Yosef, Dreams, Plans, Chanukah

It is presumptive enough to say that the yordim lesof da'atam of the shiftei Koh or the lesof da'ato of Yosef HaTzadik, there is something from the depiction that we're supposed to understand on our level. And you see Chazal already operate that way. Chazal operate that way. Where do you see it? Chazal have a comment, Chazal have a crucial piece of parenting advice, parenting tip, that אל ישנה אדם בין בן הבנים, that parents shouldn't play favorites amongst their children. Parents should treat and love their children equally because Yaakov Avinu played favorites in giving the ketonet passim to the Yosef, and because of that, it resulted in Galus Mitzrayim. Yosef brought home a report card with A-pluses and behavior was excellent, so because of that Yaakov Avinu kvelled and the other shevatim, maybe they had some A-minuses, maybe they even had a B-plus or something, and maybe they got some NIs in the behavior column, needs improvement. So Yaakov Avinu favored Yosef HaTzadik. That that was Chazal's take on what happened? Obviously not. And yet the fact that something is depicted in a certain way, even though obviously that's the shell, but there's something to be learned from the depiction as well. And that's what Chazal tell us, that from the depiction we learn this crucial element of parenting, that parents should be evenhanded in the love and affection and attention that they give their children. So in that vein, let's talk a little bit about the depiction of Yosef HaTzadik. Again, we're not talking about who he really is. Again, of course the Avos, Yosef HaTzadik, these are people, Moshe Rabbeinu's a person. But I once heard the following in the name of a certain Rav. He said, he was telling a talmid of his to engage in the following exercise, the following mental exercise. He said, close your eyes and think of the greatest contemporary gadol that you know of. Okay, so close your eyes and think of that gadol. Think of his tzidkus, his chasidus, his yedias HaTorah, the hekef and the omek. So close your eyes and reflect on that for a couple of minutes. Okay, now realize that this adam gadol will be the first to tell you that he doesn't come to the ankles of Reb Chaim, of the Meir Simcha. So now take that image, that correct, not inflated, that accurate, real-life image you have of this contemporary gadol, and then you have to multiply it exponentially to try to imagine who Reb Chaim was, who the Meir Simcha was. And that's not going back that many generations. Five generations for you, four generations for me. Then imagine what Reb Chaim, what the Meir Simcha would say about the Gaon of Vilna. So take that image, add a few more zeros, multiply exponentially again. We've only gotten to the Gaon. Reb Chaim Volozhiner, Reb Chaim Volozhiner who would shake and tremble when he mentioned the Gaon's name, said the Gaon was a Rishon but not a Rishon like the Rambam, not a Rishon like the Rambam, like the Rashba, but not like the Rambam. So imagine now kitzer ma'ase, the Avos are people, but they're people who lived on a very different level than we live. But m'idach gisa, we're supposed to learn Chomesh, we're supposed to learn Chomesh, we're supposed to be maavir sedrah during Chomesh Bereishis also. None of this gives a heter to skip being maavir sedrah during Chomesh Bereishis. So the point is to understand that we're supposed to learn from the depictions, but not to fool ourselves into thinking, oh, so I have a read on Yosef HaTzadik, I have him pegged. No, we're learning something from what the depiction means on our level. In that vein, the Torah portrays Yosef with two fascinating qualities. First of all, we're introduced to Yosef HaTzadik, Yosef dreams. Vayachalom Yosef chalom. He's a dreamer. Then in Parshas Mikeitz, he's the most practical, just down to earth in knowing how to prepare for the coming years of sova and ra'av and his whole system of amassing and saving and preserving the food. So he's the ultimate, not dreamer, but the ultimate practical person, hard-nosed, practical person. And the truth is that even though we sometimes see these character traits as opposing, the truth is they're complementary and they balance each other. If you have someone who only has the quality of being a dreamer, doesn't have the capacity to be practical, to implement, to do things, so then his dreams are liable to be unrealistic. There's no discipline imposed upon the dream by the practical side, and an unrealistic dream is not only of no value, but it's of negative value. It's damaging, it's counterproductive. m'idach gisa, if a person is only practical but doesn't have any kind of guiding vision, so the practicality is not going to amount to all that much because there's not going to be any sense of greater purpose and overall direction. And that's why a person is supposed to try to combine both those qualities which, again, in the depiction that we relate to of Yosef HaTzadik, a person is supposed to have a capacity to dream, but also to be very, very rooted and very practical. In fact, I think we recognize it in mundane areas. I think we do seek to integrate those two qualities. We have career plans which represent a certain vision, a certain blueprint, call it a dream. And then we know what has to be done practically to realize it. If my vision is to be a doctor, so then I know what I have to do practically, beginning with being pre-med and doing well in my pre-med courses in college. And that's as it should be. We're supposed to have those two qualities of, again, of dreaming, of having a vision, of creating, which creates a blueprint. And that's supposed to be coupled with an ability to then implement and work to make that vision materialize. But the question is whether or not we apply those qualities in Avodas Hashem in general and in Talmud Torah specifically. Chanukah, a Yom Tov of תורה שבעל פה, is certainly an appropriate time to ponder that question. We should have dreams, sheifos, but again, dreams and the capacity, the quality of dreaming, of having sheifos, should be linked to a practical quality. It's not going to do much for my life to decide that I'm going to be the next Reb Meir Simcha or the next Reb Chaim; it ain't happening. So that dream's not going to do anything. But the two qualities together allow a person to become be'ezras Hashem what he can become and therefore what he should become. Sometimes people demonstrate the second quality, the practical quality, the implementing values, but without the overall goal and dream and vision. They even when they're out of yeshiva, they learn, they koveia itim, but there's no plan, there's no vision. There's no vision of, again, talking about a realistic vision, not a grandiose vision. A realistic vision, whatever the realistic vision is for the person in question, there's no plan of, you know, okay, so yeah, I learn every day, but where's my plan to finish Tanakh? Where's my plan to finish Mishnayos? And again, fill in the blank, whatever's realistic, whatever realistically belongs in the vision, lav davka to write a line-by-line peirush on Kisvei Arizal, whatever's realistic in terms of the vision. So if a person, again, and not chas veshalom to be mekanter, that a person learns, that a person's koveia itim, is extraordinary, but it won't add up to nearly what it could, the same way a person, he's very practical, he pays his bills every day. Okay, but with a little bit of vision, so it will add up to more. Instead of paying rent his whole life, he'll have a house to show for it. It will add up to more if there's a vision to which this practical dedication and implementation is being applied. And the same is true, again, in talking befrat about Talmud Torah. If a person has a vision, so the kvias itim will add up to more. The kvias itim will have a sense of direction; maybe there will also be a certain sense of urgency because when there's a goal to be reached, when there's a goal to be attained, so then the problem of what to do with extra time solves itself. But sometimes, sometimes the vision can be there, but sometimes the flaw is in the practical side, in the side of Yosef, not from Parshas Vayeishev, but in the emulating the, again, the depiction that we relate to of Yosef HaTzaddik in Parshas Miketz. be flawed. Specifically, specifically, maybe the most common stumbling block for us is underestimating the role of chazarah in implementing the vision. I think the Ramchal writes in Mesillas Yesharim, he gives a mashal. He says we have to look to the words of Chazal the same way if someone is in a maze, so how are you supposed to figure out how to navigate your way through a maze? But if there's someone who's been, if there's someone who has a vantage point that they can see the different paths within the maze and they can guide you, then you have to look to their guidance. He says that's the way we look to Chazal. Chazal have figured out the way through the maze, so we look to their guidance. Many many years ago Rav Ovadia Yosef came and visited the yeshiva here for a week and he gave some shiurim and gave divrei mussar. So one of the things he said at that time was that he says people come to him for a bracha. He's had people that come to him for a bracha that they should remember what they learned. So he says, he asks them, how many times did you chozer what you learned? I don't think the answer had a positive value to him in the incident that he was recounting. So he said he told them, you don't need a bracha, you need to do chazarah. And the same is similar maaseh ravs from other gedolim as well, other gedolim as well. The combination again of sheifos, of dreams, with again the practical side, the practical dimension of doing what needs to be done to realize those dreams is of course is not limited to talmud Torah, it applies to other areas of avodas Hashem. We focused in talmud Torah both because of its own intrinsic importance and also just to illustrate, but the principle and the question deserves to be asked in other areas of avodas Hashem as well. In terms of bein adam l'chavero, again does a person have sheifos for being a better person? Bein adam l'chavero, for becoming a baal chesed, becoming more of a baal chesed. Does he have a vision for what that entails? Does he have a mahalach for how to make that vision come to fruition? They're all questions which are worth pondering as we try to take advantage of the last days of Chanukah.