Miketz & Hanukkah - Some assembly required
Genesis 41:1 - 44:17 | Kings 3:15 - 4:1
Summary: Hanukkah ritualizes increased light. But increased light is not always welcome, and sometimes feels imposing and exposing. As Yoseph’s brothers come to Egypt, he is seeing them, and it makes them squirm. But it is important to go through this process, because when people are seen - even scrutinized - through loving eyes, it often leads to greater fixing.
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The problem with light is, what if you don’t want to see or be seen? And here we are in the midst of a holiday in which the light is demanded, more light each day! It’s as if we are told ‘you must reveal. You must see. You must be seen. More and more.’
All those parts of me that I try to keep hidden, that I wish to ignore, that I hope will just go away - here they are! All those scary things in the world, all those skeletons in their closets, memories and fears, whatever else has been swept under the rug or is hiding under the bed - is it really a good idea to insist on seeing them? But there is no hiding from the light of Hanukkah. With enough light, all will be revealed.
It turns out that Hanukkah requires heaps of courage. It takes audacity to see and to be seen! It is quite a vulnerable position!
Even seeing a little bit takes a lot of courage, and so it might be enough. Though it has become ubiquitous that people light one candle on the first night of Hanukkah and then add one each night, the Talmud also conveys the opinion that it is certainly enough to light one candle each night, for the entire family. This opinion seems to reflect that idea that too much light is not necessarily a good thing, and it may be appropriate to bring a little light and call it a night.
This idea is reflected in how the Talmud talks about the people daring enough to increase the light every night - they are called mehadrin min ha’mehadrin. Though in Hebrew the word HaDaR means beauty or splendor, and it sounds like mehadrin min ha’mehadrin describes the most beautiful way to do the mitzvah of Hanukkah, that’s not what the words actually mean. In Aramaic, which is the language the Talmud is using there, the word HaDaR means ‘to return’. So, mehadrin min ha’mehadrin means something like ‘the returners of the returners.’ Maybe that could translate as ‘those who return, and then return again.’ It implies that people who add one candle every night are people who do teshuva (repent) and then do teshuva again. These adventurers are exposing themselves more and more, night by night, seeing and revealing more of themselves and of the world. And what they see indicates that there is much work to do. They see what is needed and they recommit, and they see how they are coming up short, and they recommit again. They are able to do the personal work that is required of someone with increased vision.
But the light of Hanukkah does more than just reveal. It is not normal light. It is not neutral. It has an additional quality - it instructs. It educates. It shows us what is, but also shows us what to do with what is. It shows us what is possible. Wherever it shines, it shows us how to evoke that same light. That’s what the word Hanukkah means - “to become educated.” Hanukkah is teaching us about light.
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There are fine lines between revealing, seeing, observing, watching, and scrutinizing from the perspective of the person with the eyes. The person who is being seen might feel like they are the same - you are pointing your eyeballs at me and noticing the things I do and it makes me uneasy. But there are different ways to look and to see.
When Yoseph’s brothers stand before him in Egypt, he recognizes them and they do not recognize him. From the outset of their encounter, we get the feeling that he is scrutinizing them, and they feel uneasy. He is watching their behavior and hearing their words and listening attentively to their story, and he has questions. He wants to know about what they do and why they are in Egypt. He wants more information on their father and their younger brother, and the brother who “is not.” He pushes them. They feel it. Soon enough, they reveal things that have been hidden. “And [the brothers] said to each other, ‘but we are guilty about our brother, for we saw his anguish as he begged us, and we did not listen.’”
Most people don’t like to be scrutinized. There is an intuitive sense that I get to keep my business private. I get to choose what to reveal and what not to reveal. It is not acceptable or fair that someone would open my emails - so why should someone get to observe me closely to find information that I did not choose to reveal?
Does it matter that Yoseph is scrutinizing them because he wants to bring them to a state of rectification that cannot be reached unless the hidden things are revealed? His penetrating gaze is not meant to rip them apart and show them to be frauds. It is meant to expose the brokenness of their old assumptions and to offer a new way for the shards to be put back together. He is looking for ways to restore peace and wholeness to his family.
Yoseph’s gaze may feel unwelcome but it ultimately bears a message of hope. In this sense, Yoseph is like Hanukkah light - it reveals, and while it reveals, it teaches.
Yoseph’s vision is not intended to show that their family is built on lies. It is intended to show that their family has what it takes to be built on truth. He has a vision of a family - and perhaps even of a world - that does not need to hide, because it has the courage it needs in order to love, to accept, to make space for, to allow, to love, to grow, to stand up for one another, to admit mistakes, to return and then return again.
Yes, it would be easier not to be exposed in this way. Light one candle, call it a night. But Hanukkah invites us to a different vision. Hanukkah believes in us and our ability to learn and to grow.