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Okay, shalom aleichem, chevrach, gut Erev Shabbos Chanukah. I hope everybody is having a lichtig Chanukah. Just to share a couple of big ideas on this week's parsha, which are related to Chanukah. It's not a true Chanukah drasha unless we take the opportunity to delve deeply into the parsha and see. Through the simple explanation of the words to the deeper understanding, the light hidden beneath the surface. Pasuk in this week's parsha tells us about the dreams of Paro. So Paro, at the end of two full years, was dreaming And he's standing by the Nile. Behold. From the Nile River are coming up seven cows. They look handsome, robust, and they are pasturing in the marshland. And behold, seven other cows are coming up from the Nile River. And they're ugly, and they're lean. And they stood beside the cows that are on the banks of the Nile River.
What happens? The cows that are ugly and lean devour the seven cows that are handsome and healthy, and then Paro awakes from his dream. That is the first dream that Paro has. And then Paro has a second dream. So Paro falls asleep. He dreams again, and behold, seven ears of grain are growing on one stalk, and they look healthy and they're good. And then seven ears of grain are thin, and they're beaten by the eastern wind. And they're growing up after them, and the thin ears of grain swallow up the seven healthy and full ears of grain. And Paro awoke, and again he had a dream. So he calls, we know for Yosef HaTzaddik. We're not going to go through every detail of the story. And Yosef HaTzaddik comes, and he tells Paro. And Yosef says to Paro, Paro's dream is really one. It's not two dreams. It's one dream.
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What Hakadosh Baruch Hu is doing, he's telling Paro. The seven good cows are seven years. The seven good years of grain are seven years. It's all one dream. And what does Paro, what does Yosef advise Paro to do? He says, Let Paro go seek out an understanding and wise man and appoint him. Over the land of Egypt, so we all know the story. The story is that there's seven years of famine, seven years of plenty, seven years of famine, and Yosef Eshtadik saying, 'Appoint a wise man to put away from the seven years of plenty for the seven years of famine, and this way everyone in Mitzrayim will survive.' There is an obvious question though, and the obvious question is what exactly does this mean? Are we really going to be able to put away enough food? Is there enough surplus? To last for seven years, because in the seven years of plenty, they have enough. But do they have enough that they can ration what they have in order to be able to survive for the seven years that follow? It's not obvious that you're going to have not just enough for seven years, but that you're going to have a surplus that's going to be able to last you for seven years. So perhaps there's something deeper going on over here.
Zayra Kodesh says that the seven healthy cows. And the full ears of grain they represent the seven middos of kedusha, chesed, gevura, tefers, netzach, hayyisayid, and malchus. And this is why we see that the cows graze together. And the grain grows on one stalk. Because anything that's bechinas kedusha, anything that comes from the realm of Hakadosh baruch hu's transparency, will always reveal Hashem's oneness in this world. And that's why we see the pasuk tells us that One second, I'm sorry. Vaterena bachu that they are grazing in the marshland. But when it comes to the seven skinny cows that are ugly, it just says vatahmoyna eitzel aporas alsfasayar. They're standing next to the cows. It doesn't say that they're all together. It doesn't reveal the oneness. And the same thing when it comes to the ears of grain. It says oylis bekane echad that they're all growing on one stalk.
And they're just growing after them. Doesn't have that same b'chena of oneness. So the seven healthy cows and the seven full ears of grain represent the Zion midos of kedusha, and the skinny cows and the not so pretty ears of grain represent the seven emaciated cows. That's the right way to say it. And the shriveled grain represent the seven midos of klipa. What is Hashem Baruch Hu telling Paro? So Hashem is telling Paro as follows: You should know that the midos of klipa The midos of tumah, the seven midos of klipa and the seven midos of tumah in this world have no life force on their own. Reshaem afilu b'chayehem keruyim mesim. That the evil people, even while they're alive, are really called dead, because they have no chayes of their own. All they do is they borrow life from the midos of kedusha. So they are alive; they exist in this world, but they are not life itself. And so, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is telling Paro that the midos of klipa, in order to survive, have to steal their chayus from the seven midos of kedusha.
And therefore, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is telling Paro, you should respect Klal Yisrael in gullus, because the only way that you're going to be able to survive in this world is if you have Klal Yisrael in your midst. You're going to be able to take Chaius from them. But really, on your own, you cannot exist. And this is why, when Paro is telling over his dream to Yosef HaTzaddik, he says that when the seven skinny cows ate the seven robust cows, it wasn't obvious that they had come inside of them. Their appearance remained as poor as they did in the beginning. And the Sfas Emes explains that what this means is that the sitra achra does not know that it's receiving its chayas from kedusha. It believes itself to be its own source of life. Even though the seven skinny cows are eating from the seven fat cows, representing the seven midos of kedusha The seven skinny cows they don't even realize. They don't appear to be fatter initially because they don't realize that it's their whole chayus is coming from the Zion Midas of kedusha. They still think it's coming from itself, and this is how the Navi Yecheskel describes Paro. Behold, I am against you, Paro, king of Egypt, the great serpent that lies in the midst of the river.
Who says? What does Paro say? Liya ayri. The river is mine. Vaaniyasi soni. And I made the river. In other words, Paro believes himself to be a god. Paro believes that he is his own source of life. What stands against Paro in this world? What stands against Paro in the world is Tzaddik. The Tzaddik is the aggregator, the one who reveals the oneness of everything. If Paro believes in the fragmentation that there is a god and I am a god, and there's fragmentation in the world. The tzaddik comes along and says everything in this world is one. He aggregates all the fragmented parts of this world, things that appear to be separate and distinct, and he puts them all together. And who is the paradigmatic tzaddik? It is of course Yosef HaTzaddik. Let's take a deep dive into the life of Yosef HaTzaddik to try to understand who Yosef HaTzaddik is. Vatikra eshmoi Yosef lemor Yosef Hashem li ben acher.
Rachel Imenu, when she finally has a son, she names him Yosef. Why? Because she wants another son. How does Yosef HaTzaddik bring Rachel Imenu another son? Because of his name, Yosef means the aggregator, the koyach of asifah, the koyach of gathering. When someone gathers together everything, now we have not only do we have all the different individual parts, but all the individual parts when they're aggregated together, it represents an even higher dimension. Which is what we today colloquially say: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. L'mashal, you could have individualized things that are occurring, but when you put them all together, now you don't just have all those individualized things; you have something larger than that. For example, let's say a person has a car. The car has an engine. The car has wheels. The car has doors, et cetera. When you put all those things together, not only do you have all those individual parts, you also have a car. So the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Meaning L'mashal in this world. So we have seven days of creation: yom rishon, yom sheni, yom shlishi, etc.
But when you get to the eighth dimension being the dimension of olam haba, the eighth dimension reveals that you don't just have the fragmented parts of this world, but everything is the Rebbeinu Sholom. It reveals the oneness, how all of the seven days of creation work together. And now you have something that's even greater than the fragmented days of the week. This is the kaiyach of Yosef Hatzadik. And this is the dimension of eight. Whenever you see eight, it doesn't just mean lamala menateva. Eight means that it's the aggregator of all seven to reveal that it's not fragmented at all. Everything is really part of this greater oneness that is the Rebbeinu Shalom. And this, of course, relates deeply to Hanukkah. Yosef Hatzadik has many connections to Hanukkah. We know, for example, that Yosef Hatzadik makes a sudah for his brothers and tavayach tavach v'hachen. Tavayach tavach v'hachen is if you look at the osyos tavach v'hachen, it's osyos Chanukah. That's why Yosef is the gematria of Antiochus and Melch Yavon, and that's why Yavon says kiss for him Alkaren Hashor she'en lechem chelik belakei Israel. Yosef HaTzaddik is called by Moshe Rabbeinu bechor shirei hadar loy the karnayre of the karnav that Yavon understands that Yosef HaTzaddik stands opposed to it.
Yavon who believes only in fragmentation, only in the material nature of this world, and that's why they want to perfect the material nature of this world. Yehovah, who only believes in surface-level chachma, and that's why they have chachma, but they don't have the deeper dimensions of chachma. They say, 'Dafka, we have to go against Yosef right on the horn of a shor.' The shor is referring to Yosef Atadik. Who says, "Don't just look at the fragmentation of the world. Look at the aggregate. Look at the aggregate." Everything is all part of this unbelievable oneness. So Dafka Yavan goes against Yosef Hatzadik And going even deeper, now we know that when Yosef Hatzadik is born, the pasuk tells us that now that Yosef Hatzadik is born So Yaakov Avinu says to Lavan, he says, let me go, shalcheni, send me out, let me return to my home.
What's the pshat that the lashon of shalach is used over here? Why is he saying send me out? The Navi Avadya says, quoted by Rashi over here, v'ha'yah beis Yaakov, eish u'beis Yosef, lahava u'beis Esav, lekash. The Yaakov v'vinu was compared to a fire, and Yosef is compared to the spark, and Esav is compared to straw. The Ari Zal explains that during the eight days of Chanukah, every single night we're supposed to focus on one of the yud gimel midos harachimim. In particular, on the eighth night, one should focus on the last five. When it comes to the Yud Gimel Midas Arachimim, the first seven nights you focus on the first of each one each night. You focus on one of the seven Midas Arachimim, and on the eighth night you finish it up, and you go from Noitzar Chesed all the way to Vina'ke.
What's the chashivas of this? First of all, Yud Gimel is the gematria echad that the Yud Gimel Midas Arachimim. Represent the oneness of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That's how we get rachamim from Hashem, is we recognize the oneness of Hashem in everything. The Agur, the Kali explains as follows: Yaakov Avinu equals seven times the name Yud Kei Vav Kei, which is begematria one hundred and eighty-two. Yosef HaTzaddik equals six times the name of Havaya, which is begematria one hundred fifty-six. In other words, the first seven of the Yud Gimel Midas Rachamim are connected to Yaakov Avinu. Yosef, who begins the eighth dimension, is the continuation. Yaakov is the flame. Yosef is the spark. So Yaakov Avinu represents the first seven yud gemal midas harachamim, but on the eighth night of Hanukkah, which is the yoseid of Yosef HaTzaddik, we begin the eighth dimension, and that's now the six times the name yud kevavke, which is Gematria one fifty six. When you add these two together, Yaakov Avinu and Yosef, it comes out to three hundred and thirty-eight, which is the same gematria as Shalach.
In other words, Yaakov Avinu is saying to Lavan, now that it's not just me, the seven dimensions of Yud Gimel Midas Arachimim, but Yosef HaTzaddik was born, which brings the next six of the Yud Gimel Midas Arachimim. So now we've conquered Lavan because the Yud Gimel Midas Arachimim, the revelation of oneness in this world, conquers Lavan. And therefore, Shalchini send us out because that's the gematria. Shalach is the gematria of one hundred fifty-two plus one hundred eighty-six, and that's why Yaakov plus Yosef When you include the koylal, it is the same gematria as Ner Hanuka, because the whole Yoseid of Yaakov and Yosef together, the Yud Gimel Midas Arachamim, is the revelation of Hashem's oneness in this world, and therefore you include the koylal. Yaakov plus Yosef with the koylal is the gematria of Ner Hanuka. And also, we find that Esav Lekash is the same gematria as Shem and Zayas, because Esav, who believes in fragmentation, Hine Anaychi Hoy Lechlamus, Esav, who believes that everything in this world is destined to die, which is the ultimate fragmentation in this world. Death is the ultimate fragmentation. What defeats Esav in this world? Shem and Zayas. Then it's the oil of Hanukkah that defeats Esav in this world, and that's why we know. The pasuk tells us Yisrael Ahav es Yosef mikol banav ki ben zekunim hu loy va asal exynos pasim.
Yaakov vino loves Yosef because he's ben zekunim. He's the child of his old age, literally, and therefore he makes him exynos pasim. Ben zekunim is spelled without a vav, which is the same gematria as r, and ki ben zekunim hu is the same gematria as manira and loy. Is obviously thirty six a reference to the thirty six candles of Hanukkah and Loi va'asa is the same gematria as Zayis. So we see again that Yosef Hatzadik is deeply connected to the Mida of Hanukkah. That Yosef represents the continuation, the Hemshchik of Yaakov Avinu. So he's all these gematrias of Hanukkah of Or and Menorah and thirty six candles and Zayis. The Emre Noam says very beautifully that what does it mean? That Yosef Hatzadik, when he's in the house of Eshas Potifar, he comes home from his day of work, and that's when he has the confrontation with Eshas Potifar. The Emre Noam says that this took place on Zoyes Chanukah.
Which as we already mentioned, Zoyes Chanukah is the night of Yosef Hatzadik, because now that's the eighth dimension. And he says this. It happened. This whole story of Eishas Potifar happened on the eighth night of Chanukah. And as we said already, the eighth night of Chanukah is the culmination of the Yud Gimel Midas Arachimim, and the eighth night of Chanukah is Nightz Archesed. Nightz Archesed is the gematria of four twelve. It is the same gematria as Bias. Melachtoy is the same gematria as Zayis Chanukah. La Zayis is the same gematria as Shem and Zayis. We know the Gemara in Shabbos tells us that really a person is supposed to light next to their door. However, if they live in an upper chamber, then they should light in their window. And on the eighth night of Chanukah, we light the thirty-sixth candle. Chalone is Rashi Teivos Lamed Vav Neros Chanukah. So this is why Yosef HaTzaddik saw in the window. He saw in the chalone Dimus Diyoknashol Aviv because on the thirty-sixth night of Chanukah he was lighting Neros in the window. And that's why he saw his father, and that's what gave him the strength to overcome the nesayon with ashes potifar.
And this is why in this week's parsha, the Torah tells us he put his brothers in prison for three days. And on the third day, Yosef said to them, 'Do this and live.' I fear God, and the Tifer Shloima, the Hilgat Tifer Shloima, says that Zois here is an allusion to Zos Chanuka. This whole story that Yosef HaTzaddik put the brothers in jail. He aggregated them together. He put them in jail, meaning he tried to show the Shvatim you are not distinct entities. You are all that bechina of echad. So he aggregates them together in the jail. Vayomer lehem Yosef. Vayom Ashlishi. Zos. Zos is a reference to Zos Chanuka. Do this and live. Because as we said before, seven is not really the dimension of life. Seven could be the dimension Chas v'Shalom of Klipa, of fragmentation into the world. But once he brings them in on Zoy's Hanukkah, he reveals that the Zion Midas of Klipa are really getting their life force from the Zion Midas of Kedusha, which is of course coming from this Bechina of the eighth dimension. And this is why Dafke Yosef HaTzaddik tells Paro, you have think you have two dreams.
You don't have two dreams. You have one dream. Ain od molvado. There is nothing else other than Hakadosh Baruch Hu in this world. Everything in this world is one. Yosef says to Paro, "I'm not going to do anything. There is no me. There is no me as an interpreter of a dream. If Yosef HaTzaddik would recognize himself that I interpret the dream, that would be fragmentation. Yosef HaTzaddik says there is no I. This is the whole Yosef. Paro thinks that he is his own person. That's why he's the ultimate representation of ego. Paro lives separate and distinct from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, completely separate." And Yosef Atzad comes to say to him, 'There is nothing other than Hakadosh Baruch Hu.' You think you had two dreams? You really only had one dream. And that's why Yosef tells Paro, 'You need to seek out somebody who's very wise.' Meaning, you Paro need to accept it can't come from me. I can't tell you to appoint me. You on your own need to recognize that I am the tzaddik, that I am the aggregator, the one who reveals, like Hashem Baruch Hu's oneness in this world. You need to find someone who has this bechina of chachma, the inner dimension of chachma.
Not the external dimension of chachma that just measures all of the fragmentation of the world, but someone who knows the true chachma, someone who could see beyond and aggregate everything in this world. So it can't come from Yosef. Paro needs to accept this truth. And that's why Paro says, "Look, at the end of the day, I am ego, but I can do everything you're basically saying. Meaning, all of my people shall be nourished, right?" Rashi says, "All of my people," and the pasuk says, "All of my people shall be nourished through you." The only thing that will be greater than you is me. Because Paro says, "At the end of the day, I'm still Klebo." But the whole Yoseid now of Klipa is I recognize that my Chaius is coming from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and that's why Rashi says, "Kol tsarche ami yunasim al yadcha," meaning everything that my people need, meaning all of Mitzrayim gains its sustenance, rack through you. The only thing Paro can't say is that there is Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Raka kisei Rashi says, "Sheyukar and li Melech." At the end of the day, they still have to call me Melech. They can't. I can't recognize that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the true
True King. That will be the ultimate story of Paro. That Paro eventually recognizes, and that's why Paro becomes the Melech of Ninve. And that's why Ninve is able to do tshuva because eventually Paro himself becomes the B'al tshuva and recognizes that really all there is Hakadosh Baruch Hu. This is what happens at the end of days. That all of the fragmentation in the world recognizes that it is all part of this oneness. So Paro appoints Yisroel Tzadik and he calls him Tzafnas Paneach. Why does he call him Tzafnas Paneach? Because that which is concealed he reveals. Meaning now Paro understands that I get all of my chayos from the Rebbeinu Shalom. That was concealed from the Klipos of the Zion Midas of Klipa. They thought the Zion Midas of Klipa. They think that they are their own source of life. Now they recognize there's something beneath the surface. Beneath the surface of this material world that we live in, there's chayus, there's life force that comes from a higher dimension.
And now we can understand why Yosef HaTzaddik gathers together all of the money in Mitzrayim and in Canaan. Vayilka Yosef has kol a kesef ha nimzah be'etz Mitzrayim ve'etz Canaan b'shever Hashem shloivrim. Vayava Yosef has a kesef be'saparo. Yosef collects all the money that's found in Mitzrayim, that's found in Canaan. With the grain that they were buying, and Yosef brings the money into the house of Paro, meaning once the Zion Midos of Klepa recognize that their Chaius is coming from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so now Yosef Hatzadik in Mitzrayim Dafka can aggregate all the fragmentation in the world. He brings all the money in the world into Mitzrayim because what he's showing is the dimension of Echad that exists beneath the surface in Mitzrayim, and now we can understand. Why it says in the pasuk Vayakam elah chodesh haMitzrayim, Asher lo yada es Yosef. Now we can understand why in Parsha Shmos a new king arises and he doesn't know Yosef. Meaning we're back to the same old story of Mitzrayim. For a moment in the times of Yosef Hatzadik, when Yosef Hatzadik was in Mitzrayim, he's able to convince Klipa that really there is no fragmentation and that everything is one.
But once a new king arises and he doesn't know the b'chinah of Yosef Hatzadik. He doesn't know this dimension of oneness. So now Mitzrayim is going to have a problem, because what is now the relationship between Mitzrayim and Klal Yisrael? Remember that very early on, when he's having these dreams, Yosef Hatzadik tells Paro that this is a message from Hashem. You have to protect Klal Yisrael and Goyus, because your entire chayus comes from them. But once you forget Yosef Hatzadik, now all of a sudden Klal Yisrael becomes a threat. All of a sudden, rather than being the life force that sustains the entire Mitzrayim, now all of a sudden he becomes afraid of Klal Yisrael. And what does he say? Now we have to deal with them in an intelligent way. Remember, what does Yosef HaTzaddik say to Paro? You have to appoint a chacham.
You have to appoint a chacham. Meaning, you cannot live with your chachma because your chachma is the chachma of fragmentation. And ultimately, the chachma of fragmentation results in famine, and it will result in death. The only way to rise above that is the true chachma, which is chachmas atayra. So Paro has to recognize Yosef and appoint Yosef HaTzaddik. But now that Paro ceases to remember the chashivas of Klal Yisrael is what really gives chayes to Mitzrayim. Now he says Hava Neschach Malo. Now we're back to our own level of chachma. Which ultimately will result in Klal Yisrael leaving Mitzrayim, and specifically not only Klal Yisrael leaving Mitzrayim, but Yosef HaTzaddik has to leave Mitzrayim because Yosef HaTzaddik has no place in Mitzrayim anymore. The whole Yoseid of Yosef in Mitzrayim is to be able to reveal the oneness of Hakadosh Baruch Hu in Mitzrayim, and that's why Moshe Rabbeinu was so machped to take out the Atzmos Yosef when Klal Yisrael is going around and collecting all of the kesef.
That was taken from Mitzrayim and taken from Canaan. How did they become so wealthy? How did Klal Yisrael become so wealthy? Because all of the kesef from the entire world, all the money from the entire world, was brought to Mitzrayim. And now, when Klal Yisrael leaves Mitzrayim, they take all of that money, meaning they take all of those sparks of kedusha, kisufim. Takes all those sparks of kedusha out of Mitzrayim. What does Moshe Rabbeinu occupy himself with? You can take the kesef out of Mitzrayim. Moshe Rabbeinu says, I have to take Yisef out of Mitzrayim. We're emptying Mitzrayim now. We're taking away all the sparks of kedusha that were hidden in Mitzrayim. The only reason we went down to Mitzrayim was to reveal those nitzotzos of kedusha. So now Moshe Rabbeinu occupies himself with taking the bones of Yosef out of Mitzrayim, and that's why at the very end of the story, what happens? By Yomer Moshe Laam, Al Tiro. Moshe says to the people, 'Don't be afraid. Hes Yatzavu. Stand firm. Uruus Yeshua Hashem. You're going to see Yeshua from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, Hashayas Lechem, that He's going to do for you.' Today, because the way for the way you have seen Mitzrayim today
The Egyptians today, lo tosifu l'risam eid ad olam, you will not continue. You will no longer continue to see them for eternity. In other words, Yosef Hatsadik loysoyifu the lashon of Yosef, the lashon of Hatsafa, the aggregation. You will no longer see them any more this way for the rest of time for all of eternity. This bechina of Yosef Hatzadik that was in Mitzrayim, we have completely removed Yosef Hatzadik from Mitzrayim. Returning to our original question, we can now understand how it is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is. How is it that in Mitzrayim they're going to be able to survive the seven years of famine from the seven years of plenty? You might say that. How do you know that in the seven years of plenty they're going to be able to ration themselves out? That they're going to be able to survive? For the seven years, and not only do we see that they survived for the seven years in famine, but they thrived. They became a wealthy country because they aggregated all of the money in the world.
In other words, seven on its own would not have been enough. It requires Yosef Hatzadik to come. Once Yosef Hatzadik comes, and he says, "we have seven, we have seven years of plenty." If we take those seven years of plenty and we aggregate them together, and we reveal the eighth dimension through the tzaddik being appointed over the seven years of plenty, so now the sum is greater than the whole of its parts. Seven versus seven may not be able to do it, but when you have seven plus the tzaddik The tzaddik reveals the eighth dimension, and then there's always enough from the bechira of the eighth dimension, which is the bechira of the oneness of our Kadosh Baruch Hu. There is always an abundance that's going to be necessary in order to sustain us through the difficult times. This is the message of Hanukkah. The message of Hanukkah is: no matter what's happening, if you feel like you have an impoverished mentality, if you feel like you don't have enough, if you feel like you're a small army and a mighty army is standing in front of you, then ena chanami you might not have the ability to defeat them. But if you live from the perspective of the eighth dimension
If you live from the perspective of the tzaddik, even a small army can defeat a mighty army. There's always enough. There's not only enough, but an abundance because the aggregation of the small army, standing unified, always has the capacity to defeat the greater army. From the perspective of the impoverished mentality, there might not be enough oil. But from the perspective of the eighth dimension, everything is one. Of course, there's enough oil. Of course, there's an abundance mentality. Bez Hashem, this Chanukah we should be zeicher. To reach the eighth dimension and reveal the oneness of everything in the world and be'ez Hashem, if we reveal the oneness of the world, then we'll be zeicha to living in the eighth dimension of Eilam Haba and to greet Mashiach Zedekenu.
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