“...and he (Pharaoh) gave him (Yosef) Osnat, daughter of Potiphera, Chief of On, for a wife.” (41:45)
Osnat was Potiphar’s daughter. The Alschich says that by allowing Yosef to marry his daughter, Potiphar vindicated Yosef in the eyes of the Egyptians from the charge that he had molested Potiphar’s wife. By resisting a supreme challenge, Yosef bequeathed to his offspring a tremendous strength, one which has halachic ramifications to this day.
It’s Chanukah. The whole family gets together for a party. There’s music and words of Torah and food. You wash, you eat, and you say birkat hamazon. But, whoops, you forget to say Al hanisim and don’t know what to do! You quickly leaf through your Siddur and you see that you can insert in a Harachaman: “The Compassionate One! May He perform for us miracles and wonders as He performed for our forefathers in those days, at this time!
The issue is that there’s an explicit Gemara saying that we’re not allowed to pray for miracles.
Rabbi Sholomo Kluger answers that the miracle of Chanukah was different from all the other miracles in the history of the Jewish People. The splitting of the sea, the manna, the ten plagues – all other miracles were preordained from the beginning of the world. They were built into the fabric of Creation.
The miracle of Chanukah was brought about by the Jews’ willingness to give up our lives rather than allow the Greeks to eradicate our holy Torah.
From where did this immeasurable strength come? Rabbi Shlomo Harcavi says it was a spiritual inheritance from Yosef Hatzaddik. Yosef withstood an ultimate test for the sake of Hashem, and thus Yosef instilled into the collective DNA of the Jewish People the strength for us to withstand the overwhelming allure of the physicality of the Greek world to this day. Because the Jewish People were prepared to give up their lives on Chanukah, we have the birthright to ask for miracles in return.
