Because of the way the Jewish calendar is built, and the Torah readings are laid out, our reading this week is almost always read on Chanukah—in 17 out of the 19-year cycle. We read this portion, about the redemption of Yosef from prison, during the holiday, and in the odd two years, we read last week’s portion, containing the events leading up to his redemption.
There are many ways to connect the redemption of Yosef to the redemption of the Jews from the Greeks, and I would share one that I think is quite clear. Chanukah is about the Jewish fight for independence and Liberty in the face of Greek oppression. The Greeks prevented Jews from studying Torah and observing things like circumcision, the Sabbath, even consecration of the New Moon. Their goal was to Hellenize the Jews, and, indeed, many Jews fell into that trap.
Against those who assimilated, the Maccabees rose up against both them and the Greeks, actually waging war for their liberty and religious beliefs. The fact that the one container of pure oil, enough for a single day, burned instead in the Holy Temple for eight full days, long enough for new oil to be produced, was a sign that G-d was with them.
The story of Yosef, too, is about G-d obviously being with him. Although he was a lowly Hebrew slave, he was rushed out of prison and brought before Pharaoh due to the testimony of the minister of drinks that Yosef knew how to interpret dreams, and might be able to help Pharoah.
The message of Pharoah’s dreams was, when you think about it, pretty obvious, as my teacher Rabbi Asher Z. Rubenstein zt”l pointed out. First there were seven fat cows that came up from the Nile. They were followed by seven emaciated cows that consumed the fat ones, but remained emaciated. And then the dream was repeated with stalks of corn.
Yosef’s prediction of seven years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine seems, as I said, rather obvious—and to place him, on this basis alone, as second to Pharoah, in charge of the store houses, taxation during the years of plenty, and distribution during the famine, seems to defy logic.
But of course, oil able to burn for one day burning instead for eight also defies logic.
We travel through life thinking that, for the most part, life just works. It’s all natural, it’s all obvious. Our reading and the holiday both remind us that G-d is always with us, His Hand at work, even when everything appears to be natural.
