Chanukah and the Sale of Yosef - The Illuminating Insight of the Shelah Hakadosh

this torah class is brought to you by torahanytime.com okay uh good morning everyone brooke mabum shalom alaikum to the agar de pirka of kew garden hills new york thank you everyone for joining this morning we have a fantastic shire for uh parashat's vaishev and the chanukah habba aleno letova so i want to welcome everybody on the zoom as well as on the uh telephone um and i thank rabbi moskowitz who is kind enough to post on the chat section of the zoom um there are two new sarum that are available um one of her art scroll on chanukah and the other one on the holi tana ramir balhanes and they're available for order the hebrew safer has free delivery and ravi moskowitz uh was kind enough to post the link to the new website rabbi dg.com where you could get all the information about the safarim and upcoming events and uh want to remind everyone the shurim are available on taranitime.com and are now available on podcast okay so with that excuse me for those people who are on the call i will be sending you an email with the link since you don't see the chat from uh zoom yeah thank you very much roy mascot okay um so let's begin very often parshas vaishev is the parsha which is read immediately preceding the yamtif of hanukkah and this year the way the calendar comes out partial is the parasha that we read on the amtif of chanaka so certainly parasha sayeshev will tell us a lot about the umpif of chanukah as it's the introduction as well as this year the parasha of shabbos chanaka so let's begin with a very interesting question that has been discussed by many authorities namely why is there no message dedicated to the amtif of chanukah chanukah is a um one of the longest human typhum of the year if not the longest i mean it rivals such as inaudible it is as long as the longest yamtif of the year and purim which is only one day has 30 blood in massachusetts so naturally we would expect that there would be a massachusetts at least 240 blot and lo and behold musa chanukah does not have 240 blot because masakanaka does not exist why in fact is there no masekta in chanaka all you have is a few blood and gemara you have halachus and the reshainim but it's not mentioned in the um now there are six references to chanukah in the mishnah i remember when i was in seventh grade the rebbe would give like uh special credit questions and one of the questions was where is hanukkah mentioned in the mishnah so we have here from the uh the seifer kamoitse shalom one mention is bikurim it says from sukhis until hanukkah you bring bikurim and your koire the parasha of bikurim by the way part of the mitzvah of mikrobikuram as we say the passage hashem that is one of the reasons why miss marshall david is the mismar of chanaka because the in the mishnah we bring the kurim and we say the parish of microbiome and then we have regarding kids during different months of the year we send out messengers and during the month of kiss slave we send down messengers because of chanukah we do not decree a fast on the sibor on chanukah regarding reading the mafter magilla mishna dalit we interrupt the regular scheduled reading of the haftarah on various days including chanaka regarding avelos we suspend that veil and to a certain extent there are certain practices of uh interrupted and regarding damages it says if the storekeeper put his menorah outside rabbi huda's of the opinion you would be potter but the question is rabbi sai why is there no masaka dedicated for chanaka and it's reported in the name of the grah says his son in his hakatama to madrish agadas voracious now he says he heard from his father that besides the seven massachusetts there were other small massages he writes similarly that there was a small chanaka but be resume we definitely don't have a regular masak sakta kanaka certainly not a masaka that is that's extent and that sort of begs the question why in fact is there no full-fledged masaka for the amtif of hanukkah and that brings us rabbi's side to an amazing analysis by none other than the shloka kadash ravishaya review horowitz who lived from 1560 to 1630 is born in prague and he was nifter in tavaria on the 11th day of nisan his grandfather was rap sheftel his father was rabb avram horowitz the student of the rama his father wrote the safe bra he was a rav in prague together with the kliyakar and in 1619 he became his successor his successor he was a great prize sake he was a great makubal and he yearned for israel the shlo lear yearned for at israel and when his wife died in the year 1620 he seriously thought about moving towards israel and in 1621 without telling his family only telling one or two of his confidants he didn't even tell his children he decided to go off to art israel and as a consolation he wrote a ethical will that he would not complete in prague he completed it after being in israel a number of years and the the begins to journey through germany through italy through syria he's coming down through the north of israel he's offered to be the rabbi in svas but he became the rav in um you shall i am and with no salary which is always a good thing for a rabbi to do if he's able to do it but the was independently wealthy he was a very wealthy man in fact at every meal of his he would feed 70 bahurai yeshiva at every single sudha and when he comes out so he became acquainted with the kabbalistic teachings of which uh were not known in europe at the time in 1625 life became intolerable in you shalom this morning the 11th day of elo 15 rabban were arrested including the shla and they were not released for 15 days now we know the schla is buried right near the rambam and in 1621 upon entering yerushalayim for the first time he conceived of the idea of writing a siddhar which he called shar hashamayim because he entered the gates of jerusalem on friday parshas vayetze and one of his motivations for publishing on the siddhar is because a siddhar would have the most extensive circulation so the analyzes uh the story of yosef sadiq and the shlo wants to know he says i want to be the my listeners my audience on many great fake eyes that is worthy to be uh aroused and to think about regarding you safe first of all says lesla and i'm on number two he says firstly i have a general question we know the greatness of the ishvatim is we know the shwatum were very great they were greater than the heavenly angels the shwatim are the secret of the twelve permutations of the yud kevke we know hashem's name yurd kevafke there are 12 ways to mix it around and they represent the twelve swatim how is it possible that such great personalities should together prepare and plan and orchestrate the worst uh sin in the world murder and to kill you you want us you want to say one time one great person made a big mistake and out of hatred he decided to kill someone but that they should all gather together and uh in unison come up with this decision to um to commit this atrocity how is it possible not even the biggest russia who who committed many sins would murder another jew meaning among the jewish people even someone who commits the most grievous sin would never orchestrate planned pre premeditative murder and even furthermore says the we know that they wouldn't even so first of all these were great sadhikim how could they pre plan premeditated murder how could they kill at sadiq furthermore he's their brother he's their flesh and blood we know in veracious rabbah it says that after uh the brothers came to appear before yahweh he said yosef could not restrain himself and he he called all the egyptians out he said everybody leave the room because yosef did not want to shame his brothers and the matter says joseph did not act properly because if in a private audience one of his brothers would have given him a kick he would have died immediately and then the other opinion says no yosef did properly because yosef knew the righteousness of his brothers he said my brothers are not suspect to murder even a misery you hear what the mattress is saying you safe didn't have to be scared of his brothers because his brothers were not even suspect of killing a misery so how could the brothers be suspect of killing sadiq and here's the biggest question of the day and that is ghazal tell us that after yosef revealed himself to his brothers the matter says the brothers wanted to kill yahsef listen to this we know that the brothers contemplated chuva and they regretted and repented for their sin and they said they said we're guilty the brothers acknowledged their guilt but hazal say in the madrid when yosef revealed himself to the brothers the brothers said ah this is your safe let's kill him wow that was really sincere chuva suffering they're being uh they're being accused of being spies by the king of egypt and then they admit their guilt but as soon as yosef reveals himself the madrid says they want to kill him well wow what a very sincere trouba they must have done and were they embarrassed we know that in order to do chuva you have to be ashamed of your sin what kind of shame for their sin do they feel if immediately when joseph reveals himself they immediately want to kill him another interesting question we know that all the years that joseph was in egypt yaakov avinu who was an avi did not have access to this classified information that yosef was so down to mitzrayim why because there's a concept the brothers put god in god sat on the court case and the brother said if anyone dares talyak of what we did they're going to be excommunicated and they joined the shrina with them says the shaini kasha him imam they joined the screen with them join with them we know that yaakov avinu on his deathbed he prayed i don't want my name associated with zimri bisoy i don't want my name associated with that terrible sin of zimri and cosby i don't want my name associated with the episode of kyrah so if yaakov avinu did not want his name associated with these grievous sins namely namely the episode of cosby and zimri then how could god allow his name to be associated with the sale of yosef another interesting question in the whole um saga which occupies basically four parashias tayeshav um the two main players were yoisei fatsadik and yehudah why dafka these two brothers furthermore we know in the beginning of this week's parashat yes why because he accused the brothers of calling them the sons of maidservants so you say stook up for them now that means yosef had a very close relationship with the binet bilhah and the benezelpa so i don't understand i could i could understand why the binet leia wanted to sell you safe but why would the banay bill on the zilpah who yosef was very close with you always say save them from embarrassment you have stuck up for them yahoos have stuck at his neck for them why did they not respond in kind and they were also in on the sale of yoiseif why the bill and benezofa as well and furthermore let's try to understand why did yousef have to have two dreams what is the meaning of the two dreams he had two different visions of grandeur comes the holy sh and his presentation of the sale of yosef is personally my favorite and he says in the jewish people we have three institutions of khashevas of importance three kisaram three crowns kessar kahuna kessar we have the crown of priesthood we have the crown of sovereignty and we have the crown of torah regarding kahuna levy got it when levi was born god sent them gabriel and he accompanied him with 24 gifts and he was called levi kasar torah yosef got whatever yaakov aveeno learned in the yeshiva shema eva he gave now i ask you what is the concept of malchus and the jewish people i thought we're all brothers no hey bro you know we're all uh we're all ahem we're all brothers how could one brother have gavus have superiority over another what is the concept of malchus in claudius and the shlock other says the concept of malchus and klaus israel is to solidify and be the mesha cafe to project and to promote and to promulgate and to disseminate and to empower malchus in fact the concept is that malchus and claudius is a reflection of god's malchus and gives stability to god's malchus as we know that by the birth of all the shvatimus it says she conceived then she bore she conceived then she bore but by yehudah when yehuda was born it says allah of amida stability because when yehuda was born that was the uh yehuda was the roots and the patriarch of the davidic dynasty and that is what gives amida stability to god's throne we know that every throne has to have four legs what are the four legs of god's throne the first is abraham abraham aveeno the second is isaac the third is jacob abram and the fourth leg of the throne of god is david says the holy sh look at the word yehuda and you'll see wonders yehudah consists of the word yurk because yehuda and malchus based of it projects god's sovereignty and then the dalit represents that yehudah david is the fourth leg of the kisehakawai malchus base david rabbi is the projector and gives stability to god's sovereignty david hamelach is the regel ravi by the way when david's malchus is elevated then god will be sovereign of over the world that's why it says the word yehudah is a wondrous word because you have the shame havaya plus the letter dalit and therefore rabbi anyone who starts up with malchus based david is starting up with god is starting up with the shechina because mahrez based of it is what gives stability to the shrine that comes from yehuda yurke of k plus the fourth letter which gives stability to god's throne says the holy shlah when yosef had sadiq had dreams and he said that your bundles will bow down to me and vine we're going to bow down to you who do you think you are the brother said ye the brother said like this you are safe you want kessar torah you could have kasira tyra our father taught you the torah levy you want kasich belongs to you but belongs to yehuda how dare you say if you have dreams of grandeur you think you're the king sovereignty does not belong to you sovereignty belongs to yehuda and therefore they deemed yosef's illusions of grandeur to be a murad that was tantamount to rebellion against davidic dynasty which is tantamount to rebellion against god almighty himself the sovereignty of the maha shamayim and therefore they were able to join god in their kharam and god participated because when desden down here deems somebody a rebel against the davidic dynasty that is how it is deemed in shamayim marvera boyce this was not what joseph had in mind they mistakenly interpreted that yoisei's dreams of power were to usurp the malcolm says the there is a concept that in order to be a melech in order to be a sovereign and a king you need to have a people you need to have an um you need to have a nation there's no king without a people says the holy sh in order for the people to be reckoned to people you need a force you need a a power to consolidate and galvanize the people and unify and unite the people and bring them together to be to and lay the foundation to create a nation and then that force will step away and yield to the mountains based of it that force that phenomenon that power of a spiritual energy which is needed to galvanize and unite the people is the meda of yasoid foundation which is the meda of yo yo without your safe we would still be meshubin and mitsrayam yahysiv's power was very uh very prominent yosef had very great prowess and god sent us through a four before the makkah yosef went down to mitsrayam before the rest of the jewish people and therefore he was able to create a welcoming environment for the jewish people when we came down he instituted that everyone has to be circumcised so the true king says the ms is we never would have had maluka because we never would have been an am and this is the verdict of history this is a stream in history which is observed quite often even regarding the sanctity of the temple before the base hamiktach which was built by shloimai we have mishkan shlima shillai which was in the helicopter and even though it was ultimately destroyed yosef opens the sinar yosef is the sheville he establishes the connections of kedusha and once we have that once we have the sinar which is called in kabbalah the assault the foundation the media of your side once we have the foundation we could build malchus based david on top of the foundation of your safe and even though dissipates and even though you save some mishkan dissipates but it's called through the the medium through the conduit through the pathway yosef is the assoid that is exactly what happened once the jewish people left mitzrayim but cesius as soon as we left egypt we became a people and it was shy and we're always led by yehuda the first dagger to travel resha in akshay nadav jumps in first but we always need you safe to pave the way to create the the pathway of kedusha it's the same thing in malchus who is the first king of israel not david shaw from shivapanyamin but that's why he was called sha'al it was borrowed maluka malouka belongs to no one other than le david it belongs to david shaw could be shayal the meloha but jewish leadership and sovereignty and for the most part most gedulah israel have emanated from malchus base david whether it was rashi whether it was the rambam the morale the schla or the abarbanel himself now malchus and when when yosef began to have these dreams that the brothers are going to bow down to him this was reckoned by his to be a rebellion against malchus based david and thereby a rebellion against god himself now what's very interesting the quotes the gemara calleh spaced now while this is certainly logical and reasonable as malchus vegetable is the mesha cave it is the reflection and the projection of the shamayim and gives the gemaran sanhedrin does not quite say that anyone who argues on malchus based of it is like arguing on the srinah i'm going to show you in a moment what the gemara does say but this says the sla is why the bill and benezilpa agreed to participate in the sale of yosef they loved the i said dearly they were touched and honored and humbled that joseph stook up for them they had no personal gripes against josef but they halachically agreed with their brothers that yosef's dreams of grandeur were an infringement and an attack and a challenge on the principle that judaism rests on and that is there is a family from david through which god's sovereignty is recognized and they too agreed that while they loved the oyster on a personal level halachically they pass skinned objectively that yosef is a murad i want to suggest the siata de shmaya a very interesting khidosh that that is the reason why the brothers threw yosef into a pit of snakes and scorpions because the gemara says in sanhedrin someone who is arguing someone who disputes challenges the malchus based of it should be bitten by a snake it says over here by isbach so i want to say like this since the correct and worthy punishment of someone who challenges malcolm's fate sovereignty is they should be bitten by a snake the brothers passing this follows to them it seemed like david and that yosef in fact was challenging mahrez based of it but they can never be certain so they said the telltale sign will be we'll throw him in us in a pit with snakes and scorpions if he is bit that will be clear proof that in fact yoisei has challenged mahfus based of it but if the snakes leave him alone that indicates that he does not deserve this punishment and he is not truly being based of it now the gemara does not say if you dispute malchus based it's like arguing on the shrine it says if you argue on your rebbe it's like arguing on the shrine and it says anyone who fights with the rebbe it's like fighting with the shrine and it says someone who has complaints against the rebbe is like having complaints against ishrina so the seems to be putting these two things together that if arguing on malcolm you should be bitten by a snake and arguing on your rabbi is like arguing on the shrine the slash seems to sort of join these two concepts together the one who disputes the malchus based up and it's like disputing the shrina now marvra bosai had no dreams of grandeur of really in fact taking malchus away from yehuda his sole ambition was to galvanize the people consolidate the people forged them into a nation at which lay the foundation at which point yehuda could come in and step into his role his proper role of malchus yosef's dream was only yasoid i would like to suggest also the siata deshmaya that when you are safe um ah so when the brothers listen to this this is unbelievable says you know after they sold the oyster and they were having difficulties they said oh must be we made a mistake yosef has no dreams of grandeur he doesn't have ambitions of sovereignty of rulership of being a king we made a mistake we misjudged we were misguided and then they come down to egypt and they're dealing with a world superpower someone who's holding hostage their brother someone who's running the world economy someone who is a bona fide melech in every sense of the word and now the brothers hear that this melech oil is saying and then the brother said we were wrong in thinking we were misguided our suspicions have been confirmed he does have dreams of grandeur he does want to be the melech he is usurping marcus based of it let's kill him now they have not felt halachically compelled to to act upon their initial psac that yosef so what does yosef tell them joseph says you're mistaken again i have no dreams of grandeur i don't want to be mela israel i merely want to lay the foundation i want to establish the jewish people as an am and then yehuda you could step forward and be the melech but i would like to suggest how does joy save how how does he convince his brothers that in fact he doesn't want to be melech but he merely wants to be yasoid the ghazal tell us joseph told his brothers step forward and joseph shows the brothers he has mila we know the mila represents the middah of yasayid maybe that was the message of yousafe you saw it that's all i want to do i just want to lay the foundation i want to lay the groundwork upon which to build the jewish people and then yehuda could step forward this is what you said did in terms of malchus first came shawl and then david this is what you said did in terms of the mikdash first came mishkan shiloi and then came the mishka the mikdash of shlaimai and then the shlock other says that this is what will take place in the end of days because says ashla there was a time where josef perhaps there was a time in history excuse me where there were people who overstepped their rights and did infringe upon the mahas based of it and that is in the times of hanukkah we're the most supremely high pious individuals says on the possible says the ramban in my opinion the kings that reigned over the jewish people from others father after david they violated the will of their father and they were relying on the prophecy of akhiyashiloni who anointed yaravam and he said i will afflict the descendants of david however says ramban when the jewish people prolonged the pointing kings from a different shayvette and not restoring it to malchus yehuda they violated the command the will of yaakov avinu and the fact that they held on to malchus even though they were from other shevatim and they did not return it to mount to yehudah they violated the will of yaakov avinu and says ramban this is why the nayam were punished the kashma naam ruled during the second day samikdash says ramban they were khasid and if not for them we wouldn't be here today and we would not have torah today but nevertheless they were punished severely as we know the four son of kashman who ruled one after another despite their strength and success they were all wiped out until the gemara says that hurdis was the slave of the house of the hashman he wanted to marry a certain girl from the house of the kashmir he heard a heavenly voice i'm a number 10 above a bastard of gimolama base that cried out any slave that rebels now will be successful he got up and he killed out all of his masters and he left one girl he wanted to live with this one girl she went up to the roof and she cried out and she said anyone who claims they're from the house of the kashman is a slave because i'm the last remaining and i'm going to jump off the roof and she killed herself the gemara says he preserved her for seven years and honey to satisfy his lust says ramban the kashmir were obliterated they were wiped out to the men why were they wiped out because yaakov avinu said kings shall always remain in the household of david from sheila yehudah and anyone whether it's the khashoggi or whether it's the brother whether it's joysafe who tampers with it is tampering with fire. now i will share with you the ran and the abar banel disagree with the ramban and they learned that the kashmar nam did nothing wrong by being melech by being king and they learn layasram yehuda means that torah leadership always rests in the hands of yehudah and that which the gemara bababasa says they were all wiped out it's not so you have to know how to read the gemara says they tried to wipe out they were in hiding and many of them survived what this girl meant was anyone who publicly claims they're from the kashman is lying because i'm the last publicly known and i'm jumping off a roof but there were survivors of the khashoggi but the ramban is of the opinion that the reason why in fact were wiped out in the ramban's opinion is because they violated the command of yaakov avinu la yasur shaived now what the brothers thought yosef was doing to yehuda the ramban says the kashmir did do and the punishment that the kashmir got the brothers wanted to inflict on yosef and we suggested that is the reason why they tested yosef by throwing him to the snakes because is worthy to be been by the snakes and the fact that yosef wasn't bitten that indicates that in fact yosef did not have dreams of grandeur but he was merely laying the foundation and that's why yosef shows his brother the mila now says the ramban says excuse me the and in the parasitoids of uh it says repeatedly shalakhani alaikum but it says that yosef says god sent me to give you a remnant a great salvation so the ass the passage seems to contradict itself first it talks about eras which seems to be a humble amount a remnant and then it says le fleta godila which is a lot and the sloth says this refers to the two messenger ships this the two stewardships that yosef is historically sent on one was when we left egypt yosef forged us to be a people and then yehudah took the lead and became sovereign and that was so to speak shairis that was a small job but here's the big job and perhaps through this job the kashmir name will ultimately have tick on because the slack other says that in the times of hanukkah that hashnom were punished because they took malchus but this will not be rectified until ultimately before dab hamelach stands up to rule over the jewish people there will be a meshiach and mashiach benjisef will clear the path and he will be murdered akira shamay for the sake of israel and then david will stand up and they're going to try to kill him but they will not be successful so yosef says now i am paving the way the shahiris for the mountains please david but love i i will pave the way in a very significant way marv said to according to this approach to me this answers the most basic question on this week's power show which maybe we'll speak about more on wednesday and that is rabosai this week's parasha is so smooth until it gets so choppy what do i mean by that tasha's vaiisha is nearly entirely about the sale of yosef and then when it talks about the brothers threw him in the pit and then there was a caravan of ishmaelites and they sold them to the ishmaelim and uh when we get up to ravi feiham the problem is from ravi to hamishi is the longest commercial you ever saw it interrupts the regular flow of the parsha to tell you a little story by the way yehuda went down and he met a guy anisha dulami named hira and yehuda saw a woman yeshua and he married her and he had two kids aaron oynon and aaron got married and they died and they had a third uh there was a third brother named shayla ayer's wife was tamar and oynon wanted to be me abem tamar but he didn't live with her and now tamar is a double yovama by the way the russia tevo is of the opening words of this week's parasha vayish of yaakov magure is rashiteva's yibum because this week's parashat discusses ibum and it's the whole story that yehudah has his daughter-in-law tamar and nobody wants to be miyabim her so she poses as a zona and he lives with her and uh she's about to be killed then yehuda admits oh yo he's safe back to mitsrayam rabbi said what in the world is this episode of yehuda and tamar doing smack randomly smack in the middle of yosef's descent to egypt we just got the story just got going what is this like uh you know la havdel you want to keep people's attention so you go from one one episode you you you shoot on another place and you come back to the first one and what's going on over here stick to the storyline but says this is the story line the whole reason yosef is going down to mitzrayim is to create the foundation for the jewish people prepare the yasoid of kali israel be able to unify the nation in order for malchus david to stand up and and maintain malchus is based of it so once joseph's on the way to egypt god says that's all on a preparation for the malcolm's base david which is comes about through the episode of yehuda and tamar so you then tamar is not a digression but it is the objective of why yosef is being sent down to mitzrayim to lay the groundwork for the ultimate sovereignty of malchus based david the hassam soyfer is quoted as saying in the tamic that the reason why chanaka is not mentioned in the mishnah is because who redacted the mishnah rebbi rabbi says in sha's david qasina i come from the davidic house and since he redacted the mishnah with the heavenly spirit in uh deference to his holy ancestors malchus based david although the khashwan were great great sadiq and pious individuals but because they served them in order to preserve and stand up for their honor rabbi did not designate in a sakta for them and this is brought by rip shim and seifer in the lash many question this that as if rebbi was intentionally trying to take some type of revenge against the kashmanayam but of course this is not the meaning but rather through the heavenly spirit rabhud nasi was as a scion of davidic dynasty he was directed menachem to limit so to speak their their honor and their kayak by omitting them from the mishnah but as we mentioned ultimately they will have their tikkun because before the coming of mashiach and david and selflessly lay the foundation for the jewish people and lay thee aside which is the media of yousef from which ultimately malchus can flourish and take root so on this yamtif of chanaka which is interestingly on the one hand the kashmir noyam they had some failing according to the ramban but he tells us hanukkah is from a language of chanukah inauguration because it know it inaugurates the future basamektu is the third base amigners so on the one hand maybe the kashmir went too far but on the other hand in inaugurating the third base amik dash in that sense perhaps they set the groundwork for the ultimate restoration of the mahrus-based david that we should be zaika everyone thanks everyone for listening everyone's invited to this afternoon at 5 00 5 30 to the igaras hagra thanks everyone bye everybody have a great day not to the other brothers so how will the other brothers qualified to make all of these halal decisions about who's should they kill them should they not kill where did they have the background to be able to to make those kinds of uh decisions if they didn't have the torah that that joseph had as a matter of fact you could argue that if yoshi had the torah from yaakov that what he was doing was more um right right good question so certainly yakov taught tara to all the brothers but yosef had the kassara torah that means he was the preeminent sage and when it comes to you know despite uh yeah i'm not gonna go there all right okay everyone thanks you've just experienced another torah class brought to you by torahanytime.com