During the holiday of Hanukkah, Jews have a commandment to light the hanukkiah, recite “Al Hanisim” and “Hallel”, and participate in various other customs such as spinning the dreidel, eating traditional foods such as sufganiyot, and receiving gifts. But why do Jews do these mitzvot and customs? What is the history behind them?
When the Greek Emperor Antiochus IV started to gain power around 175 BCE, he put many hardships on Bnei Yisrael. He wanted to ban them from practicing their religion by not letting them study Torah or perform mitzvot, and by desecrating the holy objects of the Beit Hamikdash.
As a response to this discrimination, B’nei Yisrael prayed to Hashem. Hashem heard their prayers, and answered them by sending the Maccabim to defeat the Greeks. But this was no ordinary win; it was a great miracle. This was due to the fact that the Greek army was significantly larger than the small Jewish army, yet the Jews still claimed victory over them. However, the story does not end there. After the Jews’ victory against the Greeks, Hashem performed yet another miracle for them and made the little amount of olive oil left to light the Menorah last for eight days! Ever since then, on the 25th of the Jewish month of Kislev, we celebrate Hanukkah and commemorate the holiday by partaking in various special mitzvot and customs.
With the story of Hanukkah in mind, one can delve deeper into its themes. The Zera Shimshon, a commentary dating back to the eighteenth century, asks a profound question: Hanukkah always falls on the same week as Parashat Miketz, which contains mainly the story of Yosef, but what is the connection between the story of Yosef and Hanukkah? Surely there must be a connection between them!
The Zera Shimshon provides us with many proofs as to why Hanukkah and Parashat Miketz coincide. One of his proofs incorporates gematria, which is a system of assigning numerical values in to the Hebrew alphabet to find hidden meanings in words and phrases. He starts by saying how the word Antiochus (אנטיוכס), the Greek ruler, has a gematria of 156, and Yosef ( יוסף) also has a gematria of 156. Furthermore, the words King of Greece (מלך יון) also have a total gematria of 156. These gematria connections show a hidden spiritual link between Yosef and the story of Hanukkah. In Torah study, matching gematriyot often indicate a spiritual connection between people, events, or ideas. Here, it suggests that the Greek oppression under Antiochus was not random; it was connected to the struggles of Yosef, and the B’nei Yisrael’s challenge was a continuation of the spiritual challenges that he faced.
The Zera Shimshon explains that the Greeks tried to attack the same aspects of Jewish life that Yosef’s trials impacted: unity, mitzvot, and moral integrity. Just as Yosef rose to restore harmony, the miracle of Hanukkah symbolizes Hashem’s protection and ultimate victory over forces that seek to disrupt Torah and holiness. In addition, another proof that the Zera Shimshon offers is that Antiochus would make the Jews write prohibitions against Torah observance on bull horns, and Yosef was compared to a bull by Moshe. A bull represents strength; just as Yosef faced the challenge of being weakened by others, the Greeks tried to attack the spiritual strength of the Jews by banning mitzvot and writing their decrees on a bull’s horn. Moreover, the third proof that the Zera Shimshon provides is that three main mitzvot that Antiochus instructed us not to keep were observing Shabbat, doing the Brit Milah on a male baby, and observing Rosh Chodesh, which are the three miztvot that Hashem gave B’nei Yisrael to repair for the sin of selling Yosef.
In conclusion, the connection of Yosef’s story to Hanukkah teaches us that the struggles imposed on the Jews by the Greeks were not random, but a continuation of the challenges Yosef faced. From this, Jews can learn that every challenge they encounter can be a chance to grow stronger, enhance one’s faith, and bring light into the world, just as Yosef and the Hashmonaim did.
