I
Reb Shmuel Minkus zt’l (renowned chassid of the Baal HaTanya zt’l) felt that he needed chizuk in avodas Hashem, so he went to the marketplace and sought someone who could take him to Liadi, where the Baal HaTanya lived. A spirits merchant told him that he was traveling in that direction, but he only had room for him to sit in the uncovered wagon next to the barrels of spirits. Reb Shmuel went with him. It was freezing in the uncovered wagon, and Reb Shmuel asked the spirits merchant for permission to drink some vodka from the barrels so that he could warm up. Permission was granted. When Reb Shmuel came to the Baal HaTanya, he said shalom aleichem and tzeischem l’shalom at the same time. He explained that he was ready to return home.
”You just came!“ the Baal HaTanya said with a smile, well accustomed to Reb Shmuel’s humor. “Why do you want to leave so quickly?“
Reb Shmuel said “I came because I needed chizuk in avodas Hashem. However, I received my inspiration on the way here. Therefore, I can go home now.“
The Baal HaTanya asked him, “What inspiration did you get?“
Reb Shmuel said, “I sat among barrels of alcohol as I traveled here, but the barrels didn’t warm me up. I became warm when I drank the alcohol. I learned from this that it isn’t sufficient to learn chassidic ideas. To become warm, I must allow these ideas to become a part of me.“
In reference to Chanukah, now is the time to think about what we acquired over Chanukah and consider how we can take those lessons, attitudes, and inspiration with us for the entire year.
II
The Sfas Emes zt’l said that Chanukah is primarily for the chalashim and beinonim (the Yidden who are at low levels). Chanukah is specifically for them.
The Chidushei HaRim said that not everyone can go to the king, certainly not prisoners. But when the king travels, it is his way to visit the prisons, and then the prisoners can shout out to the king and beg his mercy. Chanukah is like when Hashem visits those in jail to draw them out. Therefore, the Ruzhiner zt’l said that on Zos Chanukah, a simple Yid can accomplish what great tzaddikim do on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. If you need a salvation, you can get it on Chanukah, particularly on Zos Chanukah.
The dreidel turns on a tiny point. This hints that with a small kabbalah, one can turn everything around.
Chanukah and Parshas Mikeitz are connected, writes the Zera Shimshon, and he proceeds to show one such link.
The Megaleh Amukos writes (RNB Ofanim §66, 213) that during the rule of Yavan, the sin of the brothers’ selling of Yosef was reawakened. Interestingly, the word אנטיוכס has the same numerical value as יוסף, as do the words מלך יון, the king of Yavan, hinting to this idea. The Zera Shimshon will explain why this was so.
Another point that the Zera Shimshon connects between Chanukah and the story of Yosef and his brothers is the year the story of Chanukah took place. The year was the 213th year of the Second Bais Hamikdash. What this number hints to and how it connects to Yosef, the Zera Shimshon explains as follows.
The Zohar writes that the punishment for the sin of selling Yosef was the subsequent forced exile to Egypt. When the Jewish people left Egypt, they were given the commandment to keep Shabbos as a further atonement for the selling of Yosef. This is because Shabbos is the attribute of Yosef.
(The Zera Shimshon does not explain why this is. Perhaps his words are based on the Medrash (Rabbah 14:2) that says that the verse (Iyov 41:3) “Who preceded Me (Hashem) I can reward him“ refers to Yosef HaTzaddik, who preceded the commandment of the Torah and kept Shabbos before Hashem actually gave the Jewish people the mitzvah. To atone for his sale, we honor him by keeping ‘his’ mitzvah.)
So long as the Jewish people kept Shabbos, they were not exiled again. However, once they started desecrating Shabbos, they were exiled to Bavel (see Yirmiyahu 17:21). This is because the punishment for the sin of selling Yosef was exile, and keeping Shabbos saved the Jewish people from further exile. Once Shabbos was no longer kept, the Jewish people were once again sent into exile.
After the Jews returned from exile and the Bais Hamikdash was rebuilt, the sin of hatred was common amongst them until, in the 213th year, they were punished with the Greeks’ decrees until they did teshuvah. This hatred reawakened the original sin of selling Yosef, since that was its cause. (Perhaps it is considered its source, since it was the first sin of its kind. Again, keep in mind that we are discussing the Holy Shevatim.)
The word ביר, fight, has the numerical value of 212, hinting that it was the fighting that brought the decrees of the following year, 213.
The three decrees that the Greeks forced upon the Jews were not keeping Shabbos, Rosh Chodesh, and milah. These three mitzvos are also connected to Yosef. Shabbos was already explained. On Rosh Chodesh, we offer a goat as a korban. This atones for when the brothers dipped Yosef’s coat in the blood of a goat to feign his death. As for milah, this was Yosef’s mitzvah, from staying away from the wife of Potifar to having all the Egyptians circumcised.
Thus, Chanukah and the story of Yosef are deeply linked.
RABBI ELIMELECH BIDERMAN
ZERA SHIMSHON
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