Community Torah Corner, December 8, 2023

As we celebrate Chanukah this Shabbat we also read Parshat Vayeshev, which begins with the stories of Joseph in MItzrayim. Both the history of the Maccabees and the story of Joseph show the guiding hand of God in the difficult lives of our ancestors. What could be harder than the betrayal of Joseph’s brothers and his false imprisonment in Mitzrayim? What could be more difficult than the Maccabees living under foreign occupation, viewing the defiled Temple daily, just out of their reach every day?

 

A part of me instinctively doesn’t like Joseph, with his incredible good looks, dreams of supremacy over everyone and his father’s treating him like the golden child. This year, however, I learned an interpretation that says Joseph wasn’t so perfect after all.  

 

According to Rabbi Chezekayah ben Manoach, a 13th century French rabbi known as the Chizkuni, the Torah at first says, Joseph dreamt a dream and he told his brothers its content and they hated him even more. (Gen 37:5)  Only after that, in verse 6, does Joseph say here is this dream that I dreamed.. with all the details. Chizkuni tells us that, “[The first] was a dream that never came true. This is why the Torah does not reveal its content.” What a shocking idea. Verse 5 is a dream that never came true, and the Torah only records the dreams that did!

 

Each of us has dreams, hopes and goals. They don’t all come true. And when we look at each other's achievements on social media or in school, sometimes it looks like other people are just so perfect all the time. Chizkuni is coming to remind us that not even Joseph - who the rabbis called Yosef HaTzadik - got it right all the time. And that’s okay.

 

Perhaps that is why Chanukah happens in the darkest nights of the year. After all, if it is a festival of “light” why doesn’t it happen in the bright sunshine of summer?! We are reminded that even a small candle can dispel a large amount of darkness, and our little victories each day are what are truly worth celebrating.