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A word of Torah:
God created the world with light and darkness differentiated but mixed together as well, creating a world of shadows. Sometimes it can be difficult to see clearly. There is a strong temptation as we strive for clarity to label what see as either “light” or as “darkness.” The book of Genesis is replete with those who think it is necessary to choose only one—Isaac and not Ishmael, Jacob and not Esau, the offerings of Abel over that of Cain. Through these binary choices, jealousy, hatred, and even fratricide come into the world.
Joseph is different. He seems to have an inner light. Joseph doesn’t at first understand the need for shadow or shadings. Arrogantly telling his brothers his dreams, he sets in motion the events that will plunge him into the darkness of one pit after another until he is called into the light of day as the vizier of Egypt. Joseph is a dream interpreter--hineh ba’al hakhalomot, as his brothers call him on that fateful day. Joseph sees clearly in the interplay between light and darkness. Unlike every other character in his story—his brothers, his father, or Potiphar, he cannot be deceived. Who better to interpret dreams, the place of the intersection of the conscious and the unconscious in which everything is covered with a veil of darkness and confusion?
Joseph sees the light amidst the shadows. It is not surprising that when his brothers first appear in Egypt, he recognizes them and they don’t recognize him. Joseph still sees them as his brothers, despite everything they have done to him. He tells them that being sold into slavery and all that follows was for a purpose—to bring his whole family to safety in Egypt. Of all the rivalries of Genesis, he is the only one who can clearly and honestly forgive those who have wronged him. He is not a worshipper of the idols of past grievances; he is ready to move on.
It is Joseph’s story we are to carry with us from Genesis, perhaps even more than that of the patriarchs. Theirs is a narrow vision that causes them to divide the world into white and black, into chosen and unchosen. Joseph lives in technicolor and thus embraces all of his brothers.
We too are dreamers living in the courts of Pharaoh. Hanukkah reminds us that we too have an inner light that is with us even in the darkest pits. We too can find forgiveness and reconciliation. We too can see clearly amidst the shadows of this world. We too can make manifest the idea that life is a coat of many colors and thereby echo his words to everyone: I am Joseph your brother.
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