Flawless Faith: Yosef, the Chashmona'im and Mikeitz

1“And it came to pass at the end of two years of days.” The Midrash comments: “‘He set an end to darkness.’¹ He gave the world a set time, how many years it would spend in darkness … For as long as the yetzer hara is in the world, there is gloom and the shadow of death in the world … Once the yetzer hara is uprooted from the world, there is no gloom or shadow of death in the world. Another interpretation: ‘He set an end to darkness.’ He gave Yosef a set time, how many years he would spend in darkness in prison. Once the end came, Pharaoh dreamed a dream.”² We have raised a question about this before.³ The first part of the Midrash, “Once the yetzer hara is uprooted …,” speaks of the days of Moshiach, when the yetzer hara will be uprooted from the world.⁴ If so, what does this Midrash have to do with our parshah, Parshas Mikeitz? It should have begun only with its second part, which speaks of Yosef HaTzaddik being brought out of the pit, as the Torah calls his prison.⁵

2The Midrash also says: “‘Fortunate is the man who has made Hashem his trust’: this is Yosef HaTzaddik. ‘And did not turn to the arrogant’: because he said to the chief butler, ‘Remember me … and mention me,’ two years were added to him.”⁶ The commentators ask how the Midrash can contradict itself.⁷ First it says that Yosef was a man of trust in Hashem, and in the end it says that his trust had a flaw.

3We must also ask a question that the holy sefarim have discussed. In most years Parshas Mikeitz is read on Chanukah, and we know that the Torah reading awakens what its season holds. What, then, does Parshas Mikeitz have to do with Chanukah?

4My holy father and teacher, zt"l, noticed the wording here. Why does the verse say vayehi, a word that signals distress,⁸ when this was a time for joy, as Yosef went free from prison? He explained that the verse hints at the End of Days. That is what Rashi means when he explains vayehi mikeitz as “at the end.”⁹ We know that in the footsteps of Moshiach, the time just before his coming, troubles will, Heaven forbid, multiply upon Klal Yisrael.¹⁰ So vayehi expresses distress, and mikeitz means at the end, at the End of Days: in the generation before Moshiach comes there will be distress and troubles. The remedy is emunah, faith. Through it we will be privileged to see the harsh judgments sweetened and to be rescued from the troubles of the exile. We find this in the war with Amalek. The verse says, “And his hands were emunah,”¹¹ and emunah, “steady,” is also the word for “faith.” In the merit of faith Israel prevailed over Amalek in the days of Moshe Rabbeinu. This is hinted in the rest of our verse, “standing by the river,” al haye'or. Ye'or is related to or, light, and light alludes to faith. In the same way Chazal expounded: “‘And God said, Let there be light’: this is Avraham, as it is written, ‘Who aroused the righteous one from the east?’ Do not read he'ir, ‘aroused,’ spelled with an ayin, but he'ir, ‘gave light,’ spelled with an alef.”¹² Those are his holy words.

5[From this it is clear that the power of faith brings a person out of distress. So had Yosef said nothing to the chief butler, he would have been privileged to go free through the power of faith. But because he had a flaw in faith, for a man of his great level, he went free only after two years. When there is no flaw at all in faith, there is no gloom or shadow of death in the world. That level will be reached in full in the days of Moshiach, but in the days of the Chashmona'im, the Hasmoneans, Israel was privileged to taste something of it. And the Torah reading awakens this season to strengthen us in complete faith.]

6We can explain all this. The rule is that strengthening oneself in faith brings a person out of distress, as we saw in my holy father's teaching that faith sweetens all the harsh judgments. This explains what is said of Yosef HaTzaddik. Yosef possessed complete trust and faith in Hashem. But precisely because his level in this was so lofty, every fine flaw in his faith counted as a sin, though for others it would not have counted as a flaw in faith at all. That is why he was punished for saying to the chief butler, “Remember me … and mention me”: for a man of his level, this showed a lack of faith. And since he had a flaw in faith, he could not be rescued from his distress. This is what the Midrash means: “‘Fortunate is the man who has made Hashem his trust’: this is Yosef. ‘And did not turn to the arrogant’ …” From Yosef HaTzaddik we can see how, for tzaddikim, every fine flaw in faith counts as a sin. The tzaddik who has made Hashem his trust above all must beware of even the finest flaw in this.

7We find the same with the Chashmona'im. The Greeks wanted to plant in them, Heaven forbid, false beliefs and doubts in their faith in Hashem, and the Chashmona'im stood up to the Greeks in this. By this power they were privileged to draw salvation down from Heaven, and the miracle of the cruse of oil was done for them because of their complete faith in Hashem. Even when they fought the Greeks in battle, they knew with certainty that it was not their own strength that won them their might.¹³ Everything came from the power of Hashem, for “Hashem is a Man of war.”¹⁴ No flaw at all in their faith in Hashem was found in them, for all the Greeks' pressure, and so they were privileged to see a miracle with almost no effort of their own.

8This is what the Midrash means by “He gave Yosef a set time, how many years he would spend in darkness in prison.” It comes to teach us how very grave even a fine sin in faith is for a tzaddik, as we saw with Yosef HaTzaddik and the chief butler. This also explains how Yosef HaTzaddik is connected to the first part of the Midrash. “For as long as the yetzer hara is in the world, there is gloom and the shadow of death in the world”: because the yetzer hara is so strong, there is darkness in the world, and even a tzaddik sometimes stumbles in true trust. “Once the yetzer hara is uprooted from the world, there is no gloom or shadow of death in the world”: when faith has no flaw at all, salvations come, and there is no more darkness in the world.

9[Since this light will be revealed in the time to come, something of the same power is present in this world too, which prepares for the Shabbos of the time to come.¹⁵ Every Jew can reach the level of complete faith, as indeed the tzaddikim do. The Chashmona'im were privileged to see this light revealed, a foretaste of the time to come, and a glimmer of it is revealed to Israel even now, on Chanukah, for whoever wishes to be privileged with the light of faith.]

10This level of complete faith and trust will be reached in the days of Moshiach. Then, as is well known, there will be only good, as the Rambam explains,¹⁶ and the verse will be fulfilled: “For the earth shall be full of knowledge …”¹⁷ This explains what is taught in Midrash Pinchas, the teachings of R' Pinchas of Koritz: in the days of Chanukah the hidden light of the days of Moshiach, hidden away since the days of Creation, is revealed.¹⁸ For these days are especially suited to reaching the wondrous level that we will reach in the days of Moshiach, when faith will be complete, without a flaw, as when “the yetzer hara is uprooted from the world.” We find this level with the Chashmona'im, in whom no flaw at all in faith in Hashem was found. Now the connection of Parshas Mikeitz to Chanukah is clear. In Parshas Mikeitz we find complete faith and trust, and so too on Chanukah, and the reading awakens what its season holds.

11May the Holy One, blessed be He, have mercy on us. May we be privileged in these days to taste a little of this light, and to see Moshiach come soon. Amen, may it be His will.