“I Fear Elokim”: Chanukah and Hashem's Personal Providence

1“Yosef said to them … ‘I fear Elokim.’”¹ Why did Yosef say “I fear Elokim”? He should have said, “I fear Hashem.” Elokim is the Name that stands for the attribute of strict judgment, and Yosef HaTzaddik surely did not fear Hashem out of fear of punishment. His fear surely came from his having reached the level of love in his holy service of Hashem. If so, it would seem more fitting for him to say “I fear Hashem,” using the Name that points to love.

2Let us also first cite a Midrash: “‘And darkness’: this is the kingdom of Greece, which darkened the eyes of Israel with its decrees. It would say to them, ‘Write on the horn of the ox that you have no portion in the God of Israel.’”² What does the word “portion” mean here? Why did the Greeks not say, “You have no faith in the God of Israel”?

3Let us also cite the words of my holy father and teacher, zt"l, on the verse “And it came to pass at the end … and behold, he was standing by the river.”³ He explained it through Chazal's words about Avraham Avinu, “With you they conclude.”⁴ This means that the exile is brought to its close through the attribute of faith, the attribute of Avraham Avinu, the first of the believers, of whom it says, “And he believed in Hashem.”⁵ For the main avodah in the footsteps of Moshiach, the era just before the redemption, is to strengthen oneself in faith in Hashem. This is the meaning of “and his hand was grasping Esav's heel.”⁶ The heel, akev, alludes to the footsteps, ikvesa, of Moshiach. In that era the Samech-Mem, Esav's angel, holds sway, and Yaakov Avinu set that dominion right through faith. That is “his hand was grasping,” in the spirit of “and his hands were faithfulness,”⁷ for the main repair in the footsteps of Moshiach comes through faith. And this is “And it came to pass mikeitz,” which Rashi explains as “at the end.”⁸ At the end of the exile, in the footsteps of Moshiach, when troubles multiply, the remedy is faith that everything at its root is good. That is “and behold, he was standing by the river.” For “the sea resembles the sky, and the sky resembles the Throne of Glory,”⁹ and this hints at yiras Shamayim, the fear of Heaven, and at faith. Those are his holy words.

4[What emerges from his words is that “and his hand was grasping Esav's heel” means this: Yaakov Avinu set right and annulled the dominion of Esav and of the sitra achra, the forces of impurity, through the power of faith. The point will be explained more fully below. The dominion of Esav stands for the nations of the world, who erred in faith and held that there is no hashgachah pratis, Hashem's watchful care over each individual. The Greeks followed their path when they said, “You have no portion in the God of Israel.” They meant that no individual has a portion in the God of Israel, Who rests upon him and watches over him personally; they wanted to deny faith in His providence. Against them, at the end of days, stands the last miracle, the miracle of Chanukah. It shows that the Holy One, blessed be He, watches over us individually. Hashem showed His love for Israel, for each individual, as though each one's status were that of a korban yachid, an individual's offering, which may not be brought in impurity.¹⁰ This is the very heart of the mitzvah's intent: to wipe out this view and uproot it from the heart.]

5We may explain this through what is known from the Rishonim, the early authorities.¹¹ Some of the nations believed that the Holy One, blessed be He, created heaven and earth. But they erred, saying it is beneath the King's dignity to watch over each and every individual. So they said that Hashem, Heaven forbid, left the world without hashgachah pratis. Such was their corrupt opinion. But “may the mouth of those who speak falsehood be stopped”!¹² The truth is that “Hashem is God in the heavens above and on the earth below,”¹³ meaning that He watches in detail over everything that happens in the world. As Chazal teach, “A person does not so much as bruise his finger below unless it is decreed upon him from Above.”¹⁴

6As is well known, this was also the false view of the Greeks. That is what they meant when they told Israel, “You have no portion in the God of Israel”: they came to uproot from Israel its pure faith in hashgachah pratis. The expression “a portion in the God of Israel” points to this. “Portion” alludes to hashgachah pratis, by which the Holy One, blessed be He, watches over each and every one personally. When the Greeks told Israel, “You have no portion in the God of Israel,” they meant, “There is no hashgachah pratis over you.” Heaven wished to remove their corrupt view from people's hearts and to show that there is hashgachah pratis in the world: Hashem watches over each and every one personally, the opposite of the Greeks' view. So Hashem performed the miracle of the cruse of oil and showed His providence in the world.

7This is what Yosef meant by “I fear Elokim.” When he said it, he was viceroy to Pharaoh, and some of Pharaoh's household servants were present. He wanted to uproot from their hearts their impure view that there is, Heaven forbid, no hashgachah pratis. So he said, “I fear Elokim,” because the Name Elokim alludes to hashgachah pratis. Elokim is the attribute of judgment, and it shows that the Holy One, blessed be He, judges and examines each and every individual according to his deeds. This answers our question: why Yosef mentioned the Name Elokim in particular.

8It follows from what we have said that in the days of Chanukah, more than at other times, a person can come to simple faith. We know the teaching of the holy R' Pinchas of Koritz, zt"l, recorded in Midrash Pinchas: on Chanukah the hidden light of our righteous Moshiach is revealed. This too fits what we have said. Now is the time best suited for reaching simple faith, and through faith we are privileged to see the redemption, as Chazal said, “With you they conclude”: with the attribute of faith. May Hashem grant that we be privileged to see this speedily. Amen.