Two States of Exile

Joseph had two dreams foretelling his ascendancy over his brothers. Both dreams came true: the ten brothers – including Benjamin – prostrated themselves to Joseph when they went down to Egypt the second time; and they prostrated again later after Jacob and Bilha joined them there.

But the first time the brothers – minus Benjamin – bowed to Joseph was on their first trip to Egypt. Why wasn’t that foretold in a dream as well? Because that was merely a sign of etiquette; it did not represent any submission of Jewish freedom to a foreign power.

Similarly, the Festival of Chanukah: The Maharal teaches that ever since the Exodus from Egypt, the Jewish people lost their ability to ever be slaves again – because for a Jew the soul is primary, and the soul can never be in exile. It is this eternal spiritual freedom that gives “the weak and the few” the ability to stand up against – and defeat – “the numerous and the mighty.”