We always read Parashat Miketz on Chanukah. The Bet HaLevi brings down a beautiful midrash on this parasha:
ויהי מקץ שנתים ימים ופרעה חולם.
It was after two years, and Paroah had a dream.
אמר במדרש הה"ד קץ שם לחושך,
The Midrash says that this is what it means when it says in Iyov,
“קץ שם לחושך- G-d put an end to the darkness.”
(Miketz means end) In Iyov, there’s a pasuk using the word end, referring to darkness.
This is a little hint to Chanukah, when we light the candles to end darkness.
זמן נתן ליוסף כמה יהיה בבית האסורים
There was a given time that Yosef would be in jail
כיון שהגיע הקץ ופרעה חולם.
And when the time came that the decree for him to be in jail was ended, Paroah had the dream.
The Bet HaLevi says the Midrash is teaching us a lesson: Don’t think that Paroah had a dream and that was why Yosef got out. That’s wrong. It was because Yosef was supposed to get out of jail, that Paroah had a dream. This is what we call the “Upside-down Theory.” It’s a fundamental in life.
What people consider right side up, such as “I had a good license, so I made a lot money,” is wrong! Hashem decreed on Rosh Hashanah that you would make a lot of money, and that’s why you got the license. Everything is always decreed first, and then the decree causes the outcome. That’s what leads us find the sibba/ cause.
Rav Dessler says we have to constantly drill this into our minds. The causes are all after the fact. He says that it’s like looking through a peephole and seeing a pen writing but not being able to see the hand. Any thinking person knows that a pen doesn’t write on its own. We know there is a hand moving the pen even if we can’t see it. Well, G-d is the hand behind everything. Because G-d decided to write, there’s a word on the paper.
Rav Dessler writes in Michtav MeEliyahu,
לא הצליח בשביל שהוא חכם
A man is successful not because he is wise, but rather, because Hashem wanted him to be successful, that’s why he became wise. Likewise, the mighty man won the war, but not because he was strong. Rather, G-d wanted him to win, so that’s why he became strong.
We always have to put this in our heads.
A mashal I like to use is that when a 12th grade girl gets engaged right out of high school, and her father is successful, and she’s pretty, and very friendly, people say, “Of course she’s going to get engaged right away, it’s a no-brainer!” But that’s wrong. It’s because 18 years ago, G-d decreed “the daughter of so and so to so and so,” and she was supposed to get married at 18, that’s why her father made a lot of money when she was in tenth grade, and that’s why she lost weight in ninth grade. It wasn’t because of the sibbot (causes). Everything works the opposite of what it seems.
Therefore, says the Bet HaLevi, don’t focus on the intermediaries. If you realize that it’s the decree in heavan that makes it happen, your focus will be on praying harder on Rosh Hashanah to get your daughter married, rather than trying to make more money or put her on a diet.
That’s the rule.
Furthermore, when the pasuk says,
ויהי מקץ שנתים ימים ופרעה חולם.
It was after two years, and Paroah had a dream,
the Midrash says that this means Paroah had been dreaming the same dream for two years straight, and every morning he woke up disturbed because he had forgotten his dream. Why did that happen? The commentaries tell us that it was to teach us this same lesson. G-d was saying, “It was all ready. I could have taken care of it before. The dream was there. The license was there. But the decree wasn’t there in heavan.”
We learn that when Yosef asked the Butler to remember him two times, this was considered a little too much hishtadlut (effort) at his high level, and so he was held accountable.
The whole story of Yosef is a powerful bitachon lesson, and it comes out on Hanukah for this point.
The Bet HaLevi further tells us: Don’t think that because Yaakov Avinu gave Yosef the multicolored garment, the brothers got jealous and so they ended up in Mitzrayim. Wrong! It was decreed from hundreds of years before, at the Brit Ben HaBetarim, that they were supposed to go down to Mitzrayim, and that’s why Yaakov gave him the multicolored garment, and the brothers were jealous. That was all after the fact. We have to look at things the Bitachon way.
Shabbat Shalom, Hanukah Sameach and Hodesh Tov
Have a great day.