Part I. The Impressive Culture
The Greek Villains
When we speak about the story of Chanukah, we are under the impression that the Yevanim, the Syrian-Greeks, are the villains of the Chanukah story. That’s what we’ve been saying every day in our tefillos, that הָﬠָׁ ̆¿רָה ןָוָי ּ̇כו¿לַמ הָ„¿מָﬠ ל≈‡ָר ̆ƒי ָך¿ּמַﬠ לַﬠ. And to a great degree it’s true. The Yevanim slaughtered many Jews. A mother who was caught with a son that had a bris, so the baby was tied around her neck, and she was led through the streets of the city in a humiliating show. And then she was taken up to a high building and thrown from the roof. When Jews concealed themselves because they wanted to observe Shabbos, it was a capital offense to keep Shabbos, so they went into hiding outside the city for the day, and when they caught these shomrei Shabbos, they burned them alive in fire. They smoked Jewish families out of the caves where they were hiding and killed the men, women and children. Sometimes they burned them alive. And so, absolutely, the Syrian-Greeks were wicked.
But actually, it’s not so simple because we know that in general, the Yevanim did not seek to impose their ideology on the provinces that they conquered. They weren’t particularly interested in interfering in the internal affairs of those nations. What they wanted was money, and as long as the conquered territories paid their taxes and tributes loyally, they were permitted to do as they wished.
And so, before the Chanukah story, Antiochus, the king of Syria, was quite satisfied with the situation in Eretz Yisroel. He had plenty of his own business to worry about, and the land of Judea was already one of his provinces; it was already conquered, and they gave him tribute.
The Jewish Villains
So what went wrong? It was the Jews who went wrong. In those days, a group arose within our people who began to follow in the ways of the Greeks. It began with a small group of tax collectors, the muchsim, who came into contact with the Greeks for whom they were collecting the taxes. It was a few families and their friends and associates who began to see ‘beauty’ and ‘progress’ in Greek culture, and they began to follow in their ways. They wanted to ‘modernize’ the Jewish people, to make them adjust to the advancements that were taking place in the world around them.
And therefore, this small group of Jewish quislings, of fifth columnists and reformers, they came up with a plan. They contacted the wicked Antiochus and they proposed to him that there's a lot of wealth to be had from the sanctuary in Yerushalayim. And it was true. There was a lot of money put away there because people died and left over money, and it was deposited with the beis din there. In those days there were no banks, and so legacies were deposited in the Beis Hamikdash coffers as trusts. Besides, there was a lot of money from the machatzis hashekel donations for the Beis Hamikdash.
And so these bootlickers of the Greeks, the Misyavnim, they told Antiochus that it could all be his if he would step in and take over. But in order to do that, he would have to get the permission of the Jews, and he'd never get it unless he would first take over and transform the Jewish people into loyal adherents of Hellenistic attitudes.
Convincing an Antisemite
Now, the Greeks of course didn’t need too much convincing. After all, they considered themselves part of a great, universal, superior culture. And here was a provincial country, an oriental country—they considered them barbarians—and they were being urged by some of the more progressive elements of that people to come and take over and civilize them; they should come in and force them to give up their barbaric customs. And in the process, Antiochus would gain what he really wanted—a great wealth from the sanctuary.
And that’s the story. I’m telescoping it, but that’s basically it. It was a tempting proposition for Antiochus, and he accepted it. And now, at the urging of these reformer Jews—they brought him huge bribes, gifts—he began a campaign to force the people in Eretz Yisroel to forsake the Torah; to use force on the Jewish people to stamp out all practices of Torah and to make them one nation with the Greeks.
And therefore, when you read in the siddur that “the kingdom of the Greeks” arose against the Jewish people, it’s only because the Chachomim wanted to be solicitous with our kavod, so they let it seem as if it was the fault of the goyim only. But who really were the zeidim who fell into the hands of oskei sorasecha? Jews! Who really were the reshaim who fell into the hands of the tzaddikim? Jews! Our enemies were Jews! Jews who had lost sight of the truth that they are the choicest of mankind, the exalted people, and instead began to cringe before the outside world.
The Perpetual Test
You have to know that this problem—when Jews are inferiority complexed; when they are lacking in self-confidence and are persuaded to get with the times, to flatter the gentiles and imitate them—has been one of the great tests in our history.
We’ve been a small group that has wandered among great nations and the test is always: Will you have enough pride? Will you understand your true greatness enough that you’ll disdain the ways of the nations around you? It doesn’t mean you despise anybody; you should never show contempt to anybody. But there is no question in your heart you should feel that all of the greatness, all of the excellence, all of the best ways of living are by us and not anywhere else.
You’re being tested always: Will you fall prey to the feeling of inferiority and look up to the nations instead of looking down on them? And that’s the nisayon that the villains of the Chanukah story, the Misyavnim, failed.
Now, before we proceed, we have to remind ourselves of a certain incident that happened way back in our history. And because ןֹוּיƒˆ¿ל עַיר≈‡ ף≈סֹיו¿ל עַיר≈‡∆ׁ ̆ הָמ לָּכ – whatever happened to Yosef will happen to us, it will help bring into focus our subject.
Yosef’s Test
Everybody knows that Yosef Hatzaddik was tested. What were the great tests in his life? Well, immediately it occurs to us the test of the wife of Potiphar. He was sold as a slave to Potiphar and Yosef was a beautiful boy. He was only seventeen years old, and the wife of Potiphar put her eyes on him and she began to tempt him. In various ways, every day, she tried and tried.
But Yosef remembered where he came from. יוƒבָ‡ ל∆ׁ ̆ ֹנו¿ ֹ̃יו¿ּ„ ּ̇מו¿ּ„ ֹלו ̇י≈‡¿רƒּנ – “I’m a son of Yaakov, a Yisroel,” he was thinking. It means “I’m an aristocrat and I can’t demean myself with such foolishness, such empty temptations. I won’t forget my father’s house.” And so he remained loyal to Hashem.
The Bigger Test
So this we understand is certainly a very important episode and Yosef deserves a great recognition for his virtue. But I'm going to tell you what I think is even a greater test that Yosef passed, a much more difficult test. It was in the palace, when he was standing in front of Pharaoh who took off his ring, his royal ring that gave him authority, and he put it on Yosef's finger. Pharaoh took a golden chain off of his neck and hung it on Yosef's neck. And he took a royal coat, a royal garment and put it on Yosef's shoulders. As he rode through the streets in his chariot, runners ran ahead on foot and said, “¿ך≈ר¿בַ‡ – bend your knee! The ruler is coming!”
Now he’s a real Mitzri. He’ll speak the language. At that moment what could happen to Yosef? He could have forgotten all about his father's house where his brothers had mistreated him so much and sold him into slavery and he could have said, “This place is a good place. I’ve been vindicated.”I am now an Egyptian.
The truth is that if prison wasn’t the end of Yosef, this surely should have knocked him out of our history. He should have been lost forever. Because it should have gone to his head and he should have fallen in love with Mitzrayim. I don’t know if any one of us would have been omeid b’nisayon. We would love Mitzrayim! We would become so involved in it that we’d forget all about our past. Who cares about Eretz Canaan, about his brothers and even his father. They were just a nomadic tribe, simple shepherds, and now he was occupied with an advanced society. He should have forgotten all about them and become a patriotic Egyptian.
You know what a test that is?! If the king of England—today he’s a nobody, but even the king of England today, if he would call you in and take the ring off his finger and put it on your finger, I’m very much afraid what would happen to you. The tzitzis you’ll hide inside of your pants from now on, that’s for sure.
The Name Reminder
But no. Yosef kept his head and he realized that it's all nothing. He's a son of his father. “I’m a different person than they are.”
He realized that it was all a setup, a test. That’s why he called one of his sons Menashe. יƒלָמֲﬠ לָּכ ̇∆‡ יםƒ ֹ̃ל¡‡ יƒנַַּׁ̆נ יƒּכ – Hashem made me forget all of my troubles, יƒבָ‡ ̇י≈ּב לָּכ ̇≈‡¿ו – and my father’s family (Bereishis 41:51). Now we think it’s merely a hodaya, a name of thanks. No. The plain pshat is maybe that he’d forget all the trouble he had from his family. But there’s something else. Yosef said, “Hashem is making me forget. But it’s a nisayon. All this—a modern civilized nation, and power and wealth—is all a test that I should forget that I’m a son of Yaakov Avinu! I might think this is my place from now on.
“Oh, no. I won’t do that. I won’t forget anything.” Every time he called his son’s name, “Menashe, could you bring me my shoes? Menashe, thank you,” so Yosef was reminding himself. That’s how Yosef passed the test. Because he should have fallen in love with Egypt. He should have kissed the earth of Egypt. But he remembered always who he was, even in the moment of the greatest pressure of temptation to look up at the Egyptians.
Loving Germany
You know, the Jews in Germany, they kissed the earth. In Germany there was education. There were rights, they were law-abiding! You couldn’t do anything against the law in Germany—no violence in Germany. It was a wonderful country, scientific, every kind of progress. And clean! The streets were perfectly clean—you couldn’t throw a piece of paper. In America, you throw paper in the streets. You couldn’t do that in Germany.
Germany was a model country and the Jews in Germany fell in love. They gave their hearts to Germany. Their neshamas, their souls were in Germany. I remember a story; it was in a little town in Lithuania, near the German border. It was on December 25th, and a German couple had run away to save their lives, and now these refugees were sitting in this house where I was, and they were listening to the German radio, to the song ‘Silent Night’. That’s one of the famous Kratzmach songs – Silent Night. And this German couple, they were shedding tears. I was there. Water was coming out of their eyes. They were so homesick – ah, the good old days in Germany. Ah, the beautiful Christmas carols. Ay, they were so sorry they had to leave their beloved fatherland. They kissed the earth of Germany so much that they were crying over its Christmas carols.
No, Yosef didn’t kiss any earth. He didn't think Mitzrayim was his fatherland. You know why? Because he remembered who his father was and who he was. “I’m a son of Yisroel and therefore there’s nothing outside that I’ll be attracted to.” His tremendous store of pride, pride in being a ben Yisroel was enough to strengthen him in this test.
Part II. Impressed By The Culture
Where’s Yosseleh?
Now, Yosef, you have to know, didn’t pass this test only for his own sake; because that’s how he led the Bnei Yisroel. Remember, in Mitzrayim Yosef was a king! Pharaoh said that םƒיָר¿ˆƒמ ı∆ר∆‡ לָכ¿ּב ֹלו¿‚ַר ̇∆‡¿ו ֹו„ָי ̇∆‡ ׁ̆יƒ‡ יםƒרָי ‡ֹלָיך∆„ָﬠ¿לƒּב – nobody could lift up a hand or a foot in this country without his permission (ibid. 41:44). It means that when the family came down to Mitzrayim they didn’t find Yosseleh, a little brother. No; they found a Yosef hamelech, someone who had to be listened to.
As was mentioned here recently, Yosef had more power even than Moshe Rabbeinu. You remember how people spoke against Moshe Rabbeinu; there were those who complained against him and argued with him. But not against Yosef. No, nobody opened their mouths against Yosef.
And Moshe Rabbeinu was only the leader of the Am Yisrael for forty years; Yosef, he was in charge for eighty years. And what was the purpose? It was so that there should be an iron fisted ruler over the Bnei Yisroel to prevent them from falling in love with their environment. Egypt after all was then a very civilized land. And the bnei Yaakov were shepherds; a small family coming from the pastoral society into an advanced civilization. Now, a little handful of Jewish shepherds coming into a wealthy, affluent civilization like Egypt, as needy visitors, and to remain loyal to their ideals, that’s not an easy task. All around you is a big empire with huge cities, luxurious culture; it’s impossible. The truth is it should have been impossible. We know the end of the story already so we’re not surprised but it shouldn’t have happened. They should be swallowed up by the ways of Mitzrayim.
The Goldeneh Medinah
What happened when the Jews came to America from the small towns in Poland and Lithuania, the shtetlach? They looked up to America. Big cities! Lights! A better way of living! And they right away began to imitate their hosts. Once when I was in Slabodka a Jew came back from a visit to America, and he told me b’hispaylos how he was in America in the subway. He got lost in the subway. He didn’t know where to go. A policeman came over and said, “What’s the matter?” He couldn’t talk to the policeman; he didn’t know English. So the policeman went away and brought a Jewish policeman. And the Jewish policeman took him and helped him out.
So this old Jew was telling me this story, and he said, “America – ooh! What a wonderful country it is! What a great thing!” There was a sparkle in his eyes. In Europe, they used to spit on the Jews, once upon a time. They came to America, nobody spat on you – not much anyhow. And so they were swept off their feet.
Surviving Mitzrayim
So how did they not weaken in Mitzrayim? How does a small family like that survive? There’s only one way. You have to know what it means self pride. You have to have a strong leader of the family who puts his foot down and says “We’re too good for that! We’re not here to change! We’re not going to forget where we come from, who we are.”
That’s why even after Yosef passed away, that lesson was not forgotten. Yes, there were cases of weakening but his lesson was not lost; eighty years of training was not lost. They were two hundred and ten years in Egypt! Two hundred and ten years! Imagine a Jewish family came to America two hundred and ten years ago. What is that? 1762. Before even the Declaration of Independence. Suppose in 1762 a family came here and to this day they were frum loyal Jews. That would be an achievement! The truth is of the families who came here in 1762, nothing remains of them at all. The only frum Spanish and Portuguese Jews you have today are those who came much later. They came from other places, the West Indies, South America. The old-time Spanish and Portuguese Jews are no longer Jews.
It’s All in the Name
But under Yosef they remained Jews. Not only did they remain Jews but they remained proud. If you take a look at the lists of names; and we have big lists of names of people who came out of Egypt, you see they're all pure Hebrew names.
Do you remember how it was in America? No, you don’t remember. When they came to America at first, everybody hurried to name their children good English names. He called himself Morris. M-O-R-R-I-S. A big kovod; Morris. Moshe? Who called themselves Moshe? It was a shame. I’m Morris! And then came the next generation of Maurice – M-A-U-R-I-C-E. Then the next generation – Murray. The next generation got lost entirely! Scott. Lost among the goyim! Scott!
But in Mitzrayim only Jewish names. And not just stereotype names after an old bubbah or great aunt. They're original names; heroic, proud names! Shelumiel ben Tzurishadai. Ah! That's a name! It’s a prayer and it's a song: ‘My peace is the Almighty’ the son of ‘My rock is the Almighty’. Amram, Moshe's father. Amram means ‘the nation of the exalted One’. And Yocheved, his mother's name, ‘the Almighty is my glory’. They invented the names from their own heads as an expression of nobility, of patriotism, of pride. It was a declaration of confidence in the greatness of their nation.
And it means that lashon kodesh was the language they spoke. That's what our Sages teach us, םָמ¿ׁ ̆ ̇∆‡ּוּינƒׁ ̆ ‡ֹּל∆ׁ ̆ – they didn't change their names, ‡ֹּל∆ׁ ̆םָנֹוׁ ̆¿ל ̇∆‡ּוּינƒׁ ̆ – and they didn't change their language. There’s a tradition too that they wore the same Jewish garments. I cannot prove it from the verses themselves but there's a tradition that ם∆יה≈„¿‚ƒּב ̇∆‡ּוּינƒׁ ̆ ‡ֹל. But this we know for certain that their language and their names were the same. And so you want to know who our forefathers were? Consider the idealism of that family! In those days of Yosef and afterwards they weren’t interested in the least bit of being like the Egyptians.
The Misyavnim Take Over
But הוָי¿ ̇ƒּ ַ̇מ י≈ימƒּב we didn’t have a Yosef. We had tzaddikim and chachomim, yes, but the wicked Jews had taken the reigns of power. There developed now a class of Jews who looked down at themselves and looked up at the gentiles they came in contact with. They were only a small minority, but still it was a strong and powerful minority and because of their connections to the Greeks, they were the ones that had the say over the government. They became whom we now call the Misyavnim, Hellenizers—it means people who have Greek ideas.
What does it mean ‘Greek ideas’? Many things. They made public gymnasiums where people used to wrestle and do other exercises, sports. Now, the Jewish people have nothing against exercise. If it's done for exercise, then you don't need me to tell you that—if it's not too strenuous, exercise is very good. I recommend, the best thing would be if you went outside for forty-five minutes, take a brisk walk. Not in the nighttime and not on lonely streets, but a brisk walk in the fresh air, that's the best sport and the best exercise. And while you're doing that, you can be thinking all the good thoughts of how happy you are in this world, how fortunate you are to be a Yisroel. Whereas if you're playing sports, running, banging around a ball or doing some other things, that keeps your mind busy on small things. The time is entirely wasted.
And so exercise is good for your body but for the Greeks it was something else. They built gymnasiums in Yerushalayim. Now a gymnasium in Jerusalem sounds like something that's harmless but you have to know what the word gym means. Gymnos in Ancient Greek means naked and ‘gymnasium’ means ‘a place of nakedness.’ They used to exercise naked in order to display their bodies.
Now, to the Jewish people this is a to’eivah. Among us it’s an abomination, but among the Greeks it was considered a beautiful thing to expose the body, to glorify the physicality of the human body. Of course, it was more than that. Don't think these things were innocent. All kinds of wickedness were associated with exposing the body.
