From: krulwich@zowie.ils.nwu.edu (Bruce Krulwich)
Subject: Dvar Torah -- Parshas Miketz (Chanukah) -- Rabbi Alter
Organization: The Institute for the Learning Sciences, Evanston, IL
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 16:54:27 GMT


	       Parshas Miketz (Chanukah) -- Rabbi Avrohom Alter


Is there an aspect about this week's parsha, Miketz, that makes it appropriate
for Shabbos Chanukah?  To find a reason for this, let's look at a few questions
about Chanukah and about the parsha, and see if we can find a connection.

One of the primary miracles that we remember during Chanukah is that after the
war with the Greeks, when the menorah was lit in the Bais HaMikdosh [holy
temple], a portion of oil that would ordinarily have burned for one day
miraculously lasted for eight days.  We light the Chanuka candles to
commemorate this.  As such, why do we light one candle on the first night, two
candles on the second night, and so on?  Why not light all eight candles each
night, to commemorate one measure of oil extending itself eight times over?

Secondly, we find something about the halachos [laws] of lighting candles on
Chanukah that is different than other Mitzvos [commandments].  There's a
concept in Jewish law of "Hidur Mitzvah," of going beyond what's necessary in
performing a mitzvah in order to beautify and enhance the mitzvah.  Often this
is done by spending extra money to make the mitzvah nicer [such as buying an
especially nice mezzuzah, etrog, etc.].  The idea of hiddur mitzvah is to go
beyond what's obligated, performing the mitzvah in a more special way.
Concerning the lighting of candles on Chanukah, however, the Talmud [Shabbos
21b] discusses the basic mitzvah, the hidur mitzvah, and a new concept, a
"mehadrin min hamehadrin" [especially special] form of the mitzvah.  The basic
mitzvah is for the head of a household to light a single candle each night of
Chanukah.  The hidur mitzvah is for each member of the family to light a single
candle each night.  The mehadrin min hamehadrin form of the mitzvah is for each
person in the family to light candles corresponding to the given night of
CHanukah, one candle the first night, two candles the second night, and so on.
Why do we have this added level of hidur for this mitzvah alone?

Turning to the parsha, we saw last week that Yosef [Joseph] was in prison,
where he correctly interpreted the dreams that his two fellow prisoners had.
One of them, the Sar haMashkim [wine steward], was destined to be released from
jail according to Yosef's interpretation.  Yosef requested that when he will in
fact be released, to please remember him and remind Pharoh of his plight.  In
this week's parsha, which takes place two years later, Pharoh has a dream that
no one can interpret for him.  The Sar haMashkim suggests that he ask Yosef,
the imprisoned Hebrew slave, for an interpretation.  The Midrash [Bereshis
Rabba 89:2] says "Fortunate is the man who places his bitachon [faith or trust]
in the Almighty, this refers to Yosef...  Because he asked the Sar haMashkim to
'remember him' and to 'remind' Pharoh, the Almighty caused him to stay in
prison for two extra years."  This Midrash is a paradox within itself.  The
ideas seem to contradict each other.  If Yosef's asking the Sar haMashkim to
help him reflected a lack of faith, why was he the epitome of one with
bitachon?

Furthermore, why did asking the Sar haMashkim to help him show a lack of
bitachon?  There's a story about a man who lived in a town that was flooding.
A person came by in a rowboat when he was on the first floor and offered him a
ride, but he answered "The Almighty will help me."  Another person came by in a
motorboat when the water was up to the house's second floor and offered the man
a ride, but again he answered "The Almighty will help me."  Finally he was on
his roof with the water comming up to his neck, and a helicopter flew over him
and dropped him a ladder, but again he declined and answered "The Almighty will
save me."  Needless to say, he drowned, and when he got to the world to come he
asked G-d "I had bitachon, why didn't you save me?"  The Almighty answered
"What do you mean, why didn't I save you?  First I sent a rowboat, then a
motorboat, and finally a helicopter.  What did you expect?"  Certainly the same
was the case with Yosef in prison.  The Sar haMashkin's being in prison with
him and being released after being helped by Yosef could not have been a
coincidence, it must have been part of the Almighty's master plan for Yosef's
being saved.  So why was Yosef punished for giving that master plan a little
human assist?

The Bais HaLevi (commenting on the parsha) gives us an explanation to this
problem.  According to the Bais HaLevi, if a person has perfect bitachon, the
Almighty will provide all his needs and the person will be able to spend all of
their time totally involved in the service of HaShem [G-d].  However, whatever
a person lacks in bitachon they can make up in hishtadlus [human effort].
Someone who only has 75% bitachon will have to work hard enough to supplement
the lacking 25% in order to prosper, while someone who has 90% bitachon will
only have to supplement 10%.  The Talmud tells of a disagreement between Rabbi
Yishmael and Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai [Brachos 35b].  "Since it says 'this book
of the law shall not depart from your mouth,' one might think that this must be
taken literally (and therefore a person should never leave the house of Torah
study).  Therefore it says 'and you shall gather in your corn' which implies
that you are to combine the study of [Torah] with Derech Eretz [an occupation]
-- this is the view of Rabbi Yishmael."  Rashi explains that if the person
didn't have Derech Eretz he would end up spending his time begging, which would
take him away from Torah more than a profession would.  The Talmud continues,
"Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai says 'Is this possible?  If a man ploughs in the
ploughing season, and sows in the sowing season, and reaps in the reaping
season, ... what is to become of Torah?  Rather, what is meant is that when
Jews perform the will of the Almighty their work will be carried out by others
for them."  This shows us, says the Bais HaLevi, that if someone spends all
their time doing G-d's will, and does so with complete bitachon, then the
Almighty will provide for them.  The Talmud concludes, "Many have followed the
advice of Rabbi Yishmael and it has worked well, others have followed Rabbi
Shimon Bar Yochai and it has not been successful for them."  This fits the
concept of the Bais HaLevi too, because pragmatically speaking people are
rarely able to have complete bitachon and must make up for their lacking
through hishtadlus [human effort].

The Bais HaLevi continues, saying that while each person needs enough
hishtadlus to make up for less than perfect bitachon, a person should not put
more effort into hishtadlus than is necessary.  If a person does so, they won't
derive any benefit from the additional, unnecessary hishtadlus, and
furthermore, they will find themselves having to work harder and harder in
order to achieve the original desired results.  Each person has to find a
ballance, so that they work hard enough to provide for their needs without
putting more effort and trust into their own hishtadlus than is necessary.

Now we understand why Yosef was punished for giving a push to the Sar haMashkin
to help him get out of prison.  Since Yosef was at such a high spiritual level,
where he had complete and total bitachon that the Almighty would provide for
him, even saying two small words was more effort than he should have put into
saving himself.  His bitachon was enough that any of his own efforts put into
worldly affairs was considered too much.  For this he was punished.  This is
why the Midrash connects Yesef's being the epitome of bitachon with his being
punished, because the reason that he was punished for saying these two words
was precisely because he was the epitome of bitachon.  Had he not been at such
a level, it would have been correct for him to give the Sar haMashkin a push.
For Yosef, however, it was wrong.

So far we've been discussing the amount of effort a person puts into things
only regarding the *physical world*.  It is only in these areas that more and
more effort is not necessrily a good thing.  In areas of spirituality, however,
the opposite is true, and the story of Chanukah shows us this.  When the
Maccabees conquored the Greeks and recaptured the Bais HaMikdosh [holy temple],
why did they have to relight the menorah right away?  They could have delayed
until such time as pure oil was available.  And even if they wanted to rekindle
it, why did they need to use undefiled oil?  The commentaries agree that they
didn't need to use pure oil for relighting the menorah at this point in time,
and some even question the need to relight it at all.  Picure the scene: the
Bais HaMikdosh is all but destroyed and the victorious soldiers burst in and
decide to relight the menorah.  Amidst all the confusion and destruction, some
of them start looking for undefiled olive oil, which seems to have all been
destroyed.  Imagine then the voices in the background, "Come on, why be so
Frum?  Use impure oil, it's permitted in this situation!!"  And yet the search
continued for pure oil and a container of it was found.  In a spiritual area
such as this, more effort expended results in a higher level of performance of
the mitzvah, and a more beautiful mitzvah by going beyond one's obligation.
Chanukah exemplifies this concept, and this may be why lighting the Chanukah
lights are the only mitzvah with an additional level of hidur, with three ways
to perform the mitzvah, each more beautiful than the pervious one.  This is
what we are doing when we light Chanukah lights in the most special way, in the
Mehadrin min haMehadrin way.  We commemorate the performance of the mitzvah of
the Chashmonayim [those who rededicated the Temple] by our performance of the
mitzvah of Chanukah beyond the base obligation.

This also explains the connection between Chanukah and this week's parsha.
Each is concerned with putting extra work into something, the parsha with
putting extra work into worldly affairs and Chanukah with putting extra work
into spiritual areas.  The parsha tells us that we should only put as much
effort into worldly affairs as we have to to compensate for our lack of
bitachon, while Chanukah tells us that every bit of effort we can put into
spiritual areas will be rewarded.  This gives us a possible explanation for
lighting an extra candle each night instead of lighting eight candles each
night.  The message of Chanukah is that we should never be satisfied with our
religious level, and should always be striving to be closer to perfection, and
this is symbolized with lighting a new candle each night.  If we light one
candle one day, we should light two the next day.  If we light two one day, we
should light three the next day.  By always striving to be a little bit better,
to put a little more effort into spirituality, we can keep improving ourselves
and can come closer to having the Almighty reward us for our perfection.

                           Rabbi Avrohom Mordechai Alter, Yeshiva Migdal Torah
                              Chanukah, Parshas Miketz 5750, December 30, 1989
                                                   Transcribed by Dov Krulwich
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