All of this dilution of Judaism and elimination of boundaries was anathema to traditional Jews. They were not about to let Judaism be remade into a patchwork without integrity or coherence. When the minimalists and Hellenizers called upon the Syrians for still more help, assimilation became a matter of coercion. It is at this point that the Hasmonean family joined with the traditionalists to resist both the domestic and foreign enemy. At issue in this momentous struggle were the limits of assimilation, a reading of Hanukkah that could not be more relevant to the American Jewish scene.
Jewish identity is also at issue in the conduct of Joseph in Egypt, the subject of our parasha.
Some thirteen years after being sold by his brothers into slavery, he rises to the pinnacle of power as Pharaoh's vizier. But the triumph is not a achieved at the expense of his soul. Joseph never denies that he is a Hebrew and not an Egyptian. He is aware that his unerring ability to interpret the predictive content of dreams comes from the God of his ancestors and that he has a role to play in the rescue of his family. After satisfying himself that his brothers are contrite and transformed, he is uninhibited about revealing his identity, bringing them to Egypt, presenting them to Pharaoh, and settling them on the choicest land in the country.