Chanukah and Yosef: Emunah, Torah, Bitachon, and Simcha Against the Darkness of Yavan

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Shalom Aleichem, Bruchim Habaim, Afreilichen Chanukah. Today, be'ezras Hashem Yisbarach, we'll discuss and talk about the inyan of Chanukah and the lessons that the Yontif Chanukah leaves us with. In the Torah, we find, we read in the parshas of Vayeshev and Miketz, which are the parshiyos around Chanukah, the parshiyos that we read through the days of Chanukah, we find the life of Yosef, his trials and tribulations, the difficulties he went through, the nisyonos he went through in Mitzrayim. One of the great nisyonos tests that Yosef has to go through is the story of Eishes Potiphara, the wife of Potiphara, who entices him to do an aveira. Yet Yosef stands strong and he withholds, and he does not do the aveira in the face of all the pressure that she pressured him. Yosef tells Eishes Potiphara that he cannot do this aveira. He needs to be strong and stay away from this aveira because, as the pasuk states, Yosef says, Bereishis lamet tes tes, Ve'eich e'eseh hara'ah hagedolah hazos, v'chatasi lElokim. How can I do it? How? How can I fall into this aveira, v'chatasi lElokim? Chazal tell us, it's yadua, that what gave Yosef the strength, what gave Yosef the koach to withstand the pressure, the nisayon, was dmus aviv. The face, the dmus of his father came to him, Yaakov Avinu, the face of Yaakov Avinu. He looks at it, and this gives him the resolve not to do the aveira. Mefarshim speak, then what's the greatness? We know that Yosef was called Yosef HaTzadik. Tzadik. The phrase tzadik, the name tzadik was given to Yosef because of this great act of prishus, the great act of mesiras nefesh for kedusha. He was called a tzadik. What's so great? Why are we giving him so much credit if dmus aviv was standing there, dmus aviv is nirsoloi, he sees the image of his father, who would do the aveira? Who could do the aveira? And if Yosef didn't do the aveira, az kumt a zach, gedanken, az kumt a zaya, groyse kavod, az a groyse schar, that he's called Yosef HaTzadik because of this. Mefarshim explain that it's not that Yaakov comes to Yosef, it's not that the dmus of Yaakov appeared itself. To Yosef, but it's that Yosef brought up, that is Yosef who brings up the memory and the demus, the image of his father, because Yosef in Mitzrayim lives with the image that he is akin to Yaakov Avinu. He is the son of Yaakov Avinu, and he has to act as such. So yes, it is a tremendous godless, greatness of Yosef. It speaks volumes to the greatness of Yosef, that in a land of Mitzrayim, and through all the trials and tribulations and the nisyonos that he went through, he carried with him the demus aviv, the image of his father, to live up to the standard of Yaakov's home and what it means to be the kind of Yaakov Avinu. Yet in Chazal, which maybe is a little less known, there's more dialogue that Yosef had with Eishes Potiphara, explaining and convincing that he's not able to do the aveirah. The Medrash says that Yosef HaTzadik tells Eishes Potiphara, quote, Medrash says he said, אמר לה יוסף, למוד הוא הקדוש ברוך הוא.

The Ribono Shel Olam is accustomed, lihyos bocher me'ahuvei beis Abba, to choose someone who He loves from my father's family, to choose him to be an olah, to be a korban, like we see that the Ribono Shel Olam asks Avram to bring his son Yitzchak as a korban olah. Im ashmia lach, if I listen to You and I do this aveirah, what happens? V'shema efcher lihyos olah. If the Ribono Shel Olam turns to me and says, You, Yosef, you should be a korban olah to Me, v'efosel min hakorban, and I will remain pasul, unfit to be this korban. So I have to remain b'kedushah u'v'taharah in preparation, in hachanah, in case, in case I am asked to be this korban olah, like my grandfather Yitzchak was chosen and asked to be a korban olah. Mefarshim ask, did Yosef really believe that he might be asked to be a korban olah, like Yitzchak, like Avram was asked to take Yitzchak as a korban? There's no korban from a human. V'heimis, we know there's korbanos; human sacrifice is unaccepted in the Torah. It was a one-time thing that Avram was asked to see if he will agree and bring Yitzchak as a korban, since it was a nisayon for Avram Avinu. But this was a hora'as shaah; this was a one-time thing. Chazal actually even point out. That the Ribono Shel Olam never really thought or ever intended that Yitzchak should remain a korban to be nikrav on the mizbeach. There's a pasuk in Yirmiyah, Yud Tes, perek Yud Tes, pasuk hei: V'asu bamos laBaal. They made mizbechos, they made altars for the Baal asher lo tzivisi. Says the Ribono Shel Olam, I never commanded them to do these bamos laBaal, these avodah zaras. V'lo alah al libi. It never even dawned on Me. Lo alah al libi. It was never my intent that they should do this avodah zarah, bamos laBaal. Yet Chazal say that actually the pasuk is not referring only to the avodah zaras of bamos laBaal, that the Ribono Shel Olam says lo tzivisi v'lo alah al libi, but actually, says the Gemara in Taanis, daf daled amud aleph, zeh haAkeidas Yitzchak ben Avraham. Even the Akeidah, even the fact that I asked that Yitzchak should be a korban, was really lo tzivisi v'lo alah al libi. I never commanded it, nor did I ever intend that he should be a korban. So what is Yosef? L'choira, nu shas is we're soon going to learn, Yosef was ben zekunim. He knew zeraim, Kodshim, Nashim, Taharos, as hezekt the balaturim, that Yaakov Avinu taught him shisha sidrei Mishnah, with all the masechtos, the Gemaras on the shisha sidrei Mishnah, hatta Shevuos masechtes Taanis, and in Maseches Taanis it states clearly. That the Rabbeinu Shloilam never intended even Yitzchak to be a korban. So what's the pshat? What's the pshat that Yosef tells Eishes Potifarah that he has to remain, he has to remain b'kedushah u'v'taharah because he might be a korban one day? Did Yosef actually think that he would be akeidas Yosef, like there's an akeidas Yitzchak? Is this a real hava amina? Was this really something that Yosef contemplated and he was fearful of, that he might be asked to be an olah like Yitzchak, that there would be an akeidas Yosef also? So I've always thought maybe the pshat is this is what he told Eishes Potifarah. He was madche her, he was pushing her off. Not that he actually believed or he actually had a real hava amina that he would be asked to be a korban, but this is a way of pushing off Eishes Potifarah. Maybe even more, it was a way of talking to himself, to his yetzer hara. He was playing with his yetzer hara. The pasuk says, Vayei'aseksh titapel.

Mit the nar, the yetzer hara, that was a charum spiel, and you have to play around with him. So he was fadraying him a kop like the yetzer hara was fadraying him, so he was fadraying him back a kop, that what happens if I'm a korban, but not that really and in truth and in honesty he believed that he would be asked to be a korban olah. This was a dichuy ba'alma. But efshar, Rabboisai, kemen zogen that no, Yosef takke meant what he said, that he can't do the aveirah because possibly he'll be asked to be a korban, not a korban that will be nikrav, not a korban that will be geshachten, but he believed that it's possible that he was chosen to be a korban mechayim, that his life should be a life of sacrifice, as a lebedige korban. We find the Brisker Rav explains that actually Yitzchak, though he wasn't nikrav al gabei hamizbeach, he actually was not slaughtered, he was actually geshachten, but he remained a korban, a live korban, korban mechayim, a korban that lived as a korban. His life was that of a korban, like we find the nazir. A nazir lives a life of prishus as if he was a korban. We find Yitzchak Avinu wasn't allowed to go to Chutz Laaretz because he was a korban mechayim. He had special dinim, special levels of kedushah that he had to maintain, a gelebta korban. Piskerav explains, the pasuk says, Valeyu li'olah. It never said that he will be a korban that will be geshachten. Hashem never told him to shecht. Valeyu, bring him up as an olah. Maybe with a little drush, with a little bit, a little more oymek, we could say, Valeyu is uvbrengen, mala zayn, to bring him up, so Yitzchak lived a hoyben a leben vi an olah. Yosef, who sees his life is full of nisyonos, where he has to self-sacrifice, efsher he was chosen to be a korban mechayim. Beis Yosef, yadua, was mispallel sheday al kiddush Hashem. As we know, many gedolim, Izeh told me that the Chofetz Chaim used to be mispallel that he should be zoche to be nehareg al kiddush Hashem. The Beis Yosef asks the maggid, the malach that comes to learn with him, how come his tefillah, how come his bakashah to the Eibishter to be zoche to be a korban was never granted? To die al kiddush Hashem was his bakashah and it was never granted. Why? The maggid, the malach, answers him, Shelcha gadol. What you have is even greater than dying al kiddush Hashem, because you are living a chai al kiddush Hashem. A person in his life is able to elevate himself that he lives kiddush Hashem, and that's also a korban. It takes a lot of self-sacrifice. Difficulties of life, nisyonos, tests of life, tribulations, the yetzer hara is [unclear] and mixing in every day, and the person overcomes it all with tremendous koach and mesiras nefesh, daas heist a karban. And Yosef looks at his life and he says, Wow, so much nisyonos and so much mesiras nefesh I need. Mistama I was chosen to be a korban mechayim, and if I do this aveirah, I will have ruined, I will have destroyed, I will have [unclear] the korban, and I will not be granted the zechus, the tafkid of my life, to be a korban. We know that Yosef was called a tzaddik, rightfully so, for everything he went through in Mitzrayim. But what was it exactly, the underlying gadlus of Yosef that gives him the title tzaddik? Yosef is tzaddik yesod, zoar. Yosef is called the tzaddik yesod. What was it that Yosef did to earn this title tzaddik yesod?

And pashtus, it was his prishus. It was his ability to be moser nefesh for inyanei kedusha, withstanding eishes Potifar and all the other arayos and degradation of Mitzrayim. I believe, rabosai, that there is more that lays in Yosef's life that earns him this title, tzaddik. We need to go deeper. We need to dig deeper to find out how is it that Yosef is able to be tzaddik, to be this poirish, how he was able to withstand and remain a kadosh in Mitzrayim. What is the underlying koiches and middos that give him the ability to withstand and to be this kadosh? In viewing Yosef, one is really confronted by his strength of not falling into yi'ush and not falling into an atzvus, a nanderer volt shoin getsibrochen; he would have been broken. Another person would have been lost. Another person would be mamash a meyuyash, and he wouldn't be able to withstand any nisayon, let alone the nisayon of eishes Potifar. The Chida tells us—this is a Chida in Avodas HaKodesh, Tziporen Shamir, siman zayin, os kuf ches—that the number one thing that brings about tumas habris... Pegam in inyanei kedusha is atzvus, depression. When a person is depressed, he finds outlet in inyanei tumah, in inyanei arayos. So the number one underlying thing to work on, and to be strengthened in order to be able to be a moser nefesh against all the nisyonos of inyanei kedusha, is simcha. And the opposite: if a person has atzvus, he'll fall into a yi'ush, which leads to all the degradation. Steipler, Zecher Tzadik V'Kadosh Livracha, writes about this in great length, that simcha gives a person the ability to remain pure in inyanei kedusha, while atzvus is the number one catalyst that leads to all these type of aveiros. So we need to learn, Yosef, yes, the tzaddik in inyanei kedusha, prishus, to withstand the arayos of Mitzrayim. But what is the koach, the underlying midah that gives him the tzidkus, is that he never fell in his resolve, in his bitachon, in his simcha. He never lost himself. He was never b'atzvus. And where does this come from? This comes from his great emunah and bitachon in the Ribono Shel Olam. When one has emunah and bitachon, he doesn't fall into an atzvus of yi'ush. Chazal tell us, Baruch hagever asher yivtach baHashem, zeh Yosef. Yosef was the great master of bitachon. Yosef excelled in bitachon. The raya is from his life. Another person without bitachon, if he didn't have bitachon, he wouldn't survive all his yisurim. He wouldn't survive all his nisyonos. The fact that he was able to remain, the fact he was able to withstand, that's because he had emunah. And when he had emunah, mimeila he wasn't atzuv and he wasn't misya'esh. If he wasn't atzuv, he wasn't misya'esh, he was able to be strong. He was able to be strong, and he was able to not fall in to the most degrading of aveiros that were around him. Notice that the word tzaddik actually is used in three contexts. Tzaddik, we know, tzaddik yesod, in Yani Kedushah of Bris. Tzaddik is also about emunah. Tzaddik b'emunaso yichyeh. The person who has emunah is also called a tzaddik. And Or zarua latzaddik, ulyishrei lev simchah, in the context of tzaddik and simchah. This sums up.

The gadlus of Yosef, that he was a tzaddik, tzaddik l'maaseh in bris, tzaddik in machshava, that he had emunah, and tzaddik in ruach, in spirit, that he wasn't atzev; he was b'simcha. And all three come together. All three are connected and needed to survive a matzav like the matzav Yosef went through in Mitzrayim. A mensch must have emunah. He has no bitachon, he'll be very broken in his daily life. Life could be very difficult. And tzaddikim like Yosef have it even more than regular, have more nisyonos. They have more difficulties, day-to-day difficulties. That's where the emunah and bitachon sets in. And that leads to simcha, Yisrei lev simcha, which leads to tzaddik yesod, a shmirah in inyanei kedushah taharah. Now we can go back to understanding the zehirus of Yosef to remain a karban. Yosef says, I need to remain a karban. I need to be prepared that my life should be that of a karban. It should be that of a karban mechayim. One of the pesulim, one of the mumim for this karban is to be an atzev, to not be b'simcha. The Zohar HaKadosh. In Tikunei Zohar, Chad v'esrim, as I quote, writes something very interesting. U'man d'ozil l'michmilo, the person who comes to be oyle regel, he comes to be seen by the Eibishter, oyle regel, tzarich l'natr garmei meha'tzevut. He needs to be very careful not to have any depression whatsoever. D'ihu lilis chashucha, because that's darkness. Pay attention to the word chashucha, darkness, choshech. Itzavon she'ol tachel, d'ihu mum. This is a blemish. Va'alei yitmar, and on this person who has this blemish of atzvus, it says, Kol ish asher bo mum lo yikrav. He can't come close. He can't be a korban. It's a mum. It's a blemish. Every korban, there are certain things which make it a mum in the korban. So Yosef, who wants to be a korban, he knows his life is difficult, but he needs to be shomer on many things in order for that life to be a life of korban, and that is shmira, kedusha. A korban needs to remain kadosh, but it also needs that it can't be b'atzvus. It needs to accept the matzav. It needs that the person who's going through it accepts it with simcha. If not, you pasul the korban that you are, the korban that the Ribono Shel Olam is asking of you. This becomes a mum in the korban that the person could have and make of his life. And Yosef knows this. So Yosef is strong, and Yosef never falls or falters, or is misyayesh. Memeila, he doesn't want to do the aveira. Simcha leads to the shmira of bris, which is really hand in hand, the kashrus of a korban. The kashrus, if not, it will pasul the korban. It will make the mum in the korban. When we understand Yosef and his life, now we could start understanding more Chanukah and the Chashmonaim and the nes of Chanukah in the context and through the blueprint of Yosef's life. Chazal, on the pasuk, Vayehi miketz shnasayim yamim, we all know that Yosef is in Mitzrayim, is in the Mitzrayim in the beis hasohar for two years. Vayehi, and it was, beginning of the parsha, Vayehi miketz shnasayim yamim. It was at the end of shnasayim yamim. Miketz. The word ketz. Ketz. Ketz means an end, a boundary, a stop, an end to something. Says the Medrash, very famous Medrash, Ketz sam lachoshech, that the Ribono Shel Olam made a ketz, a stop, an end to all the darkness that Yosef...

Had to go through Mitzrayim. Keitz sam lachoshech. It's interesting that Yavan and the gezeiras Yavan and the time of Chashmonaim is also defined as a time of choshech, of darkness. So Yosef's life in Mitzrayim, and at the end of the two years of sitting in the beis ha'asurim, is defined and is viewed as choshech, and Vayehi miketz, at the end of the choshech. It was a time with the choshech, and then right away Yosef was taken out min habor to ohr and geulah, to light and geulah. Choshech also an analogy to Yavan, like the pasuk says, when the Ribono Shel Olam created the world, v'ruach Elokim merachefes al פני המים, and what was on the earth? It was choshech al פני תהום. It was darkness on the foundation, on the world. Over the world there was darkness. Zu Yavan. The Medrash says this is referring to the time of Yavan, shehechshichu eineihem v'libam shel Yisrael. They brought darkness to Klal Yisrael. So it's interesting, we're starting to see a connection between Yosef and Yavan, the life of Yosef in Mitzrayim and Yavan, the gezeirah and the time of the decree of Yavan. Choshech, choshech, and here it's keitz sam lachoshech. So we're going to have to soon go into understanding the parallel, the connection between Yosef, Yosef's life, that that was also a life, a time of choshech, where the Ribono Shel Olam says keitz, there's a time where it's going to end. Yavan is also choshech, and the connection between Yosef and Yosef's life and Yosef's nisyonos is quite clear in the mefarshim. The Shlah writes, Miketz shnasayim. Shnasayim means two years. Miketz shnasayim also has an analogy for Chanukah, the mitzvah of hadlakas ner Chanukah. If you take the word shnasayim, shin, nun, taf, yud, mem, says the Shlah HaKadosh, the shin is שמאל, from the left. Ner, nun, the nun of shnasayim is ner, candle, which is the hadlakas ner Chanukah. Taf, tadli, which means you light the menorah on the left side. The yud means yamin, refers to the right side. Mem, the mezuzah. So the shnasayim actually is symbolic to the future that one day we will light menorah, which the Gemara tells us the menorah is on the left side, and the mezuzah is on the right side. So in the Vayehi miketz shnasayim yamim already, we see the future. We see the remez la'asid for the mitzvah of hadlakas ner Chanukah in the words of the Shlah HaKadosh. In actuality, it's already based in the Rishonim as well. It's not only the Shlah which comes later, but it's the Baalei HaTurim. The Baalei HaTurim. In the dream of Paroi, it says, V'hinei sheva shibolim olos b'kane echad, from one stem. Says Baal HaTurim, it's the same language as by the menorah, where it says, Shiva kanim yotzos b'kane echad. The stalk, the wheat stalk, in the dream of Paroi looked like a menorah. Says Baal HaTurim, idoch gabi hamenorah, shehasov hu ohr olam. Because just as hunger is drowned out, is taken away by wheat, so too darkness is taken away by light, the menorah. Yavan is choshech, so too alleviate the darkness, the pain, the suffering, or, the menorah, as wheat does for a rav, for a hunger. So here we have clearly in the Rishonim a remez in the dream that Yosef has to interpret, that there will be a menorah in the future. It's possible that the story of Chanukah is also merumaz in the dream, because we find.

That the dream's context was that the fat cows get eaten by the skinny cows, to the point you don't even notice the fat. They're gone, they disappear, and the skinny remains skinny. The analogy could be that of giborim b'yad chalashim, rabim b'yad me'atim, that the strong and healthy, they fall in the hands of the weak and the few, to the point that they disappear. And who remains? The weak, the me'atim, the tahorim, and you can't even tell that the healthy got swallowed up by the unhealthy, by the skinny. Could be the context of the chalom is that of the history of giborim b'yad chalashim. Now, in the mefarshim, there's a lot of talk that Yosef is Chanukah, Chanukah is Yosef. The Tur in Shulchan Aruch tells us that all the Yom Tovim are keneged avos. Pesach is keneged Avraham, Shavuos is keneged Yitzchak, Sukkos is keneged Yaakov. Megaleh Amukos says that Chanukah is keneged Yosef. It's interesting that Yosef is considered one of the avos. Yosef has a din av, the Medrash on the pasuk, Vayechi mem tes chof daled, Vateishev be'eisan kashto, the Eibishter—I'm sorry, Yaakov Avinu tells Yosef, Vateishev be'eisan kashto. Says the Medrash, Amar Reb Yochanan, Amar Yaakov Avinu, migarm l'cha Yosef shelei lidachos meha'eisonim. Eison is the elders, the forefathers. You were part of the forefathers, Yosef. You also have a din av. So just like the three am toivim are keneged the three avos, Yosef also is going to get a Yom Tov. He gets Chanukah. Chanukah is keneged Yosef. Megaleh Amukos says, if you take a look, Melech Yavan is the same gematria as Yosef, which means Yosef is the anecdote against Melech Yavan, the king of Yavan, Antiochus. It's the same gematria as Megaleh Amukos, because Yosef is an av and gets a Yom Tov. Look, Yosef gives off shevatim, so the av, Yosef, also has a Yom Tov, and that Yom Tov is Chanukah. Farshim say, if you notice, the word Yosef is mosif in the Mahadrin, in the Mahadrin, in the sugya of hadlakas ner Chanukah, we find mosif v'holech, more and more, which is a remez to Yosef, because hadlakas ner Chanukah and the Yom Tov of Chanukah is keneged Yosef. Zeishteit in Megaleh Amukos and many sefarim that came after the Megaleh Amukos. Yosef, Chanukah, and as I show you in the Baal HaTurim, that there was already a remez in the chalomos of Paroh that Yosef had to interpret, that there'll be a menorah in the future, in the future of Klal Yisrael there'll be something about a menorah. In the Beis Hamikdash, what is the connection Yosef to Chanukah? What is the connection Yosef to Chanukah? What is it in Yosef, Yosef's life, Yosef's avodah, that speaks to Chanukah and to the nes of Chanukah and to the avodah, the Chashmonaim, the time of Chanukah? It's interesting, famous Medrash. What is it that Yavan, what is the banner of Yavan? What are they trying to achieve? States the Medrash, they want Klal Yisrael. Kisvu lachem al keren ha'shor she'ein lachem chelek b'Elokei Yisrael. Right on the horn, the horn of the ox, that you don't have a chelek b'Elokei Yisrael. The first should ask, what is the keren ha'shor? What is this keren? You want to say, ein lachem chelek b'Elokei Yisrael. Fine. But why is it dafka on the keren and the keren of the shor? What is the significance of the keren ha'shor? A lot of Torah is said about this. Keren matzmiach, keren Yeshua has to do with Yeshua.

Yeshua, Tzmiach Keren Yeshua. Yosef, Yosef has to do with Mashiach. The Chasam Sofer learns the keren ashor is the baby bottle. In the times of Yavan, children were fed with a keren ashor. That was their bottle. That's how a baby was given to eat. Kisvu, write it on the keren ashor when the child is impressionable, from the cradle, as you're feeding him, poison him with the hashkafah of ein lachem chelek b'Elokei Yisrael. And this is in contrast to what Yiddishe mammes, Flaggenton, mitzeir kinder, this is what they used to do. My zeideh and baba always told us that mothers with cradle and rocked their babies, feeding them, singing them Yiddish songs, warm, melodious songs of loving Torah, becoming a ben Torah, becoming a gadol baTorah, and being an ehrliche Yid. These were the songs that a mother, through her tears, through her Tehillim, that she would say while she was feeding the baby. There was so much love and Yiddish that was infused in the baby from geburt, from when he was born, in the cradle already. The mother rocks the baby and says, Zay a ehrliche Yid. Bist a chayid. You have to learn Torah. You have to do avodah. Yavan wants— Through the pshat of the Chasam Sofer, Yavan wants to substitute those lidlach, those lullabies, with lullabies of Ein lachem chelek b'Elokei Yisrael. You don't have a part of Elokei Yisrael. I believe that that's pshat in the keren ha-shor. Why was the keren of keren ha-shor? Why was it of a shor? Yosef, we know, is the shor. That's the symbol of Yosef. Bechor shoro hadar lo. V'karnei re'em karnav. Yosef has horns. There's a keren to Yosef. And what are his horns? V'karnei re'em bohem yenagach amim yachdav. When the goyim want yachdav, when the goyim want us to unite with them and not stay separate, not to be muvdal and mukdash, come with us. Yavan wanted assimilation. Yavan wants us to be with them. Mitzrayim, Potifarah, what does she want? She wants, come, come, join together with us. Join together with me. The karnei Yosef gores and holds the distance and makes the prishus. V'karnei re'em karnav bohem yenagach amim. He gores two nations, possibly the nation of Mitzrayim in the times of Yosef, and later on, as we're soon going to learn, in the times of Yavan. The Chashmonaim took the formula and the format and the blueprint that Yosef taught and that Yosef set, how to be a nogeach amim yachdav. So the second nation is Yavan. Bechoir sheirei Hadar. Maybe Hadar is also an analogy and a remez to the Mahadrin min hamehadrin of Chanukah. Yosef's koach and Yosef's gevurah, Yosef's format and formula of how to survive in Mitzrayim becomes the playbook, so to speak, for the Chashmonaim, how to fight the Yevanim and what the Yevanim also wanted. Different galusin ask different things from us. Sometimes the galus asks us Kiddush Hashem, to die al Kiddush Hashem. The Holocaust, it was that we had to die al Kiddush Hashem. America is the chelek of Eisav where we have to live al Kiddush Hashem. We have to have mesiras nefesh for prishus, mesiras nefesh not to unite with the goy and not to dance with him together, of al tezaneh meshigasin, with all his taivos. He invites us.

Come be with us. So there's two keren hashor. There's two avodos in the keren hashor. Bekarnei re'em, there's two of them. Sometimes the keren hashor is needed mesiras nefesh mamish, and sometimes the keren hashor is to live b'mesiras nefesh. This is becher sheirei. This is the koach of Yosef. Yosef was an av. Yosef was an av that implemented this koach in Klal Yisrael to withstand the galus like Mitzrayim, and not to fall into the depression and into the yi'ush, and to live b'emunah bitachon, and to be strong. This is the karnei Yosef. Goyim always spoke how Yidden have horns. Well, they probably mean it in a negative way, but the truth is we do have horns. We have karnei Yosef. We have a yerusha from our father Yosef, who was given us karnei re'em, karnav bahem yenagach amim yachdav. We're able to gore, and we're able to, whoever comes to us and is trying to be mischaber, he's trying to connect with us, stay away. We remain free. We remain resolved. And this is the bahem yenagach amim yachdav, when they try to be mischaber. This is the Ein lachem chelek b'Elokei Yisrael. Ein lachem chelek b'Elokei Yisrael. What does Yavan want? Al keren hashor. Chelek yeder Yid is a chelek Eloka mimaal. The Eibishter, the Torah, the avodah is part of who he is from within. If you cut that away, he's a baal mum, he's a chaser, he's missing something. Du bistem tzu shnitten. You cut him up. He's not a complete person. He lacks his shleimus. Take a person and chop him in half, ken a leben? A Yid under Ribono Shel Olam is chaser, he's missing. Zayn neshama is a chelek Eloka mimaal, and if you try to take that away, it's felt the chelek of his neshama. So when the goy comes and says, You're not connected with the Eibishter. You could disassociate, and you can live a regular life. You can live like us. You can have a life. Come, the American dream, the American dream. What is the American dream? Life, liberty, pursuit, happiness, the American dream. And they're opening the door for you, and they're enticing you. This is the world that we want to invite you into, and it's so enticing. Come with me. Shichva imi. Come with me. I'm not going to kill you and push you away. I want you to join with me. Does that bring happiness? That doesn't bring happiness, because you're still missing what you really need, and that is the Ribono Shel Olam. That life won't bring you happiness. That's the pursuit of happiness. I always say, it's not happiness, it's the pursuit of happiness. But you never get there. It's always the pursuit of happiness. What makes a Yid happy when he's complete, when he's gezunt? Ein lachem chelek. You're not a part of, and therefore you could disassociate, and it will not cause you any harm, and you won't be feeling lost and depressed, a person who's missing anything. Now we understand, keitz, sam lachoshech. What darkness are we talking about? The darkness we're referring to is Yavan. Choshech is atzvus. Like the Zohar calls it, lilis chashuches, darkness, depression. Yeah, Yavan is giving you a lifestyle, the Greek, the tremendous culture. Yeah, but that's not going to make you happy. Shichchu eineihem, v'libam shel Yisrael, the heart is still unhappy. Your eyes are looking at advertisements everywhere, and it's exciting you. But l'maaseh, l'maaseh, the oygens are noch nisht zufrieden, and those same eyes are looking for arayos and other bad things because the eyes are really not happy. Hichshichu eineihem v'libam shel Yisrael, the heart is missing the chelek Eloka. The eyes are missing the kedusha that it requires, so it's not happy.

Happy, and it's searching. The heart is searching, l'sosur acharei levavchem, and the eyes are searching all the different mishagasim that are out there, and every day there's another one and another one. There's a beautiful Chiddushei Harim. The Chiddushei Harim says that we know, it's yadua, that the three carnal things that the Yevanim tried to uproot was Shabbos, Chodesh, and Milah. Shabbos, Chodesh—Chodesh is the yom tov, matzah, and Chodesh and Milah, famous. Says the Chiddushei Harim, if you notice, the osiyos rishonos, the first letters of each one of this, if you put them together, you have the os, the word sameach: shin, Shabbos; ches, Chodesh; and mem, Milah—mem, sameach—because they knew how to get the atzvus into Klal Yisroel, knowing that that will lead them to do all the other aveiros. Depression and the lack of simcha is the catalyst for all hefkeirus, all prikas ol, and that's the road that will, slippery, all the way down to Dutya Achrona, down to the bottom. So they knew how to get the Yid to be choshech. How do you take choshech? Aleph. What do you do? You take away all the Shabbos, the Chodesh, and the Milah. If you notice that all these things are b'kedushah. Shabbos is kodesh, Chodesh is like Yontif, like we explains, mekadesh Yisroel v'hazmanim, Yontif, and Milah, osos v'simchah, זו מילה. These are all things which are acts, mitzvahs, that bring a Yid simcha. And the toli b'kedusha. These are all things. And on all these days, there's a chiyuv simcha, seudah. By Shabbos there's a seudah, Yom Tov there's a seudah, and by milah we make a seudah, because that's the simcha of Klal Yisrael. What brings a Yid simcha, and what a Yid has to understand, it's the Shabbos that will make him happy. It's the Yom Tov that will make him happy. It's the bris milah that will make him happy, and not all the sales and all the different mishigasin, this Friday and that Friday, Shvartze Fridays, Medvayse Fridays, ich veis vos. All this is not going to make a person, a Yid, content. What's going to make him happy is Shabbos, Chodesh, and mi lan yovin understands this, and that's what Yovan goes out to attack. There's an interesting Bnei Yissaschar. Bnei Yissaschar says, from Reb Pinchas Karitz, brings from the heilige Reb Pinchas Karitz, zchus yagen aleinu, that there are 36 neiros, 36 neiros, 36 masechtos in Shas. The menorah is Torah. The menorah is Torah shebal peh. It's yadua that the Yevanim tried to uproot Torah shebal peh, so we have a nes in the menorah to show, no, lhashkicham Torasecha, that the Ribono Shel Olam is Shechinah shruyah bYisrael, Torah shebal peh, the light of Torah, the ohr haTorah, and therefore through the menorah and the restoration of the menorah. We come back to that Klal Yisrael is b'kedushah u'v'taharah. Yosef, as we mentioned in the beginning, Yosef learns in Mitzrayim. The pasuk says, V'Yisrael ohev es Yosef mikol banav. Yaakov Avinu loves Yosef. What does he love about Yosef? Ki ben zekunim hu lo. What is zekunim? Zekunim, says Baal HaTurim, zekunim is made up of the osiyos zayin, kuf, vav, nun, yud, mem, which is a nutrikin, nutrikin of zro'im, kodshim, nashim, and the yud is Yeshuos. Instead of nezikin, nezikin means damages. So in the Gemara it's called chosin Yeshuos, that it's actually salvations, and mo'ed. So we have zekunim: zayin, zro'im; kuf, kodshim; nun, nashim; yud, Yeshuos; and mem is mo'ed. Now why is there no taharos? Chasam Sofer speaks about it. Maybe the whole Mishnayos itself is taharos, that's tahor. Al kol panim, Yaakov Avinu gives Yosef the tools that he's going to need to live in Mitzrayim. Yaakov Avinu v'Aviv shamar es hadavar. Yaakov Avinu knew that Yosef is going to—

In his life, the koach of Torah to survive. Yosef. Yosef is in Mitzrayim, learning Torah, learning Torah. And this is the koach of Yosef in the galus of Mitzrayim. The ohr of Torah really is a simcha that brings happiness, real simcha. And I always think to myself, every Yontif is in a particular time. There's a reason why Chanukah has to be now. You know, Sukkos, we know, has to do—the Torah says it had to be in a time where it's cold, where people didn't go into the sukkah. Anyway, there's always reasons why at a certain time of the year this particular Yontif is found. Maybe at this time of the year, at this point of the year, the goyim are busy with their lights, all the different Rockefeller Center, lights and lights and colors and flashing. They're also trying to entice us, light and excitement, but it's really what—falsh. It's all fake lights, and more and the more and the more, it's still not going to bring light, true light. The little lichtele, the kleinzige lichtele, which is the ohr of Torah, that light is yoir es hachoshech. That light lights up in the darkness, and that's simcha. That brings happiness. And together, you're able to live a life of b'kedusha, which is based on emunah and bitachon. This, rabosai, the formula of Yosef is the formula that the Chashmonaim followed to withstand Galus Yavan and to fight Yavan and bring back kedushah entirely to Yisrael. The Chashmonaim, they could have fallen to tremendous yi'ush. Yavan is trying to be machshich them. Yavan is trying to be machshich them. It's trying to bring them to a matzav of atzvus, to take away from the Yid his true essence and happiness from within. And they're pushing it more and more. And the fight is that one would be meya'esh. It was giborim b'yad chalashim, rabim b'yad me'atim. It's not practical, yet they went b'emunah u'vitachon. Mi kamocha ba'eilim Hashem. They have tremendous emunah and bitachon. And this was an emunah u'vitachon with strength, which was to bring the kedushah back to the Beis Hamikdash, al yedei kohanecha hakedoshim. They were fighting for inyanei kedushah. And even the menorah, as the Pnei Yehoshua explains, could have been lit b'tumah, but they wanted that it should be lit b'kedushah u'v'taharah, al yedei kohanecha hakedoshim. Tumah hutrah b'tzibur, yes, but we need more. We're fighting for kedushah and taharah. And Yavan is trying to be metameh, and Yavan is trying to uproot the Torah, which was the thing that will bring taharah and the thing that will bring simchah and the thing that will bring kedushah. Because their underlying fight is on the inyanei kedushah, the atzvus. They're trying to destroy all that. The Chashmonaim are replaying the life of Yosef and the mesiras nefesh of Yosef, which is emunah, bitachon, for Torah, for lamed-vav neiris, for lamed-vav neiris. I always say it could be there's a nice remez: Ki ben zekunim hu, and zekunim is the shisha sidrei Mishnah and the Gemaras. Loi, lamed-vav. Ki ben zekunim hu, loi. This, the Chashmonaim are taking a cue from Yosef. So Chanukah, the nes of Chanukah, and the struggle of Chanukah is really a reenactment of Yosef and his struggle and his nisyonos. I'd like to end with a cute point. It became a classic, and everyone knows it became a household thing: Aleph, beis, gimel, emunah, bitachon, bren ke'ulah. Rav Sholom Ber Rubashkin brought us this beautiful gem, aleph, beis, gimel. Maybe Chanukah also has its acronym. There's something atbash. Atbash, that the aleph interchanges with the taf and the beis interchanges with the shin, those that are busy with gematria.

An oisiyos know the concept of Atbash, interchangeable oisiyos. Aleph, at, tav; aleph, tav. Bash, beis can interchange with the ois before it, shin. And maybe this is also a new acronym that we have to learn, which this is the symbol of Yosef, Yosef's life, Yosef's struggle, and the formula the Chashmonaim used, which brought the nes and the yeshuah of Chanukah. Atbash: emunah; tav, Torah; beis, bitachon; shin, simcha. You put Atbash together, the result is Yosef, korban mechayim, dosheis gelebt. But it's not easy to live. Sometimes it's even harder to live a Yid in a shvere golus, bitzerstarten vaYid. Atbash is the formula and the format that Yosef taught us. Emunah with Torah, bitachon with simcha equals Yosef and geulah and yeshuah of Chanukah. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.