Joseph’s rise to viceroy of Egypt is not only breathtakingly suspenseful, but brilliantly foreshadowed by the words the Torah. The journey begins with the infamous story of Joseph’s brothers throwing him into the pit.
Although Joseph spent only a short time in this pit, being in the pit made a significant impact on his life. In fact, by examine the text closely, we see that the brothers were not the ones who took Joseph out of the pit, as the verse in Bereshit 28:28 says:
"And there passed by Midianites, merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they brought Joseph into Egypt."
Joseph was taken out of the pit by the Midianites and then was sold into bondage and ultimately was thrown into prison in Egypt. The notion of Joseph being taken out of the pit by the Midinaties and not by his brothers, is further illustrated in Chapter 40 Verse 15. Joseph is describing to his fellow inmates how he came into prison:
For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews; and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.'
Joseph explains that he was stolen. He must be referring to the Midianites taking him out of the pit and selling him. If we examine the act of the brother of throwing Joseph into the pit, we find something else emerging. In Chapter 37 Verse 24:
And they took him, and cast him into the pit--and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.
What is the explanation regarding the redundancy of the? Perhaps, when the brothers threw Joseph into the pit, they in fact threw him into two pits; a spiritual pit and a physical pit.
Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the pit (prison). And he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.
In Chapter 41 Verse 14, the Torah describes Pharaoh's summons to retrieve Joseph from prison. The Torah describes the prison in a most fascinating way. Until this point in the Torah, the prison is referred to as בית הסהר. However, in this verse the Torah uses the word הבור – the pit. Clearly the Torah is conveying an additional message to the reader with the usage of the word הבור – the pit.
Possibly when the brothers threw Joseph into the pit, they in fact threw him into two pits; a spiritual pit and a physical pit. When Pharaoh removes Joseph from the prison – the Torah calls it a pit, because Joseph is emerging out of his physical pit. Up until now, Joseph life was on a downward spiral from the moment the brothers threw him in the physical pit. His pit kept getting deeper and deeper as time went on. Until Pharaoh took him out. Even though Joseph exited his physical pit, he was still fully engulfed in his spiritual pit. However the Torah has a fascinating foreshadowing of events. If one would read through Chapter 42 in English followed by Hebrew, one would find a few discrepancies. Jacob realizes there is a famine and he, therefore, sends his ten sons down to Egypt the buy food. However, usually when the Torah talks about buying food, the Hebrew words are לקנת אכל. If one would look closely at the verse, they read:
Most translation put in, to buy food; however, the literal meaning of the words are to break a pit in Egypt. Perhaps the brothers were coming to break the spiritual pit they put Joseph in.
Joseph’s life as a spiritual Jew was harmed immeasurably due to being in the "pits" of life. His ascent from the prison was more than just a rise to physical freedom; it was also an elevation to his spiritual freedom, it was an elevation from the original "pit he was thrown in by his brothers, to viceroy of Egypt.
Many seek to determine the connections between Chanukah and Parshas Mekeitz. Through our understanding the shift in terminology to describe Joseph's imprisonment, we may glean a deeper appreciation of the connection to Chanukah. The real threat to the Jewish people by Antiochus and his followers was the "Hellenization" of the Jewish people--—"to make us forgot our Torah and take us away from our statues of G-d's will.” This is of a possible descent into a spiritual (rather than physical) pit. For a Jew, our connection to our heritage and to our Torah is our lifeline and central for further continued and closeness to Hashem. This requires constant ascent and a constant challenge given the vicissitudes of life. Indeed, this ascent is also implicit in the increasing lights of the Chanukah Menorah. As there is a debate between the Scholars of Shemai and the Scholars of Hillel as to how we light our candles. The Scholars of Shemai explain that we light eight candles on the first down and descend until one candle on the eighth night. The Scholars of Hillel explain that we light one candle on the first night and conclude with eight candles on the eighth night. We follow the path of Bais Hillel as the paramount factor of growth in holiness—" We go up in holiness and do not go down.
