The Mishna in Pirkei Avot )6,6) says that one of the 48 ways to acquire Torah is to say something in the name of the person that said it. When you hear a D’var Torah, you should say, “I heard it from Rabbi so-and-so.”
The Mishna adds that if you say something in the name of somebody, t you bring Geula/redemption to the world, as we see from the story of Purim. Esther told the king about the plot to poison him in the name of Mordechai, and the whole miracle of Purim came about because Esther attributed the saving of Ahashverosh to Mordechai. What exactly is the connection? Seemingly, it's just a piece of the story. How does that bring Geula in general; if I say a Devar Torah in someone's name, I bring the Geula? Rav Usher Tuvia Weis, ztl, head of the Badatz, who passed away not long ago, quotes the Maharal, who says that when Hashem brings redemption, He wants everyone to know that it's happening from Him, and not that someone else should take credit for it.
As it says in Shemot 7,5 “The Egyptians will know that I am Hashem that took the Jewish people out.”
Somebody who takes credit and doesn't attribute credit to where the credit is due cannot be the vehicle for the redemption. They'll just take the credit and say,”Look what I did with my wisdom.” But because Esther wasn't the kind of person to take credit, she could be the vehicle for the Geula. She will be the one to attribute the success to Hashem and not to herself. Therefore, anyone who is
אומר דבר בשם אומרו someone that attributes the credit to someone when it's due can be the vehicle for bringing about the redemption.
Additionally, Rav Elya Lopian quotes Shoftim 7,2 where Hashem told Gidon when he was going out to war, “You're going out with too many people. You're going to take the credit for it and say I saved it.” Hashem wanted to limit the amount of people so that it would be clear that He made the miracle happen. And we see this in other places in Tanach, such as the war with Midyan. Hashem is the One that makes it happen.
Similarly, we find this with Yosef HaSadik. When Paroah asked him if he knew how to interpret dreams, his answer was, “Not me, God will do it.” Yosef had this natural trait not to take the credit, and that's why he was the messenger for the Geula.
Rav Elya adds that it’s it not enough for a person to say the D’var Torah and then add at the end, “By the way, so-and-so said it”
Yosef immediately said, “Whatever I'm going to say comes from God,” before he even gave the interpretation. We learn from this that not even for a moment should you enjoy the pleasure or honor that is really due to someone else.
And Rabbi Weis further proved this from the story of Sedom. It says Sedom was so bad, they even brought the angels down, and part of it was their arrogance, which caused the angels to become arrogant. What did they do? The angels said (Bereshit 19,13), “We're going to destroy Sedom.”
Oh really? We're going destroy Sedom?Rashi says that for that, God made them say to Lot a little bit later (19,22) “We can't do anything until you leave the city.” That was their punishment.
They had to say we can't control it.
But there’s a question. The full pasuk says,
כִּֽי־מַשְׁחִתִ֣ים אֲנַ֔חְנוּ אֶת־הַמָּק֖וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה כִּֽי־גָדְלָ֤ה צַעֲקָתָם֙ אֶת־פְּנֵ֣י ה׳ וַיְשַׁלְּחֵ֥נוּ ה׳ לְשַׁחֲתָֽהּ
We're going to destroy the place.
Their cry was great in front of Hashem, and God sent us to destroy it.
They clearly said they were messengers of God, so what was the problem?
The problem was, they didn't say it at the beginning of the statement. There were a few seconds until they clarified the message. First they said, “We're going do it,” and then they said, “God sent us.”
That was a problem. Someone that's truly אומר דבר בשם אמרו
doesn't even take a second of credit for himself. And that was Yosef HaSadik, as we see in this week’s Perasha. This really relates to the miracle of Hanukah. The reason for the miracle of the Menorah was that the miracle of winning the war could somehow have been attributed to themselves, and therefore God wanted to make it clear that it was God made it happen.
Of course, the vehicles were the Hashmona’im, known as the Maccabim, which stand for Mi Kamocha BaElim Hashem, and they did not take credit.
Today’s Maccabee sports team has nothing to do with this. They're taking credit for their success on the sports field. But Maccabee really means, “It's not us,” and when a person has that attitude, then he can be a vehicle of the redemption.
Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom.