Yoseph at the age of seventeen would tend sheep with his brothers; the youth was with the sons of Bilha and the sons of Zilpa, the wives of his father. (Bereshis 37:2)
with the sons of Bilha: meaning, he was frequently with the sons of Bilha because the brothers would make fun of them, but he was close with them (RASHI)

We truly see the greatness of Yoseph by the way he treated the sons of the handmaids. These sons were often mocked by the other brothers because they were not born from the main wives. But Yoseph separated himself from the group and drew these boys closer to him.

Rav Dovid Orlofsky tells the following story. Every senior in high school knows that one day during the spring is called “Senior Cut Day”. Seniors take the day off and go on an outing with their friends: the beach, an amusement park, or anywhere that is not school. One year, one young lady decided she did not want to cut feeling it was demeaning to the teachers who had taught her so much during the year. So, she showed up in class. Of course, she was the only one that showed up on that day. The other students yelled at her and told her she was ruining the day for the rest of them. But she stood by her virtues and went to school that day. Where did she get the courage to do this?

The answer is she followed the ways of Yoseph. She broke away from the group and did what was right! Even though every one else around her was doing something else and the normal human behavior is to follow them (even if what they are doing is wrong), she did not. She stood up for what was the proper thing to do.

This Shabbos we begin Chanuka, when one of the main focuses is on oil. One of the amazing qualities of oil is that no matter what oil is mixed with, it separates itself. This is the lesson for us as Jews – we must separate ourselves. If we see everyone else in the world doing something that is wrong, we need to separate ourselves from it and do what is right.

If a person looks closely at oil when it separates, it does not only separate itself from other liquids. It also rises up to the top. When we separate ourselves, we make ourselves much greater people and rise to the top. Even though our peers might think we are destroying the world, we are really the ones standing on top of the world.

May we all have a freilichen chanuka and a Good Shabbos!
-yes
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