RABBI YAKOV YOSEF SCHECHTER
וישלח פרעה ויקרא את יוסף ויריצהו מן הבור, ויגלח 41:14 ויחלף שמלתיו ויבא אל פרעה
“And Pharaoh sent and called to Yosef, and they rushed him from the pit, he shaved and changed his clothes, and he came to Pharaoh.” The Sar Hamashkim told the king of Mitzrayim, Pharaoh, that there was a Jew in prison named Yosef, who knew how to interpret dreams. Pharaoh had dreams that greatly disturbed him, and was seeking one who could interpret the meaning of his dreams. At the end of Parshas Vayeishev, the Torah tells us of Yosef being in prison, and the Torah called it בית הסהר, translated to mean “prison.” The Torah also uses the term “משמר” – translated as “ward” which the Torah seems to mean as a place in the prison.
When the Torah speaks about Yosef, it says the term בית הסהר however in 40:15 when Yosef is speaking he says, “כי גנב גנבתי מארץ העברים וגם פה לא עשיתי מאומה כי שמו אותי בבור” – “For I was kidnapped from the land of the Jews, and even here I have done nothing for them to have put me in this pit.” 41:14רש"י – מן הבור– “From the pit” means from the prison which is made as a type of hole in the ground. If the בור here refers to a prison according to Rashi, why does the Posuk here say that Pharaoh had Yosef taken out of the בור, and why does Yosef himself call the place he was in a בור, while the Torah seems to call it a בית הסהר? How is this story of Yosef, which is lained on Chanukah, connected to Chanukah?
Chanuka Mikeitz – From בור to אור
While Yosef was in prison in Mitzrayim, he saw himself in the בור that his brothers threw him into. Yosef did not understand the reason for what was happening to him, but he had full emunah that it was all being orchestrated by the One Above, and whatever would happen to him would be for his good. When Yosef speaks of where he is, he calls it a בור, and the Torah tells us that Hakodosh Boruch Hu took Yosef out of that בור he was in, and raised him to be the viceroy in Mitzrayim. The Yivanim brought חשך to Klal Yisroel, which is the same letters of שכח which means to forget. The Yivanim wanted Klal Yisroel to forget the Torah and mitzvos. Yosef was in a dark place in Mitzrayim, yet he kept the light of fire within him burning. (ברכת הרי"ח)
בור is the Gematria of אור with the kolel – Yosef was in a בור, yet all the time he kept the light of Torah going. Chanukah is a time for us to gaze at the light of the Chanukah candles, and think about what the true purpose of this world is. It is not to follow after the pleasures of the human body, as the Yivanim focus on, rather it is the pleasures of the Neshama which we must focus on. We should gaze at the lights, and seek to purify our eyes, our eyes with which we should be Zoche to see that Hakodosh Boruch Hu runs the world, and that He does countless miracles for us each and every day. May we be zoche to see the ultimate light with the coming of moshiach, במהרה בימינו אמן!
