As Darkness Rises Again, Chanukah Reminds Us Why Jewish Light Always Prevails

[music] History advances through concealment. When the world darkens, we must know the inner light is gathering strength. After a lifetime of struggle, Yakov seeks calm, vayv, and he settled. Yakov [music] wanted Yeshua, tranquility, but instead the great storm of Yoseph was about to break upon him. But Yseph's descent into Egypt was in fact the hidden beginning of redemption. The brothers couldn't see it, but Hashem was already weaving the future. And so too in our days, the world seems similarly unsettled. Large cultural shifts are taking place. Growing segments of society are adopting narratives that are at times deeply unsympathetic to the Jewish people. We see a rise in public hostility, in demonstrations, and in attitudes that echo ancient resentments in modern form. History has shown that when society absorbs strong ideological currents hostile to Jews, and even when they come from only a part of a larger community, the atmosphere for Jews becomes more challenging. The Torah teaches us not to fear that darkness, but to see within it the outline of a larger plan. For Yseph, Egypt, the most threatening place, becomes the very place of his ascendants.