Parshat Vayeshev/Shabbat Chanukah
This year, Shabbat Chanukah coincides only with the parsha of Vayeshev, a rare occurrence, as it generally falls out on the Shabbat when we read Parshat Miketz (although, sometimes, Miketz is read on the second Shabbat of Chanukah). As a result, next week we will be reading a haftarah specifically chosen to connect to Parshat Miketz, something that happens only 10% of the time. As we have mentioned in previous articles, Chazal established that the haftarah must connect to the theme of the Maftir reading, and therefore, this week, we set aside the haftarah that is usually read for Parashat Vayeshev and instead choose the selection from the navi Zecharya, whose closing verses tie into the Chanukah theme, as they describe the navi’s vision of the golden Menorah. We would be doing ourselves a disservice, however, were we not to understand the underlying purpose of the sefer, and through that understanding, better comprehend the message that Zecharya leaves for us.
The Book of Zecharya is a difficult one to understand. Rashi himself states that the nevuot, prophecies, of Zecharya are dreamlike visions that are open to different interpretations and understandings. Likewise, the Ibn Ezra and Radak both comment on the difficulties in explaining these visions—especially those found in the first six perakim—and claim that even Zecharya himself required the help of an angel to understand them!
Our haftarah is taken from the third and fourth chapters of Sefer Zecharya and, as mentioned before, includes the navi’s vision of the seven-branched Menorah, the obvious connection to the Chanukah theme. Often ignored, however, is the bulk of the haftarah, which deals with the “trial” of the kohen gadol, Yehoshua, who stands before the heavenly court (representing the entire Jewish community), accused of misdeeds by the prosecutor (“the satan”). The vision proceeds to describe how the accuser is angrily silenced by Hashem for condemning the “ud mutzal ne’esh,” a firebrand plucked out of the fire. Zecharya delivers a powerful message to the not-yet-blameless returnees to Tzion that Hashem sees them as “survivors” of the destruction of Yerushalayim and the exile to Bavel. As such, He looks not to condemn them but to purify them, a promise represented by the replacing of Yehoshua’s filthy garments with clean, white, priestly robes as well as by God’s reassurance that He has removed any guilt from them.
Rabbi Chayim Angel contends that the accusation of the prosecutor was that, with the destruction of the first Beit HaMikdash and the subsequent galut, the Jewish people had been permanently rejected by Hashem, an accusation that God Himself rejects. In fact, through the act of purification, the kohen gadol had now become fit to serve in the new Beit Hamikdash and to purify Israel from her sins, much as the kohen gadol did on Yom Kippur.
Chazal saw this entire episode as connecting closely with the events of Chanukah, for there too the kohanim (Chashmonaim) looked to purify the defiled Mikdash as well as the assimilated community (Hellenists). Some at that time believed that they were not fit to do so as the community was defiled with sin. Our rabbinic scholars hoped to reassure future generations that the acts of the Maccabim and the miracles of Chanukah were blessed by Hashem. There too, God saw the rededication of the Beit Hamikdash as an act of purification by “survivors” of the Hellenist attempts to destroy the Torah way of life. There too, Hashem looked not to punish the surviving community but to direct them. There too, He condemned those who looked to accuse.
And, indeed, today as well.
Rabbi Neil Winkler is the rabbi emeritus of the Young Israel Fort Lee and now lives in Israel.
