Clearly a deeper meaning here.
The Vilna Gaon says, three days say וּשְׂעִיר־עִזִּים אֶחָד חַטָּאת and four days have the alternate וּשְׂעִיר חַטָּאת אֶחָד. In the Torah, who is called שְׂ עִיר־עִזִּים and who is called שְׂ עִ יר? The answer is Yishmael and Eisav! Last week, we spoke about the prohibition of ל ֹ א ־ ת ַ ח ֲ ר ֹ שׁ ב ּ ְ שׁ ו ֹ ר ־ ו ּ ב ַ ח ֲ מ ֹ ר י ַ ח ְ ד ּ ָ ו – You may not plow with an ox and with a donkey together. We spoke about the existence of a ל ִ קְ דֻ שׁ ּ ָ ה שׁ וֹר וַחֲמוֹר and a לְ טֻ מְ אָ ה שׁ וֹר וַחֲמוֹר, and oy v’avoy if the two impure animals join forces – i.e., Yishmael and Eisav. The damage they can do would destroy the world!
What did Eisav do? He sought out the daughter of Yishmael and married her, to fulfill ל ֹ א ־ ת ַ ח ֲ ר ֹ שׁ ב ּ ְ שׁ ו ֹ ר ־ ו ּ ב ַ ח ֲ מ ֹ ר י ַ ח ְ ד ּ ָ ו.
The Vilna Gaon says, know that the seventy bulls have two heads that lead them, and these are Yishmael and Eisav, each with 35 nations. This understanding helps us comprehend the distribution of the Korbanot during Succot. If we take the bulls from the first three days – 13, 12, and 11 – the result is a total of 36 bulls. This doesn’t balance out evenly between the two kodkodim – Yishmael and Eisav, each with 35 nations. How is this reconciled? The first two days are שְׂ עִיר־עִזִּים, totaling 25 bulls, and the fourth day as well: 25 + 10 = 35. The שְׂ עִיר־עִזִּים is Yishmael, and proof of this comes from this week’s Parsha. The brothers took Yosef out of the pit and sold him to a caravan of Yishmaelim. After doing so, they took a שְׂ עִיר־עִזִּים and slaughtered it, then dipping Yosef’s coat in its blood. The rest of the days – namely, the 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th – also have a combined total of 35 bulls. These days are all days of שְׂ עִ יר. This is Eisav. Proof is in how Yaacov refers to his brother: אִ י שׁ ש ׂ ָ ע ִ ר. The net result is two sets of days, each with 35 bulls, representing their respective 35 nations.
Tzror Hamor adds a neshika – a kiss on top of this idea. On which days does Yishmael sacrifice? The answer is the first, second, and fourth day. Why these three? Because the wicked Bilam prophesied: וְצִים מִי ַד כִּתִּים וְעִנּוּ אַשּׁ וּר וְעִנּוּ־עֵבֶר וְגַם־הוּא עֲדֵי אֹבֵד׃ Warships will come from Kittim and destroy Ashur, and cause suffering to those on the other side, but they, too, shall be lost for eternity. אֹבֵד = 1, 2, 4. Targum Yonatan ben Uziel says, it is Yishmael referred to in this Pasuk, and it is Yishmael who will be obliterated as Bilaam describes.
It is interesting to observe the distribution pattern of the days described above. There is one day belonging to the Korbanot of Eisav (Day 3) that interrupts the string of days of Yishmael; and similarly, there is one day of Yishmael (Day 4) that interrupts the string of days featuring Eisav’s offerings. Would it not be simpler to let one go and finish before the other, rather than hopping back and forth between them?
Ashkenazim recite in Selichot:
יִוָּשְׁעוּ לְעֵין כֹּל וְאַל־יִמְשְׁלוּ בָם רְשׁ ָעִים. ַלֵּה שֵׂעִיר וְחוֹתְ נוֹ כוֹן, וְיַעֲלוּ לְצִיּוֹן מוֹשִׁיעִים. כִּי אַתָּה רַב־סְלִיחוֹת וּבַעַל הָרַחֲמִים:
Deliver them within sight of all and let them not be ruled by the wicked. Destroy the tyranny of Seir [Eisav] and his father-in-law [Yishmael], and let the deliverers go up to Zion, for You are magnanimous to pardon and the Lord of compassion.
We want to defeat and eliminate them in unison. If Yishmael were to offer Korbanot for three straight days and fulfill the 35 Korbanot of his nations in one sequence before Eisav even began, it would not fulfill the target of כַּלֵּה שֵׂעִיר וְחוֹתְ נוֹ – destroy the father and son-in-law together. It would instead be one and then the other. To achieve כַּלֵּה שֵׂעִיר וְחוֹתְ נוֹ, we intertwine them, and by doing so build the power to eliminate all seventy nations.
Back to Chanuka. Beit Shamai says we decrease candles each day, as the power of the seventy nations gradually decreases and nations fall. 36 candles in total (without counting the utility shamash). The Rokeach says, the 36 candles correspond to the 36 hours of light during creation, but of we say that Yishmael and Eisav each had 35 kochot for their nations, that total number of 36 takes on a whole new meaning. We light one more than Yishmael and one more than Eisav! By doing so, כַּלֵּה שֵׂעִיר וְחוֹתְנוֹ. We defeat them all with our light. That is our power! That is our tefillah!
B’ezrat Hashem, when we reach the 8th day of Chanukah, we’ll read זֹאת חֲנֻכַּת הַמִּזְבֵּחַ – and we thus refer to the day as זֹאת חֲנֻכַּ ה. The Torah reading contains a summary and final tally of all offerings brought, including:
כָּל־הַבָּקָר לָעֹלָה שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר פָּרִים אֵילִם שְׁנֵים־עָשָׂר כְּבָשִׂים בְּנֵי־שׁ ָנָה שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר וּמִנְחָתָם וּשְׂעִירֵי עִזִּים שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר לְחַטָּאת׃
All the oxen for the burnt offerings were twelve bullocks, the rams twelve, the lambs of the first year twelve, with their meal offering: and the kids of the goats for sin offering twelve.
Targum Yonatan says, the twelve bulls are to defeat the twelve princes of Yishmael (שׁ ְ נֵים־עָשָׂ ר נְשִׂ יאִ ם לְאֻ מּ ֹתָ ם), and the twelve se’irim were to atone for Mechirat Yosef. Even the offerings of Chanukah are intended to not only overcome the nations of the world but to also atone for the sale of Yosef.
With the help of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, as we start lighting the candles of Chanukah we shall overcome and defeat the powers of Yishmael and Eisav, one day at a time. We shall overcome the nations of the world through the light of our candles. May it be His will that the Parsha that brings us the birth of Mashiach signal the end of our great suffering and the fulfillment of our redemption that culminates in the rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash where the Kohen Gadol will once again, above nature, light the Menorah and illuminate the world.
