Upward and Onward
Joseph and Chanukah are intertwined concepts. The word Joseph implies increasing in one’s spiritual life. Similarly, Chanukah captures the ideal of “continually increasing” and “rising in matters of holiness” as we add another candle each night
Chanukah and Vayeishev Connected
Chanukah always coincides with this week’s Parsha, Vayeishev, whose chief protagonist is Joseph. In most years we read Vayeishev on the Shabbos before Chanukah and in some years it is the first day of Chanukah. Either way there must be a connection between the parsha and Chanukah.
On the surface there is no connection between Joseph and the Chanukah story. Yet, a prominent seventeenth century Talmudist and Kabbalist, known as the Shaloh, states that every Torah reading has an intrinsic connection to the Holidays that occur around the time that the Torah portion is read. What then, is the connection between, Joseph and Chanukah?
Always Increasing
One glaring connection between Joseph and Chanukah lies in his very name—Joseph, which means “to increase.”
When Joseph was born, Rachel said “May G-d increase for me another child.” In other words, Joseph’s very birth inspired his mother to anticipate other children.
This indeed is the very essence of Chanukah as well. No sooner do we light the first candle, that we are aware of the fact that the Menorah consists of seven additional places that will be used in subsequent nights to increase (“Yosef”) more light.
And just as the theme of increase is alluded to in the very name of Joseph, similarly, the very name Chanukah is said to form an acronym for the following sentence: Eight candles, and the law is resolved in accordance with the School of Hillel.
(The “Ch”-stands for Ches-the number eight. The “n” of Chanukah stands for Neiros, candles or lights. The “u” stands for the word “v’Halacha,” which means “and the law is resolved.” The “k” stands for k’beis that means “in accordance with the School of.” And finally, the “h” of Chanukah stands for “Hillel“.)
All of this implies that the very name of Chanukah captures the ideal of “continually increasing” and “rising in matters of holiness,” two expressions that the Talmud employs with regard to the lighting of the Menorah.
Brothers Fighting
As we get into the story of Joseph and his brothers, we can see yet another dimension of the relationship between this episode and the Chanukah saga.
Both incidents involved an internecine conflict. The story of Chanukah was not just a struggle between the Jews and their Syrian-Greek oppressors. But like the struggle between Joseph and his brothers, it also involved an internal struggle between the loyalist Jews and the Hellenists who were more than eager to assimilate into Greek culture.
Prelude to Dominion
There is yet a third parallel between Joseph and Chanukah. To introduce the saga of Joseph’s stay in Egypt, the Torah employs the phrase “and Joseph was brought down to Egypt.” The Hebrew word for “brought down-hurad,” the Midrash states, is related to the word “vayerd-and he will have dominion.” This term is clearly a reference to the idea of royalty and self-determination, and a prophetic reference to the spiritual influence and dominion the Messiah will eventually exercise over the entire world.
Thus, Joseph’s ostensible descent into Egypt was actually a prelude to his ascendancy to royalty. Moreover, his decline contained the potential for his meteoric rise, which is the reason the very same word that means to “be brought down” also means to “exercise dominion.”
This parallels the Story of Chanukah, which is celebrated, among other reasons — as Maimonides explains — because it restored sovereignty to the Jewish people.
From the state of “hurad,” being brought down” and subjugated by the Syrian-Greeks and their Hellenist Jewish sympathizers, they now rose to the state of “Vayerd”— they were independent and they exercised dominion and control over their own land and destiny.
Indeed, according to Nachmanides, had the Hasmonean heroes given the position of leadership to the descendants of King David, the rightful heirs to the throne, the Jewish people’s spiritual status would have continued to grow (“Joseph)” and that would have led to the Messianic Age.
Intertwined Parallels
Upon closer analysis, these three parallels between Joseph and Chanukah are intertwined.
Joseph had a unique capacity to grow and increase, reflected in his dreams that portended royalty and leadership for him. Joseph’s brothers’ inability to fathom his exalted nature and his unique potential led them to their struggle against his ambition for power. Thus Joseph’s nature of “increase” initially caused the rift between himself and his brothers. In the end, however, Joseph prevailed and he rose to the position of royalty, the fulfillment of his prophetic dreams, where he eventually made peace with his brothers, supported and sustained them.
Similarly, the story of Chanukah was the struggle between two brothers.
On one side were those who wanted to have unadulterated Jewish values, punctuated with the spirit of continuous spiritual growth; they wanted the “Joseph” spirit to control their destiny.
On the other side were their brothers who sought to bring themselves and all the Jews under the domination of an alien culture which would suppress Jewish growth, Chanukah was the victory for the spirit of “Joseph” that gave us relative independence, but that had also sown the seeds for the ultimate Redemption by Moshiach.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Vayeishev by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
