Joseph and Hanukkah

hanukkah_drawing

Why do we read the story of Joseph at Hanukah time?

There are multiple answers to that questions. Feel free to give your own in the comments. Creativity is welcome.

hanukkah_candleI hope to post about the upcoming parsha on Thursday See the post on Joseph and Hellenization. On Wednesday, the Kosher Cooking Carnival will show up on this blog. You have until Tuesday to submit a food post. Thank you so much to the many folks who have already written about food! (I know food is a hard topic, one that none of us can relate to… ;-).

Back to the parsha, who sold Joseph? Was it the brothers or was it…?
And in the upcoming parsha, why does it say the “brothers of Joseph” instead of “sons of Jacob”?

Alternate spellings of Hanukkah: Chanukah, Chanukkah, Chanuka, Hanuka, Hanukah … only one in Hebrew: חנוכה‎

4 thoughts on “Joseph and Hanukkah

  • One answer is based on Ovadiah 1:18 (which is part of the haftarah for Parshat Vayishlach):
    “And the house of Yaakov will be fire and the house of Yosef a flame, and the house of Esav for straw, and they shall ignite them and consume them; and there will be no remnant to the house of Esav, for Hashem has spoken.”

  • Nice drawing your daughter made, but what’s the green part, besides for the person?

    and I’m not sure what the whole question is with them being called the brothers of Yosef, isn’t that what they are?

  • Jewish Side, thanks for all your comments. Actually, my eldest son did that when he was about 4 (shh, don’t tell him I used it). I think that’s just a table for a Chanukiah.

    Good point about ahei Yosef, the brothers of Yosef. Whenever the Torah uses a certain phrase, it’s for a reason. Elsewhere it says B’nai Yaakov. I discuss this in the Who Sold Joseph post.

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