Parshas Mikeitz (Chanukah) 5786
- Torah Tavlin
- Dec 19, 2025
- 2 min read
הים ראה וינס הירדן יסוב לאחור ... (הלל - חנוכה)
On Chanukah we celebrate and give thanks to Hashem for our victory over the Greeks, the Yevanim. Chazal teach us that יון symbolizes חושך, darkness, and "מעט מן האור דוחה הרבה מן החושך". A little light can dispel lots of darkness. All the more so when there’s a lot of kedusha, the darkness will be severely diminished. Hence, when Yosef HaTzadik prevailed over his nisayon with eishes Potifar, he accomplished that the power of יון in the entire creation be weakened.
My good friend, Reb Menashe Chaim Weissberg, found two beautiful remazim to this concept: one in Parshas Vayeishev and one in Hallel. In Vayeishev, when relating the story of Yosef, the Torah writes, "וינס ויצא החוצה". He ran away from her. The word וינס has the letters of יון, all three. The next word ויצא only has two letters of Yavan, and החוצה only one. Thus, we see that the power of יון was minimized by Yosef’s actions.
He found another remez showing that in the בריאה too, the powers of Yavan were weakened. The posuk in Hallel, "הים ראה וינוס", is recited many times during Chanukah. The Medrash tells us, "מה ראה וינס? ראה ארונו של יוסף". What did the sea see? It saw the Arono shel Yosef. The impetus for the waters to split was seeing the coffin of Yosef HaTzadik. Krias Yam Suf was testimony to the koach of kedusha over the teva of the world. That came b’zechus Yosef. Here too, we find יון decreasing. וינוס has all three letters of יון. הירדן has the yud and nun. יסב only one letter!
The Shulchan Aruch paskens like Beis Hillel that each night we are מוסיף והולך, adding an additional candle nightly. Perhaps we’re showing our desire to increase our conviction to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, thereby further weakening the koach of יון in the world. הרחמן הוא יעשה לנו נסים כמו שעשה בימים ההם ... במהרה...!