Bringing Our Light to Those in the Dark (Miketz and Chanukah 5775)

How often do we walk past street performers without even listening to them, let alone looking to really see them?  

Knowing that about ourselves, of the more than one thousand people who walked past a talented violinist playing brilliantly for 45 minutes inside a transit station how many would you guess stopped to listen? How many would you guess actually put money in his violin case?  

Just about eight years ago virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell did that. He played inside a Washington DC Metro station instead of the typical concert hall.  He played beautifully on a violin that cost more than $3 million.  That morning 1,100 people went by as he played.  

Seven stopped to listen and look.  Of those most were children.  One adult actually recognized him as a renowned artist.  She put $20 in his violin case.  From everyone else who heard him -- 1,100 people -- he collected $12.17. [More about this 2007 story as written by Gene Weingarten]   

Either people did not notice him or did not pause long enough to even look at him.  Which brings us to the intersection of this week’s Torah portion and Chanukah.  
They are not linked in Torah itself as the origins of Chanukah post-date the narrative of Torah. But this week’s portion, Miketz, often coincides with Chanukah.  

This week is the first time in Torah when the word chacham (“wise”) is used. Pharaoh marvels at Joseph declaring to him, “No one is as wise as you!” (Genesis 41:39).  What made Joseph wise?  He was able to see things that others missed or passed by.  

For example, Joseph could see his brothers for who they really were even when the could not recognize him.  Also, he could discern their growth and development even when their fear of past conduct made them blind to him. Joseph also could see in the dreams of others messages that they missed or could not understand. For example, he saw the essential character of his cellmates in Pharaoh’s dungeon. Joseph saw them clearly through the shadows of their dreams. He saw messages in their dreams to which they were blind. Joseph also was able to see in his own dreams a glimpse of the future.  

He transformed the dark and, even, nightmarish images in dreams into sources of light and understanding.  In other words, Joseph’s wisdom lay in his ability to see what others could not and to bring light to places of darkness.    

We learn a similar lesson about wisdom from the Torah’s last use of the word toward the very end of Torah.  Moses rebukes the community for being “unwise” (v’lo chacham”) (Deut. 32:6).  According to Rashi this lack of wisdom meant they failed to foresee consequences of their behavior.  Moses saw their true character and called them out on it.  He sees them authentically.  Like Joseph, Moses shines a light on others.  

That’s what it means to be wise:  To shine a light on others and to see them. That is a special challenge at this season of short days and long nights.  It is also challenging when one reads the news about how much darkness threatens to swallow up the world.  

Perhaps, that is why the Torah’s lesson about wisdom comes now during Chanukah.  It is a reminder of our responsibility to bring light to the world by seeing others.  It is so easy to overlook others, to ignore them.  We need to combat the darkness that makes others invisible to us by shining our light on them. We bring more light to the world when we truly see others in the shadows of society.  

Students at JCHS learn in Conceptual Physics that it is nearly impossible for the world to be completely dark.  Just a tiny speck of light can overcome total darkness.  

May this be a season when each of us has the wisdom to see others authentically and shine our light on them and to strength to bring our light to places of darkness.