By Rabbi Shloimie Lindenbaum
We say in על הניסים that the Greeks tried להשכיחם תורתיך, to make us forget the Torah. It sounds like they did more than just stop us from learning, but they tried to make us forget what we already had. How did they do this? R’ Yeruchem Olshin brings a Gemara that the Greeks tried specifically to prevent the Jews from bringing wood to the בית המקדש and from bringing ביכורים, the first fruits of the seven species. The Maharsha explains that these two mitzvos were performed with exceptional שמחה, joy and excitement, and therefore the Greeks targeted these mitzvos first. Their goal was to deprive us of the enthusiasm that we associated with serving Hashem and keeping His Torah and mitzvos. R’ Yeruchem continues with a Pasuk in תהלים, Psalms, בחוקותיך אשתעשע לא אשכח דבריך, “I play in Your laws, I will not forget Your word”. The אלשיך explains that the way that Dovid Hamelech ensured that the Torah would stay with him and not be forgotten, was by enjoying it and learning it with joy. The more enjoyable something is, the more it will remain with you and the more it will be internalized by you. The Greeks, when targeting our שמחה in our Torah and mitzvos, were aiming for something much bigger than a nice addition in our עבודת ה’. They understood that if they can break our שמחה in our Torah and mitzvos, it will be something that will eventually be forgotten from us. In this way they tried “להשכיחם תורותיך”. We find this concept in our Parsha as well. Yosef, after becoming promoted to second-in-command in Egypt, named his first son מנשה, because “Hashem has made me forget (נשני) all my hardship and all my father’s household.” This is astonishing! Why would he be grateful that he forgot his father’s household? R’ Asher Druk explains that Yosef was clearly placed by Hashem into a new role in life, a role that he needed to apply all his faculties for. Had Yosef been constantly reminiscing and remembering his father’s house, he would have been totally overwhelmed and filled with depression. He is so distant from his childhood, surrounded by people of entirely different ideals! These feelings would overtake him and cause him to fail at his new job. To succeed in life in Egypt, Yosef had to, on some level, forget his father’s house, of course maintaining the ideals of his father, but all the while not letting the emotions overtake him. For this he thanked Hashem, for the ability to “move on” and focus on the task that was made his lot in life. Again, we see that for a person to succeed, they must have שמחה, they must do things with enthusiasm. R’ Yeruchem uses this to explain the Rambam who says that there is mitzvah of שמחה on Chanukah. Where does the Rambam get this from? Based on the above we can understand that because the Greeks targeted the שמחה of Torah and mitzvos to wrench it away from us, it is the perfect time to strengthen our שמחה, through which we will grow stronger and more intimately connected with our ‘עבודת ה.
