Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Miketz - Hannukah Genesis 41:1-44:17

By Shlomo Riskin

Efrat, Israel - The festival of Hannukah celebrates 2 miracles, the first highlighted by the al hanissim prayer and the second expressed by the kindling of the menorah; the military victory of the few and ill prepared Hasmoneans against the many and mightier Greek-Syrians, as well as the small cruse of oil which was sufficient for only one day but which lasted for eight. The question we have queried is, why the necessity for the second miracle of the cruse of oil? And even if that were indeed a necessary miracle, why do we celebrate it for eight days? After all, the miracle was only a seven- day miracle since there was initially enough oil for the first day!

In order to answer these questions I would like to analyze five similar phenomena which surround the festival of Hannukah, Torah readings during this period, and the astronomy of this time of year. First of all, the amount of daylight hours is beginning to increase and even slowly overcome the darkness which almost seemed to completely overtake the rays of the sun. Secondly, we recite the blessing of the new moon, which marks the renewed appearance of moonlight from the midst of a darkened sky. Thirdly, a small band of religious Macabees overcame a much larger army of Gentiles and Hellenist Jews. Fourthly, Joseph, the son of Jacob, emerged from a black, bleak dungeon to become the grand vizier of the pharaoh of Egypt- and saves his family and emerging nation from destruction. And finally, we read of the gifts of the princes of the tribes to the Sanctuary, a Temple whose ultimate task is to bring sanctity and light to a world inundated by darkness and impurity.

Some of these phenomena are cosmic-historic. Do we believe that Jewish History is determined in much the same way as the seasons of the year, the renewal of the moon each month, and the relative hours of sunlight and darkness each day? Is history as predetermined as nature, both being the result of the directing finger of the Divine suffusing every aspect of the world and life?

A careful investigation of Pharaohs’ dreams and Joseph’s reaction to them in this week’s Torah portion will provide the answer. Pharaoh first dreams of seven fat cows and seven lean cows, the lean cows completely devouring the fat cows. Indeed even after the lean cows devour the fat cows they appear just as lean as they were. He then dreams of seven wind tossed and mildewed sheaves of wheat which devour seven bountiful sheaves of wheat, and once again we remain with the wind tossed mildewed sheaves. Joseph explains that the cows as well as the sheaves represent Egypt, the country which then led the world as the major power and the country for which Pharaoh was responsible as its chief executive officer. From this perspective, the cows symbolized the government which must nourish and sustain its citizens much as a cow must nourish and sustain her calves; in similar fashion, the sheaves symbolize the food and the economy. It is no wonder then that Pharaoh’s dreams gave him no rest; these dreams clearly and absolutely announce the end of Egypt as any kind of economic force in the world. As the Bible itself testifies, “the famine shall completely consume the land (of Egypt)” (Genesis 41:30)

Nevertheless, Joseph continues to interpret Pharaohs’ dreams with an added suggestion- or rather solution- which would alleviate the forth coming disaster “and now let Pharaoh find an understanding and wise individual to be placed in charge of the land of Egypt….and let him store food in reserve within the land of Egypt during the seven years of plenty….so that the land will not be destroyed because of the famine” (Genesis 41:33) Joseph is obviously setting the stage for himself to be appointed as that individual responsible for the salvation of Egypt. Pharaoh makes the right appointment and Joseph saves the day; he saves Egypt, he saves the Jewish people and he saves the world from a famine which had been set to destroy everything according to Pharaoh’s dream.

History as well as nature may appear to be predetermined along lines inexorably set down by fixed laws of physics and sociology. However, it is no accident that the very first commandment given to Israel is, “thisnew moon is given to you…” (Exodus 12:1); to you to mark, to you to count and to you to control. You can and must control time, you can and must control history and you eventually will be able to master even nature.

Pharaoh managed to avoid what appeared to be inevitable doom by making the right appointment; Joseph succeeded in avoiding inevitable doom by taking proper advantage of an opportunity and by using his G-d given wisdom and talents. The Macabees overcame the much stronger Hellenists by garnering the will and the ability to defeat a much stronger enemy. They certainly accomplished it only with G-d’s help; but had they not attempted to take history into their own hands, mankind would never have benefited from the wisdom of our Torah and the ethics of our Ten Commandments after the Greek Period, and Jewish history would have ended two millennia ago. Similarly, the Macabees understood that their victory was not a physical-military victory alone; their battle had been fought first and foremost on behalf of the ethical monotheism which must emanate from the Menorah of the Sanctuary, the candle which is commandment and the light which is Torah. Hence, despite the knowledge that scientifically there was only enough oil for one day and that it would take eight days to process new oil, they nevertheless felt constrained to take science and nature into their own hands and begin lighting the menorah. The message of this second miracle rings out loud and clear; take history in hand and take nature in hand! If you do it for the sake of heaven, you will be helped from on High and you will overcome.

Shabbat Shalom and Hannukah Sameah.