“It happened at the end of two years to the day, that Pharaoh dreamt... and behold - seven ears [of grain] came up on a single branch, healthy and good. And behold - seven ears, thin and blasted by the east wind, were sprouting after them. And the seven thin ears swallowed the seven healthy and full ears. Then Pharaoh awoke and realised that it had been a dream.” (Genesis 41:1-7)
“The angel who was speaking to me returned; he woke me, like a man that is awakened from his sleep. And he said to me: What do you see? And I said: I saw - behold! - a pure gold menorah, its bowl on its top, and its seven lamps on it; there are seven tubes for the seven lamps that are on its top. And two olive trees by it, one to the right of the bowl and one to its left.” (Zechariah 4:1-3; from the Haftarah of Shabbat Chanukah)
This golden menorah is precisely what Zechariah sees in his prophetic vision.
Ever since the yearly cycle of Torah readings was standardised, towards the end of the Second Temple era, and the fixed calendar as calculated by Hillel II (Hillel ben Yehudah, Nasi, or the head of the Sanhedrin) was adopted in 4119 (359 BCE), parashat Miketz coincides with Chanukah in about seven years out of ten. The result is that the Haftarah of parashat Miketz is comparatively rarely read - only in a year that begins on Shabbat and in which Kislev has 29 days. In all other years (as in this year), parashat Miketz falls during Chanukah, and its Haftarah is the Haftarah for Shabbat Chanukah, taken from the Book of Zechariah.
Commenting on Pharaoh’s dream, the Ba’al HaTurim (Rabbi Ya’akov ben Asher, c. 1275-1343) points out that the phrase be-kaneh echad (“on a single branch”) occurs only three times throughout the Tanach. Two of these are in our parashah: once when Pharaoh dreams, and once when he relates his dream to Joseph (41:22). The only other occurrence is in the description of the golden menorah in the Tabernacle: “He [Bezalel] made the menorah of pure gold... with six branches protruding from its sides, three branches of the menorah on one side, and three branches of the menorah on its other side; three cups with almond-like engravings on a single branch....” (Exodus 37:19) Thus, Ba’al HaTurim connects the ears of grain in Pharaoh’s dream with the golden menorah: “The menorah radiates light to the entire world; therefore, [Pharaoh] saw the good [ears of grain] ‘on a single branch’, but the thin and blasted [ears] he did not see ‘on a single branch’.”
This golden menorah is precisely what Zechariah sees in his prophetic vision that is the subject of the Haftarah of Shabbat Chanukah.
Zechariah was one of the last of the prophets; he lived and prophesied at the end of the Babylonian exile, and castigated the Jews of his generation for not rebuilding the Holy Temple, even though they had returned to the Land of Israel and the Temple Mount was in their hands. His vision, which the rabbis instituted as the Haftarah for the Shabbat of Chanukah, looks forward to the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple, when “Jerusalem will be settled outside of her walls because there will be so many people and animals.” (Zechariah 2:8) It is obvious that rebuilding and resettling Jerusalem entails rebuilding the Holy Temple, and this is the theme both of Chanukah as a whole and of the Haftarah.
Zechariah’s vision, which constitutes this Haftarah, opens with the prophet recording that “HaShem showed me four craftsmen. I said: What are these coming to do? And He said: These horns which dispersed Judah such that no man would raise his head - these craftsmen have come to terrify them, to throw [away] the horns of the nations who raise a horn against the Land of Judah, to disperse it.” (2:3-4) These four “craftsmen” are the four redeemers of Israel: Mashiach, son of King David; Mashiach, son of Joseph; Elijah the Prophet; and the Righteous Kohen (Talmud, Sukkah 52b; Midrash, Eliyahu Rabbah 18 and Midrash HaGadol, Exodus 6:7).
The question mah atah ro’eh (“What do you see?”) occurs only seven times throughout the Tanakh, and is addressed to only three men, all of them prophets (Jeremiah, Amos, and Zechariah):
“The word of HaShem came to me saying: What do you see, Jeremiah? And I said: I see a staff of almond-tree [shakked]. And HaShem said to me: You have seen well, because I will hasten [shokked] to fulfil My word.” (Jeremiah 1:11-12)
“The word of HaShem came to me a second time, saying: What do you see? And I said: I see a bubbling pot facing northwards. And HaShem said to me: From the north will the evil open up upon all the inhabitants of the Land.” (ibid. 13-14)
“And HaShem said to me: What do you see, Jeremiah? And I said: figs - the good figs are very good, and the bad ones are so very bad that they are inedible. And the word of HaShem came to me saying: Thus said HaShem, God of Israel: Like these good figs, so will I recall the exile of Judah, which I drove away from this place.” (ibid. 24:3-5)
“Thus did He show me: Behold! The Lord was standing on a straight vertical wall, with a plumb-line in His hand. And HaShem said to me: What do you see, Amos? And I said: A plumb-line. And the Lord said: I hereby place a plumb-line in the midst of My nation Israel; I will no longer continue to pardon them.” (Amos 7:7-8)
“Thus did HaShem God show me: Behold! A basket of summer (kayitz) fruits. And he said: What do you see, Amos? And I said: A basket of summer (kayitz) fruits. And HaShem said to me: The end (keitz) of My nation Israel has come; I will no longer pardon them.” (Amos 8:1-2)
“The angel who was speaking to me returned; he woke me, like a man that is awakened from his sleep. And he said to me: What do you see? And I said: I saw - behold! - a pure gold menorah, its bowl on its top, and its seven lamps on it; there are seven tubes for the seven lamps that are on its top. And two olive trees by it, one to the right of the bowl and one to its left.” (Zechariah 4:1-3; from our Haftarah)
“I raised my eyes again and saw and behold! A flying scroll. And he [the angel] said to me: What do you see? And I said: I see a flying scroll - its length is twenty cubits, and its width is ten cubits. And He said to me: This is the curse that is going out over the face of all the Land. Because though everyone who stole has [previously] been absolved of a similar curse, and every perjurer has [previously] been absolved of a similar curse, I have brought out [this curse], says HaShem, Master of Legions, and it will come unto the thief’s house and the perjurer’s house.” (Zechariah 5:2-4)
In each case, the question “What do you see?” heralds a prophetic vision. The first five visions - granted to Jeremiah and Amos, towards the end of the First Temple period - prophesied the impending destruction of the Holy Temple, the destruction of the Jewish state, and the exile of the nation. The final two visions - granted to Zechariah - prophesied the imminent restoration of the Holy Temple and impending justice against sinners.
In the midst of the vision of this Haftarah, God showed Zechariah Joshua the High Priest (Zechariah 3:1). Joshua was the son of Jehozadak (Haggai 1:1, Zechariah 6:11), who was the brother of Ezra (see I Chronicles 5:40 and Ezra 7:1); so Joshua the High Priest, the subject of Zechariah’s prophetic vision, was the nephew of Ezra who led the Jews out of exile, from Babylon back to Israel, and later directed the re-building of the Second Temple in its earliest stages.
Apparently, the restoration of Israel to its Land and the re-building of the Holy Temple transformed the vision of “What do you see?” from a prophecy of destruction and gloom to a prophecy of joy and hope.
There were no open, revealed miracles.
This is precisely the lesson of Chanukah: our own efforts, subsequently blessed by God, are what transform the Land of Israel from a barren wasteland into a blooming garden; transform the nation of Israel from a collection of communities scattered throughout the world into a united nation living securely on its Land; transform the Temple Mount from a site of destruction and desecration into the sanctity of the restored Holy Temple.
In the Maccabees’ wars against the Syrian-Greek empire and the Hellenists, there were no open, revealed miracles. The only clearly supernatural miracle was that of the jar of oil - and that miracle happened within the confines of the inner courtyard of the Holy Temple, witnessed only by a handful of kohanim. But the overall course of the war - the defeat of a mighty superpower by a single family - was clearly miraculous. This is the kind of miracle that we have witnessed in our generations: our strength, our ability to change the world by our actions, comes from God, not from our physical prowess - just as the oil’s ability to illuminate depends not on its physical volume but on the will of God.
As the prophet says, in the closing verses of our Haftarah: “Not by military might, and not by strength; but with My spirit, says HaShem, Lord of Legions.” (Zechariah 4:6)