Dear Friends;
I hope that you’ll enjoy the following Parasha summary followed by a Dvar Torah on the festival of Chanukah;
” Parsha in a Nutshell ”
Joseph’s imprisonment finally ends when Pharaoh dreams of seven fat cows that are swallowed up by seven lean cows, and of seven fat ears of grain swallowed by seven lean ears. Joseph interprets the dreams to mean that seven years of plenty will be followed by seven years of hunger, and advises Pharaoh to store grain during the plentiful years. Pharaoh appoints Joseph governor of Egypt. Joseph marries Asenath, daughter of Potiphar, and they have two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
Famine spreads throughout the region, and food can be obtained only in Egypt. Ten of Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt to purchase grain; the youngest, Benjamin, stays home, for Jacob fears for his safety. Joseph recognizes his brothers, but they do not recognize him; he accuses them of being spies, insists that they bring Benjamin to prove that they are who they say they are, and imprisons Shimon as a hostage. Later, they discover that the money they paid for their provisions has been mysteriously returned to them.
Jacob agrees to send Benjamin only after Judah takes personal and eternal responsibility for him. This time Joseph receives them kindly, releases Shimon, and invites them to an eventful dinner at his home. But then he plants his silver goblet, pretending to have magical powers, in Benjamin’s sack. When the brothers set out for home the next morning they are pursued, searched, and arrested when the goblet is found in Benjamin’s sack. Joseph offers to set them free and to keep only Benjamin as his slave.
” Chanukah, the Festival of hope! ”
The story of Chanukah took place over 2000 years ago in the 2nd century BCE, during the time of the Second Holy Temple. The Syrian-Greek empire lead by Antiochus, who was the mightiest nation of the time, took over the land of Israel, including the Temple in Jerusalem. Unlike the Nazi regime who sought to get rid of the Jewish people altogether, the Greeks sought to destroy the Jewish religion. Their aim was to pull Jews away from Judaism, with the hopes of assimilating them into Greek culture. Antiochus outlawed Jewish observance ― including circumcision, Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh and Torah study ― under penalty of death. Unfortunately, many Jews ― called Hellenists ― began to assimilate into Greek culture, taking on Greek names and marrying non-Jews. This began to decay the foundation of Jewish life and practice.
Once, a group of Greek government officials approached a group of Jewish Priests (Kohens) led by Matityahu to sacrifice a pig to the Greek gods. Matityahu not only refused to do so, but slew with his own hand the Jew who had stepped forward to do so. He also assassinated the Greek government official, who was forcing him to sacrifice. Then, Matityahu along with a few courageous Jews took to the hills of Jerusalem and started an uprising against this threat to Jewish life. Him, and later on his son, Judah the Maccabee, who had little experience in battlefield, started a guerrilla warfare against the Syrian-Greek army.
Antiochus sent thousands of well-armed troops to crush the rebellions, but after three years, the Maccabees defeated the Greek army by incredible odds and miraculously succeeded in driving away the foreigners from Jerusalem and their Holy Temple.
Once the Jewish fighters entered the Holy Temple, they found it to be desecrated with idols. The Maccabees cleansed the Temple and decided to re-light the Menorah. They searched the entire Temple, but found only one jar of pure olive oil that could only burn for a day. The group of believers lit the Menorah anyway and were rewarded with a miracle: That small jar of oil burned for eight days, until a new supply of oil could be brought.
But you may ask yourself, isn’t the victory over the Greeks, the mightiest nation of the time, by a small group of Priests, a bigger miracle than the oil lasting for eight days? Why don’t we make a parade or a feast to celebrate a major victory over the world’s greatest army? In Purim, we celebrate the victory over “Haman Harasha” who wanted to destroy all of the Jews, so why can’t we do it now?! Why is the main commemoration in Chanukah over a little oil and why is it symbolized only by Menorah and lights?
The answer is quite simple, my friends. At the time of Chanukah, the Jews almost lost everything they had. Jerusalem was taken away from them; the Greeks took over the Temple and brought many idols inside and all the holy services were stopped. But, at this very time when many people thought that it’s the end of Judaism, a small group of Kohanim never lost hope. They stood up and fought. And because they had faith in G-d, Hashem made a big miracle happen for them and they defeated the Greek army and they took possession of Beith Hamikdash once again. And then, another miracle happened; the oil enough to burn for one day, lasted for eight days. All of these miracles happened because a small group of Kohanim never lost hope! “Light” is a symbol of hope. When we say that there is light at the end of the tunnel, it means that there is “hope” for a better future. That’s why we celebrate Chanukah with lights, since all these miracles happened because a small group of people never lost “hope”!
Yes my friends, Chanukah is a festival of hope! Chanukah reminds us that even at the darkest point in our lives, when everything seems to be going wrong, Hashem never abandons us, as long as we never give up hope! Hashem will perform miracles for us, as long as we have faith in him! The halacha says that when we light the Chanukah candles, we should not benefit from them whatsoever and they are there for observation purposes only. But, what are we suppose to see? Just the flames? The answer is, no. We are suppose to see the light and be inspired by it! We should see the light in order to give us hope for a brighter future! We should see the light and remember that miracles can and do happen! And that’s what Chanukah is all about!
So my friends, never give up hope and always believe in miracles. Life is not a fairy tale. But who said that miracles can only happen in fairy tales, anyway?!
Shabath Shalom, Chanukah Sameach and Regards;
Martin