The sar ha'ofim, Pharaoh's chief baker, told Yosef (40:15-16) that in his dream, he was carrying baskets of bread on his head, and birds were eating from the basket. Yosef told him that he would be hung and birds would eat his flesh. And that is what occurred (see 40:22).
How did Yosef know that this was the interpretation of the dream?
The Chida (Pnei David, Vayeishev) answers with a mashal: An artist painted a true-to-life picture of a man carrying a basket filled with fruits. Birds were pecking at the canvas because they thought the fruit was real. People said, “The painting is so true-to-life, it even fools the birds.” A wise person disagreed. He said, "If the painting were true-to-life, the birds wouldn't come. They would be afraid of the man holding the basket. But birds come, so I'd call it 'a dead painting.'"
The Chida explains that the sar ha'ofim dreamt that he was carrying a basket on his head, and yet birds came and ate the bread. Yosef said, “If the birds aren't afraid of the man holding the basket, this proves he’s dead.” That's how Yosef knew the fate of the sar Ha'ofim.
We'll take this lesson a step further: In the dream, the sar ha'ofim, carrying the loaves of bread on his head, was alive, yet we see that one can be alive and be considered dead. The same can be said about someone who keeps the mitzvos without joy. He is alive, and his heart is pumping, but a major part of his being is dead. That isn't the way to perform the mitzvos. We should keep the mitzvos with hislahavus and with joy. On Chanukah, we should perform the mitzvos joyously, and it should be noticeable to all that we are alive.
The Gemara (Taanis 28) states, “The Yevanim forbade Yidden from donating wood for the mizbeiach and bringing Bikurim to Yerushalayim.” Why did they specifically target these two mitzvos? The Maharsha explains that these mitzvos were performed with joy and celebration (as the Mishnah Bikurim states, "the flute played before them..."). The Yevanim didn’t want the Jewish people to be happy.
The Bach (670) quotes a Chazal, which states that the Jewish nation was lax with the Avodah in the Beis HaMikdash. Therefore, the Yevanim forbade them from bringing the korban tamid. The Shem m'Shmuel (680) explains that the problem wasn't that they didn't bring the korbanos. Before the Yevanim's decree, they brought every korban, but they did so without joy, and therefore it was taken away from them.
The Skulener Rebbe (Rebbe Eliezer Zusia) zt'l would say that at the beginning of the year, on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Succos, we build a beautiful (spiritual) edifice, which is the source for bounty and blessings for the new year. Yet, everyone understands that the building isn't finished without electricity. Something essential is missing from that structure. Similarly, the new year without light isn't complete. Chanukah adds the light. Now, the new year is complete. The light is the joy of Yiddishkeit, the happiness we experience when we perform the mitzvos.
