Where Good Times Are Found

Parshas Miketz

Chanukah

Posted on December 30, 2016 (5777) By Rabbi Label Lam | Series: Dvar Torah| Level: Beginner

The Mitzvah of Chanuka is: A candle for each man and his household! (Shabbos 21B)

And these are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt; with Yaakov, each man and his household came. (Shemos 1:1)

 

It’s no mistake that the same Talmudic Language used to define the requirement for lighting a Chanukah Candle is the very same expression that describes how the Jewish Nation descended to Egypt: “Ish U Beiso” “a man and his household”. In his Haggadah, Rav Hirsch ztl. notes that the Jewish People were organized as a household unit when they entered the exile and they were also configured as households at the time of the exodus just as we find ourselves on Pesach ever since- not in a stadium but rather at home!

 

About the importance of the home as a primary survival unit Rav Hirsch writes: 

 

“To inherit a home and to build a home – this encompasses a Jew’s ethical vocation on earth. Is it not essential for the hopes and perfection of all nations? If only this great Magna Carta were consulted wherever education and culture, peace and salvation of men and mankind are discussed. For the fate of men, their success or failure, is decided neither in the chambers of rulers nor on the battlefield. It is not decided in business concerns, in colleges and institutions of arts and sciences or in houses of worship. It is sealed only in one place, in the parental home…

 

There exists no substitute for the home, and if one is looking elsewhere for the source of peace and prosperity, he is searching in vain. All of a nations politics and diplomacy, its theories of national economy and institutions for mass education, its trade and industry, its schools and community centers – none of these will save the people from extinction if they let the parental home become a parody. Are children born for the sake of the state’s false concern instead of the warm love of parents?

 

Does the census show ever-growing numbers of children without parents and parents without children? Does the nation’s high society make a mockery of morality and modesty? If so, then all the palaces it is building are founded on quicksand.”

 

A Chanukah Candle in the window shouts, “This is a Jewish home!” Now what if there is a shortage of resources and one must choose between lighting a Shabbos candle or a Chanukah candle!? Which Mitzvah takes precedence? Here we can appreciate how Jewish Law-Hallachah shapes our philosophy and not the other way around.

 

Both are Rabbinical Mitzvos of equal ranking. The reason for the Chanukah Candle is to advertise the Miracle of Chanukah and the reason for the Shabbos Candle is its impact on Shalom Bais- Peace in the Home! When there is light in a home there is peace. Which value wins out? Shabbos Candles because of “Shalom Bais”.

 

Years back when I was in college and a member of a Fraternity- Phi Tau, (As the butler said, “Es Chatai Ani Mazkir HaYom, I mention my sin today!”) Our Frat house was not the popular one! All the others were giant mansions and on a Saturday night they were pushing in the front doors of every Frat House to enter. Ours had the disadvantage of being like a Swiss Chalet with a big picture window. People passing by could look in and see nobody was in side. The emptier it looked from the outside the emptier it remained.

 

Then we had a “genius” idea. A bunch of us pressed up against the window so people passing in the street will perceive a packed house. The only problem was that when they came in, they saw a group of guys pressed against the window and an empty house. There was no way to fool the masses.

 

On Chanukah we dare not advertise to the world what we are not in our essence. Rabbi Avigdor Miller ztl. had said that when you see people out on the prowl late at night searching for good times, don’t be deceived. Similarly, if you find someone at 3 AM at the store buying eggs, you know one thing for sure. They have no eggs at home. The home is where good times are found.

 

Pawns in Divine Hands

Parshas Miketz

Posted on December 5, 2018 (5779) By Rabbi Berel Wein | Series: Rabbi Wein | Level: Beginner

In this week’s Torah reading, we read of the dreams of the Pharaoh of Egypt. The Torah does not identify who this Pharaoh was. We know nothing about him, we know nothing as to how he became the Pharaoh. He is a complete mystery, yet he is the catalyst for everything that will happen. He will be the one who has Joseph released from prison. He is the one that will make Joseph the viceroy of Egypt. In that regard, and because of the dreams that he had, the famine comes to the entire area of the middle east and Joseph and his brothers enact the final drama of their relationship and of the building of the people of Israel.

 

It is interesting to note that throughout the Bible there are characters who are central to the story but who are basically anonymous. We do not know who they are and why they act as they do. We do not know if they are aware of the central role that they are playing in the history of civilization and of the Jewish people. From everything that we can read and understand, it seems that they are oblivious as to their role. They are behaving as ordinary human beings in what they think are ordinary circumstances and are unaware that somehow cosmic events are occurring because of them.

 

The Pharaoh simply wants to have a bad dream interpreted. He is not interested and may not even know, regarding the house of Jacob in the land of Israel, nor of the fact that there is a young Hebrew that is a prisoner in one of his dungeons. All he wants is to have his anxieties relieved by having some sort of interpretation of his frightening dream. Here we have a glimpse into how Heaven, so to speak, interferes and guides – without notice – the events of human beings and of civilization.

 

This is the nature of human life. We always concentrate on the trees and most of the time we’re not even aware that there is a forest. What looks to us to be small and insignificant choices are really magnified because of their effect upon others and upon history. The Pharaoh of Egypt does not realize that he is the center of a drama that will remain cogent and important for thirty-seven hundred years. He is not aware as to what his true role in the matter is. So, he just acts as a normal human being. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy to see how quickly he raises Joseph. He could just have said, “Well, thank you for the interpretation of the dream.” He could have just, if he wanted to be magnanimous, freed Joseph from jail.

 

But here, he elevates him. He makes him second in command of the Egyptian empire. He believes that Joseph is so talented and that the dream is so real that he must act in order to implement it. This, already, is the hand of Heaven. This points out to us how the divine will, so to speak, pushes human beings into behavior that is not quite logical, but that, in retrospect, is important, eventful, and meaningful. And that is really an important lesson that all of us should take to heart because there are no inconsequential actions of human beings. Everything that we do, everything that we say, counts and is recorded for good or for better.

 

Shabbat shalom.
Rabbi Berel Wein