One of my favorite children’s books about Hanukkah is Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins. In this story, Hershel arrives at a village where goblins have taken over the old synagogue and put an end to the Hanukkah celebrations. True to the holiday’s spirit, Hershel uses his wit to outsmart the goblins over the course of eight nights. The final showdown comes when Hershel cunningly convinces the King of the Goblins to light the Hanukkah candles himself.
While the book enchants children with its magical plot and clever hero, its deeper themes resonate with the story of Hanukkah itself—and, interestingly enough, with the story of Joseph and his brothers in the Torah portion of Miketz (Genesis 41:1-44:17), which is always read during the festival. Both stories explore how faith and perseverance can transform darkness into light, whether it’s the physical light of the menorah or the symbolic light of hope in the midst of hardship.
Joseph, sold into slavery by his jealous brothers and later imprisoned in Egypt, could have easily given in to despair. His story is marked by moments of profound darkness—first thrown into a pit, then into the hands of foreign captors, and finally into an Egyptian prison. Yet Joseph never loses his sense of purpose, and through his faith and God-given ability to interpret dreams, he rises to a position of power as Pharaoh’s second-in-command.
When famine strikes and Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt seeking food, they do not recognize him. But Joseph, with all the power to exact revenge, chooses a different path. Instead of using his position to punish his brothers, he forgives them and ultimately reunites his family, saving them from the famine. As he says to them in Genesis 50:20:
This powerful declaration shows Joseph’s understanding that light can emerge from even the darkest situations, and that the trials he endured were part of a greater plan to bring about redemption.
Joseph’s story is, at its core, about resilience, forgiveness, and the ability to bring light and healing out of betrayal and suffering. Like the small jug of oil that miraculously lasted for eight days in the Hanukkah story, Joseph’s strength and faith lasted through years of trials. His personal journey mirrors the larger theme of Hanukkah: that even in the darkest of times, a small spark of hope can lead to redemption.
The story of Hanukkah teaches us that challenges, no matter how overwhelming, can be overcome with perseverance and faith. When a small group of Jews, fighting for their right to practice their religion freely, defeated the Syrian-Greek army against seemingly impossible odds, they returned to find their Temple desecrated. With only enough pure oil to light the Temple menorah for one day, they witnessed a miracle when that small amount of oil burned for eight days until new oil could be prepared. This miraculous light of the menorah became more than just a symbol of military victory; it represents the light within each of us that persists even when the world seems dark. Hershel’s battle with the goblins may be a playful metaphor, but it speaks to the larger truth that we all face goblins—whether external obstacles or internal struggles—trying to extinguish our light.
At the heart of all these stories is the power of light—both literal and symbolic. Through Hershel’s cleverness in defeating the goblins, the Maccabees’ bravery in fighting for their faith, and Joseph’s resilience in the face of betrayal, we learn that even the smallest flame of hope can illuminate the darkest path forward.
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