In this weeks parsha Yosef is taken out of jail and brought in front of Pharaoh to interpret his dreams. Yosef interprets them and proceeds to inform Pharaoh of the seven years of abundance and subsequently, the seven years of hunger. As a result, the country must start saving up food lest they run out when the seven years of hunger arrive. Yosef ends off with a suggestion, ‘and now Pharaoh shall seek out a wise and discerning man and appoint him over the land of Egypt’ (41; 33). The loshon Yosef uses is ‘איש נבון וחכם’. The person Pharaoh shall appoint has to be a chacham; a wise man.

What bothers me here is why does the person appointed for such a task have to be a chacham? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if for seven years you will have plenty of food, and immediately following that you will have seven years of hunger, you may want to start saving up food in storage houses-now-for the future. Why do you need a person who’s davka a ‘chacham’? You need a foreman who is able to oversee the project. Anybody with managerial capabilities would seem fit for this job. Why a chacham?

The gemara in Yoma (35b) says that after 120 years, in the world to come, we will all be asked the following question: Why didn’t you make time for Torah? If the rich say I was pre-occupied with my possessions, they will be answered ‘look at R’ Elazar ben Chursom’. He was extremely wealthy yet he made time to reach great heights in learning. If the poor say they were too busy trying to get food, they will be answered ‘look at Hillel.’ He was the poorest of the poor and yet he became one of the greatest scholars because he made time for learning. If the bad say I was too busy running after my desires, the Beis Din Shel Ma’aleh will answer ‘take a look at Yosef. ‘ He was able to fill his earthly desires, yet with the wife of his master he held himself back and he still had time to learn and become great.

The question here is how did the gemara know that Yosef learned Torah? Where does it say anywhere that he learned Torah in Mitzrayim? Where did the gemarah know this from?

Reb Leib Chasman Zt”L, answers that the gemara ends off by saying that Yosef knew if he was mezanah and caved into his desires the consequences would not end in this world. Yes, he would live with her on this world but he would also be with her in the world to come. (As the gemarah in avoda zora says if a person is mezaneh with a goy she’s bound to him like a dog in the next world). A person who has the ability to see beyond the present and what’s in front of him is a person who is a learned man; a man of Torah. Now we can understand why Yosef told Pharaoh that he would need a chacham. In order to prepare for the seven years of hunger you need someone who has the ability to see past the present. You can tell a person from today until tomorrow how to store away food and how to ‘plan ahead’; but if times are good it is hard to comprehend. To fully understand and perceive how to plan accordingly, you need to have the ability to see ahead of the present. For that you need a chacham. Yosef knew and understood this and felt that the only way Mitzrayim would get through this, would be by Pharaoh appointing an ‘איש נבון וחכם’.

We live in a day and age when everything is quick and instant. The ‘i’ age. That’s great, but it does have its shortcoming. We do things without thinking. (Or perhaps we can now think things and it will get done through an app, who knows what lies ahead). What we can learn from here though, is that we have to say to ourselves-stop! Think! How will this affect the big picture of our lives? Is it worth it in the long run? Never plan just for the present. Like Yosef, one must always keep the bigger picture in mind.

With this idea in mind, we should be able grow and have the koach to be in full control of our lives. May the light of Chanukah illuminate our desire towards reaching our peak in avodas Hashem until He will allow us the opportunity, in the near future, to once again see the Menorah lit in the Bais Hamikdash, b’karov!
HAVE A GREAT SHABBOS & A FREILICHEN CHANUKAH!