1.
It is no coincidence that for thousands of years the story of Joseph and his brothers has been read during Hanukkah. The long struggle of the Hasmoneans for national freedom, lasting 25 years until the establishment of an independent Jewish state, touched the roots of our identity not only as a people but as a family composed of branches that at times clashed with one another. This Shabbat we read how Joseph emerges from his prison pit and ascends to the exalted position of viceroy of the most powerful empire in the world (Genesis 41:14–43).
We have known such periods in our history, when impressive Jews held decisive positions of influence among the nations. But nothing lasts forever. After they exited the stage, others arose who "did not know Joseph" (Exodus 1:8), and once again we were forced to wander. This was the case with Haman and Esther in the Persian Empire in the fifth century BCE, Shmuel HaNagid in Muslim Granada in the 11th century, Don Isaac Abarbanel in Christian Spain in the 15th century, and even Benjamin Disraeli in 19th-century Britain and Leon Blum in 20th-century France. The list goes on.
The story of Joseph in Egypt is the story of the Jewish people in the exiles to which they were cast, and of their efforts to survive while preserving their ancient heritage. Everywhere we contributed our wisdom, labor and loyalty to the ruling powers, to the economy, to trade, to science, to philosophy, to law, to faith and more. When the decisive moment came, it did not help us. See how the Jews of Australia were abandoned to their fate by a pro-Arab government. Jews fled to Oceania, to the far side of the globe, hoping antisemitism would not reach so far. They were wrong. We must open the foundational book of our people and learn to read history.
2.
Exile and wandering occupy a significant portion of our history, to the point that there were periods when Jews believed this was our destiny: to be a light unto the nations in their lands, while the Land of Israel was deferred to the messianic era. In 19th-century Germany, for example, the Reform movement replaced Jerusalem with Berlin, and even German Orthodoxy viewed life there as an ideal.
Following emancipation and the granting of rights to Jews in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch wrote in his Torah commentary: "Under the increasingly enlightened skies of the nations, they (the Jews) are to utilize the powers that have been enriched and liberated, in order to fulfill their unique mission in exile more completely… and not set their hearts on rivalry with the nations… like Abraham, they will build altars among the nations to God and His Torah… for the redemption of humanity, and will realize the full measure of goodness and truth among many peoples. In the end, the nations will tolerate and honor them."
One hears the heartbreaking yearning of German Jews to be embraced by the German nation. But the deeper their integration into culture and society, the stronger the hatred toward them grew, until the bitter end. This process has repeated itself many times throughout our history, and will likely do so again.
3.
Hanukkah's great innovation lies in insisting on the alternative: independent political life in our homeland, enabling the observance of the ancient tradition without fear. The first stage of the revolt that erupted in 167 BCE under the leadership of Judah Maccabee (from the Hebrew word Makkevet, a hummer) was an uprising against Hellenistic coercion and the prohibition on observing the commandments of the Torah. Once this goal was achieved and the Temple purified, Judah sent most of his soldiers' home and remained with about 800 men. General Bacchides exploited this and surprised them with an army of 20,000 soldiers. The defeat was total. The Jewish battalions were destroyed and Judah was killed.
At this stage, the revolt failed. The decrees returned, Jews were executed and the Temple was desecrated once again.
The remaining Hasmonean brothers fled with their followers to the caves of the Judean Desert. They sent Johanan to lead their families to the Nabateans east of the Jordan, but the Nabateans murdered them. Despair deepened. Earlier, under Judah's leadership, the success of the revolt had ignited hope, and now it had collapsed. Worse still, the families for whom the revolt had been launched were murdered. The despair intensified. Like Joseph, cast into the pit a second time (Genesis 37:24; 40:15), they found themselves in a deep political, military and personal abyss, in a dire situation.
4.
At this point, Jonathan, the youngest brother, rose and assumed leadership. We have no choice, he told the few who gathered around him, but to fight for our freedom until victory. We bear responsibility for the continuity of our people and its ancient tradition. Learning from the first phase of the rebellion, they understood that religious freedom and the purification of the Temple were insufficient while enemy forces still surrounded them. Political independence was required.
They fought for about two years in guerrilla operations against General Bacchides until he left the country and returned to Antioch. Then, over the course of about seven years, Jonathan established a standing army of roughly 40,000 fighters. Only in 152 BCE did he liberate Jerusalem, purify the Temple and assume the position of high priest. Herein lies his innovation: he descended to the lowlands and the coastal plain and over roughly a decade cleansed these areas of foreign presence and reconquered them. It seems that nothing like this had occurred since King David.
At a decisive moment, Jonathan erred and trusted his enemy, General Tryphon. He went to Acre, was captured and killed along with his two sons and hundreds of his soldiers in 143 BCE. Of Mattathias' five sons, only Simon remained. With the help of 39,000 soldiers, he expelled Tryphon, completed the purification of the land, and in 142 BCE established the independent Jewish state and was crowned President.
5.
In the middle of the story of Joseph and his brothers is embedded a secondary narrative about his brother Judah, the one who advised selling Joseph to the Ishmaelites (Genesis 37:26–27). While Joseph begins his meteoric rise, Judah descends from his brothers, his two sons die and his daughter-in-law Tamar is left a widow (Genesis 38:1–7). After his wife dies, Tamar disguises herself as a prostitute, and Judah has relations with her without knowing she is his daughter-in-law (Genesis 38:15–16). She gives birth to twins. As the first extends his hand to emerge, his brother bursts forth before him and thus receives his name, Peretz, which means "Break forth" (Genesis 38:27–29), the ancestral father of the Messiah, referred to in the liturgical poem Lecha Dodi as "Ben Partzi" (son of Peretz, Ruth 4:18–22).
The tidings for mending the world come from its depths, and from there, redeeming it.
Joseph, son of Rachel, and Judah, son of Leah, represent spiritual and political forces: Messiah son of Joseph, responsible for building the national body, and Messiah son of David, who builds the spirit and soul of the people. These are also two camps that would later split into two kingdoms, Judah and Israel (I Kings 12). In our own time, these concepts have evolved into today's question of the identity of the people dwelling in Zion: Jewish or Israeli. As part of the profound historiosophical lesson taught by the Book of Genesis, we see that while Joseph ascends, Judah descends, but in his descent, he unknowingly gives birth to the Messiah.
6.
While the national body is being built and Messiah son of Joseph rises and strengthens, the spiritual and religious component is temporarily concealed and the connection to religious tradition appears tenuous. But this is a superficial view, enslaved to daily headlines and blind to the deep meta-historical processes unfolding within us as we return home to Zion and the national spirit that had lain dormant, awakens.
Joseph was thrown into a pit and was sold into slavery (Genesis 37:24–28). Judah descended and fell into a situation in which his daughter-in-law conceived from him (Genesis 38:18). Neither knew at first that this was not the end of the story but the beginning of a vast historical saga destined to change humanity. The Hasmoneans took part in it, and our own generation of wonders is writing another chapter in the Bible, that was never sealed.
Our redemption arrives in the most difficult moments, unexpectedly, from unforeseen directions, When our mind is distracted.
We need patience. And faith.
