
Hanisim”
(“For the miracles”),
that the Greeks wanted to “…Ulehaviram
meichukei retzonecha…” (they
wanted to remove us from Hashem's decrees). Chukim
(decrees)
are the mitzvos
for
which we do not know a reason.
The reason that the Greeks were so adamant regarding the chukim
was because the Greeks only believed in things that could make sense
to the human brain. Only things that made sense scientifically were
things which they believed to be true. Therefore Greeks heavily
worshiped the human body and believed only in things having to do
with the physical realm. As Jews, however, we do not limit our
beliefs to things which are comprehensible to the human brain.
Rather, we receive our charges from a source that is boundless in
knowledge- the creator of the world Himself.
To
better illustrate this message, take the following parable. Imagine
you have two people sitting together in a restaurant. One is a food
cognoscenti and the other happens to be the son of the chef. Both are
given the same dish and are challenged to guess which ingredients it
contains. The connoisseur takes a bite and moves it around in his
mouth for a while and then states his conclusion: “Ah, this meat
contains pepper, salt, onion, garlic dressing, bar-b-que sauce, and a
pinch of oregano.” The son of the chef takes a quick bite,
swallows, and declares, “I agree, I would just like to add one
other thing- that there is a tiny drop of pumpkin juice.” The
connoisseur turns to the son of the chef and calls him a liar,
because he was so sure that he had not tasted any trace of pumpkin
juice in the meat. The son of the chef turns to the connoisseur and
says, “That may be true, but I know that my father always puts a
tiny drop of pumpkin juice in all his recipes, so I know it must be
in there.” Their argument is stemming from the following: a person
tasting the food is only going to believe what a food consists of if
he actually tastes it in there. The loyal son of the chef, though,
trusts his father as to what was put in, even though it is impossible
for even the experts to realize. After all, who would know better
which ingredients are in a dish, than the chef himself?
We
believe that there is a deep connection between our world and the
spiritual one. Torah connects us to Hashem and when we think and
speak in Torah we have the ability to tie these two worlds together.
The
separation of Jewish and Hellenistic beliefs is what Chanukah is
truly about. We can see this idea symbolized by the miracle of the
olive oil. A single flask was somehow left undiscovered, untouched,
and uninfluenced by the Hellenistic Greeks, later to be found by the
Jewish people. As Yehuda HaMaccabee re-lit the Menorah in 165
B.C.E. with this very oil, he was showing that the continuity of the
Jewish people lies within their purity and special identity.
The
halacha
is that even a poor person must sell what he owns in order to acquire
the minimal amount to fulfill the obligation of lighting the menorah.
One might ask, who gave the Rabbis the authority to make such a rule
that the poor should sell their possessions and clothing to buy
Chanukah candles? However, according to everything we have said so
far, perhaps we could see their reasoning clearly. The Chanukah
lights, with their unique requirement of parsumei
neesah (publicizing
the miracle), are a reminder of the separation between our ideology
and that of the rest of the world. This is the foundation of being a
Jew and for this it is worth giving up everything.
There
is only one people in this world who have a Torah she'ba’al
peh,
and that of course is us. Torah she'ba’al
peh
is what separates us from the goyim.
Everyone has a ‘bible’ of some sort, but only we have a Torah
she'ba’al
peh.
It was this that the Greeks were fighting against – the irrational
uniqueness of the Jews because of our oral law. The fact that we have
the ability to make real differences in the nature of the world
through various applications of Torah was something that the Greeks
could not understand and to which they would never admit.
The
Greeks made many decrees targeted specifically against Judaism. Among
these decrees included the outlawing of performing bris
milah (circumcision),
keeping Shabbos,
and declaring the Rosh
Chodesh each
month. If one thinks about the decrees that the Greeks made against
the Jews, it is hard to imagine why these specific decrees were made.
Bris
Milah is
something which is kept private. Keeping Shabbos
is at best being passive-aggressive. It is not like we do some
religious Sabbath-dances or offer people as sacrifices, it is simply
a day of rest. Neither of these seem to be things that the Greeks
should have gotten so upset about. Even if we could come to an
understanding as to why these decrees were made, we would still have
to work hard to figure out why they would make a law against keeping
Rosh
Chodesh.
Declaring the new moon is definitely not one of the things that come
to mind first when thinking about the weird activities Jews do. What
was the reason the Greeks chose to make these specific three decrees?
Perhaps
with everything we have discussed until now we could understand the
underlying interests and goals of the Greeks. The Greeks were
fighting a war on spirituality. Unlike by the story of Purim when
Antiochus and Haman wanted to wipe out the entire Jewish nation, the
Greeks wanted to do no such thing.
They wanted every Jew to convert their beliefs and instead blend with
the Hellenistic culture. The three most threatening mitzvos
that
they saw were exactly these three – bris
milah,
Shabbos,
and Rosh
Chodesh.
When we do Bris
Milah,
we are taking the naturally created human body, and turning it into a
source of kedusha
by
making a sign with Hashem. Shabbos
is something intangible that we cannot feel or see, yet somehow we
accept this invisible force and feel compelled to stop ourselves from
doing certain activities. There is no room for such invisible forces
within Hellenism. The Greeks believed only in what they were able to
see and nothing more.
The
concept of declaring Rosh
Chodesh
is really fascinating. This first mitzva
that
was given to the Jewish people as a nation,
is one which commands the Sanhedrin
(Jewish
court)
to
declare Rosh
Chodesh.
Every month is either malei
('full'
– 30 days) or chaseir
('missing'
– 29 days). This will depend on when the new moon is seen and when
Beis
Din officially
declares it Rosh
Chodesh.
It is not too hard to understand the types of ramifications which
could potentially occur as a result of Beis
Din
deciding when to declare the new moon. It could make a difference
when a boy becomes a bar
mitzva or
when the Yomim
Tovim
(Holidays) fall out.
As
a matter of fact, there is an incredible story in the Mishnayos
which demonstrates this idea. The Mishnayos
relate
that Rabban Gamliel (the head of the Sanhedrin
at
the time) had diagrams of the shapes of the moon on his wall. He
used to show these to the witnesses who would come testify about the
new moon, and would point to these diagrams and ask, “Did you see
it like this, or like that?”
One
time, a pair of witnesses came in and said, “We saw it at its
proper time”. However, on the following night it could not be seen.
Yet, Rabban Gamliel still accepted them as good witnesses. Rabbi Dosa
ben Hurkanus, however, said that they were false witnesses, and Rabbi
Yehoshua agreed that they were indeed false witnesses. Obviously,
with this dispute, there would be major practical differences in the
Jewish calendar, as they were arguing over what day of what month
they were in.
Rabban
Gamliel then sent a message ordering Rabbi Yehoshua to appear before
him on the day that Yom
Kippur
fell out according to Rabbi Yehoshua's calculation with his staff and
wallet in his hand.
After Rabbi Yehoshua had received this letter, he was greatly
troubled. Rabbi Akiva came to him and convinced him not to worried
because whatever Rabban Gamliel rules is the truth. He explained that
Rabban Gamliel is the leader of the generation, the head of the
Sanhedrin
HaGadol.
What he says therefore represents the Toras
emes and
we cannot argue. Now confident, Rabbi Yehoshua took his staff and
wallet on the day that he had calculated to be Yom
Kippur
(which Rabban Gamliel did not because of the difference in
calculations) and he went to Rabban Gamliel. Upon seeing him, Rabban
Gamliel stood up and kissed him on the head and said to him,
“Come in peace, my master and my disciple! My master in wisdom,
and my disciple because you have accepted my words.”
This
principle, that Hashem gave the power to the Sanhedrin
to literally change when the end of a month and beginning of the next
would be, is what bothered the Hellenistic Greeks so much. A culture
so steeped in the physical world and worshiping the body was not able
to comprehend that Jews believe that there is a purpose of living in
this world and that it is our job to turn physical things into
spiritual experiences. We could transfuse a kedusha
into
anything. The way we explain and interpret Torah she'ba'al
peh through
da'as
Torah
has real ramifications on this world, and the way we define our
actions alters the quality of what we do.
The
Orchos
Tzadikkim
states that really, because of the strong connection our neshamos
have
with Hashem, we should be able to see the deep secrets of the world,
and even see into the future. However, because our neshama
spends
so much time with our body, it is hard for us to tap into this
resource. Only at night, when our body is asleep and the neshama
is
not working full-force to serve it and create a balance, do we have a
chance at getting a glimpse at this truth. However, because our
dreams are connected to our thoughts, and not all of our thoughts are
emes,
therefore not all of our dreams are emes.
If one were to work on himself, though, and accustom oneself to only
think pure and true thoughts, then at night such a person would
without a doubt be privileged to see ma'ros
emes
(visions of truth). In this way, one could know the future like
malachim
(angels).
The
gift of thought that Hashem gave to man is essentially a personal
writing board in the spiritual realm. It is vital that we keep
ourselves honest and real in order to keep this medium unadulterated.
The one who is able to do this is someone who will be able to bring
things from the intangible world and into our world. Such a person
will be able to interpret dreams in a perfect way, will have the
ability to understand the truth of Torah she'ba'al
peh,
and will be able to live life in another dimension – one which
transfuses kedusha
into
even the most simple and mundane activities on Earth.
Every
motzei
Shabbos
we recite in Havdalah,
“Blessed are you, Hashem…who distinguishes between the sacred and
the secular, between light and darkness, between Israel and the
nations, between the seventh day and the six days of labor…” When
we say this, we are thanking Hashem for making us special and lifting
us above the other nations. The Mishna
mentions a similar concept: “He [Rabbi Akiva] used to say: Beloved
is man that was created in the image of G-d…. Beloved are the Jews
that are called sons to Hashem…” We have to be proud of the fact
that we are Jews, children of Hashem and princes to the one and only
King. Furthermore, we must realize our responsibility to act as a
light for the other nations to show that there is a Hashem who is
involved in our daily lives, and that there is a real connection
between the spiritual world of kedusha
and
this world. With the ability to think and speak comes an incredible
responsibility to use these tools correctly and keep them pure in
emes.
May
Hashem help us internalize these lessons and truly see the light of
Chanuka so that we could continue the job that Yehuda HaMaccabee
reignited.
