Vayeshev, Shabbos Chanukah: Appreciating the Small Miracles

By Zachary Israeli

My school requires that throughout each semester I complete five community service hours (חסד אוורז בלע“ז). These have to be done through one of the on-campus organizations which are meant to directly benefit the greater community of Newark, NJ. I decided to volunteer this week in the pediatric intensive care unit of the hospital connected to my school to keep patients company while going through treatment. I ended up being assigned to a 16-year-old girl who I learned had found an unconventional way to end up in the ICU. It turns out that just 6 days earlier, she had decided to ride her bicycle home from her friend’s house. This alone is not so noteworthy. But she decided to bike home at night. In the dark. In the rain. Wearing all black clothing. Not exactly a סגולה for getting home safely. Her bike ride ended when she was violently hit by a car while crossing the street and flung off her bike only to have her fall broken by wet asphalt. Perspective here is important. While she did end up in the ICU with a broken pelvis and lacerations all over her body, the fact that she did not end up in the morgue was nothing short of a miracle.

Certain miracles that individuals experience are immediately miraculous.  Without them, their beneficiaries would be at the very least impaired and at most dead. However, there are other miracles that are less glaring. Ones that seem unnecessary

The story of חנוכה is described by the גמרא in שבת כא. The גמרא asks “מאי חנוכה?,” which רשי clarifies is asking over which miracle was the holiday established. The גמרא proceeds to describe the miracle of the פח שמן, wherein one jug of oil was found by the חשמונאים that had the seal of the כהן גדול which lasted for eight nights. However, it is bizarre that the גמראstates that the real miracle of חנוכה was the miracle of the oil. After all, would it not be more sensible to establish a holiday over the Jews’ salvation from religious persecution and an authentic existential threat that was defeated? Furthermore, in על הניסים, it seems that the miracle that is zeroed in on is the military victory, as it says “מסרת גיבורים ביד חלשים רבים מיד מעטים וכו׳.” Given this, why is the miracle of the oil given all the screen time in the גמרא?

To understand what underlies the גמרא, we could view it through the lens of a fundamental idea that emanates from our פרשה. When Yosef is sold into slavery, the פסוק says ’והנה אורחת ישמעאלים באה מגלעד, וגמליהם נושאים נכאת וצרי ולט הולכים להוריד מצרימה.” רשי quotes the מדרש that explains Hashem setup a miracle for Yosef. Even though the ישמעאלים usually travel with foul smelling goods, Hashem orchestrated that when they took Yosef, they would be carrying pleasant smelling goods. This מדרש seems strange at first glance. Yosef was being taken captive by some foreign merchants to a land filled with darkness and impurity with neither an idea of what his captivity would look like nor an end date. Did the fact that he was traveling with some good scents really make much of a difference? After all, those scents could not do much to ameliorate his main problems.

However, Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz in שיחות מוסר suggests when this מדרש is analyzed in a deeper way, something beautiful about Hashem’s השגחה in the world is apparent. In all likelihood, Yosef should have been completely despondent about his life circumstances. He should have been completely embittered by his brothers’ actions.  I would imagine that it would be difficult for anyone in his position to not begin to question Hashem and ask how Hashem could truly be with him if this is how his life looks. However, Hashem was making an important point with his placement of the fine smelling goods. What Rav Chaim suggests is that Hashem was showing that even in the darkest, most challenging times in one’s life, Hashem is still there with them. The purpose of orchestrating that the ישמעאלים would be traveling with different goods than normal was meant to do more than just allow Yosef to travel comfortably. It was meant to show him that he was not going down to Egypt alone.

With this יסוד, that sometimes Hashem puts small miracles in our lives which have the sole purpose of reminding us that He’s there with us, we could better understand the significance of the פח שמן and why it became the foundation for חנוכה. The fact that we overcame the military challenges posed to us by the יוונים was certainly a miracle. After all, without the victory we likely would not be around to celebrate nowadays. But Hashem’s message to us through the נס פח השמן, and perhaps his main message to us through the entire holiday of חנוכה, is that even at our darkest times He is with us. He is constantly leaving small reminders for us that He is accompanying us at every stage of life, even at times where it seems like He is completely neglecting us.

It was undoubtedly a big miracle that the 16-year-old girl in the ICU survived her bike accident. However, given this יסודof Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, it’s not the flashy miracles like the bike accident that we should be focused on throughout חנוכה. It’s the fact that even during the coldest, darkest times of the year, Hashem never forgets us and is constantly leaving us reminders, albeit less flashy ones, that He is there. It is our עבודה to see these reminders and be cognizant of what they are.

Bezh, we should be זוכה to remember this idea whenever something unexpected but clutch happens to us throughout thisחנוכה and throughout our entire lives. Have a good Shabbos!!