Hannukah always coincides with parshiyot, Torah readings, of Vayeshev and/or Miketz – the parshiyot that focus on the story of Yosef and his brothers.  Baalei halakha, experts in Jewish law, have suggested a number of connections between these parshiyot and Hannukah.

For example, the Torah Temima (Harav Baruch Epstein) suggests a connection between Yosef's brothers throwing him into a pit whose contents could not be seen and the need to place Hannukah candles below a height of 20 amot so they can be seen. A number of conceptual connections can also be seen between Yosef and Chanuka. They offer insight into how Hashem functions in this world and what He expects of us today.

Hashem often manages the world in ways that include the involvement of man. Sometimes man is a passive messenger/reporter (e.g. Yonah in Ninveh). Sometimes, however, the fulfillment of Hashem's will in the world is through a partnership with man. That is, man's actions are an essential part of Hashem's plan. In every crisis, the Jew must decide whether to wait passively for divine salvation or whether he should actively make the hishtadlut that is needed to ultimately realize the divinely ordained destiny.

The Jews in the time of Hannukah suffered from the harsh decrees of Antiochus. The Maccabees understood that salvation comes from Hashem. They knew that sometimes G-d intervenes and people do not have to lift a finger (like in Yetziyat Mitzrayim) and sometimes man must be an active partner. From the economic model he suggests to Paroh, to his forced fulfillment of his dreams by his brothers having no choice but to bring Binyamin down to Egypt, to his insistence that Yaakov and his family emigrate to Egypt, Yosef is the activist eved Hashem. He repeatedly acknowledges the absolute sovereignty of G-d but he still feels compelled to act decisively and not just wait for salvation to come from Hashem. Yosef's model of the need for intense hishtadlut was embraced by the Maccabees.

There is also another way in which the story of Yosef is relevant to both the Hannukah of old and to our world today. We are told that each of the Avot Ha'Umah, Patriarchs and Matriarchs, made a unique contribution to the spiritual DNA of the Jewish People, Am Yisrael. Avraham Avinu was the first to promote the existence of one G-D among the nations of the world. Yitzchak was the first example of a tradition being passed along from one generation to the next. Yaakov Avinu and his sons (in particular Yosef) were the first to demonstrate that a Jew can maintain a strong relationship with Hashem despite harsh personal challenges, whether in Eretz Yisrael or in Galut, exile.

Yaakov did so while confronting pressures from Eisav (Esau) and Lavan and despite the personal challenges of Dina in Shechem and Mechirat Yosef, the sellinjg of Yosef. Yosef's addition to this spiritual legacy was not only in his standing up to the challenge of being sold into slavery but, in his ability to stay loyal to Hashem despite his being very much a part of the political and economic life in Egypt, the leading culture of his time.

We live in a world that challenges our Jewish values no less than the Greeks of old. Our ability to withstand these challenges depends on our embracing Yosef as a role model. We must recognize that while Hashem controls our fate, our hishtadlut is an important part of the divine plan. Also, like Yosef and like the Maccabees, we must stand firm in our connection to our masoret, heritage, despite the attraction of the modern Egyptians/Greeks.