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שבת שלום - פרשת מקץ \ חנוכה \ ראש חדש
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Video Shiur
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Click play to watch the video shiur by Rav Pesach Wolicki
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News and Notes
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We wish a big mazal tov to Rabbi Baruch
David Greenman and his wife Julie on the
birth of a daughter, Shifra Tova, this
past Monday. Shetizku l'gadla l'Torah
ul'chuppah ul'maasim tovim!
We also wish a big mazal tov to Rav
Noam and Sara Sendor, on the birth of a
baby boy on Wednesday. Shetizku l'hachniso
bibrito shel Avraham Avinu b'ito ub'zmano,
ul'gadlo l'Torah ul'chuppah ul'maasim tovim!
Our students and faculty have been enjoying
the many special programs the yeshiva
has presented this Chanukah. On Sunday,
we were honored to host Rav Menachem Farber
of Yeshivat Darche Noam/Shapell's, who
presented a ma'mar on Chanukah he heard
from his venerated rosh yeshiva, Rav Yitzchak
Hutner zt"l.
On Monday night the yeshiva hosted an Ask
the Rabbis panel, featuring Rav Scott Kahn, Rav
Ariel Greenberg, Rav Daniel Katz, and Rav Yoav Druyan.
On Tuesday evening, Rabbi Natan Slifkin
presented a talk on The Leopard and the Bear,
which included a fascinating discussion of
Chanukah, and its relationship to various
attributes that appear in the natural world.
The yeshiva is not in session from
Wednesday through Shabbat, as our students
receive a well-deserved Chanukah break.
When we return on Sunday, we will be privileged
to host Dr. Lee Spetner, who will speak about
evolution. That night we will be having our annual
Mesibat Chanukah, featuring numerous activities,
including the debut performance of this year's
yeshiva band, and our annual Chanukah Jeopardy! tournament.
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Yosef's Unsolicited Advice
By Rabbi Scott Kahn
Parashat Miketz opens with Pharaoh's terrifying dreams, and continues with Yosef's brilliant interpretation of them. Yosef, however, gives advice in addition to interpretation. Why did he do this?
In Pharaoh's first dream, he saw himself watching a bizarre sight. As he stood upon the riverbank, seven fat, healthy cows emerged from the water, and began to graze. Immediately afterward, seven emaciated cows rose from the river, stood next to the fat cows, and devoured them. In his second dream, seven healthy ears of grain emerged, followed by seven unhealthy ears of grain; once again, the unhealthy group devoured the healthy. Pharaoh is mightily upset by these dreams, and finds no satisfaction from the interpretations of any of his wise men and magicians. Only when he calls upon Yosef is Pharaoh convinced that he has learned the authentic meaning of his dreams.
Yosef explains that the two dreams have a single interpretation: that there will be seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of severe famine - a famine so severe, in fact, that the years of plenty will be all but forgotten. The repetition of the dreams means that they will be fulfilled immediately. Without pause, Yosef then recommends that Pharaoh appoint a wise and knowledgeable man, placing him in charge of all Egypt. This man should store the food from the years of plenty so that there will be food during the years of famine.
Why did Yosef give advice to Pharaoh? What motivated him to tell Pharaoh the means to avoid the disaster awaiting Egypt? And how did he know that such a plan would work? Isn't this plan an attempt to circumvent the divine decree embedded in the dreams?
The answer can be found through a closer analysis of Pharaoh's dreams. Yosef apparently ignores three details of the first dream: the fact that Pharaoh himself stands upon the riverbank when the cows emerge, the fact that the seven fat cows graze before the seven sickly cows arise, and the fact that all the cows stand next to each other before the thin cows eat the fat cows. Upon further reflection, however, it becomes clear that these three details are, in reality, crucial components of Yosef's interpretation. The grazing of the cows indicates that the cows, despite their health, are storing up food for the future. Before the fat cows are devoured, they stand next to the thin cows, thereby demonstrating the true purpose of their storage - to prepare for the upcoming disaster. And Pharaoh's presence at the riverbank while this occurs indicates that the process of storage should be overseen by someone just like Pharaoh himself.
Thus, Yosef's advice is, in actuality, embedded in the dream itself. The recommendation to appoint a Pharaoh-like figure to oversee storage is not something superfluous to the dream, but a key component of the dream's meaning. Far from being an attempt at avoiding the divine decree, Yosef's advice is actually included in G-d's communication with Pharaoh.
Pharaoh seems to recognize this, as well. Otherwise, the obvious question arises as to why he would have raised Yosef to such prominence, when he could have simply placed him in charge of the national storage plan. That surely would not have required Yosef's becoming the most powerful man in Egypt! But because the dream depicted Pharaoh himself at the riverbank, Pharaoh realized that the man in charge of this project needed to be a Pharaoh-like figure.
Yosef's success, then, was a direct consequence of his paying attention to the details of Pharaoh's dream. Indeed, success in most endeavors is determined by how much we care about the small details. Often, we are afraid of not seeing the big picture, of not recognizing the whole that unites the many disparate parts. But Yosef's careful exposition demonstrates that there is also a real danger in refusing to make every piece of the puzzle fit perfectly. In the personal as well as the religious sphere, paying attention to details is where true greatness can be achieved.
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