This week we bentch Rosh Chodesh Teves. The Moled will be Monday afternoon 33 minutes and 16 Chalakim after 5. Rosh Chodesh is Tuesday and Wednesday.
The parsha begins with the words ויהי מקץ שנתיים ימים ופרעה חולם. The Midrash connects the word מקץ to a passuk in Sefer Iyov קץ שם לחושך – there is a set time for the end of darkness. What exactly is the message that Chazal wanted us to learn from this connection? In the past, we quoted the incredible words of the Bais Halevi, who derives from this comment a powerful message about סיבה ומסובב – cause and effect. Who is the cause and who is the effect in this story? Was Yosef released because of Pharaoh’s dream, or was it the opposite: Pharoh had a dream because it was time for Yosef to be released from jail? The difference between the two is the true understanding of Hashem’s hashgacha. However, today we will add another point that connects to this week’s parsha.
Rav Schwab has a beautiful peirush on Sefer Iyov. In chapter 36, Elihu says to Iyov כתר לי זער ואחוך, and in the next passuk he says אשא דעי למרחוק.
There is a big machlokes as to who exactly this mysterious wise man Elihu was. However, one thing is clear; there is very deep wisdom in his words to Iyov. Rav Schwab zt”l explains that Elihu was saying to Iyov כתר לי זער ואחור – give me some time, and I’ll make things clear to you. In a similar vein, when Elihu said to Iyov אשא דעי למרחוק he was telling him – you need to raise your knowledge from a distance, meaning to say that there are many times in life where only מרחוק – only from a distance, in the future, can you see why things that seem bad happened.
I think that Chazal’s message about קץ שם לחושך is similar to the above message. There is an exact time to the end of darkness, and for every darkness that a person has to experience, there is an incredible light at the end of the dark tunnel.
Chanukah is a time where we celebrate the victory of light over darkness. Many times, we can be in a great state of darkness, just as Yosef was in the Egyptian prison cell, and it looks like there is no light in sight. Then, suddenly, a powerful light starts to shine, as it did for the Chashmonaim during Chanukah time.
B’ezras Hashem, very soon, we will be stunned by the powerful light of redemption, bimhera beyaminue bekarov.
