t's unbelievable how much the story of Yosef is deeply connected to Chanukah. How? Maybe David HaMelech could help explain…
"A psalm – a song for the dedication (chanukat) of the temple – by David… You have preserved me from my descent to the pit…" If I were Yosef sitting in that pit I would first of all meditate on how deeply and intensely I hate my brothers, and how I will never, ever forgive them. Then I would blame them for all of my shortcomings. Then I would blame my father for not seeing how much they hated me and for sending me to them in the first place. Then I would blame my mother for not being there for me when I need her. Then I would start hating myself for talking against my brothers. Then I would blame G-d for all of the evil in the world, and for all of the pain and suffering I'm going through. Then I would wonder if G-d even knows or cares about what's happening to me, and then I would try to choke myself.
But Yosef ha-Tzadik didn't hate his brothers one bit. He didn't sink into thoughts of revenge or guilt. I don't think any of us could even start to imagine what kind of davenning Yosef must have davenned from that pit: what kind of broken-hearted teshuva he did, what kind of true love he felt toward his family. Who can imagine the level of humility and belief in HaShem he had at that moment when he realized that everything, to the smallest detail, is good and nothing but good?
And there, in that pit, the Tzadik opened the gates for all of us to walk the path of simple belief in HaShem. To walk that path right now, at this moment, even when the snakes and scorpions of our life close in on us and it seems as if we're all alone. Even when it seems as if we're not fulfilling our own potential and we're not reaching any of our goals, let's not forget that our real potential and our real goal may be just to scream out to HaShem from that dark place where we find ourselves.