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Parshas Vayechi - I Thought That You Thought

Parshas Vayigash - How Old Are You Now?

Parshas Vayigash

How Old Are You Now?

By: Daniel Listhaus

וַיָּבֵא יוֹסֵף אֶת יַעֲקֹב אָבִיו וַיַּעֲמִדֵהוּ לִפְנֵי פַרְעֹה וַיְבָרֶךְ יַעֲקֹב אֶת פַּרְעֹה: וַיֹּאמֶר פַּרְעֹה אֶל יַעֲקֹב כַּמָּה יְמֵי שְׁנֵי חַיֶּיךָ: וַיֹּאמֶר יַעֲקֹב אֶל פַּרְעֹה יְמֵי שְׁנֵי מְגוּרַי שְׁלשִׁים וּמְאַת שָׁנָה מְעַט וְרָעִים הָיוּ יְמֵי שְׁנֵי חַיַּי וְלֹא הִשִּׂיגוּ אֶת יְמֵי שְׁנֵי חַיֵּי אֲבֹתַי בִּימֵי מְגוּרֵיהֶם

“Then Yosef brought Yaakov, his father, and stood him before Pharoah, and Yaakov blessed Pharoah. Pharoah said to Yaakov, 'How many are the days of the years of your life?' Yaakov said to Pharoah, 'The days of the years of my sojourns have been one hundred and thirty years; few and bad gave been the days of the years of my life and they have not reached the days of the years of the lives of my forefathers in the days of their sojourns.'”

-Vayigash 47:7-9

After Yosef revealed himself to his brothers, the brothers went back to fetch Yaakov and bring him down to Mitzrayim. As soon as Yaakov entered Mitzrayim, the famine, which was supposed to last for another five years¹, miraculously ended as the Nile overflowed and watered the land. Yosef then went to Pharoah and made all the proper arrangements for the B'nei Yisroel to be able to settle peacefully and separately in the city of Goshen. After Pharoah granted Yosef what he had asked for, Yosef went to get his father to introduce him to Pharoah.

Rashi² comments that upon meeting Pharoah for the first time, Yaakov did what any person would do, he said “hello”. However, Pharoah's response seems to be a little strange and out of place. The passuk³ (verse) describes that after Yaakov greeted Pharoah, Pharoah asked Yaakov, “How old are you?” What sparked Pharoah to ask such a question? It was not Yaakov's birthday nor was he in 'parsha' that Pharoah was trying to be his shadchan. So what possessed Pharoah to ask such a question?

Furthermore, let us say that we could somehow understand why Pharoah asked this question, how could we begin to understand Yaakov's answer? The passuk states that Yaakov replied that his days and years were few and miserable. What was the purpose in answering in this way? If Yaakov felt that the question was inappropriate he could have brushed it off somehow, and if he thought it was an appropriate question, why did he not respond with his age? Either way, complaining about his past experiences seems completely purposeless. How could we understand Yaakov's response?

The Da'as Zekainim⁴ as well as the Chizkuni⁵ explain as follows. When Pharoah took one look at Yaakov, he was in shock. He thought to himself: How could it be that a person who is so old still be alive? He was too curious how old Yaakov was and could not help but ask. However, the reality was that Yaakov was not really considered old for someone in those times, he merely looked old. This is precisely what Yaakov responded to Pharoah. He told him that he was not as old as he looks, he just looks so old because of the many troubles he experienced during his lifetime. The Da'as Zekainim and Chizkuni continue to explain that for each of the 33 words that Yaakov used to complain to Pharoah, a year was taken off his life.

There are two problems with this explanation. First, why was Yaakov punished? After all Pharoah had asked him a question wondering how old Yaakov was because he looked extremely old. Yaakov was merely setting Pharoah straight by informing him that he was not as old as he looks. Second, if you count the number of words that Yaakov used while “complaining to Pharoah”, you will find that there are actually only 25 words. So why were 33 years taken from his life? Where were the other eight words said?

The Chizkuni writes that not only was a year taken off of Yaakov's life for every word that he said, but additionally for the eight words the Torah uses to record Pharoah's question. So we could now understand mathematically where the number 33 comes from, but still, what did Yaakov do wrong that he should be punished at all, let alone punished for the words Pharoah used in asking him how old he was?

The mishna⁶ quotes Shammai who said, “Receive every person with a pleasant facial expression”. Clearly Shammai is not merely referring to a person who just won the lottery because such a person would already be walking around with a smile on his face. Rather, Shammai is referring to every scenario. It does not matter if you just won the lottery, had a regular day, or failed a test. A person has an obligation to greet people with a warm and friendly “hello” no matter what.

There is a story told about Rav Yisroel Salanter (founder of the “Mussar Movement”) that he was once walking down the street and he crossed paths with another person who was clearly not in the best of moods. Rav Yisroel approached him and asked if everything was okay. The man responded, “What do you mean, Rebbe, by asking if everything is okay? Surely you know that it is the aseres y'mei teshuva (ten days from Rosh Hashana until Yom Kippur) and that the yom ha'din (judgment day) will soon be here! This is why I am so troubled and look so worried and depressed.” To this, Rav Yisroel responded, “I don't understand. Why should I have to suffer because of your yom ha'din?”

The lesson that Rav Yisroel was teaching this man is a profound one. When we are walking in public or interacting with other people, what right do we have to throw our misery onto them? The fact that we may have had a bad day at school or work does not give us the divine right to walk around ignoring people. Just the opposite. We are still obligated to stop to say hello and, furthermore, we are expected to do it with a smile.

With this in mind, we could now understand why Yaakov avinu was punished. When Yaakov came down to Mitzrayim his face clearly showed the combination of his challenging life experiences. He was chased by Eisav, had to run away from home, was tricked in the house of Lavan, buried his wife while traveling, had his daughter kidnapped, and for many years was under the impression that his favorite son was dead. There is no doubt that Yaakov did indeed lead quite a difficult life. However, for a tzaddik such as himself, Hashem expected him to keep his troubles inside and not burden the world with them. The fact that when meeting Pharoah for the first time and saying hello, Pharoah was able to immediately sense something was wrong from the way Yaakov looked and right away asked, “How old are you?”, was proof to Yaakov that he was not doing a good job greeting people with “seiver panim yafos” (a pleasant facial expression). This is why Yaakov was punished even for Pharoah having to ask the question – because Yaakov should not have allowed himself to show his difficulties at the expense of others. Saying hello and greeting someone for the first time is not the time to burden him with your issues even if all you are doing is showing it in the quality of your hello.

1They were already into their second year of the famine.

2Rashi Beraishis 47:7

3Beraishis 47:8

4Ibid.

5Ibid.

6Avos 1:15

Parshas Miketz and Chanukah - Thanksgivakkah: It's Never Late, Nor Is It Early... It Arrives Precisely When We Mean It To

Parshas Miketz

and

Chanukah

Thanksgivakkah:

It's Never Late, Nor Is It Early... It Arrives Precisely When We Mean It To

By: Daniel Listhaus

וַיִּיטַב הַדָּבָר בְּעֵינֵי פַרְעֹה וּבְעֵינֵי כָּל עֲבָדָיו: וַיֹּאמֶר פַּרְעֹה אֶל עֲבָדָיו הֲנִמְצָא כָזֶה אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר רוּחַ אֱלֹקים בּוֹ: וַיֹּאמֶר פַּרְעֹה אֶל יוֹסֵף אַחֲרֵי הוֹדִיעַ אֱלֹהִים אוֹתְךָ אֶת כָּל זֹאת אֵין נָבוֹן וְחָכָם כָּמוֹךָ: אַתָּה תִּהְיֶה עַל בֵּיתִי וְעַל פִּיךָ יִשַּׁק כָּל עַמִּי רַק הַכִּסֵּא אֶגְדַּל מִמֶּךָּ: וַיֹּאמֶר פַּרְעֹה אֶל יוֹסֵף רְאֵה נָתַתִּי אֹתְךָ עַל כָּל אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם

“The matter appeared good in the eyes of Pharoah and in the eyes of his servants. And Pharoah said to his servants, 'Could we find like this – a man in whom is the spirit of G-d?” Then Pharoah said to Yosef, 'Since G-d has informed you of all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be over my house and by your command shall all my people be sustained; only by the throne shall I outrank you.'”

-Miketz 41:37-40

If we were to stop for a moment and take a look at the world around us, we would find a scary parallel between the mentality of our time and that which filled the air during the story of Chanukah. In early America, one of the biggest challenges that Jews faced was keeping Shabbos. In a world where Saturday was another workday, it was almost impossible to maintain a steady position without giving up Shabbos. This caused many people to be mechalel Shabbos (desecrate the Shabbos) and distance themselves from orthodox Jewry. Over the years, these families became less and less religious and are now completely intermarried and assimilated Jews who are parents to families of goyim.¹ Unfortunately, early American Jewry was not the end of the struggle to keep Shabbos. Nowadays, with the questions that many have, the general lack of emotional bond to Judaism, and the strong lure to want to fit into the 21^st Century culture, there is a contemporary challenge of keeping Shabbos as well, which draws from an addiction to technology and search for pleasures which the Torah perspective does not endorse. This is a struggle which is affecting even our sheltered frum communities and circles, let alone the non-frum Jews across America and throughout Israel. What will happen to the Jewish nation without Shabbos as the time to stop and think about Hashem being the borei (Creator) and manhig (Director) of the world?

Moreover, as if the spiritual rebellion of teens and adults is not enough, even things as basic to Judaism as bris millah (circumcision) are now being called into question. In many European countries over the past few years there have been a number of governments which tried to outlaw bris millah because of its “danger” to a baby's health. Recently, however, there has been a disturbing story a little closer to home circulating international news about a women who has been refusing to give her son bris millah. Beis Din (Jewish court) of course ruled that she must give her son bris millah and established a fine of 500 shekel per day (equivalent to about $140 dollars) for every day that she does not allow her baby to get bris millah. The woman has already brought her case to the beis din of appeals, arguing that she has the right to disallow her baby son from getting bris millah, however, the beis din of course upheld the ruling of the first beis din. After all, unless the baby would be in mortal danger, no one could forbid a baby from getting a bris. When in history has there been such a craziness that a Jewish mother prevent her son from bris millah?

Additionally, this year, with all the hype of Chanukah falling out so early this year – on Thanksgiving, as opposed to around the Christian holiday season – there has been talk about Thanksgivakkah and how this year that Chanukah falls out so ridiculously early there is such a confusion because it is not what people are used to. We have become so used to living simultaneously with two calendars – celebrating Hebrew birthdays, English birthdays, American holidays, and Jewish yomim tovim, that we have become insensitive to the uniqueness of the Jewish Calendar itself.

How unfortunate that these three areas which we have done to ourselves and are so greatly affecting us as a nation in our times, are exactly the three things which the Hellenistic Greeks worked so hard to try to get us to give up during the time of Chanukah. It is documented and well known that like our enemies before and after, the Greeks made many decrees targeted specifically against Judaism. Among these decrees were the outlawing of performing bris millah, keeping Shabbos, and declaring the rosh chodesh (new moon) each month.

If we were to put ourselves in the shoes of our enemies and were plotting to solve the “Jewish problem”, we would think that the rituals to stop would be those that seem most provocative. Perhaps decrees against wearing a yarmulka, putting on tefillin, or having tzitzis flying out would be on the list of things which make us stand out; but why Shabbos, bris millah, and rosh chodesh? Keeping Shabbos is at best passive-aggressive, bris millah is something which is kept private, and declaring the new moon is definitely not one of the first things that comes to mind when thinking about the weird activities Jews do. However, it must be that when it came to their discussions of how to solve the “Jewish problem” they found that the three most threatening mitzvos were exactly these three – bris millah, Shabbos, and rosh chodesh. How could we understand this?

In order to understand the decrees of the Greeks, we must get some clarity on what their underlying interests and goals were. Simply put, the Greeks were fighting a war on ruchniyus (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.² Instead, they preferred that every Jew convert their beliefs and instead blend with the Hellenistic culture. The Hellenistic culture which was spreading at the time advocated the perfectness of the human body and the importance of understanding science, because, after all, science has an explanation for any question.

With this in mind, let us revisit the three decrees that the Hellenistic Greeks declared against us during the time of Chanukah. When we do bris millah, we are taking the naturally created human body, and turning it into a source of kedusha (holiness) by making a sign with Hashem. Shabbos too 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 human body is good straight from the package and there is no such thing as a force which cannot be seen unless it rhymes with gravity and has a scientific explanation.

When the Greeks discovered that we declare rosh chodesh each month, they found this too to be intolerable. The concept of declaring rosh chodesh is really fascinating. This first mitzva, which was given to the Jewish people as a nation,³ 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 to be 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) will fall out that year.

As a matter of fact, there is an incredible story in the Mishnayos which demonstrates this idea. The Mishnayos⁴ 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 between Rabban Gamliel and Rabbi Yehoshua, there would be major practical differences in the Jewish calendar, as they were arguing over what day of which 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.⁵ 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 being that Rabban Gamliel was the leader of the generation, the head of the Sanhedrin HaGadol, what he says 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 something which bothered the Hellenistic Greeks so much. How could it be that we have the ability to turn mundane things into Holy experiences and how could it be that a nation has the ability to change a calendar based on the word of a beis din? These were indeed questions which shook the Greeks to their core and why they came to the conclusion that declaring rosh chodesh was such a big threat to their Hellenistic culture. These two very different ideologies certainly do not mix, just like water and oil.

Let us focus for a minute on the decree against the Jews declaring Rosh Chodesh, but at the same time let us zoom out to understand the bigger picture of what it represents.

In this week's parsha, after Yosef had interpreted the dreams of Pharoah to Pharoah's satisfaction⁶, 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.⁷ 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”.⁸ Rashi⁹ 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.”¹⁰ The Beis HaLeivi¹¹ 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 realized that Hashem must have helped him and therefore appointed him as vice president of Mitzrayim.

However, there seems to be 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 Gemara¹² 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 Gemara¹³ continues and explains that all dreams follow after the mouth. Meaning, that a dream alone is vacuous, 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 Gemara¹⁴ 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”¹⁵ and cats inherit their owners,¹⁶ 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.¹⁷ Animals seem to get 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.¹⁸

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 Mishnayos¹⁹ 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)²⁰ is that when one davens (prays) 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.

As mentioned earlier, 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 higher the level one has achieved in developing his ruchniyus (spirituality), the better one has an understanding of the messages that Hashem tries to send us through dream. The person who attains this strong relationship with the spiritual realm has the inherent ability to utilize his mouth to better convey 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, like Cinderella's step-sisters trying to squeeze their feet into the glass slipper. Rather, he demonstrated that he knew precisely what the dreams were trying to forewarn. 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. We know that there is only one Torah and that the Torah is emes – absolute truth describing the ultimate way that man is supposed to live.²¹ Having said that, the 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).²² 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 guidelines²³ Hashem gave us to decipher the Torah.²⁴ 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,²⁵ 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 pure 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 only be in spiritual ways which we do not necessarily feel or understand or even relate to. With this in mind, 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 is 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 not be 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 danger. 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. One could only do so after working on oneself tremendously and ultimately achieving 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).²⁶ A person who is on the level to be a poseik (halachik authority) for the Jewish people has the enormous responsibility to use the correct tools to reach true halachos. Only a person who has trained his mind to think along the lines of da'as Hashem is able to convert his thoughts and conclusions into p'sak halacha (a final ruling in Jewish law) through the power of speech.

As alluded to earlier, 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 in mind, we could modify our lives to be ones of eternal purpose.

Chanukah 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”),²⁷ 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.²⁸ The Greeks were so adamant about uprooting our chukim 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. This is why the 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.

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 – still bearing the precious seal of the Kohen Gadol - 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 halacha²⁹ 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 the Jewish nation. 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 – our proverbial spiritual glasses which allows us to read the Torah and see the world in a different light. The fact that we have the ability to make real differences in the nature of the world itself through various applications of Torah was something that the Greeks could not understand and to which they would never admit.

Every motzei Shabbos (Saturday night) 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. For in reality, the same difference between light and darkness exists in between our way of life and their ideologies. The Mishna³⁰ 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. We must advocate that with the ability to think and speak comes an incredible responsibility to use these tools correctly and keep them pure in emes.

When we pretend that there is nothing wrong within the frum communities, we are hurting no one but ourselves. How could we sit back while the Hellenistic culture seeps into our people and stops many from keeping Shabbos? How could we not be internally torn by the international news of Jews preventing their children from having bris millah? And how could we so easily laugh along at the term “Thanksgivakkah” without thinking twice of the concept that Chanukah is never early, nor late, it arrives precisely when the beis din declares it? We must hold on tight to the neiros Chanukah during these dark times and always keep in mind our uniqueness of being created b'tzelem elokim, with the ability to use thought and speech to make real differences in this world and the calendar.

May Hashem help us internalize these lessons and so that when we look at the lights of the menorah, we see the real light of Chanukah, in order that we could continue the job that Yehuda HaMaccabee reignited years ago.

1A Jewish man who marries a non-Jewish woman will have kids who are not Jewish from birth.

2As a matter of fact, they did not even intend to destroy the Beis Hamikdash. Rather, they just wanted to turn all of our activities into ones that were impure. This is alluded to in Al Hanisim.

3 Rashi Beraishis 1:1

4 Rosh Hashana (mishnayos) 2:8-9

5This is prohibited on Yom Kippur. Rabban Gamliel was demanding that he recognize and accept the Sanhedrin's ruling as to when Yom Kippur would be and that there would be nothing special about the day Rabbi Yehoshua had held was accurate. Therefore, it would be completely permitted for him to carry on the “fake Yom Kippur”.

6Unlike the necromancers and wise men of Mitzrayim who were unable to interpret the dream to Pharoah's satisfaction. See Rashi Beraishis 41:8.

7Ultimately, with the arrival of the tzaddik Yaakov to Mitzrayim, the famine stopped after two years. See Rashi Beraishis 47:19

8Beraishis 41:12

9Ibid.

10Beraishis 41:39-40

11Parshas Miketz

12Berachos 55a

13Berachos 55b

14Ibid.

15Yes. Sad but true...

16No, this was not a joke either. A couple of years ago, Maria Assunta, a wealthy Italian woman who died at the age or 94, left a $13 million dollar fortune to her cat, Tommaso. Believe it or not, Tomasso is not the wealthiest animal in the world. Kalu, a monkey, has $80 million dollars and Gunther IV, a German Shepard, is the proud owner of $372 million dollars (who actually inherited the money from his father, Gunther III).

17Gemara Bava Kamma 2a

18In Shemoneh Esreh in the b'racha of “Attah Chonein”

19Avos 5:1

20For example, see Shulchan Aruch - Orach Chaim: 62:3 and see Mishna Berura there. Similarly, by Birkas HaTorah, see Shulchan Aruch - Orach Chaim 47:4 and Mishna Berura there regarding if thinking Torah requires birkas HaTorah to be said. See also Gemara Berachos (20a).

21This idea is captured in the Rambam's eighth and ninth Ani Ma'amin (Principles of Faith) as well as reflected in Yigdal.

22The Oral Torah was meant to be passed on by word of mouth from generation to generation without being written down. This was the way it was taught and learned until R' Yehuda HaNasi decided to compile the mishnayos, when he saw that Torah she'ba'al peh was in danger of being forgotten.

23The thirteen middos one can use to be doreish the Torah, which are brought down by Rabbi Yishmael in the Sifra. This could be found in the siddur right before p'sukei d'zimra.

24Orchos Tzadikkim: Sha'ar HaTorah

25Devarim 30:12

26This is why even when there is indeed a machlokes, there is also a concept of eilu v'eilu divrei Elokim Chaim – Both this opinion and that opinion are from the word of Hashem. For example, see Gemara Gittin 7b. After all, if both conclusions were made based on the emes of Torah, it must be that both are indeed completely accurate.

27We recite this after 'Modim' in Shemoneh Esreh as well as after 'Nodeh' in bentching.

28See Rashi Bamidbar 19:1

29See Shulchan Aruch - Orach Chaim 671:1 and Mishna Berura 3

30Pirkei Avos 3:18