We read ויגש as we enter the month of טבת, a dark and cold month both physically and spiritually. In טבת we have what is known as the האפילה ימי תשלש, which is the ח, ט and י of טבת. On טבת ח, the Torah was translated into Greek, of which is equated with the day the עגל was made. The Greek’s intention was to מטמאהthe תורה, and make it into any other mundane חכמה. On טבת ט, הסופרעזרא was טרפנ, ending the period of נבואה, and plunging the Jewish Nation into darkness. On טבת י, the holy city of ם”י was put in a siege by נבוכדנאצר as it says על י”ם בבל מלך סמך. This is the first of the four fasts leading up to באב ט, the חורבן. There is also טבת ה, the date that the yidden in בבל heard the horrific news of the ק”בהמ חורבן. There is an opinion in Gemorra יח ה”ר, that this date is the עשירי צום, which they hold is more severe than טבת י, where no one was killed and there was not yet aחורבן . The קפסו writes עשירי צום last and so they say this fits better with טבת ה, which happened chronologically, last. In the Halachas of לותאב, when someone hears of death of a relative, he has to follow certain restrictions. The אבודרהםholds that בטבת עשרה is more strict than באב ט, in that it would be שבת דוחה if it would fall out on Shabbos, and it’s the only fast that could be on “שע. His source is in נביא, when נבוכדנאצר surrounded ם י, Hashem said to יחזקאל the words – הזה היום בעצם לך כתב . He equated בטבת רהעש to כ”יה from the ש”ג of הזה יוםה בעצם, that just like כ”יה is שבת דוחה, so is בטבת עשרה.

Also some say ט טבת, was the birth of חודש טבת=729= אותו האיש whose religion of נוצרות is to us- ז”ע, and countless yidden were slaughtered in its name. The concept of משיח was kidnapped by the נצרים along with the name יהושע or Yeshu. The הקדושאר”י says the month of טבת is דן, the lowest of the שבטים, whom עמלק attacked in the desert – the נחשלים, whose root נחשל are the ר”ת להדליק נר של חנוכה. The powerful אור of חנוכה, extends into, and illuminates the dark month of טבת. On טבת ח, when the תורה was translated into Greek, we have חנוכה, the ט”י that we defeated the יונים. The Greek’s plan was to contaminate the inside of the “קבהמ, and on חנוכה, the holy light permeated and purified the outside. Chanuka has the power to subdue the seventy שונותל. On טבת ט, עזרא הסופר died, ending the period of נבואה, whereas on Chanuka, we get a taste of the הגנוז אור, which is the source of all נבואה. In ויגש פרשת, the בואהנ returns to עקבי after twenty two years, as Rashi comments on the pasuk מה:כז – אביהם יעקב רוח ותחי. On טבת י the city of ם”י was surrounded, preventing its holy light to penetrate outside. Chanuka lights up the outside world, where the נס took place in the המקדש מקום in ם”י. Also our 25th, כסלו כה precedes and counters their 25th (of December). Chanuka is the רפואה before the מכה. The זוהר says כה כסלוis כנגד the 25 letters of שמע proclaiming the oneness of Hashem, to counter and subjugate their trinity, their ז”ע. Similarly in ויגש שתפר, as נואבי יעקב is entering מצרים, and seeing his beloved son Yosef for the first time in twenty two years, as opposed to hugging and kissing him, cries out the שמע. The מהר”ל says that Yaakov was taking all of his overflowing love he felt at that moment, and giving it to the up to the עולם של רבונו. He was preparing himself and all of כלל ישראל in declaring the “ה אחדות, before entering into מצרים, the melting pot of the seventy nations, like the U.S. is today. This is the reason פרעה had to know seventy languages. This idea is found a lot in נחמן רבי ספרי, where the purpose is to bring the “ה אחדות into the הנשתנות פעולות.

The only language פרעה didn’t know was הקודש לשוןof which he made Yosef swear not to reveal this to anyone. The השגחה here was when Yosef later wanted to travel and bury his father in the המכפלה מערת. When פרעה wasn’t keen on the idea, Yosef told him that he swore to his father. Pharoh then told him to break his שבועה, and Yosef told פרעה that if he breaks his promise here, then he’ll break it concerning פרעה not knowing הקדוש לשון …and so פרעה acquiesced. In יצירה ספר it says that טבת was created with the letter ע, and with the mode of רוגז, anger. Yaakov proclaimed the oneness of Hashem, the שמע which has a big ע in it, before entering into מצרים, the land of אומות ע. We have the great ט”י of חנוכה, proclaiming the oneness of Hashem’s holy light, the הגנוז אור, when entering into the dark month of טבת, created with the ע.

Another shield and counter to the seventy nations that Yaakov and his family are about to enter into, is the נפש שבעים, of ישראל כלל. There is a question on who was משלים the 70th נפש. Rashi says it was יוכבד who was born as they entered the gates. The words of Rashi are מותהחו בין – החומות בין =527=טבת כסלו, the months that נוכהח connect. On the last day of Chanuka we read from בהעלתך=527= טבת כסלו. Yocheved was born בין החומות, between גלות and גאולה. As the yidden are entering into the Galus, the mother of the גואל is born. From יוחבד comes רבינו משה and אהרן, who brought שלום between the yidden, the left and the right. As we mentioned previously כסלו=116=ימינו and טבת =411= משמאל. The מדרש brings other opinions of who the 70th נפש was, one of which is דן ןב חשים. He was from the lowest tribe and was also deaf, representing the month of טבת where נבואה ended and we all ‘stopped hearing’. We are the generation of דן בן חשים, the last of the seventy souls, representing the הימים אחרית, our time.
Chushim Ben Dan being the 70th נפש, gave כלל ישראל the strength to enter צריםמ and deal with the הטומא of the 70 nations. Shimshon who was from דןשבט reached the greatest heights in קדושה from going down into the depths of the הטומא. The month of טבת is the lowest month, but has the potential for משיח which are the same letters as חשים, who will come to the lowest generation and in the most difficult times. It says concerning משיח that אלא בא דוד בן אין…. Why can’t משיח come when all is fine? The גאולה sprouts from darkness- ףכ יןש יתח =878=תיח ודי יןש ממ. In כא:תהילים it says בוט רכותב קדמנות which are טבת ת”ר. All yidden, even the lowest yid is righteous- חשיםןד ובני=480=צדיקים כלם ועמך. The ט is a letter that folds into the center, intimating that we must find the good in everybody.

The first time the שבטים met with Yosef, the viceroy, they told him that one brother (וסףי) was not with them- איננו והאחד. Now יהודה says מת ואחיו, that our brother is dead, which רשי says that because of fear, Yehuda told him שקר. This symbolizes that in the last moments of גלות, even great people fall into שקר. When Yaakov first heard the news that יוסף was alive, it says לבו ויפג, which some interpret that he had a mild heart attack or heart palpitations, like when משיח comes people will not believe it. Immediately after this, Yaakov regains his הקדוש וחר which had left him for 22 years ותחי =424=דוד בן משיח.

Many speak of the question of how the brothers of Yosef didn’t recognize him. The true answer to this is that the greater the צדיק is, the more he is able to hide his righteousness. Even at a young age, Yosef had the ability to keep his high level of קדושה hidden. Why didn’t the brothers recognize Yosef’s voice? They didn’t recognize when Yosef spoke Egyptian, however after he revealed himself and he spoke לשון הקדוש, they did recognize his voice. Yosef was telling his brothers that when he spoke Egyptian or English or any language, he was speaking לשון הקדוש. Yosef is Chanuka, which brings קדושה into all the seventy languages.

When Yosef sent a message to יעקב that he rules over מצרים in pasuk מה:ט, what he really meant was that he rules over the הטומא of מצרים and he didn’t let the הטומא rule over him. A yid has to rule over טבת, the מצרים of time, which Chanuka has power over – בימי מתתיהו בן יוחנן=1099=מושל בכל ארץ מצרים. Hashem spoke to יעקב in הלילה מראתב and said to him not to be afraid. It’s טבת now, but don’t worry, Hashem is with you – הלילה במראת =723=טבת חדש. Hashem said יעקב יעקב, which is an expression of love. The אהבה and חיבה of Hashem toward ישראל כלל comes in difficult times, when the שטן is on attack יעקב יעקב=364=השטן. In אסתר מגילת it says that אחשורוש married אסתר in טבתחדש הוא העשירי דשבח. The ספרים say אחשורוש is Hashem, and אסתר is ישראל כלל. Hashem loves the yidden, especially in the dark month of טבת, which Chanuka enters into-
מתתיהו בן יוחנן כהן גדול חשמוני ובניו=1644=בחדש העשירי הוא חדש טבת All עונשים from שמים come from Hashem’s love. On חנוכה we light the candles השוק מן לרג שתכלה עד, which has the power to remove the ןיד of טבת- רגל שתכלה=988=בטבת עשרה.

The month of טבת can be transformed, just like Adar was, ונהפוך הוא. Purim is hinted for the first time in ויגש, when Yosef gave a set of clothing to his brothers, but to בנימין he gave five. The question here is how could Yosef repeat the same mistake his father made in favouring one over the other? This is not such a big question, because a brother could favour a brother, especially since בנימין is his only brother from his mother רחל. Beside this, his brothers sold him, and בנימין was not involved. The Gra says the חליפות that יוסף gave to his brothers is written with a ו, and that those given to בנימין were w/o a ו- חליפת. The five pieces of clothing given to בנימין were worth the same as the one given to the brothers. And so why give בנימין five? The Gemorra says that Yosef was hinting to the י”ט of Purim, where Mordechai left the palace with five different garments – ומרדכי יצא מלפני ….The message here to the שבטים is that even when they enter into גלות, they could bring י”ט into גלות. We could turn טבת into טוב, that is ונהפוך הוא could happen in גלות, which is our goal. Teves, especially י טבת is the springboard and connects Chanuka to Purim – חנוכה ופורים=431=יוד טבת. Every day of our dark גלות is like a long טבת, where every yid could overpower the טומאה of Esav. Chushim, who was from the lowest tribe was deaf and able to kill Esav on ר”ח טבת, the first day of his month. This tells us that every yid could overpower his יצר הרע.

The only time in תנ”ך that טבת is mentioned is when אחשורוש marries אסתר. The pasuk says ויאהב המלך את אסתר מכל… Esther represents כלל ישראל, and so a deeper meaning in the pasuk is that Hashem loves the yidden over all the nations, even in Teves when the שטן and Esav have power. The זוהר says there are three months that are still in the boundary of עשו. In שמות ב:ב it says ותצפנהו שלשה ירחים, when משה was hidden from the מצריים for three months. This symbolizes that Hashem is hidden for three months of the year – טבתand the first half of שבט, and תמוזand the first half of אב. The first הפטרה of the year that talks of משיח is ויגש. The purpose of גלות is גאולה. A yid has to bring the אלופו של עולם the א – intoגלות and bring the גאולת, like Yaakov did upon entering מצרים. Yosef sent Yaakov עגלות, hinting to the last Halacha of עגלה ערופה that they were learning together. He was also hinting to the ע גלות, theגלות of the seventy nations-חתם סופר It says in the הפטרה- וכרתי להם ברית שלום – ודוד עבדי נשיא להם לעולם where עשרה בטבת=988=ברית שלום

The phrase ברית שלום we only find one other time and that is by Pinchas, as it says הנני נתן לו את ברית שלום. Pinchas experienced Chanuka, as he was the only one who remembered the Halacha of הבועל ארמית קנאין פוגעין בו. By the story of Chanuka, the Greeks attempted that the yidden forget תורתך, that the Torah is divine, and they wished that the Yidden would mingle and be a part of Greek culture. Similarly the Midyanim and the Moabites, tried to infiltrate and mingle with the yidden, by following the advice of Billam. The zealots in the time of Chanuka, were the חשמונאים who waged war against the Greeks, in order to solidify that which separates us from the nations. In his time, פינחס fought a similar war. מתתיהו is a descendant of Pinchas- 8 x הויה =208=פינחס. Pinchas is the בח” of שמיני, where he never experienced death (פנחס הוא אליהו). Chanuka is the י”ט of memory, countering the desire of the Greeks for the yidden to forget the Torah- we use olive oil on Chanuka, which is a segula for memory. The נר של חנוכה is testimony that yidden will always exist- עם ישראל חי=669=נר של חנוכה

The Halacha that Pinchas remembered, when even Moshe forgot was הבועל ארמית קנאין פוגעין בו=1202=כי לא תשכח מפי זרעו. Pinchas, who is a נשמה of Chanuka, cannot forget. In Parshas פינחס כה:יג it says תחת אשר קנא לאלהיו … where כה כסליו=151=קנא. Chanuka is the י”ט of קנאית and Pinchas kills the sinners and stops the plague, and experiences eternal life as a result, which led what the חשמונאים, his descendant, did later on in the time of Chanuka. Pinchas a descendant of Yosef, who was called פוטיאל, was the one who took revenge from the מדינים for their part in מכירת יוסף. Yosef as we said symbolizes Chanuka – מוסיף והולך. The root of פוטיאל is פט=89=חנוכה. In Parshas פינחס there is the פרי החג, which ב”ש learn from that we light the נרות חנוכה in decreasing mode, where in the Gemorra, Rashi says האמורות בפרשת פינחס. Pinchas is אליהו who will usher in the משיח and the world of eight.

Rav Tzadok says that the first time a letter appears in the Torah is its source. The first ע in the תורה is על פני תהום where עמלק=240=על פני and ישמעאל=451=תהום. If we pay attention ישמעאל and עשו and עמלק all have an ע, referring to the seventy nations of פירוד as opposed to the seventy נפש of אחדות ה” – חנוכה משמאל=500=ע נפש. Rashi says that יוכבד was the thirty third נפש of לאה. The power of טומאה goes only to thirty two, as the רמב”ם says, that there are thirty two אבות הטומאה. By the קדושה there are thirty three (לג בעומר). In our תפילה we are סומך גאולה לתפילה- חנוכה is גאולה and ויגש is תפילה.

In the eighth פסוק of the eighth פרשה- וישלח, it’s written כי במקלי עברתי את הירדן… קטנתי מכל החסדים The “שלה הקדוש” says כי במקלי is a combination of two names of Hashem כי במ- קלי. The name כי במ is the acronym of מי כמכה באלם יה-וה, which are the ר”ת מכבי -Chanuka, and the קלי is the acronym of לישועתך קויתי יה-וה, the Bracha יעקב gave to דן who represents טבת. These two names enabled יעקב to cross the ירדן, which is in the portion of Dan –ירד דן. In order to enter א”י, one has to cross the ירדן, which is very difficultברוחניות , or pass through the dark month of טבת, which corresponds to שבט דן . But Hashem said to יעקב not to worry, hinting to all yidden not to be afraid of טבת since we have the light and power of חנוכה- וצונו להדליק נר חנוכה=670=את הירדן. In the next pasuk in וישלח לב:יב, Yaakov prays that Hashem save him from Esav- כי ירא אנכי אתו=729=חודש טבת. The yidden crossed over the ירדן on י ניסן, the day that דן sacrificed his קרבן when the משכן was put up מקלי=180=י ניסן. As we already mentioned, the combination of Hashem’s name for the month of Teves is the last letters of
ליה-וה אתי ונרוממה שמו=1160= ביום העשירי נשיא לבני דן – (הי-הו).

There is a major question. Why if דן only had one son, does it say בני דן חשים? The reason is that דן was the שבט most affected by עשו. Esav had שש נפשותwritten in plural, since there’s no אחדות by עשו, and they were steeped in ע”ז. Kedusha is symbolized by אחדות- שבעים נפש, whereas טומאה is symbolized by פירוד. Also דן was compared to a נחש by יעקב אבינו, as they were most affected by the נחש הקדמוני. The symbol of their ע”ז is the שתי וערב. Esav is the acronym שתי וערב. The י”ט of חנוכה subdues this ע”ז- שתכלה רגל=988=שתי וערב. The Torah of ר” מאיר, or the מאיר of the future, says that כתנת עור with an ע, will be אור with an א, and בני דן חשים will be בן דן חשים. Obviously there won’t be any changes to even one letter of the Torah, but this is all in a spiritual context- יהי אור ויהי אור=470=בן דן חשים. We are all a generation of בני דן, where even the lowest yidden are righteous- ועמך כלם צדיקים=480=בני דן חשים.

On Chanuka, the yidden praise and thank Hashem- our mouths are open. Then comes the month of Teves which is represented by Dan- בני דן חשים, who is deaf. A yid has to continue praising Hashem after Chanuka, as the סימן to the 106 pesukim suggests- יהללאל. The combination of the name of Hashem for the lowest month of Teves is the ס”ת of להויה אתי ונרוממה שמו which also intimates this continuation of Hashem’s praise. Dan is called in the חומש by the name גור אריה, hinting that דן has the capability to rise to the heights of יהודה who is well known as the גור אריה. The month of טבת could be like ניסן.

No matter how dark it gets, the yidden come out complete. In the beginning of the פרשה, the שבטים are in a state of confusion and panic. If יהודה gives up בנימין, his father יעקב would curse him and the others, and he would lose his עה”ב, and there would be no future מלכות בת דוד and משיח — no כלל ישראל. This was a very dark time, similar to the time we find ourselves now. All of the שבטים are pashut in darkness. However in just one second all the confusion dissipates when Yosef reveals himself, and proclaims who he was- “אני יוסף”.
On the 29th of each month, the moon is hidden, but it is really there. It is merely an illusion that there is no moon, and the next day proves this with the revelation of the מולד. Here too, all the events leading up to Yosef revealing himself were merely an illusion. This is a powerful message to us, that in a split moment all our confusion and קושיות that we have, will disappear with the arrival of Mashiach- דויד בן ישי =396 =ויגש אליו יהודה.
Today we live in a very concealed and confused generation, however Hashem will reveal the משיח and all our confusion and doubts will disappear and we will understand that everything that happened had to be, and was all guided from above with compassion and love. בשוב הויה את שיבת ציון היינו כחולמים is telling us that we will look back and see that the concealment was not real. Chanuka has the power to remove the concealment.

When Yosef reveals himself to his brothers, he demonstrated a display of outstanding character. In pasuk מה:א which says that Yosef couldn’t hold himself back anymore Rashi says לא היה יכול לסבול שיהיו מצרים נצבים עליו ושומעין שאחיו מתביישין בהודעו לחם Yosef was worried of the בושה that his brothers would experience if the Egyptians found out that they sold their brother into slavery. What about the years of incredible בושה that Yosef had to endure. The whole Egypt believed that he tried to rape his master’s wife, leading to him being incarcerated for twelve years in a dark dungeon. What greater בושה is there than that? Now that his brothers would have to suffer a little בושה for a short time- so what. However Yosef was exemplary in his character, and was concerned for his brothers. Tamar, one of the mothers of משיח was willing to be burned alive rather than to embarrass Yehuda. This is what brings משיח.

Parshas ויגש teaches us a great lesson in unity, in אחדות. We learn of the sensitivity to another yid, even to a yid that caused him harm. What will bring the final Geula is uniting with all segments of כלל ישראל. All the feuds between different groups, is rooted here with Yosef and his brothers. In the Parsha we have the unity of משיח בן דוד and משיח בן יוסף, and we read this in the הפטרה where Hashem tells the נביא יחזקאל to take two pieces of wood, and to write on one יוסף and on the other יהודה and bring these pieces together. This is a metaphor of what will take place- וקבצתי אתם מסביב והבאתי אותם אל אדמתם, and then it says ועשיתי אתם לגוי אחד בארץ .. ולא יהיו עוד לשני גוים There won’t be anymore חסידים מתנגדים ספרדים, which is ר”ת חמס. The צרות come from splits among the yidden. We must learn to tolerate and love all yidden, no matter what group he’s in, and this will bring the משיח. The last line of the הפטרה speaks of the world knowing Hashem – מלכות בית דוד=922=מקדשי בתוכם