Welcome to Torah Thoughts from Adas Israel the Jewish Congregation of Northern Iowa based in Mason City. Chanukah begins at sundown Sunday evening and for eight nights we'll recall the story of the rededication of the Temple by a small band of Jews that overcame a great army. More on that in just a moment as we, first, take a look at this week's Torah Portion which comes from Genesis 37 - 40 and is Parsha Vayeishev (Hebrew for "Settled"). "Jacob settled in the land of his father's sojournings, in the land of Canaan. These are the chronicles of Jacob."
Here we, once again, come back to the story of Jacob. The Torah devotes a great amount of time on the people of significance. Just as it did with Abraham and Noah we now come back to Jacob who has been called the "Father of our Faith". We read that Jacob has finally "settled" he has put down roots and we would hope that his time would be peaceful and calm after all he had been through. However that is not to be the case.
Joseph and his Brothers
It is written that the brothers of Joseph hated him but that hate turns into jealousy as they realize his ability to understand dreams. They plot among themselves to kill Joseph but then Reuben steps in and suggests that they place him in a pit. Why would Reuben do this? It was his way to saving Joseph. His intention was to go back to the pit, get Joseph out and return him to Jacob.
But that was not to be. Reuben, a midrash tells us, had to go away. Where did he go and why? That is an interesting story. If you remember in last week's parsha we read about the death of Rachel. After she was buried Jacob moved his bed into the tent of Bilhah, the maidservant of Rachel. Reuben considered this to be an affront to his mother Leah and moved the bed of Jacob to the tent of Leah.
All of this tampering had a cost because in doing so Reuben was displaying dishonor to his father. The rabbis say that Jacob moved his bed to the tent of Bilhah as a way of honoring the memory of Rachel. In tribute to her he assigned this honor to her loyal maidservant. Indeed it was now Bilhah that was raising eight-year-old Joseph and the new baby Benjamin.
The rabbi's tell us that Reuben had committed a sin and it was that sin that took him away from the pit so that he could redeem himself. When he returned the pit was empty.
Oh, What to Do?
Reuben then does something very interesting. He believes that Joseph is dead and he "rends his clothing" and says, "The boy is gone! And I...where can I go?" Odd isn't it that Reuben suddenly is thinking about himself? Reuben was the first born and because of that he would have to answer to his father, Jacob. But, more than that Reuben realizes that had he no sinned by moving his father's bed he would have been able to rescue his brother Joseph. But now he blamed himself for not being aggressive enough in his plan.
Rabbi Hirsch writes that it is common for generous people to feel they should have given more, and for concerned people to feel they did not do enough. But there is more to this story because G-d wanted Joseph to go to Egypt where he would save the nation from the famine and build a great people. Because of that no matter what Reuben might have accomplished nothing was going to change the trajectory of His will.
And, What Else?
Also in this parsha we read about the indiscretion of Judah with Tamar, the attempted seduction of Joseph by Potifar's wife, which ends with her framing Joseph and having him imprisoned and Joseph interpreting the dreams of his fellow prisoners, the wine steward (who was reinstated and forgot to put in a good word for Joseph) and the baker (who was hanged).
Chanukah
"No, it is not the Jewish Christmas..." That is what I tell students who have no relationship with the festival, which, by the way, is not something that is ordained in the Torah. Sure, Chanukah happens around the same time as the Christian celebration and yes, there are lights being lit and yes some gifts are given but that ends the similarity. The rest is...history.
In 167 BCE, the Syrian-Greek emperor, Antiochus, set out to destroy Judaism and incorporate the Land of Israel and its inhabitants into his empire. His soldiers attacked Jerusalem, massacring thousands of people and desecrating the city’s holy Second Temple by erecting an altar to Zeus and sacrificing pigs within its sacred walls.
However Antiochus knew that was not the way to destroy the Jewish faith. He had to work on destroying the entire structure of the Jew so he made studying and teaching the Torah illegal. Next, he issued a ban prohibiting the practice of three mitzvot: 1) Sabbath observance 2) sanctifying of the new month (establishing the first day of the month by testimony of witnesses who saw the new moon) 3) brit mila (entering the Covenant of Abraham through Torah-ordained circumcision).
He knew that by forcing the people to assimilate and be out of touch with their faith he could destroy the Jews once and for all.
Enter The Maccabees
A family of Jewish priests – Matityahu and his 5 sons, known as the Maccabees – would not have it. They started a revolt and three years later succeeded in evicting the oppressors. The victory was a true miracle – on the scale of present day Israel being able to defeat the combined forces of all of today’s super-powers. This also explains why the emblem of the State of Israel is a menorah.
Once the Jewish people regained control of the Temple in Jerusalem, they wanted to rededicate it immediately.
In order to do so, they needed ritually pure olive oil to re-light the menorah in the Temple, which was a part of the Temple’s nightly service. However, only a single cruse of oil was found, just enough to burn for one day though they needed oil for eight days – the time it would take for new ritually pure olive oil to be produced. A miracle occurred and the oil burned for eight days. Thus, the Temple was rededicated; in fact, Hanukah means “to dedicate” in Hebrew.
Chanukah Today
And so, starting on Sunday evening we will light the first candle in the nine-branch menorah. Why nine? One of the candles is a "servant" candle. It is used to light the other candles, adding one each night of the festival until all eight candles are burning...along with the servant candle. Also each night we tell a story about Chanukah, play a game called dreidel and eat latkes...potato pancakes that are fried in oil. Yes, there is that oil connection again.
Even the dreidel game has a meaning. It's played with a "top" that has four sides. On each side is a Hebrew letter a nun, gimmel, hey, and shin. The first letters represent the phrase “nes gadol haya sham – a great miracle happened there.”
So, even in playing a game...we remember the miracle of Chanukah.
Shabbat Shalom and thank you for reading!
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