D'var Torah:

A Tale of Two Judahs

By Avi Buchbinder
Class of '06
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Two of my favorite events on the Jewish calendar happen this month. The first event is somewhat obvious. Like many Jews, I like Chanukah. It is not simply the latkes, Chanukiah candles and dreydl that make Chanukah appealing to me; it appeals to me as a symbol of the struggle for Jewish identity and well being. Chanukah represents the physical and spiritual struggle of the Maccabees at a time when the Hellenists occupied Israel and imposed their own culture upon the Jews. The ensuing Jewish victory was not simply the military defeat of the Syrian Greeks, it was also a triumph for the survival of the Jewish religion in a foreign environment. Now, as in independent nation in their own land, the Jews could live and worship as they wished.

The other one of my favorite events which is commemorated in this month every year is the story of Joseph. Every year, around the time of Chanukah, the story of Joseph is read. Favored by his father, his brothers betray him, selling him into slavery in Egypt. In Egypt he rises to prominence and later helps his brothers in time of famine. This epic story is quite dramatic, and sheds light on a number of aspects of human relationships.

There is a very interesting relationship between the stories of Chanukah and Joseph – both serve as models for the survival of the Jewish people in a non-Jewish world. The story of Joseph bears the significance of being the first story of the Jewish Diaspora. Although Abraham and Jacob temporarily leave the land of Israel in times of need, Joseph is the first to permanently dwell outside the holy land. His descendants serve Pharaoh as slaves in Egypt for generations.

Similarly, the story of Chanukah is the story of beginning of the current exile. Although the Maccabees were victorious and Jews ruled over Israel for almost a century following their victory, the Jewish kingdom began to crumble almost immediately. The reason is astounding. It was not because of the Babylonians, the Greeks or the Romans, but instead because of the Jews themselves. To simplify a complicated chain of events, the generation directly following the Maccabees began a period of fighting between different Jewish factions culminating in the Roman invasion less than a century later and eventually the destruction of the second temple.

Does this sound familiar? Indeed. The story of Joseph illustrates a prime example of fighting between brothers. Just as destruction of the Jewish people in the time of after Chanukah came from within, Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and sold as a slave.

These events teach an important lesson in Jewish survival. To survive as a people, it is not the outsiders who are the primary enemies, it is ourselves. When lighting the Chanukiah this year, we can remember that the lights, though separate, should stand for Jewish unity, as we have seen what happens when unity is fractured. Just as one candle lights another so too should we help those in need and distress.

Just one more note. There is one more interesting similarity between Chanukah and Joseph. After the brothers threw Joseph into a pit in order to kill him, his brother Judah suggests that they sell him instead; thus sparing Joseph's life. Just as a Judah came to Joseph's rescue, another Judah came to the rescue of the Jewish people in the time of Chanukah. Additionally, the messiah, a future savior of the Jewish people is supposed to come from the descendants of the original Judah. Judah often plays the role of the savior. It is no coincidence that the Jewish people are named after Judah. Just as Joseph's brother Judah saves Joseph, and Judah the Maccabee saves the Jewish people, every Jew must pay careful attention to come to the aid of Jewish people around the world.

[Posted 10/27/02]