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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