Shabbos Parshas Miketz invariably coincides with Shabbos Chanukah, leading our rabbis and commentators to see relationships between the events of the sale of Yosef, Yosef’s meeting his brothers and his interactions with them, and the Chanukah chronicle so that we can learn related lessons from them. We will begin each section with a discussion of the Parsha followed by how it relates to Chanukah.
When the brothers come down to Egypt from famine riddled Canaan to buy food for their families, they are brought before Yosef who accuses them of being spies. While the brothers proclaim their innocence, Yosef twists the meaning of each of their declarations until they appear more and more guilty. Yosef throws them all into the dungeon, the “pit”, eventually releases all but one, Shimon, and tells the others to return to him with their youngest brother to prove the veracity of their story and their innocence.
At this point, the brothers realize that something of cosmic proportions is taking place. They recognize parallels between their current situation and what they had inflicted upon their brother Yosef. They too had accused him, tried him and thrown him into a pit before selling him into slavery. Amongst themselves they admit their guilt in not heeding the cries of their brother, and they accept responsibility for their current suffering. They understand that Hashem is punishing them measure for measure, in each way that they had made Yosef suffer.
But Yosef has digressed from the script. Unlike the brothers, he comes to confess that he may have been mistaken and offers them a way to prove their innocence, and then he continues to torment them by surreptitiously returning their money into their sacks as they return home, and later by accusing his brother Benjamin of stealing his chalice. In Shabbat Shiurim, R. Miller offers an explanation based on the Shem Mishmuel. While the brothers felt guilty for not responding to Yosef’s cries, they still felt justified in their judgment and sentencing of Yosef. Only Reuven, according to Halekach Vehalebuv, considered that their reasoning and their judgment was flawed. When Yosef replaced the money in the brothers’ sacks to further their culpability, Yosef seemed to be acting maliciously in spite of his declaration of being G-d fearing. Perhaps the brothers had also been unconsciously acting maliciously toward their brother Yosef under the guise of Torah law. In that case, their verdict was unjust, and they only redeemed themselves finally when they were willing to defend Benjamin at whatever cost.
The Chanukah narrative can also be viewed from the perspective of measure for measure. Shabbat Shiurim continues, citing the Bayith Chadash. He posits that Hashem meted out the punishment of the evil Greek decrees and the suspension of the Temple service as divine retribution for Bnei Yisroel’s serving Hashem lackadaisically, without any zeal or ardor. The kohanim performed the Temple service with equal nonchalance. If Bnei Yisroel did not value this service as a means of bonding with Hashem, then He would remove these paths to bonding through the decrees of the Greeks. But when the Chashmonaim showed their passion for the mitzvoth, when they wouldn’t settle for using any oil or wait until new pure oil was available, even though it would have been halachically permissible, when they expended tremendous energy to performing the mitzvah of lighting the menorah in glorious purity, they showed their dedication to and love of Hashem. Hashem then reciprocated and performed the miracle of the oil to show us that He accepted our overtures and would Himself reinforce that bond.
Now let us return to Reuven and try to understand how he could see Yosef so differently from the way his brothers viewed him. Reuven sensed that Yosef was in no way a rodef, a pursuer out to do his brothers harm. Halekach Vehalebuv, citing Rav Aharon Kotler ztz”l,explores Reuven’s reasoning and finds that it is based on a deep sense of gratitude he felt toward Yosef. Reuven was afraid that as a result of his sin after Rachel’s death, he would no longer be considered one of the twelve sons of Yaakov. But when Yosef related his dreams to his brothers, Yosef spoke of eleven stars bowing to him. Reuven understood that Yosef still considered him a member of the family, one of the stars, not to be excommunicated and excised. Reuven was overwhelmed with such a sense of gratitude toward Yosef that he was able to reframe his vision of Yosef and see into his heart and not merely into the externals. He understood, as the Torah constantly bears witness, that Yosef always loved them, always searched for “my brothers”.
When a person feels gratitude, his whole attitude changes, an effect that hold true whether it is a reaction toward one’s fellow man or to God. When one cultivates an attitude of gratitude, one can learn to interpret even seemingly difficult and challenging situations positively. Gratitude is the basis of our faith, as we proclaim daily before we recite the Shema itself: “… To offer praiseful thanks to You and proclaim Your Oneness with love…” When things are going well for us, we must strengthen our faith and gratitude so that when life brings us the challenges that are so much a part of life, we have a “bank account” of faith and love of Hakodosh Boruch Hu upon which to draw, so that we can reframe the difficulty as an opportunity for growth.
The essence of the mitzvah of lighting the Chanukah candles is also “to thank and to sing praises to Your great Name.” We are told we may not use the candles for any purpose other than to see them, to meditate upon them, for such is the power of the Chanukah candles, says Halekach Vehalebuv, that meditating upon them adds faith and gratitude and allow us to move on when things appear hopeless, as they must have for the Maccabbees who retained their faith and vanquished the mighty Greek army.
Difficult situations can easily lead to despair. The brothers could have easily been despondent upon discovering the money tucked back into their sacks and returned to them. Rav Reiss, in Meirosh Tzurim discusses the kesef that the brothers found. They felt they could no longer move forward. Yet Yaakov told them to now take double the money and return to Egypt; all is never lost. When they returned and thought they were being taken to the Prime Minister’s house for arrest, the Prime Minister (Yosef) reassured them that the money was a gift from God. This lesson of never despairing of Hashem’s love and salvation is a lesson both in the saga of Yosef’s brothers and in the Chanukah narrative. Kesef means not only silver and money, but also longing and passion. The money may have been returned to the brothers, but they took double with them to show their commitment to honesty and faith in spite of that first money being thrown back at them.
When Hashem seems to throw our longing and passion back in our faces as insincere, He doesn’t want us to despair of His love. He wants us to double our efforts to prove our sincerity so that He can give us hope again and draw us close to Him. When the Chashmonaim came like sons who love their Father, cleansed His Temple, purified His Sanctuary and with complete dedication and love, searched for and found that last, tiny pure cruse of oil to light the candles in the courtyard of His Sanctuary, Hashem rewarded their efforts and love so that they felt that passion for a full year and established the annual commemoration and celebration of Chanukah.
As we light the Chanukah candles in these days, we must turn our hearts to Hashem with the same passion as the Maccabbees did in those days. We must let the flames enter our souls and ignite the passion and the gratitude to He from Whom all good derives.
(Summarized by Channie Koplowitz Stein)
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