Mikeitz-Chanukah - Listening to the Little Light

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with our goldwag recorded with hashem's neverending assistance in roma israel 57.82 this week's parishes parties meet gates and it's also hanukkah of course so hopefully we'll be able to share a thought related to hanukkah and meekes always falls out this parsha which is the release of yosef azadek from jail where he climbs to a great height in his ability to affect the world this is always being read as we are in the middle of hanukkah holiday so clearly when hazal set up the practice this way was to teach us something so let's see if we can garner something from the measure she teaches us in our parsha and if we can understand something as it relates to chanukah the verse tells us that that yosef as we saw in last week's parsha he was in jail he'd been in jail for 10 years at that point in time he met sarah mashka and sarah of him these two officers of paro saramashima ultimately was going to be the one who would bring him out of jail because he remembers the dreams that yosef was able to interpret so but it would take another two years and we'll see what exactly it's a machok is actually in the midrashim so we all know the classic idea that rasheed says that because he put too much faith in a human being in the sarah moshkin as a result so he was in jail for another two years so we'll see that that's the opinion of the second major but in the first madrish it seems to be at least according to the adcl safe that it was just it was just a certain amount of time that yosef had to be in jail there was a certain amount of time that he had to be under the boot so to speak of evil and that time was at the meet kate's channel the end of that time your case means the end the end of that time was after these two two extra years two more years the measure tells us that it brings a verse possible chapter 28 verse three kate saml the verse says that god brings an end there's a set the word kate's means an end it also is the lesson of uh lichtst which means to cut meaning there's a there's a very clear defined ending when it comes to evil the darkness which is representative of evil has a certain set amount of time that is given rain and the end of the verse the mars quotes god checks out he's aware of he's involved in the end of everything evan if it's almost there's a stone which we'll see the stone refers to the yetzara the evil inclination and there's darkness and there's the shadow of death that's the end of the verse so now the magis darshans try to understand what is this verse coming to teach us it's teaching us a general idea before speaking about yosef attack and his challenge and his redemption which is implicit in the entire story where he's released from jail and ultimately he helps his brothers provides for them the food that they need also helps them do chufa for the sin that they committed there's also an aspect as we know hazal tell us that komashi is everything that occurred to yosef to joseph also occur occurred to and which is jerusalem which is zion where yosef is 156 the gematria the word zeon is also 156. so the message tells us that just like when it came to yosef as we'll soon see so he was released at a certain special time a predetermined time the end of his suffering came so too when it comes to the suffering of this world the gullus the exile that we find ourselves in the darkness that we find ourselves in the troubles that we find ourselves in there is a set end no troubles are meant to last forever [Music] hashem said a certain amount of time that there's going to be darkness in the world my time cates what is the understanding of this idea that there's an end for this darkness should cause my shade sahara but um what is the darkness the darkness is the sahara the evil inclination as long as there's an evil inclination in the world i thought that's almost so there's darkness and there is the shadow of death in the world deceive as the rest of the verse says as we saw quote in the marzou evan i fell with some of this heaven the stone which is a reference to the hard heart the stony heart that we have as a result of the it's evil inclination [Music] causes darkness and death but as the first part of the verse says there's an end to this darkness what happens when the sahara is uprooted from the world which is going to happen kamara and sukho tells us about the fact that when mashiach comes when messiah arrives so it's the only place in sha's which speaks from yosef the messiah who comes from yosef azadek from ephraim besides for speaking about mashiach and yosef and what what's it going to look like at the end of days it speaks about the fact that there there's a it's a herald evil inclination that desire within us to do wrong it will be destroyed hashem is going to remove the orlah of our hearts remove that which separates us from other people that which causes us to not be loving and to not be accepting and to not be connected it's going to be removed that's the sahara the evil inclination the ego it will be destroyed and so with his destruction with the death of the tsar with the death of the ego will also be the end of darkness and the shadow of death in the world and i think this is my own understanding of it but i believe that the magister is coming to teach us perhaps a profound idea that so many times in life we have challenges there's darkness in our life sahara is with us he's the evil inclination our egos are seem to be impenetrable we can't get past it the darkness is great but the magician is saying there's always an end there's a set time that that darkness is meant to end because god wants us to succeed he wants us to be all that we can be it's only possible through subduing our yet sahara through subjugating so to speak slaughtering our evil inclination says the majestic not only is this idea there's an end to darkness true on a national level for the jewish people but it's also true on an individual level as we said and specifically for yosef hashem had already predetermined how much time yosef was going to be in the darkness but they saw surim in this jail kevin when that moment in time everyone was waiting for that moment when that moment in time so to speak everyone was waiting you know as it was waiting for that moment we as we read the story are waiting for that moment since then when that moment came kalampara when the appointed time to comes when it comes when that moment arrives it just takes a snap of a finger pyro has a dream he can't understand what the dream is about he's disturbed by the dream everyone around him is trying to interpret the dream and the sarah finally remembers after two years that young man was in the jail with me and explained my dream so the darkness has a certain amount of time a set amount of time and the gullis as we saw the the exile of the jewish people the redemption of the p of the jewish people happens in a moment right even though of course we've seen through the last 70 years or so we've seen an incredible growth of the jewish people within the land of israel in return of the jewish people to the land of israel but still there's going to be a moment in time which i believe is going to be very soon perhaps this year perhaps next year perhaps in 10 years but that moment when it comes there's a snap the case comes the end comes and boom everything flips over everything changes it switches from darkness subjugation we're dependent on the nations of the world we're dependent on on you know there's all these challenging situations that we find ourselves in people who want to destroy us everything flips over in a moment it's a heart the evil inclination is destroyed and the whole world becomes a different place the jewish people are redeemed and with them all of mankind so that's the first concept here and let's see the next the next section so in this in this first section we see that yosef it seems we don't seem to see that the reason that he spent another two years in jail was because he had done something wrong that's what we're going to see in the next section but in this section as the asios explains the there was no sin per se of yosef that caused him to be stuck in jail for two more years but rather there was a set amount of time he was supposed to be in jail for 12 years when the moment came that that time was ended when it ended he was released from jail and the call the cogs started turning to bring him out next piece in the magician this is really interesting because we're used to the concept but the measure says it in a very deep way and a very applicable way for us so the verse says it was at the end of two years brings the measures to verse in mishlai in proverbs chapter 14 verse 23 says that in all sadness there should be added we'll see what this means in a moment and the matters of the lips should be diminished what does this mean what's this sadness that should be added that we want to see more of what is the words of the lips that should be limited says something that it's very interesting he says that when a person drinks hot water versus a person drinking cold water ishmael says that there's a difference between drinking hot water and cold water and the ramifications of which are as we'll soon see that a person who drinks warm water it's a good idea to warm up the water that you drink and not drink it freezing cold when a person warms up the water so it has the effect on his bones it goes down to his core to his root and his bones as we'll see become white which is a good thing so it's not before i read the next part as i'm a fortune explain when a person does something which is challenging right it's not the easiest thing to heat up water today it's quite easy stick it in the microwave but think about things in the times 100 years ago 200 years ago before they had microwaves before they even had gas ovens in order to start a fire you had to gather some wood and to light up the fire to take out a pot balance it precariously over the fire maybe in an oven whatever it is and it's an effort to to warm up water is an effort but the magician is saying that it's worth the effort that's the shabbat called a moisture when a person does something sad what does sad mean sad means something that requires effort because i push against that i push back when it comes to something which requires effort it's easier for me to sit back and not do anything but the gain that i have from something that requires effort is very great however when it comes to matters of which are superficial they should be done less when it comes to something you know it's easy for me to check my email look at my facebook watch videos on youtube you know waste time check my email again right things that don't require effort things that we're drawn towards easily i would say by our yet sahara by our evil inclination those things should be limited the verse of assam are are it means literally matters of the lips but it means something that's superficial right the lips are the outermost part of the speech of that which we see when we speak those matters that are superficial should be done in a limited fashion there was a particular person who was gathering bones it's not clearly exactly why he was doing this but he was gathering bones shimon bar he would say that these bones were these they're black because the people who these bones were part of would drink water that was cold levon uh adu mice if you would find red bones or mary you would say elo shall she say these the bones of those who drink wine the van is if he would find white bones shall i say that these are the bones of somebody who drank warm water okay so it requires effort to warm up the water but the results are positive result they go down to the atmos of the person that's the idea when i when i do something that's a challenge when i do something which is not my first inclination not my evil inclination but my second inclination my my yitzitav that which my good inclination wants me to accomplish so that goes down into my etzem it goes down to my bones this is a muscle it's giving us this idea it goes down to the bones it makes my bones white it means that it makes my bones powerful strong the color they're supposed to be there another aspect of myself should an amazing thing yosef at sadiq you know he had this incredible challenge with potiphar's wife potiphar's wife wanted wanted him to be with her and she tried all of her wiles couldn't convince him couldn't get him and in the end he ended up in jail and even there tell us she would come down into the jail to try to get him she would still resist all of her efforts but what happened what happened in the end says the madrish is that as a result of all of his hard work it was it was tremendously difficult for him to constantly have to refuse her it wasn't just the year that he was there it was another 12 years while he was in jail she constantly was she was trying to get him and he constantly refused and what happens in the end as the verses tell us he ends up marrying the daughter of potiphar so he had an advantage because of his refusal to do something wrong because of his refusal to do something which had a tremendous pull on him a tremendous pull because i'll tell us that podi fire's wife was one of the most beautiful women that ever lived but because of his resistance and his unwillingness to sin with her as a result all of that anguish tsar pain that he went through it was paid off because he ended up marrying this woman's daughter he ended up marrying the daughter he ended up because he didn't do the avere didn't have this connection in a forbidden way he ended up having the connection in a proper way in a permitted way but it was the result of his having overcome that behold a person needs to add on and he's going to have an advantage from the sadness from the challenge from the difficulty but when it comes to the matters of the lips so it needs to be limited it causes a limitation here in the measure it's understanding because he did something with his lips he listened at this point to his eight saharas yes said hashem's not gonna save you quick say something to this guy he's the guy who's gonna save you listen to that loud voice even though he had not listened to the loud voice with the wife of pokey far for so long but he did listen to the loud voice which said say something you can get out of jail this is your ticket out and according to this madrish because he said something he said zakartani but his cartoon he said two words as a result these two years were added on and as the maforshim explained the end of last week's parsha is his request to the sarah moshkin and the fact that the sarmaskim forgot him the beginning of our parsha which mentions the two years longer that he was in jail these two concepts are connected because he said that that's why he had two more years in jail that's how the magistrate is understanding the connection between these verses an amazing thing an amazing powerful thing when we listen to our yes as we've spoken about but i want to reinforce it and and and say it again because we can't hear it enough i can't hear it enough when we listen to that powerful voice of our yate sahara it seems in the moment that we're going to get something from it seems to have some advantage from it but it's a disconnect it's a disconnect from hashem when we listen to the quiet voice the eights are type which is much harder to listen to on the surface of things but actually it's not so hard once we get used to it once we accustom ourselves to it once we reinforce within ourselves the ability to listen to the quiet voice the voice of our conscience to the degree that i listen to that quiet voice i have ultimate success it might take a long time it might take a really long time but i'm going to have that success that's what the magistrate is telling us an amazing thing a powerful thing an awesome thing the contrast between what happened when joseph listened to his quiet voice i can't i can't sin with this woman the result was amazing result positive result when he didn't listen to the the yetzer type who said quiet don't say anything more hashem's gonna save you and instead he listened to the voice which said you must save yourself the result was negative you know now i want to talk about hanukkah hanukkah one of the questions that everyone asks is that the midst of hanukkah is a very small mitzvah it's just lighting a candle right you can be out saying the hanukkah candles with one candle a single candle and that's the whole miz of hanukkah on circus we have the lulav and the asteroid we have the matzah and we have the carbon pesach purim we have the magilla we have the manus we have the pseudo matanes there's so many things to do there's just one little candle that we light and that's it what is the idea what is the idea behind this little mitzvah this small mitzvah which is so powerful and i think that what we see from this major is a hint to it because the little candle represents the the mania represents the torah the torah which is our instructions for life that hashem gives us and the menorah is an interesting representation because it's just a little light which is a candle just a little light that's the mitzvah menorah yet it represents the torah and i believe that it's this very concept which we see in the menorah of the best of the temple and in the menorah of hanukkah which we like to remember that nase that miracle and the concept is this it's really just a little light it's such a quiet quiet little mitzvah and just like with yosef you need to listen to that quiet quiet voice and just like before mashiach comes when the messiah arrives there's a destruction of that loud destructive voice of the sahara the evil inclination and all of a sudden we hear that quiet voice which has been speaking to us all along that's what google looks like that's what redemption looks like you always say for two years in in in this jail for those two years after he said something with saramashima and he was languishing there in jail it could have been so easy for him to to be like that's it it's over i had one chance nothing happened he could have told he could have listened to that voice that they saw i'm sure it was very loud but yosef as we've seen from the parties before you'll see with somebody who was eternally optimistic he always had hashem's name on his lips constantly constantly knowing that god is with him that's the quiet voice that's the little candle of chanukah that's the little candle of the menira in the best in the temple and that's the little candle of our conscience i'll refer to the fact that a fetus inside of its mother learns the entire torah with the malach there's a nerdy lake el roshi there's a little candle that's lit up on his head that little candle is the the neshama the light that little flickering light of our soul that little flickering light of our conscience the torah that we learned inside of our mother's womb it's still there speaking to us so quietly when we listen to that quiet voice can we accustom ourselves to be willing to listen to the quiet voice that is the message i believe of parshasmikates that yosef had to relearn to listen to the quiet voice to reinforce that for another two years call it a punishment we could call it a lesson that had to be learned and when he listened over and over to that quiet voice the result was amazing positive things became the person he was supposed to be the near chanukah represents this idea as well that little light that shines in the darkness there's a lot of loud voices a lot of bright lights a lot of screens that have very bright lights that draw us in and there's a little candle of the channel which is a very subtle light we need to turn off all those screens our phones our computers and just look and stare and enjoy the mitzvah of chanukah of the near hanukkah which represents the little light the little light of our conscience of spirituality of torah that that message that hashem gives us in order to live a really good life a really spiritual life really successful life and i want to bless you i ask you to bless me hashem should help us that we should be able indeed to clear out all of the lights all those bright lights all those pulls those things that pull on us in order to do things that are wrong which should help us to be able to listen to that flickering light of our conscience the light of the chanukah naira the light of goodness the light of tyra thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shabbos this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.ariegoldwag.com or search on itunes ahri goldwag [Music]