Parashas Vayeishev begins with the words “vayeishev Yaacov be’eretz megurei aviv be’eretz Canaan”, meaning, “And Yaacov settled in the land of his father’s residence, in the land of Canaan”.  The Midrash infers that after his long exile and struggles, Yaacov wished finally to settle down in tranquility (Beh’shal’vah), but the anguish of Yoseph’s kidnapping fell upon him.  Yaacov Avinu wanted at last to concentrate upon his Torah studies and his prayers but he was burdened by Yosef’s absence from the family. 

The Torah (Genesis 37:26) tells us that Yehudah saved his brother Yoseph by saying to his brothers, “What gain (beh’tza) will there be if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?”  Yehudah’s descendant, King David, in Psalm 30:10, says, “What gain (beh’tza) is there in my death, when I descend to the pit?” This choice of the word beh’tza is not merely a coincidence. The Chassidic Rebbe, Yechiel Meir of Gustinin, found an incredible hint in the word gain (beh’tza): the acronym of the words boker, tzahorayim, and erev; morning, afternoon, and evening. Morning, afternoon, and evening represent the tefilot that are recited during those times of the day. Yaacov Avinu is exclaiming, “What kind of benefit and profit will I gain from my prayers, while longing and crying over the loss of my beloved son?”  Rashi and Targum Onkelos translate the word beh’tza as mamon, which means money or wealth.

Two separate stories are told in our sidrah.  One is the saga of Yoseph, the dreamer who angers his brothers with stories of a grandiose leadership, gets sold into slavery, and ultimately emerges triumphant as the Viceroy to the Pharaoh, King of Egypt. The other is the tale of Yehudah, who appears to sin and then nobly confesses his actions. Rashi, amazingly, found a connection between the narratives of these two brothers, who were the ones responsible for the profound distress of their father, Yaakov.

 The Midrash reveals to us the secret of what is happening behind the scenes of the parshah. “The tribes were involved in the selling of Yoseph, Yaacov was involved in fasting and mourning, Yehudah was involved in taking a wife, and HaShem was involved in creating the light of Messiah” (Bereshit Rabbah 85:1); one Messiah from the House of David and the other from the House of Yoseph. The two Messiahs will have to enter the world and travel in different ways in order to achieve the ultimate goal of geulah (redemption) and to contribute to the eternity of Am Yisrael.

 “Yehudah and Yoseph must be joined into one, for Yoseph is the righteous and Yehudah is the King.  When they are joined together, they bring much good to the world, peace to the tribes, and they enliven the spirit of their father, Yaakov” (Zohar Bereishit 206b).  By confessing and admitting to wrongdoing, Yehudah was worthy that the “Jews” be called after him and he merited to be the ancestor of all Kings.  With his gifted personality, Yehudah instilled his father with hope. 

Tomorrow night, the Festival of Chanukah will begin.  On Chanukah, we celebrate the miracle of deliverance and the miracle of light. The Talmud (Shabbat 21b) says that the one flask of oil sealed by the Kohen Gadol was found in the Bet Ha’Mikdash and it had to last for eight days, even though under normal circumstances it could only last for one day.  To commemorate this great miracle, we light the menorah for eight days. We light one candle on the first night and on each subsequent night we add an additional candle, until eight candles are lit on the eighth night, in accordance with the view of Beit Hillel. When we light the menorah in this manner, we are increasing the number of candles, going up in holiness (Ma’Alim Ba’Kodesh).  Each person lighting eight candles was considered the “the nicest of the nicest”, even though the Talmud states that the basic mitzvah is to light only one candle every day, as it was in the Bet HaMikdash, where the miracle actually occurred. 

Why are we obligated to go a step beyond what actually happened?  The answer is pirsumei nissah, to give greater publicity and to emphasize the importance of the miracle. Part of the mitzvah of lighting the chanukiyah is to light it specifically in a visible place, in order to publicize that the miracle is an essential component of the Chanukah story. 

The second blessing recited throughout Chanukah ends with the words “who has wrought miracles for our forefathers, in those days and in these times.”  The diction of the blessing emphasizes that Chanukah is actually a reflection of the miraculous deliverances throughout history. “In those days and in these times” refers to all the miracles through out our history. It started in Egypt, the land of Goshen, where the Jews as a nation officially began. Yaacov commanded Yehudah (Genesis 46:28) lehoros lefanav goshnah, to build and to establish yeshivot and places of learning in Goshen.  Our sages found a hidden message in the letters of the name Goshnah.  The letters, gimmel, shin, nun, heh, rearranged are identical to the letters on the Chanukah dreidel, nun, gimmel, heh, shin: “Nes Gadol Ha’yah Sham”, a great miracle happened there.

Rabbi Chaim Vital in his sefer Etz Chaim and Rabbi Yaacov Tzvi Yalish in his sefer Kehilat Yaacov describe our matriarch Leah, Yehudah’s mother, as one who looks backward and does not show her face.  Our matriarch Rachel, Yoseph’s mother, on the other hand, shows her face forward.  Rabbi Chaim Vital tells us that Leah represents the nistar (hidden or mysterious) and Rachel represents the niglah (uncovered).   

May we continue to be deserving of HaShem’s miracles, to live with the hope for our future by the merits of our Patriarchs and Matriarchs.

Shabbat Shalom and happy Chanukah.