BackJoseph's Message for Chanukah
By: Rabbi Dr. Abraham Unger
At first glance, there is no connection between this Shabbat’s Torah portion focusing on Joseph’s rise to power in Egypt, and the celebration of Chanukah we are observing this week. Joseph’s story is a Biblical one, while Chanukah occurred millennia later. But, the paradigm of Joseph as a Jew in a non-Jewish world echoes throughout the Chanukah narrative.
When Joseph is first brought before Pharaoh, he proudly states – at great personal risk – that G-d provides him with the ability to interpret dreams and advise soundly. He makes this argument in the midst of a pagan nation that even believed its own king, namely Pharaoh himself, to be a god. Rashi amplifies this statement of Joseph by adding that Joseph is actually attributing his own seeming wisdom to G-d Himself. Recall Joseph was the only Israelite in Egypt at this time, a lone Jew in a culturally cold Diaspora.
The core teaching of Chanukah left to us by Judah Maccabee is that we remain resolute in our Jewish identity, no matter the possible cost. He literally took to the hills, in this case those of the Galilee, to both preserve Jewish identity and battle for its continuity. Joseph risked imprisonment, or worse, when declaring his commitment to the faith of his ancestors.
It has been a hard and painful week for the Jewish people. The loss seems almost unbearable. And yet, we know we will go on, ever stronger, ever more dedicated, to sustaining what Joseph and Judah Maccabee and so many generations thereafter stood up for. We are always the best of partners in good faith to the broader world in which we live, just as Joseph was in the Egypt of his time, but we also never shrink from remaining steadfast in our faith. That is the strength of the Jewish spirit across history.