It's in Your Genes | Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair

It's Chanukah. The whole family gets together for a party. There's music, Divrei Torah, food. You wash, you eat, and you bentch, and then... Whoops, you forgot על הניסים and you don't know what to do. So you quickly leaf through the Siddur and you find that you can insert in the Harachamans, which means: The compassionate One, may He perform for us miracles and wonders as He performed for our forefathers in those days at this time. But... hang on a second, there's a problem here, isn't there? There's an open Gemara that says that we're not allowed to daven for miracles. So how can we openly ask and pray for a נס? R’ Shlomo Kluger answers that the נס of Chanukah was different from all the other ניסים, all the other miracles in the history of the Jewish people. קריעת ים, the Manna, the Ten Plagues, all of those miracles were preordained from the beginning of the world. They were built into the fabric of creation. However, the miracle of Chanukah was something new, something not preordained. The נס of Chanukah only came into effect because of the Mesirus Nefesh of the Yidden. Our willingness to give up our lives rather than let the Greeks eradicate our Holy Torah, that's what brought the נס. From where did that unbelievable strength come from? Rav Shlomo HaKavi says it was a spiritual bequest from Yosef HaTzaddik, Joseph. Yosef withstood the ultimate test of his Yetzer Hara. He was Moser Nefesh for Hashem, and thus Yosef instilled into the collective spiritual DNA of the Jewish people the strength to withstand the overwhelming allure of physicality and the Greek world. And because Klal Yisroel was prepared to be Moser Nefesh, so in return, we had the miracle of Chanukah. That means that right now, today, this year, we, too, can tap into that amazing power and ask for a miracle this Chanukah. And there's no limit to what we can achieve. Everything we want, everything we've been waiting for is there during these days of Chanukah. Realize and embrace the awesomeness, the specialness, the Kedushah and the elevation of the days of Chanukah. And remember that it all started with Yosef overcoming his challenge. The next time you meet a challenge of Shemiras Einayim, and the allure of Greece is right out there in front of you, remember, you have a spiritual bequest in your genes from Yosef HaTzaddik. And just like Yosef passed the test, so can you.