The holy days of Chanukah are quickly approaching (or have arrived)! It is during these cold winter nights, long and dark, that we celebrate the miracles that have been done for us, and are still being done for us.

The parshios of this time of year are especially relevant. In parshas Mikeitz, we begin with Pharaoh’s dreams, and the sa’ar hamashkim, the chief butler, telling Pharaoh about how Yosef had interpreted his and the sa’ar haofim’s, the chief baker’s dreams. Pharaoh orders Yosef Hatzadik to be brought to him. By now, Yosef had been in prison for two years since he had interpreted the dreams. He had requested of the sa’ar hamashkim to tell Pharaoh about him, and about how he had been framed, hoping that it was proper effort to gain his freedom. The butler forgot - some say intentionally, and others say unintentionally. Either way, Yosef ended up waiting in prison for two more years. Rashi brings the medrash that says that Yosef had to wait because he placed his trust in the sa’ar hamashkim versus relying solely on Hashem. Yosef, on his level of kedushah, should have only relied on Hashem, waiting for his yeshuah, salvation, to come.

Rav Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg zts”l explained that everything in the world is run with Hashem’s hashgachah, His direct involvement in running the world. Even if one would try to make things happen sooner, if it’s not yet the time, then it won’t happen. Yosef Hatzadik knew this, yet he thought that perhaps with a little hishtadlus, effort, he could make things happen sooner. And that was his mistake, to try to speed up Hashem’s master plan.  

Then, suddenly and speedily without prior notice, Yosef is whisked out of prison, where receives a haircut, a change of clothes, and is brought before Pharaoh. This surprising turn of events happened swiftly, without prior warning. There were no previous signs for Yosef that was being removed from prison. The Sforno explains that all yeshuos from Hashem come in this fashion, suddenly and speedily. He brings a pasuk from the navi Yeshaya, that the salvation is close to coming, and we need to be ready for it (this is the haftorah we read on a fast day).

It was the same thing by the redemption from Mitzrayim. There, even though Klal Yisrael was anticipating the geulah, and they had just brought the korban Pesach and experienced makas bechoros, the actual exodus was very sudden. That’s why they got so busy and didn’t have time to bake bread, hence the matzah.

The Purim miracle was also sudden. After Haman led Mordechai in the parade, and received a shower of garbage (or worse) along the way, he had not yet had a chance to clean himself before the king’s guards rushed in to hurry him to the queen’s party. And there, Esther pointed him out to Achashverosh as the enemy, and very quickly and surprisingly his end came and he was killed.

The Sforno ends off saying that the future geulah will come in the same way. It’ll come suddenly and swiftly. He brings the pasuk from the Malachi, who prophesized that when Moshiach arrives, he will come pitom, suddenly. Be ready for him.

The Medrash Rabba says that everyone involved in selling Yosef was very busy. The Shevatim were busy with the selling of Yosef and the after effects. Reuven was busy with teshuvah for his sin, Yosef was busy with mourning his fate, and Yaakov Avinu was busy with mourning over Yosef. Yehuda was busy getting married, having sons, marrying off his sons, burying two sons, and then being involved with Tamar. And what was Hashem doing? He was preparing Moshiach. Everything that was happening, all the hardships, were leading up to Moshiach’s arrival.

We see that all the events in this world are already prepared and being directed by Hashem, from the beginning until the end. There is a plan in place. We need to be prepared for Moshiach’s arrival, which will come suddenly, at the right time.   

I would like to point out that even after Yosef became the viceroy in Mitzrayim, he was still a slave! Just that he was now owned by Pharaoh as opposed to Potiphar. Yosef was a slave in a golden cage! He ruled Mitzrayim with wisdom and an authoritative control. He commanded and directed the entire economy, from raising and storing the food, to its sale and distribution. He did a population transfer of all the Mitzri citizens, all in order to prepare for his family’s arrival so they wouldn’t feel like strangers. He exempted the Mitzri priests from taxation, so that the Levi’im would eventually be exempt from all governmental service. He was Klal Yisrael’s longest ruling king ever - he was viceroy for over 80 years! (Pharaoh went into a satisfied, early retirement!) Yet, he still required special permission to bury Yaakov Avinu in Eretz Yisrael, because he was still a slave.

Even though Yosef’s yeshuah came very quickly, it wasn’t complete. However, it was an essential step for Klal Yisrael at that time. It was to save them from the famine and to help them settle safely into Goshen to begin the golus Mitzrayim with ease.

The Chanukah miracle has this similarity. When the Greeks enacted their decrees against Torah and mitzvos, it took an extreme brazenness and determination to continue living as Torah Jews. And when the Chashmonaim finally stood up and decided to fight, it was against all odds. When Yehudis led the way by killing the general (the story with the cheese and wine) it was a miracle that she succeeded. Each victory of the Chashmonaim over the Greeks was an incredible miracle. When they lit the oil and it burned for eight days, that was a huge miracle. However, the victories didn’t last for long, as the wars continued for many years, ultimately leading up to the involvement of Rome and the end of the second Beis HaMikdash. However, the miracles were a bright spark of light in the darkness. At that time, it was a complete salvation! That’s why we say Hallel on Chanukah, as opposed to Purim when we were still under Persian rule.

We’ve had many open/hidden miracles in our very recent past. Just this past Shabbos, at about 4:30 a.m., another ballistic missile was fired from Yemen, and somehow it made its way past the Israeli defenses. When they tried to shoot it down it was already too late. It landed in Yaffo, and the hit created a crater in a playground between two residential buildings. Sixteen people were lightly injured from shrapnel. It didn’t land on any buildings, in the middle of the city, but rather in a park! Is that not an open miracle? 

We say after Aleinu, al tira mipachad pisom, don’t fear sudden terror of the sudden destruction of the reshaim when it comes. Hashem’s yeshuah will come suddenly, as it did for Yosef, and it’s our job to be prepared for it!

May the hostages merit to be rushed out of captivity speedily! We have the bright light of Hashem’s yeshuah with the Chanukah miracle, a light in the darkness of this crazy and difficult golus. May we merit to experience a miracle greater than the miracle of Chanukah with Moshiach’s arrival, speedily!

 Adapted from shiurim given by Rav Yisrael Altusky, Yeshiva Torah Ore, Yerushalayim. Shiurim can be heard on the Kol Halashon website.

R’ Dovi Chaitovsky