Sparks of Light: Introduction

This past Shabbat I had the privilege of joining a North American Kenes for Bnei Akiva. It was an extraordinary Shabbat experience which was both inspiring and worthwhile and I have a tremendous amount of hakarat hatov to the Director of Bnei Akiva of the US and Canada, Rav Shaul Feldman, for his leadership and the special program that he ran.

I was given the honour of speaking on Friday night and I asked why it was that Yosef is introduced to us as a “naar” – not only in Vayeshev when he is indeed very young, but even in the beginning of this coming Parsha of Mikeitz where the Saar Hamashkin still uses that description to refer to Yosef?

I answered that perhaps “naar” is used to describe Yosef because of the central role that dreams play within Yosef’s life mission. After Yosef’s first dream he receives nothing but ridicule and mockery, but the Torah tells us that, “vayachalom od chalom acher“, that Yosef dreamed another dream. Yosef simply continued and dreamed again. In those simple four words the Torah teaches us that the secret to Yosef’s success was that there was no stopping Yosef and there was no telling Yosef that fulfilling his dreams isn’t possible.

Yosef starts with a clear vision; a plan and a path forward, and then he allows grit, determination, passion and purpose to drive him.

People laugh and mock his dreams – but Yosef continues to dream in a way that only a naar can.

In many ways, this is what the message of Chanukah is all about. We celebrate Yehuda HaMaccabi who had a dream and a goal and made sure he didn’t stop until he accomplished his goal.

Over the course of Chanukah there will be lots of possible Divrei Torah for you to read, but we at Bnei Akiva Schools hope that we can play a small role in enhancing your celebration by once again sending a spark of inspiration each night just prior to hadlakat nerot. These short Divrei Torah are meant to be read and discussed with your families and it is our hope that we can help you dream, and that these dreams and goals will come to fruition.

In an effort to demonstrate our collective hakarat hatov to our founding families who gave so much and whose children continue to give so much to our school, each night we will be dedicating the Divrei Torah in memory of these founders.

Chanukah Sameach to all.