וישב-The bottomless pit

Parshat וישב provides us each year with a connection to Chanukah, which is timely indeed since we always read the Parsha at Chanukah time. The connection may be obscure and indirect, but it nevertheless exists.

The halachot regarding Chanukah are concentrated in the Gemara in Perek במה מדליקים in Masechet Shabbat. The chapter discussing the halachot of Shabbat candles is the logical place in the Gemara for hilchot Chanukah, since the festival of lights revolves around candles itself. One of the Amoraim quoted in the Gemara on page 22B, Rav Nathan bar Manyumi in the name of Rav Tanchum, states that a Menorah placed at a great height exceeding 20 Amot is not Kosher, since the human eye can not see that far and therefore the principle of פרסומי ניסא (advertising the Chanukah miracle, which is the main reason for lighting the Chanukah candles) does not exist.

The Gemara then brings a second statement by the same Amora which is unrelated to Chanukah. It is this statement that connects Parshat וישב with Chanukah. The statement by Rav Nathan bar Manyumi in the name of Rav Tanchum which is quoted by Rashi and is well known to any junior Yeshiva student: "Why is it written והבור ריק אין בו מים? From the meaning of the statement that the pit was empty, do I not know that it had no water? But what do I learn? Water was not in the pit, but snakes and scorpions were!"

At first glance, the connection between Chanukah and the Parsha is purely circumstantial. The Gemara is known to bunch together statements by an Amora even if they are seemingly unrelated. But perhaps if we look closer there is another, more significant connection.

Yosef's brothers, after hearing Reuven plead with them not to kill him, decided to throw him in a pit while they decide what to do with him. One must assume that they would not have thrown him into a pit filled with snakes had they known that to be a fact. Certainly, throwing a person into a pit with snakes would result in death or at least in serious injury. Indeed, some of the Mefarshim state that the fact that Yosef remained unharmed in the pit was a miracle. One can assume that the pit was so deep, that they could not see the snakes and scorpions at the bottom. Looking at it in this context, the connection between Rav Nathan bar Manyumi's two statements is apparent. Just as a Menorah placed at a height of 20 Amot or more can not be seen by the human eye, the bottom of a deep pit can not be seen either since it is too low.