Transcript
Good morning and a פרייליכן חנוכה freilichen Chanukah. It's wonderful to see everybody. Welcome back. Great to be in person. Great to continue to be in person. Want to thank our generous פרשת שיעור Parshas Shiur series sponsors for the year, Becky and Avi Katz, and family in memory of Becky's father David Grossman, לעילוי נשמת le'ilui nishmas דוד בן מנחם מניש David ben Menachem Manish. The neshama should have an aliyah.Also sponsored by Rifky and Yitzchak Schreiber in memory of her father, אהרון בן יצחק Aaron ben Yitzchak, a very special person. His neshama should have an aliyah as well through our learning. And this שיעור shiur is sponsored this morning by Miriam Fox in honor of Fay Eisenberg's 90th birthday. Where's Fay? Fay, happy birthday. I have good news for you, Fay. They say the first 90 years are the hardest. So, it's gonna be smooth sailing, please God, from here. Should be healthy, happy, נחת nachas, שמחה simcha, ברכה bracha, געזונט gezunt, together with Murray, the two of you. Big, big מזל טוב mazel tov and a very, very happy birthday. 90. Ooh, wow. Unbelievable. Amazing. Okay, let's get started. Today is חנוכה Chanukah, as you know, the second day of חנוכה Chanukah, a very important and auspicious day in its own right. Second day of חנוכה Chanukah, and it is also פרשת מקץ Parshas Mikeitz. פרשת מקץ Parshas Mikeitz. Where's Chaim Tanenbaum? He told me that שבת Shabbos will be the 80th anniversary of his בר מצוה Bar Mitzvah. Such milestones, כן ירבו ken yirbu for more and more people.So let's, let's get started. Why do we read פרשת מקץ Parshas Mikeitz in חנוכה Chanukah? Even before we dive into the פרשה parsha itself, let's begin with some חנוכה Chanukah connections. The בית יעקב Beis Yaakov of איזביצא Ishbitz, רב יעקב Rav Yaakov of איזביצא Ishbitz, the איזביצער רבי Ishbitzer Rebbe says, קוראים תמיד פרשת מקץ בימי חנוכה kor'im tamid Parshas Mikeitz b'mei Chanukah, we always read מקץ Mikeitz in חנוכה Chanukah, ששניהם רומזים לענין אחד she'shneihem romzim l'inyan echad, because both of them have a similar storyline. They have the same allusion. כשבפרשה הקודמת דן בשיוסף הצדיק נעלם מאחיו לחשוב שנאבד לגמרי ואוסם כל הקשות והחיבורים Kemo'she'parsha kodemes den b'she'yosef tzadik ne'elam me'ehav l'chasuv sh'ne'evad l'gamrei v'osem kol ha'kashos v'hachiburim. At the end of last week's פרשה parsha when we last left off our suspenseful story, it seemed like all hope was lost. Yaakov had, Yosef rather had been abandoned by his brothers, sold into slavery, left to die, ignored and dismissed, that Yosef had been utterly rejected, his story was over. עד שקשר בו יעקב אבינו להודיע לו שיוסף איננו ולא קיבל על זה תנחומין, אזאי נפלו בעיניהם, ובכל הפעולות שעשו עם לו שאין בו שום חיבור ואין בו חיי עולם Ad she'kashar bo Yaakov avinu l'hodia lo she'Yosef einenu v'lo kibbel al zeh tanchumin, azai naflu b'eineihem, u'v'chol ha'peulos she'asum im lo she'ein bo shum chibur v'ein bo chayei olam. And it seemed like it was all over. The brothers went to go tell their father, they thought this was the end of the story, they thought they had found closure, they thought they had finally gotten rid of this great agitator named Yosef, their brother, but Yaakov was inconsolable. And yet it didn't seem like it was closed. עד שהאיר יהודה וצעק לאיש מאחיו, ובקע כל האסתרות והאיר בעולם שיוסף חי ונתוודע אל אחיו Ad she'he'ir Yehuda v'tzak l'ish me'ehav, u'vako kol ha'astaros v'he'ir b'olam she'Yosef chai v'nisvada el echav. until next week's פרשה parsha, ויגש אליו יהודה Vayigash elav Yehuda, Yehuda stands up, fast forward, spoiler alert, if you're not up to next week's פרשה parsha, I don't want to ruin the story for you. But Yehuda next week's פרשה parsha stands up for his brother. And so doing repairs the damage done when they had abandoned Yosef. בנימין Binyamin, the only other brother to share a mother and a father, now they do not leave בנימין Binyamin to die. And therefore Yosef realizes they've learned their ways, and the story has a wonderful and a happy ending. וכן בנס חנוכה, ידעו בשעה שאספו כל השמנים V'chein b'neis Chanukah, ya'du b'sha'ah she'asfu kol ha'shmanim. Similarly when it came to the holiday of חנוכה Chanukah, it seemed like all hope was lost. All the oil was defiled, all of the people were outnumbered, we had no chance. וזהו רמז לאור הדעת V'zeh hu remez l'or ha'da'as. שהוא בחינת יוסף הצדיק, עד שהאיר להם השם יתברך שלא יהיה כזאת בעולם, שיכלו כל השמנים אור הדעת בישראל shu b'chinas Yosef ha'tzadik, ad she'he'ir lahem Hashem yisbarach she'lo yiheyeh kazos b'olam, she'yichlu kol ha'shmanim or ha'daas b'Yisrael. that we know that oil, oil is a symbol, keep putting it in the ארון Aron in the back. Just leave it in the ארון Aron in the back. It's full. Okay, so come on in everybody, stand up. So it seemed like all hope was lost, that the שמן shemen, okay, so let's put it away. Come on. It seemed like all hope was lost, that the שמן shemen was defiled, was טמא tamei, there was nowhere else, no other טמא tamei, no other שמן shemen to use. שמן Shemen, oil, is a symbol of, is a symbol of כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, of the Jewish people. השמן Ha'shemen is the same letters of נשמה neshama, of soul. And we know that just like oil, just like an olive rather, when you crush it, what comes out is more precious than the olive. The olive itself does not have a great value. The olive creates שכחה shichecha, the olive creates forgetfulness. The olive creates forgetfulness, whereas the oil creates remembering because what comes out of the olive when it's crushed is more precious than the olive itself. The same is true with the Jewish people. When we are crushed, when they try to squeeze us, what comes out, what we learn about ourselves is even more precious, is even more valuable. So we thought all the oil had been defiled, we thought all hope was lost. We thought militarily that we didn't have a shot, that the Jewish people were going to be eliminated. So says the איזביצער Ishbitzer, the בית יעקב Beis Yaakov, it's the same storyline. פרשת מקץ Parshas Mikeitz and the story of חנוכה Chanukah. A Jew is never broken, a Jew never gives up, a Jew never feels all hope is lost. ייאוש שלא מדעת Ye'ish shelo mida'as. The moment that you give up hope, the moment that you give up your optimism, your positive attitude and faith, then שלא מדעת shelo mida'as. It means you've lost your mind. When a Jew's of right mind, then they believe beyond all hope, they believe beyond all reason, because a Jew never gives up. Okay, that is all number one, the איזביצער רבי Ishbitzer Rebbe, the connection between פרשת מקץ Parshas Mikeitz and חנוכה Chanukah. The same storyline. When it seems like all hope is lost, there is a rising to greatness. Yosef, all hope was lost, sold, dismissed, left to die, turns out he's the viceroy of Egypt, saves his entire family's lives, reconciliation and reunion. Similarly, all hope was lost, there's no more oil, all hope was lost, we lost dominion, we lost the sovereignty of our land, and the next thing you know, we are back in charge, all hope is not lost. As has been pointed out by many people, you got to love the anti-Zionist, anti-Semitic elected leaders wishing Jews a happy חנוכה Chanukah who are totally ignorant of the fact that חנוכה Chanukah reflects the Jewish presence in Israel for thousands of years and our being liberated from the occupiers of our land from thousands of years ago. So it's a beautiful thing when Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and the others wish Jews a happy חנוכה Chanukah, acknowledging our presence on the land for thousands of years and that there were foreign occupiers to us and we were liberated. And I guess we should say, yeah, שכוח shkoyach, thank you for that, those good wishes. We agree totally. Another connection between חנוכה Chanukah and מקץ Mikeitz and then we'll delve into the פרשה parsha itself. Then we'll delve into the פרשה parsha itself. And it's based on a פסוק pasuk not in פרשת מקץ Parshas Mikeitz, it's based on a פסוק pasuk in all places in פרשת איוב Parshas Iyov. פסוק pasuk in פרשת איוב Parshas Iyov. איוב Iyov, we know, led a very difficult and very hard life. איוב Iyov suffered maybe more than any other person, and he did so with faith. And the פסוק pasuk says in איוב Iyov, פרק ג' Perek Gimmel, פסוק כ\"ו pasuk chaf vav, לא שלותי ולא שקטתי ולא נחתי ויבא רוגז lo shalavti v'lo shakateti v'lo nachti vayavo rogez. ויבא רוגז vayavo rogez. I was not at ease, neither was I quiet, I did not rest, and yet ויבא רוגז vayavo rogez, trouble came, trouble came. This is a פסוק pasuk in איוב Iyov that describes a fate and a state of being relentless suffering, a state of relentless suffering. Says איוב Iyov, all I wanted was peace of mind, all I wanted was peace and quiet, all I wanted was just one day, no drama, no drama. However, לא שלותי ולא שקטתי ולא נחתי lo shalavti v'lo shakateti v'lo nachti, I was not able to achieve no drama. All I had was drama. The מדרש רבה Medrash Rabbah at the beginning of our פרשה parsha describes that each statement references a lack of rest and tranquility that is describing not only איוב Iyov, but it goes all the way back to יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu. We know in last week's פרשה parsha, וישב יעקב vayeshev Yaakov, ביקש יעקב לישב בשלוה bikesh Yaakov leishev b'shalva. We mentioned last week that Yaakov who had been through so much drama, so many ups and downs in his life, so much pain and suffering, so much conflict and tension, all Yaakov wanted was peace and quiet. Can I have one day, no קוועטשינג ketching, no complaining, no conflict, no doctor's appointments, no doctor's visits, no waiting rooms. Can I just have one day, one day of peace and quiet? And Yaakov couldn't have it. Hashem said you want, you want שלוה shalva, that's not what this world is for. This is the factory floor. There are no recliners, there are no rocking chairs on the factory floor. This is the place we come to work, we come to grow, we come to advance, we come to make progress. So the מדרש רבה Medrash Rabbah says that sentiment, that sense that Yaakov also ביקש לישב בשלוה bikesh leishev b'shalva, that Yaakov wanted peace and quiet, that is another interpretation of the פסוק pasuk in איוב Iyov. לא שלותי ולא שקטתי ולא נחתי lo shalavti v'lo shakateti v'lo nachti, ויבא רוגז vayavo rogez is describing the life, the ambition, but the failed wishes of יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu. Yaakov didn't recover from the trauma with עשיו Esav, endured the lying and the seat of his uncle לבן Lavan, then he suffered with his daughter דינה Dina getting kidnapped. Finally when she was returned, he has to deal with the disappearance of יוסף Yosef. ביקש יעקב לישב בשלוה Bikesh Yaakov leishev b'shalva but he didn't get שקט sheket, he didn't get שלוה shalva, he didn't get מנוחה menucha, he didn't get it all. But there's another מדרש Medrash, not here in ספר בראשית Sefer Bereishis nor on איוב Iyov. There's another מדרש Medrash in שמות Shmos that references this same פסוק pasuk as describing this lack of rest, but not about יעקב Yaakov and not about איוב Iyov. Just like Yaakov could not find quiet and tranquility, so too his children, so too we, the Jewish people, have spent our history plagued by exiles and by enemies who oppress and who pursue and who persecute and who torture and who try to exterminate. This could be a description not only of איוב Iyov the individual or not only of יעקב Yaakov the individual, is this not a description of the state of the Jewish people? Is this not capturing all of Jewish history? לא שלותי ולא שקטתי ולא נחתי lo shalavti v'lo shakateti v'lo nachti. Wherever we went, whenever we went. We started a great new Tuesday night series, began last week. Rabbi Kassorla gave a out of the park talk on the רמב\"ם Rambam and the Amohads. You can listen online to it. It's also streamed live. Rabbi Moskowitz is picking it up next Tuesday and then I'm the Tuesday after that. And it's called The Rabbis on the Run. It's all about rabbinic scholarship while fleeing for their lives. Some of our greatest rabbis, we have peace of quiet, we have peace of mind, we have high-speed Wi-Fi, we have אוצר החכמה Otzar HaChochma and בר אילן Bar-Ilan, and we can't produce anything. And some of these great rabbis, on the run, persecuted, all they had was a quill and a piece of parchment. All they had was a pen and ink, no library, no laptop, no backup copy, and they produced the רמב\"ם Rambam, משנה תורה Mishneh Torah, the רא\"ש Rosh, runs from France to Spain. So we have an entire series on Tuesday nights called Rabbis on the Run, all the way through the מיר Mir in Shanghai and all the way until modern times, about תורה Torah learning, תורה Torah scholarship that was studied, that was produced while fleeing for their lives. Maybe the name of the series should be לא שלותי ולא שקטתי ולא נחתי lo shalavti v'lo shakateti v'lo nachti. that all anyone wanted was peace and quiet. Give me a בית מדרש Beis Medrash, give me a library, give me a study, give me a room that I could just sit and learn and write, but nobody gets it. So this is really a description of all the Jewish people. And that's what the מדרש Medrash writes. You ready? לא שלותי מבבל, ולא שקטתי ממדי, ולא נחתי מיון, ויבוא עלי רוגז באדום lo shalavti mi'Bavel, v'lo shakateti mi'Madai, v'lo nachti mi'Yavan, vayavo alai rogez b'Edom. Under Babylonia, לא שלותי lo shalavti, we had no tranquility. When we were oppressed by Persia, לא שקטתי lo shakateti, we had no quiet. When we were subjugated by Greece, לא נחתי lo nachti, we had no peace, we had no rest. And as we continue to experience this גלות galus, the fourth and final גלות galus that we are still in today, we find trouble. ויבוא רוגז Vayavo rogez. The exile of יון Yavan, of Greece, is what we redeemed from with the miracle of חנוכה Chanukah. It's a very interesting fact about חנוכה Chanukah. It's called a גלות galus. We also have a מדרש Medrash at the beginning of פרשת בראשית Parshas Bereishis, והארץ היתה תהו ובהו וחשך על פני תהום v'ha'aretz haysa sohu vavohu v'choshech al pnei sehom. חשך Choshech is יון Yavan. Darkness is the darkness of יון Yavan, of the Syrian-Greeks, the Hellenists who oppressed us in the land of Israel. Isn't it interesting that it's called גלות galus even though where did the story happen? In Israel. You could be in a state of גלות galus even when geographically we are blessed with the modern miracle of the state of Israel. It's a modern miracle. We have to value it, we have to say thank you for it, we have to praise Hashem for it, say הלל והודאה Hallel v'hodah for it, but we can be in גלות galus even when geographically we've already begin, we've begun to feel the אתחלתא דגאולה aschalta d'geula, we have the beginning of the redemption that we're back in the land, but it's still called גלות galus. And how do you know it's still called גלות galus? Because look at יון Yavan, look at the story of חנוכה Chanukah. חנוכה Chanukah is גלות חשך galus choshech, גלות יון galus Yavan, even though it took place in the land of Israel. So לא שלותי מבבל lo shalavti mi'Bavel, לא שקטתי ממדי lo shakateti mi'Madai, לא נחתי מיון lo nachti mi'Yavan, ויבוא עלי רוגז vayavo alai rogez is באדום b'Edom. So the one that we're celebrating today, חנוכה Chanukah, יון Yavan is characterized as what? יון Yavan is characterized as ולא נחתי v'lo nachti, לא נחתי lo nachti. The Maccabees defeated the Syrian-Greeks and the יוונים Yevanim and reinstated Jewish sovereignty, Jewish land over the land of Israel. יון Yavan's goal was not to annihilate us. They assaulted us spiritually. That's why there's no מצוה mitzvah of סעודה seudah on חנוכה Chanukah. Unlike פורים Purim, where there's a משתה mishteh and סעודה seudah, you have a big festive meal and you give gifts of food and drink to one's neighbor, and the thing centers around a physical celebration. חנוכה Chanukah in contradistinction is not a physical celebration, it is a spiritual. It's הלל והודאה Hallel v'hodah. There's no obligation of a meal on חנוכה Chanukah. Why? Because פורים Purim, אחשוורוש Achashveirosh wanted to physically annihilate, exterminate, eliminate the Jewish people. חנוכה Chanukah, they wanted to do something different. in some ways worse. They welcomed us to assimilate and to integrate and to shed all of our values and all of our ideals and to become one of them. They assaulted us spiritually and they tried to get us to assimilate. Ancient Greece, what was it they wanted us to assimilate to? Ancient Greece worshipped beauty and form. They introduced the world to the idea of the Olympics, a competition of perfecting the human body. They worshipped external superficial beauty, the aesthetic. Their culture was the ultimate in vanity. They emphasized the external, the appearance, the superficial, the surface. Jewish people began to assimilate, we were invited to assimilate, that was the גלות galus. We were being influenced and we likewise began to place disproportionate focus on beauty and attractiveness. So therefore the מדרש Medrash says ולא נחתי v'lo nachti, because you know what happens? You know what happens when you're constantly pursuing vanity and beauty and you're trying to keep up? We are in the capital of the United States of America, Palm Beach County, of being in denial of our age. Denial of our age. I've had people say to me, 'Rabbi, you should get hair plugs. You could still have a full head of hair. Color your hair.' You look fully gray. I'm not that old. I'm not as old as I look. But I say, what's the point? What's the point? Vanity? This is the what the רבונו של עולם Ribono shel Olam did. So yes, there are opportunities and gifts today, cosmetic surgery and Botox and cosmetics. And all kinds of treatments people go through, and I'm not criticizing, I'm not analyzing הלכתית halachically, it is a הלכתי halachic discussion, volunteering or elective surgery, and there are opportunities, there are gifts, הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu has given us instruments and tools. Beautiful, wonderful, take advantage, feel good about yourself. However, you know what happens when you live a life of vanity, when a person lives a life that they're consumed by how they appear in the mirror and they appear to others, and their happiness and their satisfaction and their peace of mind only comes when they think that they meet the expectations and the beauty of others, that they're trying to freeze time and look the way they did 30 and 40 and 50 and 60 years ago, then you know what happens? ולא נחתי v'lo nachti. You can never find rest. You'll never be at peace. You're always trying to look younger and younger, more and more beautiful, to reverse aging and reverse time. And when you're consumed and when you're stuck in that mentality and that attitude, ולא נחתי v'lo nachti, you can't turn back time. You can't turn back time. ולא נחתי v'lo nachti. If you want a peace of mind and rest, then be beautiful. Put oneself together, be attractive without being attracting. But at the end of the day, be grateful that you're alive and grateful to look that age and grateful for all that comes with the wisdom and the family and all that a person has achieved, because otherwise ולא נחתי v'lo nachti. Otherwise a person simply has no peace of mind. They have no peace of mind. You know, there were studies that showed that last year, I wrote about it, there was an enormous spike in cosmetic surgery and Botox treatments. You know why? Because people spent an entire year looking into Zoom. So when you have the luxury, you look in the mirror for a minute in the morning, and then you don't see yourself the rest of the day, you don't feel bad about how you look. But when we were quarantined and locked down and distanced, when the only way to study was to be on Zoom, that's why everyone turned their cameras off. They were sick and tired of how they looked. What about us? What luxury do we have? We rabbis who have to look right in the camera and still see ourselves? נעבעך Nebach. It's a miracle we haven't broken any cameras yet. So ולא נחתי v'lo nachti. So because people spent the only way you weren't with people, you were on FaceTime. And FaceTime is another screen, you see yourself. So people couldn't see themselves, they couldn't be happy. ולא נחתי v'lo nachti. If a person can't be happy, what could you do? What could you do? Not everybody can be like Fay at 90 looking like 30. You know, קיין עין הרע kein ayin hara, Fay, קיין עין הרע kein ayin hara. But if you look like 90, not 30 like Fay, so you look like 90, whoever knew a 90-year-old when you were growing up? You look like 90, walk around with a badge of honor and pride, 'I'm 90!' Show you look 90. קיין עין הרע Kein ayin hara, ברוך השם Baruch Hashem you look 90. ולא נחתי v'lo nachti, otherwise you're robbed. When you care too much about how you look, and when you are so consumed and you're trying to chase something that's fleeting and running away from you, because age is not something that you can stop, then you're robbed of מנוחת הנפש menuchas ha'nefesh. There's no serenity, there's no peace of mind, there's no happiness. When we are consumed by יון Yavan, then the מדרש Medrash tells us ולא נחתי v'lo nachti. Happiness is the result of contentment. Serenity flows from a sense of satisfaction. And when you're never satisfied, you're never content, and you're trying to chase something that's fleeting and elusive, ולא נחתי v'lo nachti, you can't have any peace of mind. We recovered our sense of מנוחה menucha, our capacity for contentment when we defeated יון Yavan, when we defeated the worship of beauty. But that's not the end of the story. We celebrate the defeat of these values and yet our rabbis embraced those same values. So I don't understand which is it. Is beauty vain? שקר החן Sheker ha'chein. We sing on Friday night. Beauty is vain. Is beauty vain or is beauty valuable? Which is it? The מדרש Medrash and the משנה Mishnah in מגילה Megillah, the end of the first פרק perek, quotes רבן שמעון בן גמליאל Rav Shimon ben Gamliel, he said the Greek is the only other language other than Hebrew that you're allowed to write a ספר תורה Sefer Torah in. You could use the אותיות osiyos of Hebrew, you could write in Hebrew script, or you could use Greek. And why are you allowed to use Greek to write a ספר תורה Sefer Torah? It's a כשר ספר תורה kosher Sefer Torah if it's written in Greek. Why? Say חז\"ל Chazal, because of its beauty. Ah, it's so beautiful. Since it's so beautiful, we embrace it, we can use it. Moreover, יון Yavan, the Greek empire is the result of נח Noach's ברכה bracha to his son. נח Noach had a son, יפת Yefes. And נח Noach gave his son a ברכה bracha. יפת אלקים ליפת Yaft Elokim l'Yefes, may יפת Yefes's boundaries be extended. So יון Yavan, the descendants of יפת Yefes, extend their boundary and their empire, and their namesake is characterized by יופי Yofi. יפת אלקים ליפת Yaft Elokim l'Yefes, יפת Yefes is יופי Yofi, is beauty. So is beauty vain or is beauty valuable? I'll throw in a third question. This very holiday we're in right now of חנוכה Chanukah, in which we celebrate the defeat of the culture that was consumed by the pursuit of beauty, is the holiday that is most associated with the concept of הידור מצוה hiddur mitzvah. Nobody in this room lights one candle every night. Nobody. You'd fulfill the מצוה mitzvah, light one candle each night. גענוג Genug, שיין shein, you're done. I don't know what Jew alive, the most assimilated, secular, unaffiliated Jew who keeps חנוכה Chanukah still knows that they light a candle consistent with what night it is. Nobody lights one candle every night. When we light more than one candle every night, what are we fulfilling? The מצוה mitzvah of הידור מצוה hiddur mitzvah. What is הידור hiddur? To beautify the מצוה mitzvah. What? The very holiday that we defeated those who were consumed by the pursuit of beauty, we more than any other holiday have a concept of הידור מצוה hiddur mitzvah, have a concept of beautifying the מצוה mitzvah. Not only do we have מהדרין mehadrin, we have a third level of מהדרין מן המהדרין mehadrin min ha'mehadrin. Don't just beautify, your מנורה menorah has Botox, your מנורה menorah has cosmetic surgery, your מנורה menorah has liposuction, your מנורה menorah has the מנורה menorah has every... מהדרין, מהדרין מן המהדרין mehadrin, mehadrin min ha'mehadrin. Our מנורה menorah gets every treatment possible. It's using every cream, every everything possible. So which is it? Is beauty vain? Is beauty valuable? What's the answer? So the answer, because I want to get into the פרשה parsha. The answer is that we both value beauty and form, but for completely different reasons than the Greeks. The Greeks worshipped beauty as an end onto itself. For the Greeks, יופי yofi, beauty, the aesthetic, the superficial, the surface was an ends on its own right. They saw it as a totally independent value onto its own self. We also embrace value and form. We see it as important, but only as a means, only as a vehicle to transform the mundane, to connect with our creator, to represent ourselves with dignity and with class, to be royalty, the children of the Almighty. We appreciate beauty as one of the creations of השם Hashem. And just like we have all kinds of disciplines in order to connect with השם Hashem, we connect with him through math and science, we connect with him through the natural world, we connect with him of course through the sacred תורה Torah, his diary, and we connect with him through beauty. It's one of the disciplines of the world. So we don't worship it on its own right, it's a means towards connecting with השם Hashem, and that is the fundamental difference between us and the Greeks. Not a coincidence, the Greeks said you're not allowed to do ברית מילה bris milah. We'll get into it, אם ירצה השם im yirtzeh Hashem. Among the three things the Greeks outlawed was ברית מילה bris milah, circumcision, because for them the beauty should never be violated, the body should never be violated. The body is beautiful, the body is a sculpture, the body is an ends unto itself. The Olympics, we compete to have the most perfect body. What are you doing cutting off a piece of the body? But for us, the body is not an ends, the body is a means to elevate the soul. The body is a כלי kli, it's a vessel that houses the נשמה neshama. For them beauty is the goal, for us beauty is the bridge that joins the sacred and the profane. It is the channel between holiness and mundane. The שפת אמת Sfas Emes, the great שם משמואל Shem MiShmuel explains that to truly appreciate נח Noach's blessing to his son יפת Yefes, you can't just quote half the פסוק pasuk. יפת אלקים ליפת Yaft Elokim l'Yefes, to expand the boundaries of beauty. How does the פסוק pasuk end? נח Noach says to his son, יפת אלקים ליפת וישכן באהלי שם Yaft Elokim l'Yefes, v'yishkon b'ohalei Shem. When is beauty important? When it dwells in the tent of שם Shem. שם Shem is spirituality. ישיבת שם ועבר Yeshivas Shem v'Ever, שם Shem had a ישיבה yeshiva. We are the progeny of שם Shem. We are the spiritual legacy and heritage ambassadors of שם Shem. There's a place for beauty. יפת אלקים ליפת Yaft Elokim l'Yefes, but the יפת Yefes, the beauty, the יופי yofi has to be ישכן באהלי שם yishkon b'ohalei Shem, it has to be part of a greater ambition of שם Shem, the greater goal of connecting to השם Hashem. And so this holiday of חנוכה Chanukah seems contradictory, seems paradoxical, but it's not. We reject beauty on the on the one hand, when beauty is the ends, when ולא נחתי v'lo nachti, when the pursuit of beauty, when the pursuit of the superficial and the surface, when the pursuit of vanity paralyzes us and it robs us of our happiness and our serenity, when ולא נחתי v'lo nachti, when we can't get a rest. But when וישכן באהלי שם v'yishkon b'ohalei Shem, when we use beauty to have a more beautiful קידוש Kiddush cup, a more beautiful שבת Shabbos table, a more beautiful יום טוב Yom Tov table, a more beautiful מנורה menorah, a more beautiful little of an אתרוג esrog, more beautiful תפילין tefillin, when we embrace beauty not as an ends but as the means to help uplift and enrich and elevate our spirituality, then that's something that we that we accept. תורה Torah tells us that יוסף Yosef acted as a נער naar. He was a נער naar. What's a נער naar? An adolescent, he was immature, he was immature and unsophisticated. What was it about him that made him immature and unsophisticated? What'd he do? He played video games all day? What made him so immature and unsophisticated? Couldn't get out of bed, was late to school and to מנין minyan? So רש\"י Rashi says, you know what made יוסף Yosef immature? He was a נער naar because he was consumed by looking in the mirror and fixing his hair. He was consumed by beautifying his appearance and drawing attention to his attractiveness. That's the act of an unsophisticated, immature person. A child is consumed by how they look. An adult does the best with what they have and then they get on with their day. An adult does the best with what they've been given. And then they say, 'I want my spirituality to shine, I want my soul to shine, I want my personality to shine, I want the difference I make in this world to shine.' That's the that's the most important, that's the most important. So that is this holiday. And when we constantly have to keep up with the latest styles and fashions and fads, when we whittle away our savings and go into debt in the pursuit of vanity, then לא נחתי, זו גלות יון lo nachti, zu galus Yavan. One of the lessons, one of the messages of חנוכה Chanukah that we celebrate is to defeat the voice of יון Yavan within ourselves, the voice of יון Yavan. Again, embrace the tools, the instruments, embrace the treatments, embrace what's available. I'm not sitting in judgment and I'm not telling you that it's wrong. But I'm telling us that it has to have a context. ולא נחתי V'lo nachti. Do not let it rob you of your serenity, your peace of mind, and your happiness. You know, you're allowed to light the חנוכה Chanukah candles from שקיעה shkiah, we light from sunset. And how long, if you don't light at sunset, how long do you have to light the candles? The גמרא Gemara says עד שתכלה רגל מן השוק ad she'tichleh regel min ha'shuk, until people are no longer walking around in the marketplace. There have to be people who see the lit candles in order to achieve the goal of פרסומי ניסא pirsumei nisa, in order to achieve the goal of publicizing the miracle. If no one sees it, you haven't publicized the miracle. People have to be walking around. So we shared a שפת אמת Sfas Emes in the in my article last week, the שפת אמת Sfas Emes says עד שתכלה הרגל מן השוק ad she'tichleh hergel min ha'shuk. We'll come back to it this morning as well. But I want to tell you רב משה לייב מסאסוב Rav Moshe Lieb of Sassover, the הייליגע סאסובער heilige Sassover says עד שתכלה רגל מן השוק ad she'tichleh regel min ha'shuk. What's the שוק shuk? The שוק shuk is the market. The שוק shuk is the place that you're buying more beauty products, you're buying more fashion clothing. עד שתכלה רגל מן השוק Ad she'tichleh regel min ha'shuk. You know how long you have to light the מנורה menorah? Light the מנורה menorah, עד שתכלה רגל מן השוק ad she'tichleh regel min ha'shuk. Don't go to Town Center Mall for חנוכה Chanukah. Don't go to Neiman Marcus or Nordstrom's for חנוכה Chanukah. Disconnect from Amazon Prime for חנוכה Chanukah. For eight days, לא נחתי lo nachti, have some מנוחת הנפש menuchas ha'nefesh. For eight days say, 'I don't need more things, I don't need the latest clothing, I don't need the latest treatment.' For eight days, have some מנוחת הנפש menuchas ha'nefesh. Do not suffer the גלות galus of יון Yavan of ולא נחתי v'lo nachti. עד שתכלה רגל מן השוק ad she'tichleh regel min ha'shuk. Let's avoid the שוק shuk for the eight days of חנוכה Chanukah and find the מנוחת הנפש menuchas ha'nefesh that we crave and not be a נער naar like יוסף Yosef was a נער naar, who was so consumed only and exclusively by his appearance. Okay, let's start the פרשה parsha class. Page 222 in the ArtScroll Stone חומש Chumash, the privilege of reading פרשת מקץ Parshas Mikeitz, or מקץ Mikeitz more appropriately pronounced. Says the פרשה parsha, ויהי מקץ שנתים ימים ופרעה חולם והנה עומד על היאר vayehi mi'keitz shnasayim yamim u'Pharaoh cholem v'hinei omed al ha'yeor. It was the end of two years to the day, Pharaoh was dreaming, and in his dream he was standing over the river. Pharaoh was dreaming and the first dream places him standing over the banks of a river. Two years. What was the two years from? So the מדרש בראשית רבה Medrash Bereishis Rabbah tells us, קץ שם לחשך keitz sam lachoshech, זמן נתן ליוסף כמה שנים יעשה באפל בבית האסורים, כשהגיע הקץ, חלם פרעה חלום zman nasan l'Yosef kama shanim ya'aseh b'falo b'veis ha'asurim, k'she'he'gi'ah ha'keitz, chalam Pharaoh chalom. Hashem created an end to the darkness of יוסף Yosef's life. He said you're going to be in prison, you're going to be incarcerated for two years. When the two years to the day came up, then Hashem said it's time for Pharaoh to dream, because you're out of there like Vladimir. It's time for you to be able to be liberated from prison, from incarceration. Why did he spend two years in prison, by the way? Why didn't he get out earlier? So we know, because at the end of last week's פרשה parsha, when he reminds the שר המשקים Sar HaMashkim, please remind Pharaoh about me. He should not have relied so heavily on a human being, and because he used two words, because at the end of last week's פרשה parsha, he used two words to remind him that to to request of him that he would remember, because of the double language that he used, he spent two extra years, two years in prison. Had he not done so, how many years in prison would he have spent? So most people assume the answer is none, zero, but that's not correct. The אחרונים achronim point out why. He had to say it once. He had to say it once. So, in other words, sorry, if he had asked it once, 'please remember me when you get out,' would he have spent one year in prison or zero? He would have spent zero. Why wouldn't he have been accountable for saying it once? Because you have to do your השתדלות hishtadlus. We spoke about that, the רמב\"ן Ramban's introduction to the פרשה parsha a couple weeks ago was the balance between אמונה emunah and השתדלות hishtadlus, faith and effort. We have to put in our effort. So יוסף Yosef had to do his advocacy, he had to do his effort, but there's such a thing as excessive effort. When you put in too much effort, then you lack faith in השם Hashem. You could have excessive faith and too little effort, excessive effort and too little faith. Like the three bears, you got to find just the right amount. So the מדרש Medrash says, this was to the day, this was to the day two years that Hashem said, you're going to spend two years incarcerated. and prison. And I'll let you out after two years, so Pharaoh had to have his dream. Now the Medrash is somewhat confusing. דברי המדרש עדיין טעונים ביאור Divrei ha'Medrash adayin t'unim bi'ur. The Medrash needs explanation. שכן למראשו פרעה כבר חלם את החלומות, יוסף היה עדיין שבוי בבית האסורים She'kein l'marosho Pharaoh kvar chalam et ha'chalomos, Yosef haya adayin shavui b'veit ha'asurim. Why do we associate Yosef being liberated with prison two years to the day when he was incarcerated? It's not true. It was two years to the day that Pharaoh had his dream, but Pharaoh's dream was not the day that he was let out. רק אחר כך הוציא אותו מבית האסורים Rak acharkach hotzi oto mi'beit ha'asurim. מדוע מכנה המדרש את הרגע שחלם פרעה את חלומותיו, קץ שם לחושך Madua mechanah ha'Medrash et ha'rega she'chalam Pharaoh et ha'chalomosav, keitz sam la'choshech. Why does the Medrash characterize that once Pharaoh had his dream, Hashem had ended the darkness? Hashem had ended the servitude. When Pharaoh dreamt, where was Yosef? He was in prison. So what do you mean? Pharaoh's dream represents the end of Yosef's imprisonment. In the middle of Pharaoh's dream, while he shluffed in his, he definitely had cotton sheets. He had Egyptian cotton, no? For sure he had Egyptian cotton. I don't know how many, what do they call that? How many threads Pharaoh had. However many threads he had, that's how many threads he had. I don't know what kind of pillow he had. We'll leave that out, whether he bought his pillow late at night on from television ads. I don't know what kind of pillow, but he definitely had Egyptian cotton. So Pharaoh's fast asleep in his bed, having multiple dreams, and where's Yosef? There's no Egyptian cotton in prison. So what do you mean קץ שם לחושך keitz sam la'choshech while he was still in prison? So רב חיים וולקין Rav Chaim Volken, משגיח בעטרת ישראל Mashgiach b'Ateret Yisrael, this appears in this beautiful ספר sefer I've been sharing with you called the צדקה עליון Sidcha Elyon. And he says something very fascinating. He says something very, I find, inspiring, very uplifting. כמו שמצינו שאדם שנחתם דינו למות K'mo she'matzinu she'adam she'nechtam dino l'maves. We have a הלכה halacha. When when a rabbinical court has sentenced a person to death, when a person violated a capital crime and they're due to suffer capital punishment, they have a status of a גברא קטילא gavra ketila. A גברא קטילא gavra ketila means they're walking dead. They're already dead. So much so that's an interesting halachic question. If you murder somebody who's on death row, have you actually murdered? If you walk up to a corpse, this is a deeply disturbing thing to do, you're a deeply disturbed person. But if you take out a gun and shoot a corpse, if you take out a knife and stab a corpse, are you liable for murder? No. You kill someone who's something who's dead, you haven't committed an act of murder. So what if you murder somebody who has been sentenced for capital punishment? Isn't an act of murder halachically? So the גמרא Gemara has a language, גברא קטילא gavra ketila, that once a person has been נגזר nigzar, once a person has been established that they're going to be put to death, they're אדם הרוג adam harug. They're the walking dead. They're a corpse. They happen to have a heartbeat, but they're already a corpse. They're already a corpse. So what do you see? You see that once something is destined to be happen, to happen, it already has the status as if it already happened even earlier. At the moment something is concluded it's going to happen is when it really began to happen. We saw this last week. Was it in פרשה Parsha or my שיעור shiur, I don't remember. But we said that who was born in פדן ארם Padan Aram? Said he wasn't born in פדן ארם Padan Aram. He was born after. No, but that's where רחל Rochel דאווענט davened for him. Since that's where she דאווענט davened, that's where it's as if he was, the idea of him was born there, so the beginning of his being born already was there. בנימין Binyamin was already there. Similarly here, when a person is sentenced to death, they're already dead, even though they haven't yet gotten the chair. They're already dead, even though they haven't been put to death. So says רב חיים וולקין Rav Chaim Volken, the same thing here is true. Hashem says Pharaoh's dream is the catalyst that's going to begin the process of Yosef's liberation from prison. So even though he's still in prison while Pharaoh is sleeping and dreaming and has cotton, Egyptian sheets, still, that's already the beginning of his freedom. That's the beginning of his freedom. And what we see from here is the same is true with us. When we set our mind and when we become determined and when we, when we conclude that we're going to be or do something, it's as if it's already done. It's as if it, we still have to do it. It doesn't mean you're off the hook of doing it. But when we really set our mind to something, when we've concluded something, when we've become determined to do something, it's already done. Yosef was already out of prison when Pharaoh was dreaming. What do you mean he's out of prison when Pharaoh's dreaming? He's sitting in prison. Check the surveillance camera. He's sitting in prison. The answer is, since Pharaoh's dream was the catalyst of his getting out, כאילו ke'ilu he was already out even when he was still there. So you see how rewarding it can be, how enriching it is, how motivating it is, that just being determined to do something carries us a very, very long way. The word for will in Hebrew is רצון ratzon. רצון Ratzon is our will, is what we want. רצון Ratzon, the root of the word רצון ratzon is רץ ratz, is to run. Just like I get from point A to point B faster when I run, the stronger my will, the more determined I am, then the more likely I am to conclude what I pledge, what I promise, to get from point A to point B. Okay. Moving right along. פרק מ״א Perek mem-aleph, פסוק ט״ז pasuk tes-zayin. So Pharaoh has these dreams, we're not going to focus on them, we have in previous years, in the זוהר Zohar I encourage you, you can listen to previous years' פרשה שיעורים Parsha shiurim online to review what we did not cover today. So he has these two, he has these two dreams. פרק מ״א Perek mem-aleph, פסוק ט׳ pasuk tes, ז zayin. תורה Torah says the following, ויען יוסף את פרעה לאמר va'yaan Yosef et Pharaoh l'eimor. So what happens? Pharaoh brings in his חרטומים chartumim, they're unsuccessful, nobody's able to accurately interpret the dream to Pharaoh's satisfaction. We talked about last year or two years ago or three years ago, what was Pharaoh dissatisfied with, and what did Yosef do in his interpretation that none of them had done? And what right did Yosef have to do it? We talked about that previously. So Pharaoh is dissatisfied with their interpretation, Yosef, so Yosef is summoned. וישלח פרעה ויקרא את יוסף ויריצוהו מן הבור, ויגלח ויחלף שמלותיו ויבוא אל פרעה Va'yishlach Pharaoh va'yikra et Yosef va'yiritzuhu min ha'bor, va'yigalech va'yichalef simlosav va'yavo el Pharaoh. They go retrieve him from the pit, shave and a haircut, change of clothing, they bring him to Pharaoh. Pharaoh says, חלום חלמתי ופותר אין אותו chalom chalamti u'poseir ein oso. Yosef, nice to meet you, שלום עליכם Shalom aleichem. I had a dream and nobody could interpret it. ואני שמעתי עליך לאמר Va'ani shomati alecha l'eimor, you know what I heard about you? I heard a rumor about you. תשמע חלום לפתור אותו Tishma chalom liftor oso. That you're able to hear a dream and then come back with a legitimate, accurate, authentic interpretation. Is that true? So they pulled this guy out of prison, they put him in front of Pharaoh. Pharaoh says, Pharaoh is the, the Egyptian empire at the time is the strongest empire in the world, Pharaoh is the most powerful man on the globe, on earth. This individual Yosef, who had been rejected, dejected, despised by his family, left in a pit, sold into slavery, falsely accused, languishing in prison, has a big moment now to shine. This is it. And what's his moment? Pharaoh says to him, I heard about you, I heard about you, I heard about you that you can interpret dreams well. And what does Yosef answer? ויען יוסף Va'yaan Yosef. So if you're Yosef, what do you answer right now? Yeah, thank God, I listen, I'm not showing off, not flexing, but it's true, I'm a pretty good dream interpreter. I have a lot of other faults, but when it comes to interpreting dreams, I can compete with the best of them. How can I help you? I'm here to serve, master, I'm here to serve Pharaoh, I'm here to serve your honor, I'm here to serve Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. Ruler of the world. I'm here. Yeah, it's true, I'm pretty good, I have that gift. What can I do? What does Yosef answer instead? Excuse me. ברוך אתה ה' אלוקינו מלך העולם שהכל נהיה בדברו Baruch ata Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha'olam, she'hakol nihiyeh bi'dvaro. ויען יוסף את פרעה לאמר, בלעדי Va'yaan Yosef et Pharaoh l'eimor, Biladai. He says, What? You heard, you heard that I interpret dreams? Nah. בלעדי Biladai, it's not me. אלוקים יענה את שלום פרעה Elokim ya'aneh et shlom Pharaoh. Ooh, all of a sudden he's running a Discovery seminar. All of a sudden Yosef is playing the חב״ד Chabad playbook. All of a sudden he's opening a new חב״ד Chabad house. All of a sudden it's שלמה קרליבך Shlomo Carlebach's House of Love and Prayer. He's been languishing in prison. He's been languishing in prison, hopeless, helpless, despondent, no future, no opening, nothing. He finally gets his chance. Pharaoh says, I heard about you, I may need you, the ruler of the world, most powerful man on earth. Nah, בלעדי biladai, it's not me, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not good at this. Says the אלתר מקלם Alter of Kelm, התפעלות עצומה ממה שהפסוק הזה מלמדנו hispa'alus atzuma mima she'ha'pasuk ze melamdeinu. לא יתואר אצל אדם מלהודיע יקרת הדברים שאנחנו להשם בטובו ובמתן תורתו השלמה Lo yisatze el adam mil'hodia yakras ha'dvarim she'anחנו l'Hashem b'tuvo u'b'minan toraso ha'shleima. ובהודיענו נפלאותיו שלא יסופר ולישועה לאין מן האנושי, שהם בשר ודם והודיענו תורה, מעלת החן של זרע יעקב אבינו נורא מאד U'b'hodienu nifla'osa she'l'yesuper v'liyeshu'a l'ein min ha'enoshi, she'hem basar v'dam v'hodi'anu torah, ma'alas ha'chen she'l'zera Yaakov Avinu nora me'od. Whole תורה Torah's worth it for this one word, בלעדי biladai. תורה Torah is teaching us everything about our character, everything about who we're meant to be, everything about how we're meant to behave. יוסף הצדיק יוצא מבית אביו כשהוא בן שבע עשרה שנה Yosef ha'tzaddik yotze mi'beit aviv k'she'hu ben shva esrei shana. Yosef is kicked out of his family home, he's 17 years old. הוא מושלך לבור Hu mushlach la'bor, he's thrown into the pit with snakes and scorpions. He's sold to the Arab merchants. They sell him to פוטיפר Potiphar. He rises there for 10 years in his home. Now he thinks, 10 years, he's the CFO of פוטיפר Potiphar. He's the CFO of a Fortune 500 company. He's the number two in the company. He's got options. He's a נמצא בביתו של פוטיפר nimtza b'veiso shel Potiphar. And what happens after 10 years, he gets falsely accused, he's thrown into prison, loses it all. Has to declare bankruptcy, every headline, his image is ruined, he's sitting two years languishing in prison. לפתע מגיעים שליחי המלך לבור Le'peta magi'im shlichei ha'melech la'bor. He's sitting there one day, I don't know what he's doing in prison. He's, he's benching, he's lifting weights, he's playing basketball in the field, he's reading in the library, I don't know what Yosef is doing in prison. And all of a sudden someone comes in and says, you, young man, come. Shave, haircut, here's a change of clothing. We're going to the Oval Office. Going to the Oval Office. ויריצוהו מן הבור אל פרעה Va'yiritzuhu min ha'bor el Pharaoh. כשנכנס לארמון המלך K'she'nichnas l'armon ha'melech, he comes into the palace, פונה אליו פרעה poneh eilav Pharaoh. Pharaoh says, בלעדי Biladai. ובתרגום בר מן חכמתי U'b'Targum bar min chachmasi. פלא פלאות עד כמה חינוכו של יעקב אבינו Peleh pla'os ad kama chinucho shel Yaakov Avinu. So the אלתר מקלם Alter of Kelm says, you see the impact of Yosef's education. See if Yosef were to stop and think, if Yosef were to be calculating in that moment, he never could have answered this way. He would have done what was best for him. But he was so ingrained, that's so instinctively, so intuitively, so naturally did Yosef answer, Yosef was so committed to truth. Yosef was so educated and conditioned to be humble and modest. לכאורה כל הצלתו תלויה בזה L'chora kol hatzalasoh tluya b'zeh. Really if you were calculating, he would have said, my entire best chance of being saved is by saying it's me. But he doesn't. He says, בלעדי Biladai. Ah, I don't know what you're talking about. It's not me, it's God. אין לי כלום Ein li klum, I'm just an instrument, I'm just a vehicle for God. I've had good luck, I've been able to interpret dreams, but you know, again, just to give you a metaphor for this, could you imagine that somebody's sold from their family in a pit, rises to greatness, then falsely accused, languishing in prison, is brought to the king and the king says, I need surgery, and I heard you're the best surgeon there is. I understand that you have 100% success rate with your surgery. My understanding is that you're the best surgeon there is. Ah, I'm not such a good surgeon. I don't know what you're talking about, I don't know what you've heard. The truth is I have a hand that God directs my hand and so far he's directed it well. You out of your mind? You crazy risking it all? This is your shot. This is your chance. That one word, בלעדי biladai. That one word, בלעדי biladai. But sometimes in that moment of truth, we have the opportunity to define our entire lives. Will he be humble? Will he be modest? And will he be true? He tells the story of, tells the story about a בחור bachur, a new young man who enters the ישיבה yeshiva. And one day in שיעור shiur he asks a bomb קשיא kasha. He asks a געוואלדיגע gevaldige, a great question on the רבי Rebbe. The רבי Rebbe gives שיעור shiur and he raises his hand and he has, but the גמרא Gemara over there, but תוספות Tosfos over there, and the whole students, everybody else, all of his colleagues, wow, this new young man, his question, shh, he's an עילוי ilui. He's an עילוי עצום ilui otzum. Wow, what a super genius. And then he says, nah, I saw the question in רבי עקיבא איגר Rabbi Akiva Eiger. רבי עקיבא איגר Rabbi Akiva Eiger asked the question. Everyone says, ah, everything we thought about him, it just turns out it's רבי עקיבא איגר Rabbi Akiva Eiger. It's just רבי עקיבא איגר Rabbi Akiva Eiger. So that boy is tempted to say it was my question, it was my קשיא kasha. But it's a moment of truth for humility, for honesty, for authenticity. It's a moment of truth. And that's what Yosef ingrained with us in this one word, wow, what a powerful message, בלעדי biladai. That one word, and the אונקלוס Unkelos translation of it, בלעדי biladai. In that one word, it says so much. פרק מ״ד Perek mem-dalet, פסוק מ״ד pasuk mem-dalet. So Pharaoh repeats the dreams, Yosef interprets them, he interprets them to Pharaoh's satisfaction. And Pharaoh says, ויאמר פרעה אל יוסף va'yomer Pharaoh el Yosef, on page 228, ראה נתתי אותך על כל ארץ מצרים Re'eh, nasati oscha al kol Eretz Mitzrayim. I'm placing you on all of ארץ מצרים Eretz Mitzrayim. פרק מ״ד Perek mem-daled, sorry, פסוק מ״ד pasuk mem-daled, keep going. I'm putting you in charge of all of Egypt. ויסר פרעה את טבעתו מעל ידו ויתן אותה על יד יוסף Va'yasar Pharaoh es taba'ato mei'al yado va'yiten osa al yad Yosef. He takes his ring off and he puts it on Yosef's hand. וילבש אותו בגדי שש וישם רביד הזהב על צוארו Va'yalbesh oso bigdei shesh va'yasem revid ha'zahav al tzavaro. He dresses him in royalty. וירכב אותו במרכבת המשנה אשר לו ויקראו לפניו אברך Va'yarkev oso b'mirkeves ha'mishneh asher lo va'yikre'u l'fanav avrech. He calls him a new name. He calls him אברך Avrech. He says אברך Avrech, which really is ברכה bracha, you're the source of ברכה bracha. You are a source of blessing to me and to this country. ונתון אותו על כל ארץ מצרים Va'nasun oso al kol Eretz Mitzrayim, and he places him over all of Egypt. ויאמר פרעה אל יוסף Va'yomer Pharaoh el Yosef, and now he says to him, אני פרעה, ובלעדיך לא ירים איש את ידו ואת רגלו בכל ארץ מצרים Ani Pharaoh, u'viladecha lo yarim ish es yado v'es raglo b'chol Eretz Mitzrayim. I'm Pharaoh, and without you, no one can raise their hand or over all of Egypt. אני פרעה Ani Pharaoh, and over, without you, nobody could raise their hand over all of Egypt. אני פרעה, ובלעדיך Ani Pharaoh, u'viladecha. Yosef goes from 17 years old, he's a shepherd. By the way, last week, remember when I talked about shepherd, nobody's kid comes home and says I gave up medical school, law school, I'm not taking the accounting exam, I'm going to be a shepherd. I got an email a couple hours after the פרשה שיעור Parsha shiur from somebody whose child was poised to go, I think to medical school, but decided first they wanted to know the experience, so they went to Israel and they spent a month shepherding. And they attached two pictures of their son with a has-cap, with a flock of sheep behind him, shepherding the flock. So you never know what you say, and you never know what you're going to find out and what you're going to learn. I want to take a month off. I could use a month with some sheep. Just sheep. Sheep don't talk back. Until sheep learn how to write an email or a text message or a critical, I could use a few days with some sheep. Anyway, so Yosef is the shepherd. Yosef's hanging out in the field with some sheep. Next thing you know, 17 he's in a pit. He figures out how to run Potiphar's home. Next thing you know he's prison. Next thing you know, he is the secretary of the treasury. The next thing you know he's in charge of the entire economy, not just of Egypt, but it's the strongest economy of the world. And many commentators want to know, איך היה ליוסף העוז והגבורה לעלות לשלוט על ממלכה אדירה כארץ מצרים Eich haya l'Yosef ha'oz v'ha'gvura la'alos lishlot al mamlacha adira k'Eretz Mitzrayim. Now, again, this is a question that was asked previously. After we lived through what we've lived through and seen in our time, you don't have to have a competency, expertise, experience, you don't have to have risen through the ranks to be appointed the top in the land. But leave that editorial commentary aside, previously before anyone knew that or saw that to be a fact, they wondered, how is it that Yosef, who has no experience? He has no experience, and now he's running the entire country? How could it be? בלי שום נסיון קודם בענין, בלי לימוד דרכי ותכסיסי מלכות Bli shum nisayon kodem b'inyan, bli limud darchei v'tachsisei malchus? He didn't go to college, he didn't have an undergrad. He didn't go to graduate school. How did he do it? How did he do it? היה בחור ישיבה שכל ימיו בתורה ועבודה Haya bachur yeshiva shekol yomav b'Torah v'avodah. Till 17, he's learning in his father's בית מדרש beis medrash. Then he's a shepherd in the field. Then he's running Potiphar's modest house, and then he's been in prison. What in his resume made him qualified to run the entire Egypt? Not only qualified, but moreover, what gave him the confidence to run the entire Egypt? So רב ירוחם Rav Yeruchem, משגיח דמיר Mashgiach of the Mir, רב ירוחם Rav Yeruchem says, לא חשש יוסף בלי תורת הממלכה של מצרים, בלי לדעת כלכלה נכונה lo chashash Yosef bli toras ha'mamlacha she'l Mitzrayim, bli ladaas kalkala nechona, בפרט שבעצמו ניבא ששנות רעב ויקרות b'prat she'b'atzmo niva she'shnos ra'av v'yokros. איך יצליח להציל את העם מייסורים בלי היסוס Heich yitzliach l'atzil es ha'am mi'yisurim bli hisus? How did he do it? יוסף בכל מצב שהיה היה חי בחשבון מדוקדק וזהירות מגזל Yosef b'chol matzav she'haya, haya chai b'cheshbon medukdak u'z'hirus mi'gezel. The answer is, Yosef led his entire life with integrity. Yosef was careful and cautious his entire life to be honest, to have integrity, to never cheat, to never cut corners, to never rationalize, to never justify. מעלות אלו, שלמות אישיותו והכשירו אותו לנהל ממלכה אדירה כמצרים Ma'alos eilu, shleimus ishiyuso v'hichshiru oso l'nahel mamlacha adira k'Mitzrayim. And more important than any other qualification, you could have a million initials after your name, and before your name, you could have gone to countless graduate schools, you could have worked and served in countless positions, in countless companies. But if you're not honest and you don't have integrity, if you don't have the core character, then you're not going to be good. And you can have the core character traits, you could have honesty and integrity, fidelity to truth, and then even without the other training, you'll be able to rise to the occasion. So essentially says רב ירוחם Rav Yeruchem, the question was, Yosef wasn't trained for this, what on Yosef's resume made him eligible or qualified or confident to do it? And the answer is, only all of Yosef's life. Everything about Yosef's life. His attitude to punctuality and to time, his attitude to charity and to giving, how he kept his financial books and his own, his own money. His attitude towards לשון הרע lashon hara, his integrity, his honesty, his relationship with others. How he led his entire life made him in fact qualified and appropriate. פרק מ״א Perek mem-aleph, פסוק נ״א pasuk nun-aleph. We're flying through the פרשה parsha like we've never done before. Next page, page 230. What happens? Yosef has two kids. וליוסף יולד שני בנים בטרם תבוא שנת הרעב אשר ילדה לו אסנת בת פוטיפרע כהן און U'l'Yosef yulad shnei vanim b'terem tavo shnas ha'ra'av asher yaldah lo Osnas bas Potifera Kohen On. Yosef has two children born to him by his wife, אסנת Osnas, his wife אסנת Osnas, and who is אסנת Osnas's parents by the way? פוטיפרע Potifera. Familiar name? Who's his mother-in-law? Who's his שוויגער shvigger? Uncomfortable פסח סדר Pesach Seder? Uncomfortable Thanksgiving dinner? I think so. Okay. I don't see a lot of people address that, but it's a fascinating development in the story. Anyway, so he has two children. ויקרא יוסף את שם הבכור מנשה Va'yikra Yosef es shem ha'b'chor Menashe. Yosef names his eldest child מנשה Menashe. כי נשני אלוקים את כל עמלי ואת כל בית אבי Ki nashani Elokim es kol amali v'es kol beis avi. שם השני קרא אפרים Shem ha'sheini kara Efraim, כי הפרני אלוקים בארץ עניי ki hifrani Elokim b'eretz onyi. The second name is אפרים Efraim. Why? So מנשה Menashe is why? God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's household. The name of the second is אפרים Efraim, God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering. How could Yosef say that he forgot everything about his childhood? He names his first son מנשה Menashe, כי נשני אלוקים את כל עמלי ki nashani Elokim es kol amali, grateful to Hashem, he's caused me to forget all of my hardship and כל בית אבי kol beis avi. Here I am, far removed, haven't seen my brothers, my father. Thank God I'm over them. Thank God I don't remember them. Thank God they're not part of my consciousness or my active memory. And I name my son מנשה Menashe, that thank God I've been able to forget them. Says רב ישראל סלנטר Rav Yisrael Salanter, כוונת יוסף היתה שהצליח להשכיח מעצמו מה שעשו לו אחיו Kavanas Yosef hay'sa she'hitzliach l'hashkiach mei'atzmo ma she'asu lo achiv. וזה נסיון קשה מאוד להעביר רגל על אותו ולשכוח את כל מה שנעשה לו V'zeh nisayon kasheh me'od l'havir ragel al oso v'lishkoach es kol ma she'na'asah lo. כדי להודות להשם יתברך שהצליח לשכוח כשם בנו מנשה K'dei l'hodos l'Hashem Yisbarach she'hitzliach l'shkoach k'shem b'no Menashe. כדי לזכור חסד השם יתברך לזכור חלל שלא לזכור בעבר K'dei lizkor chesed Hashem Yisbarach, liskor chalal shelo lizkor ba'avar. He didn't forget his family. You know what he forgot? This is an unbelievable insight of רב ישראל סלנטר Rav Yisrael Salanter. He says, we human beings are given a gift, it's called selective memory. Selective memory is an unbelievable gift. We don't have to remember and hold on to all the hurt and the pain and the injury. We can choose to employ selective memory. We can choose to focus only on the positive and to have nostalgia for the good and to let go of that which hurt or that which harmed. That's נשני nashani. It seems to me that if you name your son, thank you for letting me forget, then you probably haven't forgotten. Every time he use his name, מנשה Menashe, he said, I forgot everything about my childhood and my upbringing, come for dinner. I forgot everything about my brothers and my father. Did you do your homework yet? Every time he called him מנשה Menashe, he was invoking מנשה כי נשני Menashe ki nashani. So says רב ישראל סלנטר Rav Yisrael Salanter, he didn't forget. Who would want to forget? Who could ever forget? I as a rabbi do a lot of funerals. And the hardest funerals are for people who held out to reunite with a mother or a father or a sibling who passed away, and that person passed away without their having reconciled. Because no matter how much a person says that they had given up, that they had moved on, that they had closure, that they had become comfortable with the fact that they were not in touch, we're not designed to ever be okay not having contact with a mother or a father or a sibling. Maybe on the surface, maybe years of therapy, and thousands of dollars of therapy, and lots of botox treatments, maybe we convince ourselves that we're okay with the fact that we're no longer in touch with the mother, the father, the sibling. However, inside somewhere deep inside, we're still holding out, we're still longing. And it's terribly, terribly, traumatically painful when that person dies and now the individual realizes it can't ever happen. It can't ever happen. So when Yosef says, מנשה כי נשני אלוקים Menashe ki nashani Elokim, I name my son that I forgot, you don't name your son I forgot if you forgot. You don't even think about it to name your son that you forgot. If you forgot, you're not thinking about it. And so you don't name your son. Imagine that ברית bris speech. Yosef, as you're chomping down on the bagels and lox in Egypt, Yosef, tell us why you named him מנשה Menashe. Grabs the microphone at the ברית bris. Well, let me tell you about my childhood and why I named him מנשה Menashe. I named him מנשה כי נשני אלוקים Menashe ki nashani Elokim. I named him, thank you, Hashem, for letting me forget. You'll notice, חבר'ה chevra, here in Egypt, you'll notice that I don't have any family here for the ברית bris. You might have noticed, I've never had family visit me yet. Well, let me tell you, ah, I forgot about them and I named my son, I forgot about them. That's not at all what's going on says רב ישראל סלנטר Rav Yisrael Salanter. Yosef is modeling for us selective memory. Selective memory. We have the capacity to focus not on the hurt, the harm, the pain. It's not to say that we shouldn't try to reconcile and work it out. We shouldn't bury it or suppress it or pretend it's not there. We should try to work it out. But do we want to hold ourselves back? Do we want to become paralyzed and debilitated by the thoughts and the feelings of the hurt? Or כי נשני אלוקים kinashani Elokim? So we say, Hashem, thank you for selective memory. Thank you for the gift of selective memory. You know who else practices selective memory? Hashem. In the נביא Navi. When he says, כה אמר ה' Komar Hashem, זכרתי לך חסד נעורייך zacharti lach chesed ne'urayich. Oh, I remember our journey through the מדבר midbar. אהבת כלולותיך Ahavas klulosayich, לכתך אחרי במדבר בארץ לא זרועה lechtech acharai ba'midbar b'eretz lo zruah. You remember how amazing it was, you never complained, and you never kvetched, and you were so grateful to me, and we were so in love, and our trek and our trail through the desert. You remember how beautiful it was? And you'll read the נביא Navi and you say, what? Did I read the same ספר במדבר Sefer Bamidbar as Hashem? You remember how amazing it was? What are you talking about? The answer is, Hashem practiced selective memory. And he has the perfect, impeccable memory. Yet he chooses to use selective memory. We often have the opposite, we have the inverse problem. Psychologists actually talk about this. We don't remember the good, we only remember the pain. We practice selective memory in the wrong direction. So at a ratio of five to one, someone's been good to us, been there for us, been kind to us, been loyal to us, showed up for us, but one time they hurt us. And all we remember is the one time and we've utterly purged, we've utterly forgotten, we've utterly deleted all the good they've done. At a ratio of 100 to one, but all we remember is the one hurt, the one remark, the one, the one failure to get back to an email. That's what we hold on to. That's what we hold, we have the inverse selective memory. But Yosef כי נשני אלוקים kinashani Elokim, he names him מנשה Menashe and he teaches us how we can use selective memory in the positive. וירא יוסף את אחיו Va'yir'a Yosef es echav, Yosef sees his brothers, fast forward, פרק מ״ב Perek mem-bet, פסוק ז pasuk zayin. ויבאו אחי יוסף וישתחוו לו אפים ארצה Va'yavo'u achei Yosef va'yishtachavu lo apayim artza. There's a famine in the land, the only way the brothers will survive, they go down to Egypt and they have to go and find the, they have to go to the Secretary of the Economy and wait in line, excuse me, in order to qualify for their food. ויבאו אחי יוסף Va'yavo'u achei Yosef, the brothers of Yosef come, וישתחוו לו אפים ארצה va'yishtachavu lo apayim artza, and they bow down twice to him. Says רב לוי יצחק מברדיטשב Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, says the קדושת לוי Kedushas Levi, צריך ביאור מאי קא משמע לן, הכתוב שיוסף ויתנכר אליהם Tzorech biur mai kam mashma lo, ha'kasuv she'Yosef va'yisnaker aleihem. Let's keep reading a little bit more. They come and they bow down. וירא יוסף את אחיו ויכירם Va'yar Yosef es echav va'yakirem. Yosef sees his brothers and wow. Can you imagine the adrenaline rush? What went through his mind? He's been away for all these years, thinks he's abandoned, forgotten, will never be reunited or reconciled. He has these dreams in the back of his mind, but there's nothing about his life that indicates that they're going to come true. And all of a sudden, he's online giving out coupons, giving out food, giving out welfare, giving out whatever he's giving out. And all of a sudden online, ויכירם va'yakirem. Now he sees people familiar. All of a sudden he sees his brothers. I don't care how old you are, I don't care if you've read this 90 times, which would be impressive because it would mean you read it when you were a few months old. But it's still the most exciting narrative in the תורה Torah, no? It doesn't matter how many times and how much you know how it ends, it's still געוואלדיג gevaldig to read every year. ויתנכר אליהם וידבר אתם קשות Va'yisnaker aleihem va'yidaber itam kashos. So what happens? He recognizes them, but he acted like a stranger, ויתנכר אליהם va'yisnaker aleihem. ויתנכר Va'yisnaker. He acted like a stranger towards them. And he spoke very harshly with them. ויאמר אלהם מאין באתם Va'yomer aleihem mei'ayin basem? And he says, where are you from? ויאמרו מארץ כנען לשבר אכל Va'yomru mei'Eretz Canaan lishbor ochel. Oh, we come from Canaan to buy food. ויכר יוסף את אחיו, והם לא הכירוהו Va'yakir Yosef es echav, v'hem lo hikiruhu. He recognizes them, which we just saw a minute ago, why are we repeating it? והם לא הכירוהו V'hem lo hikiruhu, and despite his talking to them, they don't recognize. Somebody from, I forget where, maybe Israel, through the beauty of technology, and I count myself so lucky to live in this time, in this place, not only to get to study with you every week who are in person, but so privileged that people around the world were able to listen together and they WhatsApp and email and text great questions to make you think. So someone asked me, last week Yosef looks in the mirror, sees the image, the דמות דיוקנו demus dyukno of אביו aviv, of his father, and that's what gave him the fortitude and the courage, the conviction, not to, in fact, give into the seduction of אשת פוטיפר eishes Potiphar. He looked so much like his father that when he saw himself in the mirror, he saw the image of his father. If he looked so much like his father, this individual asked me, why didn't his brothers recognize him? Why didn't his brothers recognize him? So I answered, I don't know, I didn't look it up, I didn't see whether anyone talks about it. But the simple answer to me would be because when he was in Potiphar's home, he still had not risen to the position of viceroy. Maybe in the position of viceroy, maybe there's some garb that you wear, maybe there's something about your appearance which is different, maybe he hadn't, like me, gotten the hair plugs or colored his beard. And so he looked different. They didn't recognize. והם לא הכירוהו V'hem lo hikiruhu. It could also be, I didn't see anyone talk about this. It could be, and this would make sense, that the brothers were so consumed by their hunger pangs that they didn't even notice anything else. Right in front of them was their brother, who maybe Yosef was recognizable, but that doesn't mean that they had the head space to recognize him. Remember the חתם סופר Chasam Sofer said last week, we quoted the חתם סופר Chasam Sofer last week, if Yosef saw the image of his father and that kept him from sinning, why didn't the brothers see the image of their father and keep them from sinning? And you remember what we answered? When a person is filled with anger or rage, their judgment is clouded, their vision is blurry, they can't even see what's right in front of them. So similarly here, when a person is, is, is hungry, struggling with a famine, when a person's in a pandemic and they've turned inward, they're suffering a plague, and they're only thinking about themselves, they can't even see what's right in front of them. shared with me, I forgot who it was, a רבי Rebbe last week. You remember they throw him in the pit and they go eat? And חז״ל Chazal are critical of them. He's suffering and struggling in a pit with snakes and scorpions, and you're sitting down to all you can eat buffet at the Chinese? What is going on over here? So shared with me a מאמר ma'amar. We're already out of time, or I'd read it to you inside, it's געוואלדיג gevaldig. He says, don't be critical of the, of the, of the brothers. There's such a thing called, you ever get hangry? Hangry is when you're really hungry, so you have no patience with someone, you snap at them, you're quick to them, you're not yourself because you're hangry. Hungry, angry. You're, you're hangry. The brothers thought, let's maybe we're just hangry. Let's have lunch and revisit this what we do. with him. They had lunch and they still decided he's got to go. But they knew it wasn't coming from a position of being hangry.So maybe here they're hangry again. Maybe here they come down to מצרים Mitzrayim, they're there because of a famine, they're suffering, they're struggling. They had the long journey, the long trip. And maybe they, maybe יוסף טאקע Yosef taka was recognizable, but they were so consumed with themselves that they didn't bother to recognize him. So, וְהֵם לֹא הִכִּרֻהוּ vehem lo hikiruhu. And then וַיִּזְכֹּר יוֹסֵף אֶת הַחֲלֹמוֹת Vayizkor Yosef es hachalomos, he remembers the dreams. Says the קדושת לוי Kedushas Levi of רבי לוי יצחק מברדיצ'ב Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, this is so sad. I have so many more things to tell you, but we're going to have to end off here. Says, וַיִּתְנַכֵּר אֲלֵיהֶם vayisnakar aleihem. What is the Torah telling us when it says, he made himself into a stranger to them? ובישלמא דבעל שמענא בזה צדקת יוסף U'vishlomo de'ba'al shme'ana bezeh tzidkas Yosef. How do you understand or interpret why Yosef would make himself look like a stranger? Why would he conceal himself? Wouldn't he want to reveal himself? Wouldn't he want to say, hey, it's me, Yosef!So the easy answer is, they tried to kill him once, maybe they'll try to kill him again. But that's not a good answer. Why? He's much more powerful than they. He, he's got an army. You think Yosef's giving out food without marines standing on both sides of him? Without secret service devoted to him? Yosef's much more powerful, he's not afraid of his life. That can't be the reason. Why doesn't he reveal himself? You have to imagine he's been longing and desperate. According to רבי ישראל סלנטר Reb Yisrael Salanter, he's practiced selective memory. He barely even remembers what they did to him. He only longs to be reunited with them. This is the one who last week, אֶת אַחַי אָנֹכִי מְבַקֵּשׁ es achai anochi mevakesh. All he wants is to be with his brothers. Why וַיִּתְנַכֵּר אֲלֵיהֶם Vayisnakar aleihem? Why in the world would he make himself into a stranger?Okay, we'll end here. Just joking. I'll tell you the answer. I'll tell you the answer of the קדושת לוי Kedushas Levi. There are many answers. But this is where רבי לוי יצחק מברדיצ'ב Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev says, he says, this is evidence of the righteousness and the greatness of Yosef. צדקת יוסף Tzidkas Yosef. שהרי יוסף חלם שאחיו ישתחוו לו Sheharei Yosef chalam she'echav yishtachavu lo. Yosef remembered his dreams. That's the next פסוק pasuk. Very next פסוק pasuk is וַיִּזְכֹּר vayizkor, he remembers his dreams. And in his dreams what happens? The brothers bow down to him. בדרך הטבע כשאדם מנצח את חבירו, בזה יודע שהוא מנצח אותו, אז יש לו עגמת נפש גדולה. אבל כשאין חבר יודע ממה הוא מנצח, אז אין לו צער כל כך. Bederech hateva k'she'adam menatzeach es chaveiro, b'zeh yodea shehu menatzeach oso, az yeish lo agmas nefesh gedola. Aval k'she'ein chaver yodea mima hu menatzeach, az ein lo tzaar kol kach. והוא הדין כאן. יוסף ניצח את אחיו בקיום החלומות, שאחיו ישתחוו לו. Vehu hadin kan. Yosef nitzach es echav bekiyum hachalomos, she'echav yishtachavu lo. Yosef and his brothers had a bet. He had this dream and his brothers said they will never come true. Yosef said this is my dream, it's from השם Hashem. I guarantee it's going to come true. And they said you want to bet? And I don't know if they did a pinky promise or I don't know exactly how they did this bet or what they bet for, but they had this enormous bet. They had this enormous competitiveness. And Yosef realizes in this moment that he won the bet. The brothers are here and they're bowing down because they need food, they're hungry. And what happens when you told someone that they've lost the bet? When they were willing to bet their life savings, they were willing to bet their mother's life, their father's life, willing to bet everything, that's how sure they are. When a person realizes they lost a bet that they were certain they would win, it's devastating. It's devastating. And Yosef wanted to spare his brothers that pain, that devastation. שהרי אחיו ישתחוו לו, והנה באמת הם לא רצו שיוסף ינצח אותם כי אז יצטרכו להשתחוות. זו היתה צדקתו שבשעה שהשתחוו לו ונמצא שנצחים, אילו היו יודעים שזה שהשתחוו לו הוא יוסף, היה רע להם. Sheharei echav yishtachavu lo, v'hinei be'emes hem lo ratzu sheYosef yenatzeach osam ki az yitz'tarchu l'hishtachavos. Zo haisa tzidkaso she'besha'ah shehishtachavu lo v'nimtza she'nitzchim, ilu hayu yodim she'ze shehishtachavu lo hu Yosef, haya ra lahem. If they realized the one who they were bowing down to was in fact Yosef, it would have been very difficult, very painful for them. לכן בשעה שהשתחוו לו, ויתנכר אליהם Lachen b'sha'ah shehishtachavu lo, vayisnakar aleihem. So again, I would say this is also a continuation of the Alter of Kelm's insight. You think Yosef stopped and said, who, who has the, who has the mindset to stop and say, it's my brothers, all these years, should I reveal myself, should I not? If you had to stop and think about it, he could never hold back from revealing himself. It's only because his instinct, he had been conditioned, he had been taught, he had been raised by parents who taught him to try to spare the pain of others. So in that moment instinctively, intuitively, in super speed, he realizes my dream is coming true. And if I tell them right now, while they're starving, while they're famished, if I tell them right now as they're bowing down, that in fact I won, I was right, that's going to be unbearably painful. I could never cause pain not only to anyone else, but certainly not to my brothers. ובכך תאמר שאם היו משתחווים למלך מצרים, יוסף הוא מלך, אם כן לא יהיה להם עצבות על השתחוויה. וזה שאמר הכתוב, וישתחוו לו, ויכירם שהיה להם בזה עגמת נפש, ויתנכר אליהם שלא יהיה להם עגמת נפש וצער על זה שניצח אותם. U'vekach tomar she'im hayu mishtachavim le'melech Mitzrayim, Yosef hu melech, im kein lo yihiye lahem atzvus al ha'hishtachavaya. V'zeh she'amar ha'kasuv, vayishtachavu lo, vayakirem she'haya lahem b'zeh agmas nefesh, vayisnakar aleihem she'lo yihiye lahem agmas nefesh v'tzaar al zeh she'nitzach osam. He didn't want to cause them that pain, and that's what was going on. ואפשר לומר, שלכן יוסף לא הודיע לאביו שהוא מלך ושהוא חי. V'efshar lomar, she'lachen Yosef lo hodia l'aviv she'hu melech v'she'hu chai. And that's also why he went so far, so concerned was he with sparing the pain of his brothers, that he did not, not only did he not reveal himself, even though that meant, that cost him telling his father. שהרי יוסף ידע שיקויים מה שחלם שיבואו אחיו וישתחוו לו. ואילו היה מודיע לאביו ויבואו הם וישתחוו לו, היה להם צער מזה שניצח אותם. Sheharei Yosef yada she'yikuyam ma she'chalam she'yavo'u echav v'yishtachavu lo. V'ilu haya modia l'aviv v'yavo'u heim v'yishtachavu lo, haya lahem tzaar mizeh she'nitzach osam. Says רבי לוי יצחק מברדיצ'ב Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, because you know what would happen? Let's play this out. Yosef says to the brothers, Hey guys, I won. נַנַנַה נַנַנַה קישקיש nanana nanana kishkish, I won. In the bet. Here I am, I rose to greatness, you're bowing down to me, you rely on me for food. And guess what? Go tell dad who won. You know what יעקב Yaakov's going to do? He's going to say, I also won. I was right to give him the colored coat. I was right to favor him. I was right to buy into his dreams when no one else did. And all it's going to do is create further division, further divisiveness, further tension, further conflict. He understood that his father made a mistake to spoil him to begin with. And he understood that he had contributed to that divisiveness to begin with. And remember all he wants is אֶת אַחַי אָנֹכִי מְבַקֵּשׁ es achai anochi mevakesh. All he wants is to be at peace and reunited and fit in and belong. So at great, great, enormous personal pain, because it means he's still not reunited with his father. But at great personal pain, he's patient. And he says I need to wait for the right time and the right way and the right place. And I'll reveal myself and we'll reconcile and reunite then. But if I do it now, if I do it in this way, in this time, in this place, it'll only divide. It'll cause pain to them. It'll cause my father to react the wrong way. And therefore, וַיִּתְנַכֵּר vayisnakar. And therefore he has the presence of mind to not reveal himself, to make himself a stranger to them, all an expression of his greatness and his righteousness to spare them unnecessary pain.I'm in pain because there was a lot more to talk about. But we did say some nice ideas about Chanukah. Wishing everybody a פרייליכן און ליכטיגן חנוכה freilichen un lichtigen Chanukah. Fay, a very happy birthday. 30 more times to read פרשת מקץ Parshas Mikeitz. I hope you're ready to go. All right, stay healthy.
