Pharaoh said (41:41) ארץ כל על אתך נתתי ראה מצרים, "See that I have appointed you over the entire land of Mitzrayim." Pharaoh wanted Yosef to think he had appointed and raised him to this high rank.
Yosef, on the other hand, told his brothers (45:8) ארץ בכל ומשל ביתו לכל ולאדון לפרעה לאב וישימני מצרים, "Hashem made me a father to Pharaoh, a lord over his household, and a ruler over the entire land of Mitzrayim." Yosef recognized that his honor and power came from Hashem, not Pharaoh.
On Chanukah, the custom is to play with a dreidel. When one spins the dreidel, there is nothing that he can do to get the dreidel to fall on the winning letter. Even if he is the best spinner in the world and spins the dreidel with all his might, he still cannot predict or influence the outcome. Similarly, one works for a living and makes hishtadlus, but the outcome remains in Hashem's hands.
Another interesting observation is that a dreidel spins on a tiny point. This hints that even with a small kabbalah, everything can turn around.
Similarly, when Yosef left jail, Yosef knew that Hashem had freed him from prison, and Pharaoh had no say in the matter. We will prove this from two sources:
- It states (41:14), הבור מן ויריצהו, "They rushed [Yosef] from the dungeon." The Rebbe of Ostrova zt'l (Toldos Adam, Chanukah, 7th night) writes: "Let's think about this. Yosef was in prison for so long, unable to see the sun's light for years. There were no breaks or off days. After twelve years, there finally seemed to be hope. He could speak to Pharoah and plead for his case! Why did they need to rush Yosef out of the dungeon? We would assume that Yosef would run with all his might to speak to Pharaoh and plead for his life. But it states, הבור מן ויריצהו, Pharaoh's messengers rushed Yosef out of prison. This is because Yosef HaTzaddik believed and understood that everything is from Hashem. His freedom from prison was from Hashem. It wouldn’t happen a moment earlier or later than was planned Above. So, why rush for no reason?"
- When Yosef stood before Pharaoh to decipher his dream, we would assume that Yosef would plead his case and say, "I was imprisoned for no reason... Please free me from jail..." But he didn't speak about his imprisonment because he knew that only Hashem, not Pharaoh, could save him from jail.
Yaakov sent his children down to Mitzrayim with a gift for the ruler of Mitzrayim. (43:11) והורידו בכליכם הארץ מזמרת קחו ושקדים בטנים ולט נכאת דבש ומעט צרי מעט מנחה לאיש
“Take in your baskets from the land’s harvest and bring a present to the man. A drop of balsam, a bit of honey, wax, almonds," etc. Notice that Yaakov sent “a drop of balsam, a bit of honey.” Shouldn’t he have sent a more significant gift to the mighty ruler of Egypt?
The answer is that Yaakov Avinu knew that, ultimately, only Hashem could help. He needed to do hishtadlus, but he knew that minimal hishtadlus was sufficient.
Yosef told his brothers that if they bring their younger brother Binyamin (42:34) ואת תסחרו הארץ, "You may travel around the land." Rashi explains that תסחרו means to "go around." And Rashi explains that businesspeople are called סוחרים because "they go around looking for merchandise." Why aren't businessmen named for their profession, which is to buy and sell? Why are they called for their journeys from one place to another?
This is because mainly what businessmen do is that they travel from here to there. The parnassah that they make comes from Hashem.
People say, "Money doesn't fall from heaven." Reb Bunim of Peshischa zt'l proved that this isn't true. Hashem can send money down from heaven.
Rebbe Bunim proved this from this week's parashah when the overseer of Yosef's house told the brothers (43:23) נתן אבותיכם ואלקי אלקיכם באמתחתיכם מטמון לכם, "Your G-d and the G-d of your fathers gave you a treasure in your sacks." The brothers were perplexed about how the money they thought they gave Yosef ended up in their bags. בית על אשר האיש יוסף, the overseer of Yosef's home, whom Chazal say was Menasheh, told them that they don't have to worry about that. Hashem put the money there. So, we see that money can indeed fall from heaven.
