23 Nov VAYEISHEV: AGREEING WITH HASHEM

The Gemara teaches that Hanukah
was established
as a time of הלל
והודאה” – praise
a n d thanksgiving.” What exactly
is the difference between הלל and הודאה
?And why is specifically Hanukah a time
for both “praise” and “thanksgiving”? Hanukah celebrates two miracles – the military victory over the Greeks, and
the miracle of the oil which lasted
for eight days. These two miracles
were very different from one another. The miracle of the oil was
truly “miraculous,” in the sense that
the laws of nature were overturned.
The war, however, was not overtly
“miraculous.” It was a miracle only
for those who look for miracles,
who can see Hashem in the natural
world. Nothing supernatural happened to allow the Jews to defeat
the Greeks, but when we reflect on
a small, untrained army defeating
the enormous Greek army, we recognize it as a miracle. הלל refers to
praising Hashem for supernatural
events. This is why we recite Hallel
on Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot –
because all these holidays celebrate
supernatural miracles. And we recite Hallel on Hanukah, as well, to
celebrate the supernatural miracle
of the oil. But Hanukah is also a
time of הודאה – thanking Hashem
for the “natural” events. We look
at the Jews’ victory over the Geeks
and we recognize that this, too, was
a miracle, even though nothing
supernatural occurred. The word
הודאה means not only “thanksgiving,” but also “agreeing.” We are
expected to not only thank Hashem, but to AGREE with Hashem,
to say to Him, “I fully agree with
everything You do, because I trust
that everything You do is exactly
what I need.” הודאה means recognizing that Hashem never makes a
mistake, that everything He does is
PRECISELY what is supposed to
happen. Maybe this is why Hashem
gives us moments when we feel
jealous, when we think our lives are
fine until we hear of somebody who
has something we don’t. It could be
somebody whose friend’s children
are getting married easily, while he
or she has a couple of older singles.
It could be somebody whose friend
or sibling suddenly makes a huge
deal or lands a great job and is making a fortune of money. It could be
somebody whose friend’s kids all
excel in school while his or her kids
struggle. We all have times when we
hear of somebody else’s success or
good fortune and it makes us feel
jealous and uncomfortable. Hashem
WANTS us to have those moments
– because they force us to “agree”
with Him, to place our trust in Him,
to say, “I don’t understand, but I
trust that I have what I’m supposed
to have.” This is what הודאה really
means. A man once came to one of
the Hassidic Rebbes, the Divreh
Hayim, complaining that somebody
opened a store right across the street from
his store, selling the same merchandise,
threatening his livelihood. The man demanded that the Rebbe place a curse upon
his competitor. The Rebbe refused. “You
know what?” the Rebbe said. “You’re just
like a horse!” He explained that when a
horse leans down to drink water, it first
stamps on the ground. The reason is because it sees its reflection in the water, and
thinks there’s another horse trying to drink
its water. And so it stamps its feet to push
the other horse back. Eventually, the kicking pushes enough dirt into the water to
obscure the reflection, and then the horse
drinks. When we feel jealous of, or threatened by, another person’s success, we are
like a horse. We think that this person is
trying to take away our water, when in
truth, Hashem always gives each and every person exactly what he is supposed
to have. The Rebbe said, “We are going
to drink the same water no matter what.
But we decide whether it will be clean
and tasty, or whether it will be muddy and
dirty.” Hashem is always going to give us
precisely what we are supposed to have. If
we “agree” with Him, firmly placing our
trust in Him, then we will enjoy everything
we have. If not, if we allow other people’s
good fortune to upset us, then our gifts will
be “muddy” and not enjoyable. The choice
is entirely up to us.