One of my students in Yeshiva University was in a taxi in Eretz
Yisrael just as the war in Ukraine broke out.
The driver looked particularly upset and the young man asked him what
was wrong?
He responded: “I am from Ukraine, and I have a number of family
members who are now fighting in the Ukrainian army against Russia. And I am terribly worried about what will
happen to them.”
Only a few moments later, the weather report came on, and the forecast
called for two days in a row of sun and 80 degrees. All of a sudden, this sullen and sad taxi
driver started to smile, and he said, “But at least we’ll have some nice
weather for a few days!”
The young man was taken aback, and the driver noticed it on his
face. And he responded, “Even when
things seem very dark, we need to look for some light, we need to see the
light”.
This week we read about one of the most horrific scenes in Jewish
history: The brothers’ decision to sell Yosef into slavery.
And as Yosef is sitting in the pit, and the brothers are waiting
for buyers, they see a caravan of Yishmaelim. And the Torah goes into unusual detail about
their wares:
](כה) וַיֵּשְׁבוּ לֶאֱכָל
לֶחֶם וַיִּשְׂאוּ עֵינֵיהֶם וַיִּרְאוּ וְהִנֵּה אֹרְחַת יִשְׁמְעֵאלִים בָּאָה
מִגִּלְעָד[
וּגְמַלֵּיהֶם נֹשְׂאִים נְכֹאת וּצְרִי וָלֹט הוֹלְכִים לְהוֹרִיד מִצְרָיְמָה:
Their camels were carrying gum, balm, and ladanum to be taken to
Egypt.
And Rashi is bothered: Why
does the Torah need to tell us what they are carrying?
And he answers: To tell us
that this was something special Hashem did for Yosef. Because USUALLY these caravans would be
carrying terrible-smelling items like tar, but Hashem made a NEIS, a MIRACLE,
and instead they were carrying beautiful-smelling spices, so that on Yosef’s
journey down to Egypt would be less uncomfortable.
And while yes, this does explain why the Torah goes through all of
this detail, it leaves us with a different question:
What kind of Neis/miracle is this!?
Yosef’s whole life was just SHATTERED! He went from being the
favorite son of Yaakov Avinu, next in line to carry on the legacy of his
grandfather and great-grandfather. And
now he has been betrayed by his brothers and sold to become a slave! Who cares how it SMELLS in the caravan
on the way down!?
Rav Chaim Shmulevitz, the former Rosh Yeshiva of the Mir Yeshiva asks this question, and he offers a beautiful answer. He writes
that at that moment, when Yosef is sitting tied up in some rickety wagon,
having fallen from this tremendously high place to the lowest level one could
experience, he could so easily have given up. It would be normal for him to
feel Hashem must have REJECTED HIM!
So, what does Hashem do? He
sends him a miracle. Not a big miracle,
but a SMALL ONE, presumably one that was big enough that it seemed
strange. Strange enough to send the
message to Yosef that “I haven’t forgotten about you! Rather, I am sitting with
you now in this wagon, and we will go to Mitzrayim TOGETHER!” Just like Hashem promises Yaakov “Anochi
Ereid Imcha Mitzrayma” “I will go down to Egypt with you!” And this small miracle becomes the opening
for Yosef to hold on and not lose his faith in Hashem – nor in Himself.
And he points out that we have many other examples of “small
miracles” like these throughout our history, in particular, in the yom tov of
Chanukah.
When it comes to Chanukah the gemara in Shabbos asks, “Mai
Chanukah? Why do we celebrate
Chanukah?”
And the gemara answers by telling the story of the fact that the
Greeks contaminated the Beis HaMikdash, but then we found one last jug of oil
which was still pure and it lasted for eight days!
And it is so strange because after all, wasn’t there a much larger
miracle that took place at that time?
The miracle of the WAR, a war which, according to the natural order,
would be simply impossible for the Jews to win.
And yet we were victorious!
And if that’s true, why does the gemara focus almost singularly on
the miracle of the oil?
And answers Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz because the miracle of the small
jug of oil was small and it was even UNNECESSARY. But because it was so small and unnecessary
it reflected that Hashem was reaching out to us, offering us that extra layer
of love, asking us to come close to Him, even after a time when we felt so far
away. It was an invitation, asking us to draw ourselves close, even after such
a difficult time apart.
And so, too, says Rav Chaim, was the neis of the sweet smells for
Yosef. They weren’t NECESSARY, and in his case, certainly not ENOUGH to bring
him out of the painful moment he was experiencing. But they were an INVITATION, an outstretched
hand, reminding him that as difficult as his experience was, and even though he
couldn’t possibly understand why Hashem was allowing this to happen to him, Hashem
would not leave HIM. And if Yosef
was willing to hold onto that small glimmer of hope, he would see that Hashem
would be there for him every step of the way.
But this story is not merely a story about Hashem’s willingness to
be there for us in times of challenge, they are also the story of individuals
who have the resolve to FIND those small miracles, to HOLD ON to HOPE in times
of challenge, and to see the light even in the darkness.
We say every morning in the Birchos HaShachar: “Asher Nasan
laSechvi Bina L’havchin bein yom u’bein Layla”.
We thank Hashem for giving the SECHVI the ability to differentiate
between day and night.
And there are two explanations for the word SECHVI:
–
The
simple translation is that it means a ROOSTER.
We thank Hashem for giving us the uniquely special alarm clock that is
the rooster, allowing us to get up each morning on time to have a successful
day.
– Talmidei
Rabbeinu Yona explain that SECHVI can actually refer
to the heart, to human insight.
Rav Shimon Schwab asks Why,
then is this bracha said only in the morning and not as sunset arrives? And he explains that as day turns to night,
sometimes we feel more down, dark, less optimistic. A new day brings new optimism, an opportunity
to start again. So chazal enacted this
bracha specifically in the morning to arouse that positivity for the day ahead. It is a bracha that thanks HKBH for giving
the human being the ability to sit in the darkness and to know that even though
it may seem far away, the morning will come once again.
And the truth is, whether he already had this ability early on,
whether he learned it from those sweet smells on his way to Egypt, or later on,
Yosef eventually becomes the greatest symbol of being a person who can see the
sliver of hope in despair, to see the light in the darkness.
No matter how many times he is thrown down, he gets back up, and
all along he stays true to himself.
It doesn’t mean that Yosef didn’t suffer and that his experience
wasn’t painful, but Yosef was a person of incredible resolve. A person who decided to see the light that
could possibly come in the future, even when things seemed so dark.
The story of Yosef and the story of Chanukah, two stories that
coincide on the calendar each and every year, are the story of the RESOLVE each
and every one of us can find inside ourselves, and the RESOLVE that our people
have shown the world since the dawn of our history. A people so true to ourselves and strong in
our convictions, that no darkness can overwhelm us, and no challenge will ever
overtake us.