Miketz 1987  
 
Chanukah is not just the story of the Jewish people's victor over the Syrian-Greeks.  It is also the story of the Jewish people's victory over themselves. There were many Jews who had been convinced that Judaism was a dying thing, that Judaism could not survive, that Judaism was inferior to the Hellenic way of life. Alexander the Great conquered the world, and when he died his empire was divided into four sections. One section, which was set in Damascus which ruled most of Turkey and on into Mesopotamia, were ruled by the Selucids. Another section, which was centered in Egypt, was ruled by the Talmays.  Israel originally was given over to the Talmays. There was a border war that continued for quite a few between the Talmays and the Selucids which centered about Israel. Eventually the Selucids wrested the land of Israel from the Talmays.
The events of Chanukah are very similar to the events of our modern day in which we see that Israel is the center of a struggle between two different powers, two different powers who are trying to control the entire Middle East. Antiochus was finally able to defeat the Talmays. This happened shortly before the Chanukah story unfolded. He engaged the Egyptians in battle, and he defeated them and was about ready to annex all Egypt when he heard a knock on the door. The Romans, who were a rising power on the other side of the Mediterranean, said that unless Antiochus withdrew from Egypt and gave the Talmays back their independence they would attack him. Antiochus had no choice, and, therefore, he had to give up his victorious gains and make his way back to Damascus. On his way back to Damascus he looted the Temple. He, however, then decided that if he was going to be able to stand up to Roman might he would have to have a more united empire. He did not think the Jews would protest about him introducing an idol of Zeus in the Temple or banning all Torah worship, etc., and become proper Syrian-Greeks because the Jews, themselves, were selling themselves out. We know that Jason paid a fortune in order to be high priest, and, of course,
Jason is not a Jewish name, but a few years later someone else called Menalouse, and, of course, his name is not Hebrew either. That is also a proper Greek name. His original name was probably Menachem or something like that. He outdid Jason for the high priesthood. Menalouse was not even a Kohen, not even a priest. We see that many Jews had already decided that Judaism was inferior and had nothing more to give to the world and that Judaism had no future. Antiochus then just acted upon what he thought were the wishes of the preponderance of the Jewish people. Something similar has happened in our day in the Soviet Union where many Jews welcomed Bolshevekism and Communism. They thought it was going to be their salvation. Of course, we know it was not their salvation, and the Jews resisted and are resisting now to try to free themselves from the Communist system, but originally there were a lot of sympathizers to the Communist cause among the Jewish people.
And, of course, here in America we find so many Jews who feel inferior and sometimes feel that Judaism has nothing yet to give the world.  I remember a few years ago I was called to see a very prominent professor (not in this town but in a previous pulpit), and this man called me up in the middle of the night and wanted me to come right away.  I was surprised because I had only met him once or twice, and I did not even know he was Jewish, but he insisted so I came to his house where he was in his recreation room.  In the north they call their basements recreation rooms. He was half drunk and poured out his story to me. He told me that no one knew he was Jewish, not his wife or children, and he just received a telegram that his mother died. He did not know what to do.  Should he go to the funeral? If he went everyone would know he was Jewish. We discussed the problem for a while, and then I left.  I do not know what he decided, but here was a man who was willing not even to go to his mother’s funeral so people would not know he was Jewish. Of course, not everyone was that way. There was also another man on that campus, a member of my congregation, named Herbert Brown who could have passed for a gentile, but he was a proud Jew. He even won the
Nobel Prize- Unfortunately, though, we had a lot of Jews who not only changed their names and noses but who did not want anything at all to do with Judaism, who thought that Judaism was a dying thing.
In the Torah portion Miketz we learn some of these same things. The rabbis have arranged it so that we read Miketz on Chanukah.  In this Torah portion we learn how Joseph is taken out of prison to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh. He successfully interprets the dreams of Pharaoh and is made the Viceroy of Egypt, second in command of all Egypt. He predicted a famine would strike after 7 years of plenty, and it did, and this famine not only struck Egypt but also the land of Canaan. His father was forced then to send his brothers to Egypt to buy grain. They come to Egypt, 10 of them, and Joseph recognizes them but they do not recognize Joseph. Then it says something very interesting.  It says, "And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamt for them". The question is many times asked, why didn't Joseph contact his father? After all, it had been 9 years since he had assumed power in Egypt, 7 years of plenty and this was the second year of famine. Why didn't he contact his father?
There are many answers given to this. One is, perhaps it would have been dangerous for him...there were many intrigues in court...after all, he was an interloper, an outsider. The second reason is that maybe he didn't know
if his father wanted him to contact him    after all, maybe his father was
involved with the plot of the brothers    it was his father who had sent him
to see the welfare of his brothers in Schem. Perhaps there is a deeper answer. The answer is that Joseph did not want to contact his father because he did not want to have any contact with the Jewish people, with his own kind. He was so hurt by what happened to him. He wanted to assimilate into Egyptian society. After all, Pharaoh had given him an Egyptian name, Sochnas Paneah, an Egyptian wife, Osnas Baspotiferah, and even when he named his children, he named his children with such names as to indicate that he no longer wanted to have any contact with his people. He called his eldest
son Menashe because G-d made me forget all the trouble in my father's house. He called his second son Ephraim because G-d has made me fruitful in this land of my affliction.  In other words, Joseph was a proper assimilated Egyptian. He no longer wanted to be known as a Jew, and it was not until he saw his brothers that he remembered the dreams that he dreamt. Then all of a sudden Jewish values came back to him. Joseph had made the mistake that many times many others even today make, and that is that because sometimes there are bad Jews and not all Jews are good, that, therefore, we give up on Jewish values, on Jewish dreams. Joseph had a bad experience. His brothers did not act according to Jewish values so, therefore, he gave up on Judaism entirely, but he remembered his dreams. He remembered that Judaism still has something to give to the world, that Judaism still has values which we should not sell short. Unfortunately, there are many people today who have given up completely on Jewish values. They have assimilated completely into the culture, but Judaism still has many thing to teach the world. We have the values of family. How America has destroyed the values of family!  We have the values of sex roles. People do not want to get married now. They do not want to raise children. Fathers do not want to support families and women do not want to be mothers. We also have the problems of drug and alcohol. Judaism taught us about kashruth. Kashruth, of course, teaches us that you cannot eat anything, ingest anything you want, and even the things you can eat you cannot eat whenever you want them. You cannot have milk and meat together, etc. Judaism has many values yet to teach the world. When the Jewish people gave up on the Friday night dinner, on Shabbos, they were giving up more than just Shabbos and the Friday night dinner. They were giving up the whole concept of family. Judaism has many things yet to teach the world. Joseph had to realize at this time that the Jewish values are still valuable and needed even if individual Jews may not act so well. Of course, we learn you have to implement these values day in and day out.  It is not enough just to have occasional ceremonies.  It is not enough to practice them once in a while. You have to practice them day in and day out.
That is why we learn in the Torah portion Miketz about the 7 years of plenty and then the 7 years of famine.  In order to prepare for the years of famine you must day in and day out during the years of plenty put away some grain. You cannot just put away a little bit here and a little bit there.  It would not last. Values have to be inculcated over and over again in the home. We must make a conscious effort to do that. We all know that when you teach a child to read it cannot be done in a few hours. You have to go over and over it for years until eventually the child reaches the level of reading. The same thing is true of moral values. We have to inculcate them in our child over and over. We have to celebrate one Shabbos after another, come to shul one day after another, practice our values day in and day out, and then they will have an effect on us and make us into the kind of people that we want us to be. It is very important that we practice our values day in and day out. It is very important that we realize that sometimes we have to sacrifice for these values. We know that none of the Maccabee brothers died a natural death. They were all killed fighting for Jewish freedom. The Maccabees did not win Jewish independence overnight.  It took 26 years, and every single one of the brothers was eventually killed, and Shimon, who eventually established a free Jewish state, was himself assassinated. We must work at it day in and day out. Jewish values are important to the world. Joseph remembered his dreams. These values can only be implemented in the world if we practice them day in and day out together with our children.
I remember the story they tell of a man in Russia who finally saved up enough money to buy a car. He went to the Minister of Transportation and put down his money and asked, "When will I get my car?" The bureaucrat in charge looked at him and said, "You'll get your car in 10 years." The man looked at him and asked, "In the morning or the evening?" The bureaucrat laughed and said, "What di”erence does it make? It wonft be for 10 years. What difference does it make if it is morning or evening?" The man replied, "Well, the plumber is coming in the morning." There are certain thing in
life that we must do over and over again if they are to have an impact.  If Jewish values are worth preserving, if Judaism still has something to say to the world then we must remember that we must not only be willing to fight for it, as the Maccabees were, but we must be willing to live it. It was gratifying to see 250,000 Jews assembled in Washington, D.C. willing to fight for Judaism, but I wonder how many of those 250,000 would be willing to live it. We must not only be willing to fight for Judaism. We must be willing to live it. We must be willing to live it even if occasionally we meet Jews who claim they are living Judaism but who do not practice it in the proper way. May we celebrate Chanukah for many years, and may the lesson of Chanukah always be ours, that we must not only believe that Judaism has values to give to the world, but we must be willing to fight for them and live them because it is only by living them that they will endure.
 
Today is Shabbos Chanukah.  The rabbis have always arranged it so that on Shabbos Chanukah we will read the Torah portion Miketz.  This Torah portion talks about the dreams that Pharaoh had in which the skinny cows ate the fat, good looking cows.  Appearance is not everything. Sometimes those things that look good do not have any strength and vigor, and they are actually prone to disaster.  The rabbis teach us that we read this Torah portion, too, because of the third word in the Torah portion, "Schnatayeem“, which the rabbis say stands for "Smol Nayer Tadlich Yameen Mezuzah“, which means that in the old days we used to light the Chanukah candles outside, and we were supposed to light the candles on the left and the mezuzah on the right.  This again emphasizes the fact that the hidden things are more important than that which can be seen.  We were to publicize the miracle of Chanukah.  The importance of the mezuzah, of course, is that which is hidden inside, the parchment inside.
The rabbis in the Talmud teach us that if we do not have enough money to purchase Chanukah candles we must go beg for the money.  They also teach us that if we do not have enough money to buy wine for the four cups of wine on Passover we should also go beg for the money.  These are the only two mitzvahs which the rabbis say we should go beg money for if we do not have the money to purchase them.  Why should this be so?  The rabbis do not tell us to go beg for money to purchase a lulav and estrog or go beg for money to purchase a succah or even matzah, but they tell us we should do this for the four cups of wine and the Chanukah candles.  This is indeed strange because Chanukah candles and the four cups of wine are only rabbinic commandments.  The commandment of the lulav and etrog, the succah, and matzah are from the Torah.