וַתַּעַשׂ הָאָרֶץ בְּשֶׁבַע שְׁנֵי הַשָּׂבָע לִקְמָצִים (בראשית מא, מז).
In this week's parsha we read of Yosef's rise to power after successfully deciphering Pharaoh's dreams. Pharaoh appointed thirty-year-old Yosef as viceroy of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself.
Yosef began implementing his strategic plan, that he had briefly outlined to Pharaoh, to prepare the country for the approaching seven years of famine.
The title of Yosef's emergency plan is hinted to already in the name of the parsha מִקֵּץ. The story begins with מִקֵּץ which portends the upcoming crisis. When HKB"H brings some "punishment" on the world, at the same time, embodied within it, is - the remedy. In this case, the remedy is found by rearranging the letters of מִקֵּץ into קָמָץ. Our passuk above says וַתַּעַשׂ הָאָרֶץ בְּשֶׁבַע שְׁנֵי הַשָּׂבָע לִקְמָצִים.
Yosef appointed officials in every city and town in Egypt (Malbim, ibid.) whose job it was to do קְמִיצָה, literally meaning to "take a handful" of the grain harvest. In the seven years of bounty, these government officials would tax the farmers a portion of their grain crop (a fifth, according to the Or HaChayim and R' Bachyei), to set aside for the seven years of famine. Yosef began stockpiling grain.
In a regular agricultural year, not connected in any way to famine, grain harvest is double that of consumption. This allows a surplus of grains for sowing for the next year's crop, commerce etc. This is normal farming practice. In the seven bountiful years in Egypt the surplus of grains far exceeded double and this was taxed by Yosef and stockpiled in Pharaoh's National Granaries. According to the Ramban (ibid. מח), it was not limited to grains, but also included fruit, figs and grapes, etc., which were preserved and stored.
The next passuk says וַיִּצְבֹּר יוֹסֵף בָּר כְּחוֹל הַיָּם הַרְבֵּה מְאֹד עַד כִּי חָדַל לִסְפֹּר כִּי אֵין מִסְפָּר (שם, מט), the food reserves were so numerous that they could no longer keep count of them. If stored correctly, grains can last for 12+ years. The trick is to prevent mold. The dry, desert climate of Egypt is the perfect storage environment for grain storage.
Then began the seven years of famine. This famine was not limited to Egypt, it spread globally (Malbim, בראשית מא, נז). Due to Yosef's foresight, there were enough reserves to feed the entire population of the world. You might think such a concept is not feasible, however, the Gemara (Gitin 56a) tell us that during the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans, prior to the destruction of Bayit Sheini, there were enough stored grains in the combined granaries of Nakdimon ben Gurion, Ben Kalba Savua and Ben Tzitzit Hakesat to feed the population of the city of Yerushalayim for 21 years!
When everyone's pantries were empty, we read in next week's parsha Vayigash, that the population asked Yosef to provide food, which he did, in return for payment. This money was all deposited in Pharaoh's coffers. When their money ran out, the population paid for food by selling their livestock. Following the livestock, they sold all their land (except for the priests) and when they had no more land to sell, they sold themselves as slaves to Pharaoh. In effect, Yosef nationalized all the assets of Egypt. He dispossessed the Egyptian population of everything they owned and made them slaves. It is true, he saved their lives – they did not die of hunger, but perhaps there could have been a better way.
Yosef was not exactly a social democrat, to say the least. He had taxed the farmers' harvests/income to create the reserves in the first place. In Israel we call that National Insurance (Bituach Leumi), or in the USA, Social Security - taxing the population for a "rainy day" (when they get older), so they can continue to live (off their pension). If Yosef would have operated according to the morals of modern society, he should have freely distributed those taxed grains amongst the Egyptian population.
Instead, he demanded payment. We can understand demanding payment from non-Egyptians, like when Yaakov's sons came to buy food. They were not taxed to build the reserves, so they have to pay full price, however, the Egyptian farmers were taxed, they should not have to pay at all.
A prime example of this was the recent COVID epidemic. Here in Israel, at least, mass vaccinations were conducted for all Israeli citizens who pay health insurance. We were not charged at all to be vaccinated. If things operated according to Yosef's modus operandi, we should have paid full price for the vaccination and if we could not afford to, we would have to sell our possessions in order to do so – to save our lives (I will not get into the discussion whether the vaccinations saved our lives or not – the jury is not in on that one yet).
In addition to this, when Yaakov and Yosef's brothers descended to Egypt, Yosef initiated a mass population displacement (בראשית מז, כא), moving the entire Egyptian population from their places of birth to different locations around the country. This was for one single purpose – that they should not consider Yosef's family as "new immigrants" and demean them (Kli Yakar, ibid.). The entire country was now composed of "new immigrants".
Even when the famine ended, Yosef instituted new legislation that continued taxation of income from the harvest (בראשית מז, כו). Nobody now owned the land they lived on – it was all leased land belonging to Pharaoh (except for the Egyptian priests and the family of Yaakov living in Goshen).
It is safe to say that Pharaoh was delighted with Yosef. Yosef had made him a multi-multi-trillionaire, the wealthiest individual on the planet.
What about the average Egyptian on the street? Did they appreciate what Yosef had done for them? Yes, with his foresight, he had saved their lives. If not for Yosef, they certainly would have died of hunger. However, by the same measure, Yosef stripped them of everything they had, including enslaving them and physically relocating them, eerily reminiscent of a "Stalinist" style maneuver. It is equally safe to say that the Egyptian population resented, even hated Yosef and his family for what he had done to them.
As long as Pharaoh was in power, Yosef was untouchable. When a "new" Pharaoh emerged, however, everything flipped. The seething animosity of the Egyptian public for Yosef and his "extended family" bubbled to the surface and from there it was a short step to reversing the reality – enslaving and subjugating the "extended family" of Yosef, as he had done to them generations before.
We already experienced the seeds of antisemitism on a smaller scale with Lavan and his sons, when Yaakov began to prosper more than them (בראשית לא, ב). However, here we first witness antisemitism on a national level. It is a dynamic that would prevail forever more, down to our own generation.
Whenever Am Yisrael prosper at the expense of the other nations, antisemitism results.
We can go through Jewish exile after exile, from Egypt onwards until the present day and prove this modus operandi, but that would take up an entire book, not a short shiur. Instead, I will provide one or two short examples.
Before that, it is a given that, in similar circumstances, the Jews prosper more than the goyim. Some say that this is because the Jews genetically have a greater intellect than the goyim, a higher standard of morality, are generally more educated, etc. etc.
These may be true (or not – at least not aways), but the real reason why Jews prosper more than the goyim, given the same circumstances, is because Am Yisrael are a blessed nation and HKB"H looks after His Chosen People. As a result, the goyim are jealous of Am Yisrael, it is a jealousy born of imitation. They try to copy us, but fail and are forever resentful.
When the Romans destroyed Bayit Sheini, much of Am Yisrael was exiled. In the 5th and 6th centuries CE many of these exiles found their way to the Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia), to the city of Medina and surrounding areas - the Jewish tribes of Khaibar, Qurayza, Nadhir, Kainuka, etc.
(The Arabs in History, Bernard Lewis). The Jews prospered there due to their greater knowledge of agriculture and irrigation, which they had acquired as a nation in Eretz Yisrael. They soon became landowners and played key roles in finance and trade of the region.
The primitive nomadic Arab tribes, the indigenous population of Arabia, looked upon the Jews with covetous eyes. Their leader Muhhamad, from the Quraysh tribe, concocted his own doctrine - basically a "poor copy", a "hotchpotch" of the previously existing doctrines of the Torah and Christianity.
He declared himself a "prophet" and tried to convince the Jewish and Christian populations of Arabia to follow him. When they scoffed and ridiculed him, he ditched major portions of his "Quran" and replaced them with venomous rhetoric of hate towards the "infidel" (the Jews and Christians who refused to accept him).
Led by Muhhamad, the Arabian tribes proceeded to slaughter the Jewish population and ethnically cleanse the entire Arabian Peninsula of Jews (even until the present day). Muhhamad instigated an insidious, perpetual, religious war against Am Yisrael that persists to this very day.
On the streets of too many countries around the world today, Islamic radicals and ignorant locals march shouting the antisemitic war cry חַיְבַּר חַיְבַּר יָא יְהוּד – the same war cry Muhhamad chanted when he committed a Holocaust against the Jews. What do we think his modern-day proteges are asking for?
Throughout European history (CE), Jews have temporarily prospered amongst the goyim and have become figures of influence and power.
An example is the famous Torah commentator Abarbanel. Don Isaac Abravanel was born in Portugal in 1437 and managed to ascend the echelons of power, becoming the finance minister of Portugal and later, royal advisor in Naples and Venice in Italy. All this "prestige" was for nought when Ferdinand and Isabella expelled the Jews from Spain in 1492, which the Abarbanel tried to prevent. The Abarbanel writes –
בְּעֵת הֱיוֹתִי שָׁם אֲנִי בַּחֲצַר בֵּית הַמֶּלֶךְ יָגַעְתִּי בְּקָרָאִי אֶל הַמֶּלֶךְ פְּעָמִים שָׁלֹשׁ לֵאמֹר הוֹשִׁיעָה הַמֶּלֶךְ לָמָּה תַעֲשֶׂה כֹה לַעֲבָדֶיךָ? וּכְמוֹ פֶתֶן חֵרֵשׁ יַאְטֵם אָזְנוֹ לֹא יָשִׁיב מִפְּנֵי כֹּל וְהַמַּלְכָּה עוֹמֶדֶת עַל יְמִינוֹ לְשִׂטְנוֹ... (הקדמה בפירוש לספר מלכים)
The Abarbanel was forced to flee Portugal, which followed Spain in 1496, when they expelled all their Jews.
Our next example is the "Goldene Medina". I am not referring to America, the USA, but to - Poland. From the establishment of the Kingdom of Poland in 1025 and in the 500 years that followed, tolerant Poland served as a safe haven for the Jews who had been expelled from country after country in Europe. According to some estimates, by the 16th century almost three quarters of the world's Jewish population lived in Poland.
Many Jews rose to high echelons of power with the nobility and were appointed as tax collectors for royal holdings, endearing them to the nobility but not to the general population. From the 16th century the political status of Polish Jewry gradually began to decline until the beginning of the 20th century when this decline was greatly accelerated. In 1939 there were almost 3.5 million Jews living in Poland. Following the Holocaust, which took place predominantly on Polish soil, only about 300,000 Jews survived.
It has always been so in every "safe haven" the Jews have ever lived in, Ashkenazic and Sefardic. The Jews prosper and the goyim look upon them with covetous eyes, which results in antisemitism and eventually baseless hatred that corrupt or fanatic leaders manipulate to their political advantage.
The Jews cannot help but "stick out", despite their efforts to the contrary. For example, in the sumptuary by-laws of the Jewish community in Krakow in Poland in 1610 it is written that "One should not eat a bagel in full view of a gentile to prevent arousing animosity". Bagels, which were made with then more expensive wheat flour were seen as a luxury and were therefore not to be flaunted in front of the poorer gentile Poles to prevent arousing jealousy. As we can see, despite these efforts, it did not help in the end.
Although Jews comprise only 0.2% of the world population, Jews have won 22% of the Nobel prizes since its inception, making us the largest prize-winning ethnic group per capita. In other words, statistically speaking, a Jew is 100 times more likely to win a Nobel prize than any other person in the world.
Following the pogroms in Europe and the Holocaust, Am Yisrael sought safe haven in other "goldene medinas", like the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa. Indeed, Jews have prospered in these exiles and have reached high echelons of power (the son in law of Donald Trump, Gerard Kushner, is Jewish, one of the heads of the Democratic party, Bernie Sanders, is Jewish, etc. etc.).
Another safe haven is the State of Israel. The State of Israel, against all odds has prospered beyond anyone's wildest dreams becoming the most powerful military and economic democratic power in the Middle East today.
Just as it was in the house of Lavan, just as it was with Yosef in Egypt, with the Arabian Jews in Medina, with the Abarbanel in Portugal, with the Jews in Poland, with the Jews in the USA, the UK, South Africa, Australia and Israel … the goyim look upon us with covetous eyes, with jealousy born of imitation. The leaders of the goyim continually play us off against the general populace, so that they can always dangle a potential sword of Damocles over our heads.
As long as Am Yisrael continue to prosper at the expense of the other nations (we prosper while they do not - the general populace, not the despot leaders), they will gaze upon us with covetous eyes which will lead to antisemitism and hate.
There was only one period in our history when this did not happen, when we prospered, but not at the expense of the other nations – quite the opposite. During this period, we prospered, to be sure, but by virtue of our prosperity, so too did all the other nations of the world!
They recognized that their prosperity was dependent on Am Yisrael prospering, to such a degree that they sent dignitaries to pay pilgrimage to Israel once a year, every year, on the festival of Sukkot, to ensure their continued prosperity. It was in their national interest to ensure the continued prosperity of Am Yisrael.
This was a period of peace, global peace, it was the period of the first Beit HaMikdash, built by Shlomo HaMelech. Why is he called Shlomo? because he is הַמֶּלֶךְ שֶׁהַשָּׁלוֹם לוֹ.
If we want peace (now), there is only one way to achieve it. That is to return to our roots and fulfil our destiny as a nation – to serve HKB"H in Eretz Yisrael, in the Beit HaMikdash. As long as we are not doing that, there will be no peace. No peace between the Jews and the Jews, no peace between the Jews and the other nations of the world and no peace between the nations of the world amongst themselves.
As long as we continue to live the illusion that our safe haven will last forever, despite the fact that we are not fulfilling our destiny, the illusion that we can live lives of economic prosperity even in the State of Israel without fulfilling our destiny as a nation … we will have the world and the nations come crashing down on our heads again and again.
We will continue to see a rise in antisemitism worldwide, escalating now to alarming proportions, resembling those in the 1930's. Just this week, the horrific massacre in Bondi beach in Australia at a Chanukah party of Chabad. We daven לְעִלּוּי נְשָׁמוֹת of all those savagely slain and לְהַבְדִּיל, we daven לִרְפוּאַת הַנֶּפֶשׁ וְלִרְפוּאַת הַגּוּף for all those injured.
We need to look below the surface and attempt to understand what HKB"H is trying to tell us.
HKB"H compares Am Yisrael to an olive זַיִת רַעֲנָן יְפֵה פְרִי תֹאַר קָרָא ה' שְׁמֵךְ (ירמיהו יא, טז). Olives always give oil, no matter what, and oil is a symbol of the Torah שֶׁמֶן תּוּרַק שְׁמֶךָ (שיר השירים א, ג). To make the highest quality olive oil שֶׁמֶן זַיִת זָךְ כָּתִית לַמָּאוֹר (שמות כז, כ) all it takes it a light "klap" on the head with a mortar and pestle and the mashed olives slowly drip out the pure oil on their own.
When HKB"H wants us to "give out the oil" (return to our roots), He gives us a light "klap". That should be enough, but not always. Sometimes a small "zetz" doesn't do the trick, you need something more serious, like squeezing the olives in a press, under the weight of many rocks, or turning the screw tighter and tighter. When you do that, more oil comes out than the first method and quicker. If even that doesn't work, there is a last resort – to put the olives in a mill and grind them into a pulp and then put them in the press to squeeze out the oil. That always works. In the end the oil is going to come out, the only difference is how hard you need to squeeze.
HKB"H has long passed the stage of the light klaps and is already beginning to squeeze. The question is how long we are going to wait and how much do we want to be ground into a pulp and be squeezed before we do His will.
Chanukah is such a beautiful chag, with the family all together lighting the Channukiyah, singing zemirot and eating latkes and donuts.
There are numerous halachot relating to Chanukah (שולחן ערוך, אורח חיים, סימנים תרע - תרפה) and they are all super important and we are required to fulfil them to the letter, but not one of these halachot states the reason why we celebrate Chanukah in the first place. Not once in all the halachot of Chanukah in the Shulchan Aruch and the Rema are the words מִקְדָּשׁ mentioned, nor the word מְנוֹרָה (referring to the Menorah in the Mikdash). How can that be?
Contrast this with the Rambam (הלכות מגילה וחנוכה, פרק ג, הל' א-ג) where he explicitly details the raison d'etre of Chanukah – that it is to remind of the miracle that occurred in our victory over the Greeks, the restoration of Malchut to Am Yisrael and restoring the Avodah in the Mikdash.
Someone who brushes up on the halachot of Chanukah prior to the chag simply by revising Shulchan Aruch/Rema and does not also check out the Rambam, can inadvertently "forget" the reason why we are doing all of this in the first place. Interestingly the Tur, the Mishna Brura and the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch do preface the halachot by first quoting/referencing halachot 1-3 of the Rambam.
Why do the Shulchan Aruch/Rema not? I am 100% sure it is because they just assume that we know the reason why we celebrate Chanukah – for them it is a given. Perhaps in their generation it was a given, but in this generation it certainly is not.
How many people when they light Chanukah candles consciously think – "This is to remember the lighting of the Menorah in the Mikdash"? Most people are thinking how colorful the candles are or how last year there were more blues and greens than this year, or how nice these new-fangled ready-made olive oil capsule inserts are and how long they burn for, or avert their gaze to the source of the delicious aroma of latkes going on the gas ring. Are we honestly thinking about the Mikdash at all?
It is an unfortunate reality, but I am willing to go out on a limb and say that Rachmana litzlan, at least 90% of Am Yisrael during the eight days of Chanukah don't give a moment's thought to the Mikdash. We sing Yevanim Nikbetzu Alai, but don't really pay attention to what we are saying and what it really means.
Contrast this with Tisha Be'Av, the nine days prior and the entire day of the fast is totally focused on the Mikdash – in its destruction. This is the outlook of R' Elazar ben Azarya and R' Yehoshua who cried over the Mikdash's destruction (מכות כד, ע"א).
Chanukah is supposed to be a celebration of the Mikdash's rebuilding, an optimistic look to the future, not to the past – the outlook of R' Akiva (in the Gemara above) who did not cry, but laughed! Why is it that we Jews find it easier to mourn the Mikdash than to yearn for its rebuilding and celebrate that prospect? Why, in the celebration of the rebuilding of the Mikdash, our thoughts are not on the Mikdash at all? They are on everything except the Mikdash.
I think the answer is – because we don’t honestly believe the Mikdash will be rebuilt, at least not in our time. We are so traumatized by almost 2000 years of galut that we have lost our hope. The best we can do is continue trying to – survive.
Living in relative economic stability in New York, London or even Tel Aviv or Karnei Shomron is not HKB"H's definition of "surviving". Going through a Holocaust and making it through alive, is surviving. Debating whether to have roast beef for Shabbat dinner or chicken in teriyaki sauce, is not "surviving".
It is unfortunate to say, but we are currently living in a generation of וַיִּשְׁמַן יְשֻׁרוּן וַיִּבְעָט שָׁמַנְתָּ עָבִיתָ כָּשִׂיתָ וַיִּטֹּשׁ אֱ-לוֹקַ עָשָׂהוּ וַיְנַבֵּל צוּר יְשֻׁעָתוֹ (דברים לב, טו). The שֶׁמֶן in question here is the wrong oil.
This is what is going on under the surface, HKB"H is trying to extract the right oil from a generation who is not living up to its expectations. We are all feeling the squeeze.
There is a remedy and it begins right now, tonight, when we light the Chanukah candles – to do a switch in our head and remember why we are really lighting these candles. To shake ourselves out of a 2000 year slumber, to inject a positive energy and an optimistic outlook to the future … and to get to work making that into a reality.
Shabbat Shalom and Chanukah Sameach
Eliezer Meir Saidel
Machon Lechem Hapanim
No comments:
Post a Comment