Modern Masters: Chanukah: Yosef and the Burning Bush By Rabbi Sam Shor

okay good morning everybody how we doing so we all know that Kana every year occurs corresponding to the parot that tells the story of ysep atad and his and his brothers that very challenging story that we're in the midst of right now and what I want to do this morning is kind of take a deep dive and explore the significance the connection the parallels to be drawn between the story of Yosef and his brothers and the story and the an of and believe it or not I think we're going to see some surprising connections some surprising parallels and things we never thought of before please God so we're g to begin we all know the story of khaka as it appears in the gamar in chabas we don't have to learn this gamar inside but we all know the story of khaka in its Essence the story of a supernatural flame right this Cruise of oil that should have burn burned for one day ends up burning for eight days and we celebrate for eight days and it's basically the commemoration of a super natural flame so where else in the anals this by the way this is not connected to yose at least not yet where else in the animals of Jewish scholarship in literature do we have the story of a supernatural Flame the burning it's in the title right the burning bush so take a look this is gimble on our sheets right so Moshe as we know the story he's already left he's already left MIT he's already left the Palace of parro and he's gone and he's married into the family of yro the Coen of mijjan he marries jro's daughter and he's out one day becomes a shepherd and he's out one day he's shepherding the flocks of his father-in-law and he comes upon the mountain of [Music] and Mos sees the most incredible thing the angel an angel of God Appears before him in in in a fiery flame within the thorn bush and he sees that the thorn bush is completely a flame but it's not being consumed okay says this is impossible what I'm seeing says it's it doesn't make any sense what I'm saying how could it be that this storm Bush which is combustible material is completely surrounded by a flame and it's not being consumed and that's the same question that we could ask about the N how could it be that the Shem which is combustible material that should have burned up after one day continues to last and burn for eight days so both of these stories you're dealing with a supernatural flame where where's what this is the the in the gamar and shabas that we skip that's the first no the the the story of KHAK does not appear in Dak okay it's not in the that's a whole that's a whole different sheer in terms of why the story wasn't canonized there's there are many theories in terms of why that's not for today but the the as we've talked about numerous times over the past few weeks first time you're joining us we we've explored that the story of khaka appears as basically a Ted footnote okay within the discussion of what materials were allowed to light to use to light shabas candles and Shabbat in the midst of that discussion we the questions asked do the same apply to the the Kana candle are we are we allowed to use the same materials to like KH candles as we are for shabas candles and then we get into the discussion what is Kana and that's where we're introduced to the story of khaka okay so again just to the couch the introduction once again we have the story of Kaneka story of a supernatural flame oil that should have burnt out that keeps that's not consumed we have the story of the SN the burning bush Okay where mhu comes Upon This Storm Bush that is combustible material once again that should have been completely consumed and for whatever reason it is miraculously not being consumed okay we're going to come back to the burning bush in a few moments okay we'll come back to this now I want to take a look at the gamar shabas the continuation discussion of the laws of okay this is hey on our sheets said the taught in the name of candle that's placed higher than 20 amot 20 hand breaths in the air okay is considered P you're you're not allowed to place your Kaneka candles too high in the air and we're not GNA get to the implications well what if I live in a high-rise building or All Those Questions that's not for today because that's not the important part at least for our discussion today okay again now we're introduced to the same sh of Scholars that this said the said in the name of another another teaching okay what is the meaning of our where we know where's that P from the story of right he says since the p already told us that the boore was Rake that the pit was empty shouldn't we then already know that that means that there's no water there why does the verse have to tell us rather it comes to teach us what there's no water in the pit okay there was no water but everyone knows this because Rashi points his gar right okay but there was no water in the pit the pit was devoid of water but what was in the pit snakes and scorpions okay so is there I want to ask a question the gamarra introduced us to two teachings one is about the placement of raot we shouldn't place them too high too high too in the air and the other is a story about Yos in the pit and seemingly the connection between these two stories seems to be what that they were taught in the name of the same three teachers right rahana okay and RI both of these teachings are are top of the sa three teachers and reiterate the S teachers but I want to ask another question might there be a deeper connection between these two ideas other than the fact that what that they were taught by the same three people now a face value our human intellect would say oh it must be teaching us what that if we place our candles too high then maybe we won't be able to see them clearly and therefore we can understand the PK about Yosef that when they came the brothers came to see this pit when Ruan suggests let's throw in the pit it's empty Ruan at first glance sees there's no water in the pit but he must have thought the pit was truly empty and he couldn't really see because it was too deep a pit so you might think therefore that the connection between these two ideas is that if it something is placed at too far a distance you can't see clearly but as hopefully we're going to learn together in a few moments there's actually a much deeper connection between these two teachings and a much more fundamental and important connection between these two ideas okay let's go a little further okay just to review just so everyone understands the context of this P the G Mar's if you turn your page over number seven this is when the brothers when y comes to the brothers and they strip him of his coat and they took it the cat from him and they threw it and they threw him in the pit and the pit was empty had no water so that's the PK that the gamar is speaking about and we all know that P so what else is significant about the wording of this pu that the boar was Rake the B was empty there was no water in it t already the P already tells us it was empty so why do we have to say there was no water so we know what the gamar tells us we just learned the gamar that there was devoid of water but there were still scorpions but why does given to the word water why does it AP conclude the word water if we're already told it's empty why do we have to say there was no water in it so the garus is going to give us a clue okay this is text number nine on our sheets so asked why is Torah likened to water so this a famous right everyone knows that Torah is likened to water why must thing is because water is what sustains us right so without you can't live without water listen speak your water okay ah so now listen to this anyone who's thirsty should go and drink the from the water okay just as water flows from a higher realm meaning in the it starts in the Mountains and flows down into the valley listen this beautiful idea okay Torah can only be fulfilled by someone who's what humble and that's why Torah is likened to water water begins its source up in the heavens but it flows down up in the you up in the mountains but it flows down into the valley right so too Torah begins up in the heavens okay but in order to be fulfilled it has to be come down to to Earth and in order for us to fulfill and receive the Torah we have to be in a space of what humility and not Hess for us to truly fulfill Torah and fulfill the torah's precepts we have to be in the mindset of humility not htin okay and then just one last PK one last PK that I want to want to want to look at that we're all familiar with K Mitzvah Torah that a Mitzvah is called a n a candle and Torah is called light and what I want to do now is now here from the masters of Jewish thought who are going to weave together many of these ideas that we just kind of touched on very quickly and they're going to weave together for us and paint a picture for us of the parallels and connections to be drawn the deeper parallels and connections to be drawn between the story of Yosef the story of the burning bush and the story of KHAK so bear with me as we begin to weave this tapestry together we're goingon to start on your sheets with text number seven RAB gal yes RAB gadala is the first of the Modern Masters we're gonna hear from this morning RAB Galore was the great Riva of yeshivas Tas in Brooklyn New York Williamsburg and uh died I believe in 1979 his safer the far of his teachings are called orid yahu and this is a short snippet from the or yahu on khaka that we're gonna learn together um now and it says the following the P that we just learned together from mishle that a Mitzvah is called a candle and the Torah is called light all the mitv in the Torah could be described as what categorized as being a a candle because a candle is the vessel through which what we're able to accept and bring light into the world words if we don't have a a a source of fuel to light then we won't be able to see light right that's you have to light a candle they see the light and therefore the MIT become the CLE become the vessel through which a Jewish person is able to receive the light of Torah and bring the light of Torah into the world through through the MIT we do we are able to bring light into our own lives and into the world around us okay because the Elevate the individual spiritually if that's true about every single mitvah then certainly even more so it's true about what the Mitzvah of of the N of the candle of khah because the Mitzvah itself is what the candle so if if that imagery of every single Mitzvah is a n is a CLE to bring light into the world then that is even more powerful says we're talking about khah because khah the Mitzvah itself is specifically through the N through this vehicle of lighting candles okay and therefore the light of the Mitzvah itself is the light of Torah when you put out fill in you know you might not be aware of it you're metaphysically bringing light into the world but when you light KHAK candles you are aware of it why because you see the light okay even though regarding all the Mitzvah the P tells us that a Mitzvah is called a n a candle and the Torah is called light but is unique amongst all the other mitz why because the light of the Mitzvah itself is that light of Torah the light of Torah is enclo within the Mitzvah this is the unique aspect of the KH lights that's why the so beloved why because it refers and reminds us of the light of Torah what were the Kash trying to do when they restored and they rose up against the mighty Greek Empire they weren't they become the leaders but they weren't interested in taking the malus for themselves why did they rise up because they wanted to restore the light of Torah and kadus to the world and that's what Kaneka is all about okay we're going to come back to this idea in a moment hopefully if I do my job right we'll weave this all together and it'll all become a clear picture now we're g to talk about yosf again we're gonna hear from our second modern Master that's Rabbi doink there's a very very thin on on the on the Su of on the various um topics that related to kanaka called and it was written by this Rabbi doink um I never heard of the safer until I discovered it about 30 years ago it's not a very well-known safer I found it like a used farm store in about 30 years ago but it's a beautiful safer on the various topics Rel to khah and can and believe it or not he's gonna talk about our our gamar which joins the story of Kana and placing our kanot to the story of Yos going into the pit so look look what Rabbi Fink says in text number eight on our sheets but when the were victorious and they overcame the darkness of the of Greece what did they do they restored the light of Torah they learned and taught Torah why in order to cling to and not God forbid for their own egos in accomplishments and success that's why Hashem gave them the miracle of the lights of the manora of that Miracle Oil davka because that Miracle of the sh and allowing them to rekin that what reiterates the idea of the importance of bringing the of torent to the world because it wasn't just about overcoming the Greeks and throwing them out what was the cavana in throwing out the Greeks was to restore the kadus and light of teror into the world okay so that's the first part listen to this idea and he alludes in the first piece that they weren't interested in in taking the malus out of their own ego and their own status and stature but rather they desire to restore the light of Torah and to bring kadha back to the world he says the whole idea of khah is about humility and not hardess listen to this he says and that's how we can understand the story of Yosef that why ruen suggests to throw Yosef into the pit even though the pit has snakes and scorpions there why that since y had learned Torah which is liken to water he would be protected from the Scorpions and SS listen to this incredible idea who was y why did why the brothers resent Yosef because he was a 17-year-old kid and a little bit conceited because his his father seemed to favor him so the brothers were jealous of him so Ruan realizes when the brothers are about to kill him he comes to this pit Sayes doink and he sees a pit that has no water in it okay meaning the pit is devoid of of what's water devoid of Torah ysf has Torah which hopefully will protect him from from the animals he's going to face in this pit except what is yose's challenge he's about a little bit of a Bala he has a little bit of an ego problem and therefore in order for ysf to make Manifest this what we just learned a few moments ago in order for Yosi to make manifest the Torah that he's learned he needs to what first experience being humbled and therefore says R ruen suggests let's put Yosef in the pit he'll go into the pit he'll be humbled he'll be protected from whatever other s in that pit why because he has the Shir of the light of Torah which will F which will truly be manifest because he's now in this space of humility Torah cannot truly be fulfilled unless a person is what in a space of humility and this is why the the is you can't place more than 20 why if the if the manur is meant to remind us that just like the Kash when they restored the light of of the manora they saw this opportunity of restoring Torah and Holiness in the world not because they wanted to advance themselves and out of their out of their own ego but solely out of the desire of bringing kadua into our lives so they were humble even though even though they seemingly were taking the malus they didn't do it with with an ulterior motive they did it solely from a space of humility and a desire to restore kadus and the light of Torah in the world so too when we like that kukia that manur that's the reminder of that whole story it has to be placed in a place that's not too lofty but a place that's in a humble easily visible space and therefore say do the connection between these two stories that our gamar makes is not simply they're both analyzed by the same three teachers and not simply that that it's beyond 20 Amos it's difficult to see no it's meant to teach us this incredible message that just as yadik had to be humbled in order to become who he was meant to be in order to take all that he had learned from yakob ainu and and and become the great leader that he was destined to be he had to first become humbled in order for that Torah to become manifest for that wisdom to become manifest so too when we light our kanaka candles we're reminded that if we want to restore the light of Torah in this world we want to live up to what it means to to do these throughout these eight days as mha wolson that we learned about over the past couple weeks mha wolson taught us that the word kanuka is comprised of the word the letters and Cain for eight days every single one of us becomes a Cain throughout the entire week of eight days of khah every single one of us are like those when we light our candles we're restoring the light of Kad Holiness into the world and in order to do that we have to do it from a place of humility not a space of H okay so that's a beautiful idea and believe believe it or not this is all gonna come back to now the burning bush as well so turn your pages over we're not gonna do this whole sham mmu we're gonna do parts of it so we're GNA Jump Around in it okay the shame ism is Rabbi Shmo Borstein of the second rebi of sakach he is the the son of the AER okay RAB a Bor the first Rabbi of Sak we're just going to learn we'll learn a few segments from this longer I'm gonna jump around it starts with by quoting the on our that right that this SN was completely surrounded by fire engulfed in flame but it wasn't being consumed wow the med says that the reason why hasem appears to mosha in this way of a bush being completely surrounded by Flames a little humble thorn bush being completely surrounded by Flame but not being consumed that this is a Mas for the Jewish people that just as the thorn bush is the humblest of the trees on on earth right it's a little thorn bush Okay so too the Jewish people had to experience going down to MIT to become humbled they had to become what humbled in their own eyes because they were humbled and humbled even though they were sadly influenc many of them were sadly influenced by being that generation of MIT of being surrounded by all the tum of MIM they were worthy of being redeemed says the the the sh because they remained humble they were humble they remained humble and think about this because we're gonna jump ahead but who was the goel who was the one who redeems the Jewish people who does Hashem sent to redem the Jewish people mosu what the torahs about mosu M he's the a men upon Earth so's jum down a few lines he was both humble as well as patient when appears to him and gives him what does what you talking me okay who am I to go before parro he's a great king even though he grew up in parro's home but for the past number of years he's been what I'm a simple Shepherd who am I to go before parro so Hashem of course answers him what it's dka because he is so humble that Hashem is sending him to be to be the Redeemer that he merits to be the Redeemer not only that says the shame is just to jump ahead to the end where does Hashem appear to him to give him Theus on which according to Med was also the humblest of mountains the smallest the most it wasn't a a massive high peak it was a simple humble mountain and therefore says the Sham ismu in this beautiful piece that the entire experience of moshu being the go okay and he being the one that's worthy to redeem the Jewish people people and how hasem reveals himself to to mos in the okay it's on the humblest spot okay with the humblest little Thor Bush to the humblest man on Earth to redeem the the people that had been humbled and therefore says the sh is what necessitates G what facilitates Yeshua to come into the world for arm Israel this idea of humility of okay now the Shalom SLB who we've heard from many many times as well the the great 20th century he died in 19 in 1999 I so he's really a pretty contemporary Master he in text number 10 we're just gonna learn a short STI from thebi he takes this idea of the representation of the SN of the burning bush being somehow rep representative or compar comparable to the Jewish people he takes it in a slightly different direction and look at his beautiful words he says there's another idea that can be learned from the introduction that hasem makes to mosu as he sends him on his way as he introduces him to his important that he's going to fulfill to redeem the Jewish people from Egypt again he says the SN is representative but not just the SN that it's a humble thorn bush but the fact that it's surrounded by flames and is not being consumed because the Jewish people are like the SN surrounded by the impurity and hatred of Egypt she which is the source of all Purity in the world despite this what the mean the proverbial the Jewish people were not consumed their sanctity our sanctity the sanctity of the Jewish people is not consumed by the Flames of impurity that surround us or the Flames of hatred that might go us what a beautiful message that the gives us and by the way now let's go full circle and come all the way back to khaka and this is an idea that we've shared in the past few weeks as well but this really brings it all together this is the beautiful idea from R cook Rook if you turn your pages sideways you see this idea R cook R cook in explaining the story of KHAK and explaining the famous story of the the miraculous oil this is how R cook explains this every single Jew has an aspect of priesthood within us because collectively the Jewish people are called what a a Priestly nation and a holy people and the inner desire for the sanctity of life and for the torah's wisdom that is hidden deep within the heart of every single Jew and this is the small Cruise of oil the inner Hidden World of the Jew in sealed with the Insignia of the ultimate call meaning who right this the Greeks can never render impure the word by the way the the word Hashem in is corresponds to theot ofish of the soul and that's exactly the message that Rook is saying here cook is saying whether or not there was a a mystical jar of oil we talked about that in last week's year okay whether or not there was a mystical jar oil or not what was the message of that were trying to communicate Us in in coding this story of khaka as they did in the in in the midst of of the discussions of of the laws of shabas scandals to teach us a very fundamental idea and that is the Greeks try to what eradicate the Holiness of Torah but there was something they didn't understand and couldn't could never comprehend that hidden within every single Jew is in the okay the p and this says with cook no matter what every Empire that has tried to destroy us has tried to lead us away from the light and Holiness of Torah that could never be rendered impure the the shama is pure every single one of us is pure and holy my friends as we prepare for the for this shabas where we'll continue to read the story of ysep atad and just in a few weeks we'll look ahead to when we'll read the story of the burning bush let's let's have in mind as we light our candles this evening the beautiful imagery of a supernatural flame a flame that could not be consumed no matter what hatred and and and impurity surrounds us every single one of us has a innate within us that is Untouchable from the outside maybe we be blessed to feel that Holiness be blessed to understand stand and experience that Holiness and share that light with the entire world