Divrei Mikeitz
Effort and Moshiach
Chanukah always coincides with those parshiyos – Vayeshev and Miketz – that deal with the story of Yosef and his brothers. What is the connection between those events in the Torah and the Maccabees’ struggle against the Greeks?
Perhaps one answer lies in a Midrash (B.R. 85:1) as explained by HaRav Yehoshua Bertram, shlit”a, a maggid shiur in Yerushalayim.
Rabbi Shmuel Bar Nachman began his drasha with the verse (Yirmiyahu 29:11) “For I [Hashem] know the inner thoughts.” When the brothers sold Yosef, Yosef was in mourning, Reuven was in mourning, Yaakov was in mourning, Yehudah was looking for a wife, and HaKodesh Baruch Hu was creating the light of King Moshiach.
At first glance, this Midrash seems disconnected. The posuk in Yirmiyahu on which this Midrash is based talks about Hashem knowing our thoughts, yet the drasha refers to actions of the Shvatim. What’s more, it was Yehuda’s misuse of his leadership role which was most responsible for the tragic sequence of events with Yosef! Insread of planning a chasuna, he should have been sadder than everyone else combined, so how does Moshiach come from this?
Rather, said Rav Bertram, Yehudah saw that his plan had been a mistake. Certainly, something had to be done about Yosef, but the decisions Yehuda, as the leader of the brothers, made led to Yaakov falling into a perpetual aveilus. And now, his own brothers had deposed him as leader. Yehudah could have sunk into a depression, or simply given up.
“No, I won’t!” Yehudah said to himself. “I’ve erred, things look bad, but I’ll try only harder. What’s the first mitzvoh in the Torah? P’ru u’rvu! I’ll look for my zivug!”
Yehudah’s tenacity was a
common trait of his family. Rav Bertram noted that every one of the brothers had
an excuse for being mediocre. When Reuven moved his father’s bed, he was
punished with the loss of kingship, priesthood, and first-born rights – all
special status. Shimon and Levi destroyed a city and were criticized by their
father. We spoke about Yehudah already. Yissachar and Zevulun lived in the
shadow of their great brothers. Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher, sons of Bilhah
and Zilpah, had to contend with a quasi-second rate status. Yosef’s troubles
fill up several parshiyos. Binyamin never knew his mother, for Rachel had died
in childbirth. Modern-day secular psychologists would fill their professional
journals with justifications for these kids to be failures. Still, every one of
them overcame his personal difficulties and became great enough to establish a
Shevet B’Yisroel. When Hashem saw how His chosen nation reacted to adversity, He
determined to push their success along by starting the process for the arrival
of Moshiach and the ultimate Geula.
The Maccabees also displayed this ability to overcome adversity. Who were they? As mentioned above, they were a few weak youths with no weapons facing the mighty Greek army. The battle seemed hopeless, ridiculous. Yet the Maccabees persisted. “Hashem runs the world,” they reasoned. “We must do the right thing – His will. He does not want Torah to be forgotten. We must fight these Greeks any way we can. The results are not our decision.”
And indeed, when those “invincible” Greeks saw a few ragged youths waving shears and knives at them, they panicked, fled, and were destroyed.
Is it any coincidence that Yehudah brought Hashem to create the light of Moshiach and the Maccabees (cohanim who light the Menorah) brought about the redemption from the Greeks? When a Jew faces an overwhelming challenge and somehow musters up the strength to overcome, that supreme effort is so precious to Hashem that He uses it to bring the light of Moshiach sooner and closer.
Chinuch
Much this week’s parshah is devoted to the brothers‘ attempts to deal with a seemingly implacable foe – that grand vizier in Mitzrayim, who seems to know and anticipate their every move. Thoughts of tshuvah begin to sprout; at one point, Reuven tells his brothers, “Didn’t I tell you, al techetu bayeled, do not sin against the child, and you didn’t listen.” (42:22)
Rav Nachman Bulman, zt”l explained that these words are a Divine directive on us to make our children’s well-being – physical and spiritual – a priority for us. We must not sacrifice our children on the altars of modernism and convenience. He remembered a meeting of school administrators and rabbanim. Someone proposed a certain “innovation” that while not in line with traditional chinuch, did seem on the surface to have merit.
An adom gadol spoke up. He flatly stated: “Al techetu bayeled,” then repeated it, over and over again, with more and more feeling, until everyone understood that the idea was not in the children’s best interest. End of “innovation.”