Torah Teasers
Parshas Mekeitz / Chanukah
Yosef Explains A Dream And Becomes A Powerful Ruler? Yosef is pulled out of jail to decipher the message of Paroh’s dream, which he does successfully. In reward for this Paroh makes him vice king and second in command. Isn’t this a bit rash? Could he not have made him Minister of Economy or Chief Advisor?
The Toras Chaim answers this with the following story about the Noda B’Yehuda: There were two wealthy people in town who lived in the same courtyard. One day a world class harpist came to the courtyard, played beautiful music, and left. Each one claimed that the music was in his honor. They decided to settle their dispute before the wise Noda B’Yehuda, whom they paid handsomely to decide whose honor the music was for.
After hearing the entire story, the Noda B’Yehuda proclaimed that the music was not in honor of either one of them. The music was clearly in the honor of the Noda B’Yehuda, in order that he should profit from arbitrating this strange dispute.
Paroh was convinced that the dream was in his honor, the great and mighty king. The Mitzrim were sure that it was in honor of the nation, to make them a world power. Yosef interpreted the dream and explained to them that it was purely to get him out of the pit and raise him to a lofty status. Paroh admitted defeat and immediately carried out the dream by making Yosef his second in command.
How Did All Paroh’s Interpreters Miss An Easy One? Paroh’s dream about fat cows and skinny ones, healthy stalks and wind beaten ones, seem obviously to be referring to feast and famine. How is it that the best they could come up with was something far off like Paroh’s seven daughters?
The Satmar Rov in Divrei Yoel answers that the dream showed seven years of famine. In reality the famine stopped after two years when Yaakov came to Mitzrayim and were eventually made up centuries later in the time of Yechezkel.
The Ramban (Devarim 18:9) writes that Mazalim and Sheidim can tell the future but only the immediate future and not the distant future. Therefore, Paroh’s Chartumim only saw two years of famine and could not reconcile this with the dream of seven bad years. Only Yosef, who interpreted with Hashem’s help, could see how the whole dream would be played out.
Reuven Offer The Lives Of His Two Children The Shevatim needed to return to Mitzrayim for more food, but they knew they cannot do so without bringing Binyomin with them. Yaakov refused, and Reuven tells him that he will take personal responsibility and will put up the lives of two of his children as collateral. What exactly was he thinking?
The Shnayim Mikra brings from Rav Shlomo Zalman Zalaznik, the Rosh Yeshiva of Eitz Chaim in Yerushalayim, as follows: When the daughter of Nichunya, the well digger, fell into a well, they went to Rebbi Chanina ben Dosa to daven for her. He said, “Not to worry; she is fine.” An hour later they came crying to him again, and again he told them that she was doing fine. The third time they came back, he said that she is already out of the well. They were amazed. “I am not a Navi,” he told them. “It is obvious that Nichunya the tzadik, who dug wells for Bnei Yisrael, would not lose his child in a well, which is his greatest ally.
When the Shevatim wanted to Kill Yosef, only Reuven felt his father’s pain and protested. “He knew,” says Rav Zalaznik, “that after his Mesiras Nefesh to save his own father from suffering the loss of his child, nothing bad could ever happen to his children, and he would be able to bring home Binyomin safely.”
Spies Don’t Drink Wine “Vayishtu Vayishkiru Imo.” (Mikeitz 43:32) When Yosef invited the Shvatim to dine with him upon their second arrival, they drank wine with him. Rashi says this was the first time since the sale of Yosef twenty two years prior, that either Yosef or the Shvatim drank wine. Yosef drank wine because he had his brothers with him, but why did the Shvatim allow themselves to indulge in wine when nothing changed to their knowledge with regard to Yosef?
The Iturei Torah brings from the HaMedrash V’HaMaaseh that the Shvatim were still under the accusation of being spies. A spy cannot allow himself to become intoxicated as he must always be on guard–careful of what he says and how he acts in order not give himself away. Had the Shvatim refused to drink with Yosef, they would be furthering his suspicion. For this reason they went along and agreed to drink wine.
King of Mitzrayim and No Letter Home? Yosef was the favorite son of Yaakov, who had spent 20 years mourning Yosef’s disappearance. Could Yosef HaTzaddik not have figured out a way to get a message to his dear father Yaakov that he was alive and well? Furthermore when the Shevatim stood before Yosef in Mitzrayim, should he not have jumped on the opportunity to put the misery and mystery behind all of them already?
Some say that Yosef needed to see his dreams played out, as they were nevuah. However Rav Shamshon Rephael Hirsch dismisses that notion as that is Hashem’s job and Yosef surely understood that his job was to do the right thing and leave the Nevuah to Hashem while was occupied mending the torn hearts. Rav Hirsch answers that Yosef wanted to end the split in the family caused by the Shevatim’s misinterpretation of his ambitions. The Shevatim were afraid of Yosef’s ambitions from the day he told them of his dreams. However Yosef’s intention was never to rule over them, only to play his decreed role in Am Yisroel according to the Ratzon Hashem with complete modesty, love, and respect for his brothers. Had Yosef revealed himself as the King of Mitzrayim before the Shevatim felt remorse and before he proved his modesty and his intentions not to harm them, he would have set the clock back twenty years with nothing changed, other than he proving he was indeed ambitious and superior just as the brothers feared. This would have given Yaakov no comfort even with the additional piece of information that Yosef was alive.

Chanuka came to Bergen Belsen. It was time to kindle the Chanuka lights. A jug of oil was not to be found, no candle was in sight, and a Chanukia belonged to the distant past. Instead, a wooden clog, the shoe of one of the inmates, became a Chanukia, strings pulled from a concentration camp uniform, a wick, and the black camp shoe polish, pure oil.
Not far from the heaps of bodies, the living skeletons assembled to participate in the kindling of the Chanuka lights.
The Rav of Bluzhov lit the first light and chanted the first two blessings in his pleasant voice, and the festive melody was filled with sorrow and pain. When he was about to recite the third blessing, he stopped, turned his head, and looked around as if he were searching for something. But immediately, he turned his face back to the quivering small lights and in a strong, reassuring, comforting voice, chanted the third blessing: “Blessed are Thou, O L-ord, our G-d, King of the Universe, who has kept us alive, and has preserved us, and enabled us to reach this season.”
Among the people present at the kindling of the light was a Mr. Zamietchkowski, one of the leaders of the Warsaw Bund. He was a clever, sincere person with a passion for discussing matters of religion, faith and truth. Even here in camp at Bergen Belsen, his passion for discussion did not abate. He never missed an opportunity to engage in such conversation.
As soon as the Rav of Bluzhov had finished the ceremony of kindling the lights, Zamiechkowski elbowed his way to the Rabbi and said, “Spira, you are a clever and honest person. I can understand your need to light Chanuka candles in these wretched times. I can even understand the historical note of the second blessing, “Who wrought miracles for our Fathers in days of old, at this season.” But the fact that you recited the third blessing is beyond me. How could you thank G-d and say “Blessed art Thou, O L-rd, our G-d, King of the Universe, who has kept us alive, and hast preserved us, and enabled us to reach this season”? How could you say it when hundreds of dead Jewish bodies are literally lying within the shadows of the Chanuka lights, when thousands of living Jewish skeletons are walking around in camp, and millions more are being massacred? For this you are thankful to G-d? For this you praise the L-rd? This you call “keeping us alive?”
“Zamietchkowski, you are a hundred percent right,” answered the Rav. “When I reached the third blessing, I also hesitated and asked myself, what should I do with this blessing? I turned my head in order to ask the Rav of Zaner and other distinguished Rabbonim who were standing near me if indeed I might recite the blessing. But just as I was turning my head, I noticed that behind me a throng was standing, a large crowd of living Jews, their faces expressing faith, devotion, and deliberation as they were listening to the rite of the kindling of the Chanuka lights. I said to myself, if G-d has such a nation that at times like these, when during the lighting of the Chanuka lights they see in front of them the heaps of bodies of their beloved fathers, brothers, and sons, and death is looking from every corner, if despite all that, they stand in throngs and with devotion listening to the Chanuka blessing “Who performed miracles for our Fathers in days of old, at this season”; indeed I was blessed to see such a people with so much faith and fervor, then I am under a special obligation to recite the third blessing.”
Some years after the liberation, the Rav of Bluzhov received regards from Mr. Zamietchkowski. Zamietchkowski asked the son of the Skabiner Rav to tell Israel Spira, the Rav of Bluzhov, that the answer he gave him that dark Chanuka night in Bergen Belsen had stayed with him ever since, and was a constant source of inspiration during hard and troubled times.
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Excruciatingly slowly, the train to Siberia pulled out of Telz station, saving Rabbi Chaim Stein and his friends from certain death.
The train was a “local”, meaning it stopped at every “stodt and shtetl” along the way. Getting to Siberia and freedom would take many days, but for the moment they were safe. The friends sunk back in the chairs, their hearts filled with thanks to G-d for their delivery.
Several days passed. The unremitting boredom of the landscape was alleviated only by their learning of Torah and davening. Then someone remembered that the first light of Chanukah would be that night.
But how to light a candle here on this train?
They racked their brains trying to come up with an idea. Someone cut a small patch from his shirt and pulled it to pieces thread by thread and he twisted a wick from the threads. Someone else found a small discarded metal can that would do for a cup. But what about oil for the candle’s light? They thought and thought but no one could come up with a solution. They sat in silence for many minutes, with only the sound of the engine chuffing up ahead.
The engine! Engines run on oil! Maybe there would be a way to get some of that oil?
It wasn’t long till the next stop. As soon as the train came to a rest, they all jumped down and examined the engine from every possible angle. One of them found a small venting pipe from which a minuscule amount of oil was dripping. They placed the cup under the pipe and collected as many drops as they could until the conductor blew his whistle and they hastily scampered back onto the train. This ceremony was repeated throughout the day. They worked out that there were enough stops along the line to gather the minimum amount of oil needed to light the menorah.
With hearts full of thanks to G-d they lit the first light and made the three blessings .”Who has sanctified us through His commandments and commanded us to light the lights of Chanuka;” …Who performed miracles for our fathers in those days at this time;” “…Who kept us alive and given us existence, and brought us to this time.”
They repeated this daily ritual of collecting the oil (with the exception of Shabbat) throughout the days of Chanuka.
The weather was deteriorating rapidly. In this wilderness stops were few. The frosty chill of Telz was replaced by the biting cold of the Siberian wasteland. And biting it surely was, for anyone who left the train for more than a few seconds without protective clothing would suffer frostbite.
On the last day of Chanukah one of them volunteered to try and get some oil. Someone wrapped his head with his own coat. Someone else lent him an extra pair of pants even though the temperature in the railway carriage was already subzero. When train stopped he clambered down and pushed through the snow to the engine.
Nothing. Not a drop was leaking from the pipe, It was too cold even for the oil.
As quickly as he could, he made his way back to their carriage with the bad news.
As night loomed, their gloom deepened. The time for lighting came and went. There was nothing they could do.
Despair is not a Jewish thing.

If they couldn’t light the last candle physically, they would light in there hearts instead. They started to sing and dance and recount all they knew about Chanukah – including the halachic, ethical and mystical interpretations of the miraculous events of the festival.
They stayed up all night.
Around four o’clock in the morning there was a knock on the door of their carriage. They opened the door and filling the entrance was this enormous Russian with a candle in his hand.
“Do you need a candle?” he said.
Without even answering him, they grabbed the candle set it on the small table by the windowsill, made the blessings, and lit the candle.
Literally seconds later the ‘morning star’ rose — after which you can no longer light the Chanukah lights.
They had made it with only a few seconds to spare.
They turned around to thank the burly Russian, but he was nowhere to be seen.
The next day they scoured the train, but they could not find him, and he couldn’t have left the train, for there no more stops that day.
The story of Chanukah is a story of self-sacrifice. The Chashmonaim were prepared to give up their lives, and because of this, G-d gave them a miraculous victory.
But self-sacrifice doesn’t just mean being prepared to die – it means being ready to give up what we what for what G-d wants.

On That Note….. Moshe Yess Remembered
Two years ago the world of Jewish music experienced a great loss with the passing of Moshe Yess, a beloved entertainer and gifted musician whose troubadour —inspired audiences throughout the world.
Yess, who is best known for the song “My Zaidy,” was a Baal Teshiva, who lived in Montreal, Canada, and was working as a performer and teacher until his untimely demise .
Yess’s personal odyssey began in the 1970s, when Moshe, then Morris, lived in Hollywood, until 1978, when he moved to Israel and settled on Rechov Avinoam Yelen in Jerusalem He enrolled in Yeshiva D’var Yerushalayim where he met Rabbi Shalom Levine, who became his mentor in halacha and eventually his musical partner as well. They named their duo Megama — which is Hebrew for “direction.” Their goal was to communicate the beauty and values of Judaism with a musical style that was a blend of decidedly Amercian idioms including folk, R&B, Blues & Rock
Because this was decades before promotional/marketing ‘tools” like email, viral videos, social media etc Yess & Levine had to rely on something way more visceral to get their ‘brand’ out there…their talent. Their easygoing performance style and warm friendly charm translated well on stage and resulted in over 3 1/2 years of almost constant touring & recording. One whirlwind tour included 32 shows in 29 cities in 42 days. While many of their songs were popular it was “My Zaidy” that got them ‘on the radar’. Legendary radio personality Art Raymond of WEVD, once confided that it was the most requested song he had in his almost two decades of New York broadcasting. Considering the vast size and scope of his audience, that statement more than said it all
With two hit albums, a recording contract with CBS Records International and numerous educational songs, Yess’s “Post Megama” performance career spanned 20 years and 5 continents. When not performing or composing his focus was on progressing in his Jewish studies.
Because of his legendary crossover appeal and iconic reputation as a performer he was often called to grace the stages of high profile benefit shows and music festivals including HASC — A Time For Music, the Chabad Telethon and others.
While other performers of his caliber would be content with basking in the adulation of an international fan base, Yess continued to expand his talents by partnering with Abie Rotenberg–the legendary talent that gave the world D’Veykus, Journeys and other timeless classics. Together these two creative powerhouses produced a very unique children’s album entitled the Marvelous Middos Machine. Always looking for the ‘next” Yess turned the material from these albums into one of the first animated music videos created exclusively for the Jewish audience.. Among his other projects geared towards children were Roburg[G1] , Stories of the Baal Shem Tov and the Amazing Torah Bike.
Nobody understood–or respected the magnitude of his success and the ‘power” and reach of his signature style better than Yess himself He introduced the Jewish world to his contemplative yet matter-of-fact style of music which imbued Jewish youth and adults with a message of hope and faith in G-d, while inspiring them to strengthen their commitment to religious observance.
Due to numerous health problems, Yess retired from the music scene a number of years ago. Many of his original album masters disappeared and only a handful of hits remain on the radio and in the memories of his fans, but many of his greatest masterpieces will never be forgotten by his most diehard of fans.

Created By Avrohom Sherman
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