From Pharaoh to the Hasmoneans: How Great Rulers Became Secondary Players

'And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed... Pharaoh awoke, and slept again and dreamed a second time... and it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled.'

The Torah describes for us the most powerful person of those times, Pharaoh king of Egypt, who was considered a god by the entire Egyptian empire. His power was immense, unlimited. With a wave of his hand, he could command that all the children born in Egypt be killed, or any other insane order.

But two years passed, 'and Pharaoh dreamed.' He did nothing noteworthy, contributed nothing to humanity. He may have killed many people during those two years, but for humanity, he did nothing. He dreamed dreams. And even when this dream came to him, he went back to sleep. Because he went back to sleep, the dream-giver brought him another dream, maybe this would shake him. But no, he waited for the morning, and in the morning, he seemed quite bored, 'his spirit was troubled,' not more than that. Out of boredom, he called for Yosef, and the rest is history.

The previous portion opens with the words 'And Jacob dwelled in the land of his father's sojourning, in the land of Canaan. These are the generations of Jacob, Joseph...'. Jacob dwelled in the land where his father Isaac was born, only the second generation. What significance could possibly come from Jacob's short stay in his land? He sought to dwell in peace, but the trouble of Joseph jumped upon him. These were merely the actions of a shepherd whom no one in the world recognized.

But, the Torah tells us, what took place with this shepherd whom no one recognized, and who merely wanted to dwell in peace in the land of his father's sojourning, was far more significant than what Pharaoh, who sat on the royal throne occupied by his ancestors for a thousand years, did. The fact is: it was Jacob's descendants, 'These are the generations of Jacob, Joseph,' who awakened Pharaoh from his dream and caused him to act. While Pharaoh was dreaming dreams, the key to the dream of the mighty king was in the mind of the shepherd imprisoned in jail.

Pharaoh enters history as a tool in the hands of the seed of Jacob, so much so that the Torah does not even mention Pharaoh's personal name (as in the Prophets, 'Pharaoh Necho,' 'Pharaoh Shishak'). His significance is only as someone who fulfills the dreams of Yosef, and later executes the decree 'And they shall serve them, and they shall afflict them,' and finally, his heart becomes heavy, so that through him 'and also that nation... I will judge, and afterward they shall come out with great wealth.'

If the act of 'And Jacob dwelled,' etc., had not occurred, we would know nothing about Pharaoh; history would have forgotten him. His tomb might have been discovered by archaeologists, but he would have left nothing in human consciousness. Only in the consciousness of the people of Israel and the nations that embraced the Torah of Israel, Pharaoh is remembered as a tool for fulfilling what was destined for the patriarchs.

This comparison teaches us through the Torah the power hidden in the actions of an individual. An outside observer would have been sure that history was being written there, in the palaces of Pharaoh, and that the deeds of the shepherds in the land of Canaan were insignificant. But we, the children of Abraham, know that sometimes history is made by that single individual who stands on one side of the world while everyone else is on the other, and only in the future will the significance of his actions be understood.

The portion of Miketz is always read during Chanukah, and the days of Chanukah symbolize more than anything that same message. At that time, great leaders of Antiochus ruled in Jerusalem: Nicanor, Lysias, and the head of the Hellenizers who managed the city: Jason, Menelaus, Alcimus. An outsider might have been sure that these names would enter history for their great deeds. But those who entered history were precisely Matityahu and his sons, anonymous men who were hiding in caves, and all the famous names were remembered in history only as tools in the hands of the Hasmoneans. Matityahu and his sons were privileged to add a holiday to the festival calendar of the people of Israel, which until then was set only by prophets. This is the power hidden in the act of one person who acts in the name of Hashem, and even against an entire humanity.