Our annual celebration of Chanukah always coincides with the Torah readings of the story of Yosef and his brothers. Is this mere happenstance, a calendaric anomaly, or is there a deeper and more significant connection between these two episodes? It is also curious, that in the midst of the three blatt discussion in Maseches Shabbos dealing with the halachos of Chanukah, the gemara inserts the seemingly unrelated rna'amar
Chazal of Yosef HaTzaddik being thrown into the pit:

אמר רב כהנא, דרש רב נתן בר מניומי משמיה דרב תנחום: מאי דכתיב )בראשית לז( והבור רק אין בו מים. ממשמע שנאמר והבור רק איני יודע שאין בו מים? אלא מה תלמוד לומר אין בו מים - מים אין בו, אבל נחשים ועקרבים יש בו.

It could certainly be argued that the gemara is just bringing in together different statements of רב תנחום, but still, the question arises, is there any deeper link between Chanukah and the Yosef story, as would be suggested by this juxtaposition?

In order to develop an insight into these questions, a further issue must be explored. What is the prime miracle that we commemorate on Chanukah - the miracle of the oil (as the gemara of "מאי חנוכה" suggests), or the miracle of the small and outnumbered Jewish military defeating the mighty Greek warriors (as the "AI HaNisim" and the "HaNeros Hallalu" tefillos indicate). An understanding of the relationship between the two miracles of Chanukah can be gleaned from the story of Yosef HaTzaddik.

The Midrash Tanchuma (Parshat Vayechi 17-not coincidentally, also authored by רב תנחום states:

ויראו אחי יוסף כי מת אביהם ומה ראו עתה שפחדו אלא שראו בעת שחזרו מקבורת אביהם ראו שהלך יוסף לברך על אותו הבור שהשליכוהו אחיו בתוכו וברך עליו כמו שחייב אדם לברך על מקום שנעשה לו נס ברוך המקום שעשה לי נס במקום הזה

The Midrash states that on the way back from burying Yaakov, Yosef stopped by the pit to say the beracha of שעשה נסים, to thank Hashem for saving him from the deadly snakes and scorpions that were there. Why did Yosef specifically stop at the pit to say the beracha? Was this the only miracle that was performed for Yosef on the road to his becoming the viceroy to פרעה in Mitzrayim? Yosef experienced a sense of נס and hashgochas Hashem every step of the way down to Mitzrayim, and it was only through that sense of hashgochah that Yosef got to the position that he did. Why, then, did he only stop to give shevach v'hoda'ah by the pit?

The answer to this question can be explained with an idea developed by the Avudraham. The Avudraham explains that Chazal only established the beracha of שעשה נסים on a נס נגלה, not on a נס that is "minhag haolam." The Meshech Chochmah (Bereishis 37:24) states, based on the Avudraham, that although Yosef’s entire sojourn from Eretz Yisroel to Mitzrayim was miraculous, Yosef only said שעשה נסים on the miracle of his salvation from the pit because it was only that נס that was supernatural. Even though his entire life was full of miracles, these other miracles occurred b 'derech hateva, naturally. Yosef specifically made the beracha by the pit because it was the lone miracle that was "יוצא ממנהג העולם".

This, explains the Meshech Chochmah, is the reason for the insertion of the statement of רב תנחום in the middle of the gemara's discussion of hilchos Chanukah - to draw attention to the deeper connection between the Yosef story and the multiple נסים that we celebrate on Chanukah. Both events, that of Yosef and that of Chanukah, are events in our history in which נסים that occurred b'derech hateva were highlighted and punctuated by a נס נגלה. In the Yosef story, the salvation from the pit was just one small נס נגלה in his life of נס נסתר and hashgochas Hashem. Similarly, it can be argued, the primary נס of Chanukah was certainly the military victory; however, with the passage of time the glory of that natural miracle would pass. Accordingly, Hashem saw fit to memorialize the miracle of the military victory with the נס נגלה of the oil. By thanking Hashem for the supernatural miracle of the oil, our attention is equally drawn to what is arguably the greater miracle of the military victory. Chazal, in their wisdom, only established the beracha of שעשה נסים on a נס נגלה, understanding the natural tendency to rationalize נסים נסתרים and not appreciate them for what they are. But with the coupling of נס נסתר with נס נגלה, we are taught never to forget the hashgochas Hashem that is always with us.