Mikeitz

When Pharaoh has a dream that none of his advisors could interpret to his satisfaction, Yosef is taken out of prison in hopes that he can interpret the dream for Pharaoh. Yosef interprets the dream, accounting for all its details, and then suggests that Pharaoh find a wise man to carry out the plan to save Egypt from famine. The posuk says ועתה ירא פרעה איש נבון וחכם וישיתהו על ארץ מצרים, "And let Pharaoh seek out a discerning and wise man and set him over the land of Egypt." The Otzer Hatorah asks, “Why was it necessary to appoint someone wise? Couldn't any grain merchant gather and store the produce?  Couldn’t he then sell it when the time came? Why the need for someone so wise? Reb Shlomo Bloch offers an explanation based on personal experience: “I remember during my youth, that a famine occurred in Vilna. Every day, people were dying of starvation. Had there been someone, years earlier when there was plenty of food, who could have envisioned hungry people roaming the streets desperately searching for something to eat, he would have prepared for the bad times. Only someone with that vision could have convinced people to save for the hard times to come. He would have been able to paint a picture so terrible that the masses would respond to the unthinkable, but impending catastrophe. He would have convinced them that the issue isn't having more food or less food; rather the issue is life or death. Yosef understood that during the years of plenty, no one would even imagine what lay ahead and therefore would be incapable of understanding the need to make do with less. It was necessary to find a wise man who could inspire the people with a vision of the future."

Reb Elyah Lopian compares this world to the years of plenty and the next world to the years of famine. Only in this world does one have almost endless opportunities to study Torah and do mitzvos; in the next world no such opportunities exist; it's a world of famine. We tend to think this life is forever and we will always be able to do mitzvos and store away spiritual provisions for later. It takes wisdom to envision a time when we will not be able to add to our storehouses of merit. If we remember the famine for mitzvos that exists in the next world, we will use our current  time wisely.

A famous parable illustrates this point. A general devised a brilliant strategy to win an extended war. The king had promised him that if he were victorious, he would be rewarded with an hour in the royal vault, free to take whatever he wished. As the great day approached, the king was worried, for he had to fulfill his promise but he was afraid that the general would take too much valuable treasure from the vault. He asked his advisors for an idea. One of them said, “I know that this general is a lover of music. On the day he is to go into the vault, place the best orchestra inside and have them play. The general will be captivated by the music and forget why he came to the vault."

The general appeared at the palace gate; the door to the vault opened and the music began to play. For a moment, he stood there enraptured; then, remembering why he was there, he began to fill his pockets. Suddenly, the intensity of the music increased and again he stopped to listen to the beautiful music. After a minute or two, he began to figuratively scream at himself, “Fool! This is a golden opportunity, do not miss it because of your love for music!” At that very moment, the music intensified yet again and he forgot himself. Suddenly there was a hand on his collar and he was pulled out of the vault. “Your time is up, it's time to leave.” We are all given time in this world to grab treasures by studying Torah and doing mitzvos. Compared to the next, eternal world, this one is like a mere hour, but it's in this short time that we can grab endless spiritual wealth. The yetzer hara, working to make us forget why we are here, bombards us with all kinds of lovely distractions to make us lose out on our eternal reward.

We are in the middle of Chanukah, which symbolizes the light of Torah. It's the time to make a spiritual reassessment and see where we are headed. Just as the Maccabees, small in number, forged ahead with no natural means of being victorious, so too, we, even though we sometimes feel that we are surrounded by a world that totally goes against everything the Torah stands for, can forge ahead and be victorious. Let the light of Chanukah lead us past the distractions so we can collect as much as we can in our “hour”!