Parsha Vayishlach is always read around the time of Chanukah, and the Torah always has overt or veiled connections to the cycle of worldly events, especially established holidays, so what might be the connection between this holiday and the Torah?
Before I give my opinion on this, let me show how the Torah -- containing myriad secrets and allusions to things that have come to pass, as well as things that we don't know about yet -- made me smile in recognition of its prescience a few years ago.
In the dying days of open war in Iraq, Saddam Hussein, the leader of the regime being ousted, was not to be found. Speculation was that he had eluded capture by somehow slipping across the border into Syria. A huge manhunt was under way which went on for a while. Noone knew if he would be found.
Suddenly word went out that he had, indeed, been found, hiding in a hole in the ground. Coalition forces extracted him, and put him in jail.
Right around the time when Hussein was found -- and I mean within a day or two, -- we were reading the beginning of Parsha Miketz at the Shabbat afternoon mincha service.
The beginning of that Parsha deals with Pharaoh having his dreams, and hearing that a prisoner, Joseph, could interpret them, he orders that Joseph be released from prison.
Amazingly, the words at the end of this section blinked brightly at me when I read them, and I knew the Torah was enjoying a little subtle prophecy in a veiled reference to the capture of Saddam Hussein.
The words used in the Torah when they went to get Joseph to bring him to Pharaoh were "vayiritzuhu min ha-bor," or " they pulled him out of the pit." The Torah did not have to use this word, "bor" which literally means "hole." Rashi, the premier commentator on the Torah, says that the word "bor" always means "a hole," but in this case, the "hole" is prison.
The Torah could have used the term "beit sohar," the specific term for jail but instead used this curious word "bor," and I think I know why.
The Torah, like G-d, is eternal and present at all times. I think it was winking at us, telling us it knew when and where Saddam Hussein would be found. Right at the time this section of Torah came up for study in the yearly cycle, Saddam Hussein was captured, and you could use the exact same expression to describe his capture, word for word from the Torah, as was described for taking Joseph out of jail, "vayiritzuhu min ha-bor," "and they pulled him out of a hole."
As far as the connection of Vayishlach to Chanukah, it involves brutality to women, and the unfortunate lack of wisdom on the part of otherwise brave and noble men in response. [to be continued]
