Chanukah and Yosef’s Dreams by Rabbi Daniel Glatstein

Chanukah and Yosef’s Dreams

The Amazing Allusion to the Forty-Four Candles

BY RABBI DANIEL GLATSTEIN

Rav Yosef Engel teaches an idea that is rooted in the Zohar, stating that all the bracha and happenings of a given week are latent in the koach, power, of the preceding Shabbos. Chanukah, therefore, draws its strength, kedusha, and bracha from the Shabbos immediately preceding it. This is usually the Shabbos on which we read

Parshas Vayeishev.

We would then expect Parshas Vayeishev to contain some compelling allusions to Chanukah. Let’s investigate Parshas Vayeishev and try to discover the remazim to Chanukah contained therein.

Yosef’s Dreams

The beginning of the parsha describes the dreams of Yosef HaTzaddik. In the first dream, he was in the field gathering bundles of grain, and his bundle was standing tall and erect. The bundles of his various family members bowed down to his bundle. Yosef then has a second dream in which the sun, the moon, and eleven stars all bow down to him.

While a cursory reading of the parsha seems to yield that Yosef had two dreams, a closer analysis of the pesukim reveals that, in fact, this is not the case.

The pasuk states, “Yosef dreamt a dream

which he told to his brothers, and they hated

him even more” (Bereishis 37:5). The next verse states that he told his brothers to listen to his dream, which he then describes to them. “Hear,

if you please, this dream that I dreamt: Behold! We were binding sheaves in the middle of the

field, when, behold! — my sheaf arose and also remained standing; then behold! — your sheaves

gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf”

(ibid. vs. 6-7).

The pesukim seem to indicate that there was an additional dream, the details of which are not revealed to us. If only one dream was being referred to, then the pasuk should have read, “And he told his brothers, saying,” as they would only begin to hate him once he shared the details of the dream. From the fact that the Torah tells us, “Yosef dreamt

a dream which he told to his brothers, and they

hated him even more” and only then the Torah relates that Yosef said, “Hear, if you please, this dream…” it seems clear that the dream that the Torah enumerates is not the original dream that contributed to their dislike of him.

This idea is further supported by the fact that the Torah continues, “And they hated even more — because of his dreams and because of his talk” (ibid. v. 8). This newfound hatred, this increase in their dislike, is prompted by his dreams – plural. Yet, up to this point, the Torah had only related the details of one dream — that of the bundles. This is yet another inference that up to this point Yosef had, in fact, shared at least one additional dream. Thus, after we read the details of his dream about the stars, we see that Yosef had three dreams.

The Missing Dream

These questions are raised by Rabbeinu Ovadiah M’Bartenura, and he answers by providing us with the details of the missing dream.

In Parshas Vayechi, we read that after Yaakov Avinu’s passing and subsequent burial in the Me’aras HaMachpelah, the brothers were very worried, as they thought that now that Yaakov was no longer alive, Yosef would seek to take his revenge for their having sold him as a slave.

Yosef is quick to comfort his brothers, and he offers them assurance that he will not seek to cause them any harm at all, saying, “’So now, fear not —

I will sustain you and your young ones.’ Thus, he

comforted them and spoke to their heart” (Bereishis 50:21).

The Gemara informs us that Yosef consoled his brothers by advancing a kal vachomer, an a fortiori argument: “If ten flames could not extinguish one flame, then how could one single flame possibly extinguish ten others?” When Yosef — the one flame — was dominated by his brothers — the ten flames— they had sought to kill him but were unsuccessful. Now that they are all under Yosef’s domain, he, as a single flame, would definitely not be able to harm them. Rashi cites this Gemara to explain how Yosef consoled his brothers.

Yosef’s parable of candles is curious. Why flames? Why not any other example? Of all the myriad examples he could have used, he chose candles. Why?

The Bartenura explains that Yosef did not simply just choose a random parable. He was referring to his first dream — the dream referenced in Parshas Vayeishev, whose details are not specified

in the Torah. In that dream, Yosef had visualized ten flames attempting unsuccessfully to extinguish one flame.

Herein, lies our first remez to Chanukah. The hinted-at but undisclosed dream about flames is an allusion to the neiros of Chanukah.

The Bartenura then explains why this dream is not discussed in the Torah. This dream displayed the hatred of the ten flames and their ineffectiveness to extinguish the light of the single flame, representing the hatred of the ten brothers and their futile attempts to harm him. However, as it did not allude to Yosef being victorious over them, as his other dreams indicated, there was no need to include it in the Torah. The Torah recorded for posterity only the dreams that bothered the brothers, the dreams that contributed to their course of action. matria of the words tevach u’tvo’ach is forty-four, an allusion to the forty-four candles we light on Chanukah. Hence, we see the number forty-four employed in a remez to Chanukah.

Another instance where the number forty-four is used as an allusion to Chanukah is brought by the Chida. “They shall take for you clear olive oil,

crushed, for illumination, to kindle a lamp con-

tinually” (Shemos 27:20). Using the letters of the words of this phrase, this verse represents various halachos of Chanukah. The Chida’s allusion also utilizes the number forty-four as a reference to the number of candles we light on Chanukah.

Here is another instance. On Chanukah, we have the minhag to recite Chapter 30 of Tehillim, which begins, “Mizmor shir chanukah ha’bayis l’Dovid.” The roshei teivos, initial letters, of the first few words are mem, shin, ches, which stand

How Many Neiros Chanukah Are There? Yaakov Avinu’s Death and Chanukah

There are two ways to calculate the total number of candles we light on Chanukah. If we do not include the shamash, we light thirty-six candles in all; if we do include the shamash that is lit each night, then the sum increases to forty-four.

Seudah and Simchah on Chanukah: Optional or Mitzvah?

The Matteh Moshe cites the Maharam M’Rottenberg, who ruled that seudos and parties made on Chanukah are not an important part of the yom tov; rather, they are deemed seudos reshus, discretionary meals that one is permitted to host. According to the Maharam, there is no basis for having a festive meal on Chanukah. Chanukah, after all, was established as days of hallel and hoda’ah, of praise and thanks toward Hashem.

The Matteh Moshe quotes his rebbi, the Maharshal, whose opinion differed from the Maharam and maintained that it is in fact a mitzvah to have a joyous seudah on Chanukah, hence its designation as a yom tov. Furthermore, the Rambam rules that there is a mitzvah of simchah on Chanukah. The Hagahos Mordechai maintains likewise, and he brings a remez to the mitzvah of simchah on Chanukah.

In Parshas Mikeitz, the pasuk describing Yosef’s seudah with his brothers states, “Yosef

saw Binyamin with them; so he said to the one in charge of his house, ‘Bring the men into the house. Have meat slaughtered, and prepare it, for with me will these men dine at noon’”

(Bereishis 43:16). If the ches of the word tevach (slaughtered) is combined with the next word, v’hachein (and prepare), the letters form the word Chanukah. This is a remez to the seudos of Chanukah. Furthermore, the ge-

In that dream, Yosef had visualized ten fl ames attempting unsuccessfully to extinguish one fl ame.

for milah, Shabbos, chodesh — the three mitzvos that the Yevanim declared illegal to perform. The word m’shach, which is formed from those three letters and which means to anoint, is yet another reference to the oil.

The Chida adds that the roshei teivos of the entire phrase “Mizmor shir chanukah ha’bayis l’Dovid” spells out the word l’simcha. It also the letters of the word la’chamisha, to five, as the neis took place with the five sons of Mattisyahu.

The Chida concludes that the final word of this pasuk alludes to forty-four neiros on Chanukah, as the gematria of l’Dovid is forty-four. Thus, it is an accurate calculation to include the shamash in the sum total of candles lit on Chanukah, yielding a total of forty-four.

Forty-Four in Vayeishev

Hashem illuminated my eyes to note that in Parshas Vayeishev there is yet another remez to the forty-four candles of Chanukah. Yosef, as we discussed above, had an undisclosed dream in which he visualized ten candles striving to extinguish the light of an eleventh candle. By Yosef’s relating this dream to his brothers, the total number of candles increases to twenty-two: eleven candles in the actual dream and another eleven in the repetition.

Then we come to Parshas Vayechi, when the Shevatim were concerned that Yosef might harm them once Yaakov Avinu passed away. In response, Yosef once again reiterated the dream of the candles as he reassured them that he would not harm them, saying, as noted above, “If ten candles could not extinguish one, how can one candle possibly extinguish ten?”

This retelling of the dream adds twenty-two additional candles, giving a total of forty-four candles related to this dream. Thus, the forty-four candles of Chanukah are alluded to in the dreams and consolation of Yosef.

Let us add why these candles are alluded to specifically after the burial of Yaakov Avinu. Yaakov Avinu was mourned for seventy days after his passing. The Torah tells us, “His forty-day term was

completed, for such is the term of the embalmed;

and Egypt bewailed him for seventy days (Bereishis 50:3). They spent forty days embalming Yaakov, and another thirty continuing to mourn him, for a total of seventy days of mourning.

Yaakov Avinu passed away on Sukkos, on the fifteenth day of Tishrei. Counting seventy days from his passing brings us to the twenty-fifth day of Kislev — the first day of Chanukah. This seventy-day period provides a bridge, a connection, between Sukkos and Chanukah.

Once the seventy days were over, and the period of mourning for Yaakov Avinu concluded, the Torah tells us, “They came to Goren HaAtad, which is

across the Jordan, and there they held a very great and imposing eulogy; and he ordained a

seven-day mourning period for his father” (ibid. 50:10).

The additional seven days of mourning brings us to the seventh day of Chanukah. Then we read,

“His sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and they buried him in the cave of the Machpelah,

the field that Avraham had bought as a burial

estate from Ephron the Chittite, facing Mamrei”

(Bereishis 50:13).

Immediately following these seven days, Yaakov was buried, indicating that he was buried on Zos Chanukah, on the last day of Chanukah.

After the burial, Yosef reassured his brothers: If ten can’t extinguish one, then one most definitely cannot extinguish ten!

Amazingly, the remez to the forty-four neiros starts in Parshas Vayeishev, the Shabbos before Chanukah when Yosef has the dream of the candles, and concludes on the final day of Chanukah, on Zos Chanukah, when Yosef once again refers to his dream.

Rabbi Daniel Glatstein is the Mora D’asra of Kehilas Tiferes Mordechai in Cedarhurst, NY. He is the author of Sifrei Maggid Harakiah on the Moadim

in Lashon Kodesh and in English for Artscroll. This article was excerpted from his book, The Light and the Splendor, published by Artscroll.