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Why did the brothers regret not showing mercy to Yosef when he begged, rather than regretting the verdict itself? The shiur develops a concept of chen — recognizing someone as part of yourself — and argues that Yosef's plea asked them to step outside strict din because of their relationship. Chanukah (חנוכה) embodies this same chen: we demonstrate that our connection to God is our very existence, and this message extends universally to the secular world.
Rabbi Zweig addresses a profound difficulty in Parshas Mikeitz. When the brothers are imprisoned in Egypt, they acknowledge guilt — not for the decision to kill or sell Yosef, but for ignoring his anguished pleas for mercy. This is puzzling: if their judgment was correct and Yosef was a rodef threatening the existence of the twelve tribes, why would his begging change anything? Jewish law has no concept of amnesty, and a court's verdict should stand regardless of the defendant's pleas. The shiur explains that the brothers' acknowledgment reveals a subtle halakhic principle. They still believed Yosef was a rodef — that his dominant personality threatened to reduce the twelve tribes to one. However, Yosef's plea was not for amnesty but for chen — favor rooted in relationship. Rabbi Zweig defines chen as the feeling that something or someone is part of your essence, completing or defining you. The Gemara (גמרא) in Sotah identifies three things with chen: a person's place, a significant acquisition, and a wife — all things intrinsically connected to a person's identity.
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Parshas Mikeitz — Bereishis 42:21-22
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