בס”ד
By Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
Parshat Miketz, the parsha where the dreams of Yosef are realized coincides every year with Hanuka. Hanuka as well is the story of the realization of dreams: the dream of the Macabees to defeat the Greek empire and renew the Temple in purity, at its inception was most probably seen as an unrealistic dream, but nevertheless, this dream was miraculously fulfilled through Hashem’s great kindness! Today as well, in the current war we can see how dreams of settling the Gaza strip, Lebanon, and other parts of the Holy Land promised to our Patriarchs of Hebron are not so dream-like as they once were and are actually beginning to take on a concrete reality we will hopefully experience soon, God willing.
This Hanuka painting (also found in the Hebron calendar for this month), aside from the obvious references it carries to Hanuka, also contains some deeper themes of Hanuka as well. For example, we see nine lights to each side of the dreidel. These quite clearly allude to the eight lights of Hanuka along with the shamash candle. However, it seems that these lights are ordered in a Kabbalisitc way, for we see three over four lights which seem to hint to the three sefirot hesed, gevura and tifret, being above the four lower lights, netzach, ho, yesod, and malchut. Then, there is also the eight light above all these hinting to the Bina which is above the lower seven sefirot.
We also see seven dancing Hasidim to the right and seven to the left. These may hint to the seven lights of the Menora. The fish seen here may hint to Yosef mentioned in the parsha that coincides with Hanuka as we explained above, since Yosef’s offspring are compared to fish, as we will read in parshat Vayehi in the blessing given to Efraim and Menasheh “they shall prosper like fish in the land.” Hebron is associated to the term Zion according to the Arizal. The Midrash says that everything that happened to Yosef happened to Zion. Based on the Arizal we may also make the connection that everything that happened to Yosef is also relevant to Hebron. A few decades ago much of Hebron was “sold/given” to Arabs, blocking Jewish presence in those areas, similar to the sale of Yosef. Let us hope, that the current war with the defeat of our enemies as in Hanuka, and all matters of influence, spiritually and materially, awaken Jewish connection to Hebron so that all Hebron, and the whole Holy Land promised to us by Hashem, return to Jewish hands, to unite Yosef-Zion with all the tribes of Jacob!