50 | DECEMBER 19 • 2019 

Spirit
torah portion

I

t’
s that time of year. We 
pause our diets for oily 
treats; we break our bank 
accounts for some gifts; and we 
take time off to see our loved 
ones. 
Despite never being men-
tioned in the Torah, the holiday 
of Chanukah is perhaps the 
most well-known holiday of 
the Jewish calendar. But why 
is that? Shouldn’
t Shavuot, the 
day of receiving the Torah, the 
foundation of our religion, get 
more press? Why don’
t we find 
“ugly Pentecost sweat-
ers” in stores during the 
springtime? What is it 
about Chanukah that it 
penetrates secular cul-
ture and makes for such 
a recognizable holiday?
On the one hand, we 
can suggest an anthro-
pological approach: Its 
theme of gift-giving 
fits in our highly com-
mercialized society; it’
s 
similar to Christmas and 
there is the overlap of 
timing. But there may be 
a reason that gets to the essence 
of this eight-day celebration, a 
theme that lies at the very core 
of what the holiday represents.
The Talmud records two 
seemingly disconnected state-
ments of Rav Kahana, ultimate-
ly quoting Rav Tanchum. First, 
the chanukiah must be placed 
below 20 cubits high. Second, 
when Yosef was thrown in the 
pit and the verse says “there 
was no water” (Bereshit 37:24), 
it means to hint to us that there 
was no water, there were snakes 
and scorpions, which threat-
ened Yosef’
s life. What is the 
connection between these two 
statements? 
More specifically to our 
portion this week, if there were 
deadly snakes and scorpions in 
the pit, why would the broth-
ers put Yosef in it? Reuven’
s 
plan was “to return him to his 

father” after the pit (37:22). But 
once Yosef emerged miracu-
lously unscathed from such 
threatening animals, did the 
brothers not then realize that 
Yosef was to be protected?
Rav Baruch HaLevi Epstein, 
in his Torah Temimah (1902), 
explains that all of the above 
questions can be answered with 
the same theme: visibility. On 
the one hand, the pit was too 
deep, and Reuven never saw the 
snakes and scorpions. Similarly, 
when Yosef emerged unscathed, 
they didn’
t realize that his 
health was indicative of 
anything extraordinary. 
The pit was 20 cubits 
deep and prevented the 
brothers from knowing 
what happened. On the 
other hand, the purpose 
of the chanukiah is to 
make sure other people 
outside of our homes 
can see our candles 
glowing. Therefore, says 
Rav Tanchum, it must 
be placed lower than 20 
cubits high.
As we’
ll say in the 
“
Al HaNissim” prayer over 
Chanukah, “You (HaShem) 
made a great and holy name in 
Your world, and for Your nation 
the Jews, You brought great 
salvation”
. 
Part of Chanukah is rejoicing 
over our own redemption. But 
another part is showing our 
Jewish pride to the world. We 
unabashedly place our chanuki-
ot by windows for the world 
to see; we put our Chanukah 
sweaters on, and we take advan-
tage of all the holiday deals we 
can find because this is a hol-
iday we celebrate publicly the 
pride of our traditions and our 
rituals. 
We need to remind ourselves 
that we shouldn’
t hide, but rath-
er celebrate that we’
re Jewish. 

Shaya Katz is rabbi at Young Israel of 
Oak Park.

Parshat 

Vayeshev: 

Genesis

37:1-40:23; 

Amos

2:6-3:8.

Rabbi
Shaya Katz

Seeing Our Believing

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