Commitment and Containment
Shira Smiled shiur – 2015/5776
Summary by Channie Koplowitz Stein
We are all familiar with the story of Chanukah and the two miraculous events of that time. There was the military victory of the small band of Chashmonaim defeating the mighty Greek army, and the subsequent miracle of finding the small cruse of oil for the menorah in the Beit Hamikdosh that lasted a full eight days. Yet the Sanhedrin of that era designated the day as an annual holiday only after a year had passed. Further, the Gemarrah asks the question, “Mai Chanukah, what is the reason and essence of the Chanukah holiday?” The Gemarrah then continues and states that the holiday was established behallel vehoda’ah, with praise and thanksgiving.
There seem to be different levels of mitzvah fulfillment on Chanukah than on other holidays. First, there is no mention of simcha, joy in reference to Chanukah as there is with the other rabbinical holiday, Purim, and indeed with all the Torah mandated holidays. Then there is the concept of mehadrin min hamehadrin, of performing the mitzvah in the most elegant and beautiful way. Further, lighting Chanukah candles is perhaps the only mitzvah that poverty does not absolve one of fulfilling, even to the point of going into debt.
Interestingly, according to the Laws of Chanukah of the Mahara”l of Rotenberg, there is no mitzvah to eat a festive meal on Chanukah as there is on Purim. After all, the sin that precipitated the Purim crisis was enjoying King Ahashuerosh’s feast and its rectification was through fasting. Commemorating this salvation through eating a festive meal and thus elevating the physical act of eating is highly appropriate. On the other hand, the danger posed by the Greeks was purely spiritual, a threat to the fundamentals of mitzvah observance. That was rectified through the self sacrifice of the Maccabees who literally put their lives on the line to fight the incursion of Greek culture among our people. Therefore the commemoration of these events is through praise and thanksgiving rather than through physical celebration.
Interestingly, Rambam writes about a different form of the celebration. He writes that the holiday is to be observed in simcha vehallel, joy and praise. Simcha, throughout our tradition, refers to a festive meal. But Rambam omits hodaya, thanksgiving. Nevertheless, the Matnas Chaim quotes the Rama who agrees with the Rambam and writes that a festive meal is indeed part of the Chanukah celebration. He reasons that Chanukah is a twofold celebration. While the catalyst for establishing the holiday was the Maccabean victory over the Greeks and rekindling the menorah, we are also celebrating the reinstatement of the sacrifices on a newly purified and rededicated altar by those same Chashmonaim who kindled the menorah. This day had already been set aside for dedicating the altar in the Beit Hamikdosh millennia earlier when the Tabernacle in the desert was completed, but its dedication and celebration would be celebrated months later. At that time, the Medrash tells us, Hashem “appeased” the day of completion by telling it that its dedication would be celebrated for eternity but would begin in the future, with the rededication of the Sanctuary on the 25th of Kislev, the first day of Chanukah. So we joyously eat a festive meal in gratitude for the reinstallation of the sacrifices.
How do we give thanks? According to Rashi, we fulfill that mitzvah by reciting Al Hanissimin the Grace after Meals and in the Shemonah Esrai prayers, writes Rabbi Dovid Cohen. But this recitation is not unique to Chanukah since we recite an alternate version on Purim as well. According to Rambam, our thanks lies in publicizing the miracle through lighting the candles while our praise lies in reciting the Hallel. Praise implies words, while gratitude implies action. In fact, continues Rabbi Cohen, we validate that action as both praise and gratitude when we recite“Hanerot halolu – these candles …” immediately after lighting them, for that paragraph includes that the reason we light them is to fulfill the mitzvah of lehodot ulehallel, gratitude and praise of Your holy Name. Hence, the Rambam doesn't mention praise separately, as this is subsumed under the act of lighting the candles.
But hoda’ah has an additional layer of meaning, writes Rav Hutner in Pachad Yitzchak. In addition to thankfulness, hoda’ah also implies an admission or acknowledgement. When we give thanks, we are also acknowledging our need of help, as Leah did when she named her fourth son Yehudah, or when that same Yehudah admitted his role in the pregnancy of Tamar by acknowledging the items he had left with her as belonging to him. Generations later, it is Yehudah’s descendent, King David, who sings the greatest praises to Hakodosh Boruch Hu through the Psalms. How do we actualize our gratitude? By lighting the Chanukah candles in the best way possible, thereby thanking Hashem and acknowledging that the Chashmonaim could not have accomplished their feat without Hashem’s help just as we today can accomplish nothing without Him as well.
It is not just our expression of gratitude that the candles symbolize. Even more, the thirty six candles we light over the eight days of Chanukah reflect the thirty six hours the primal light illuminated the world and allowed the first human being to see with absolute clarity Hashem’s presence in every aspect of creation from one end of the world to the other. On Chanukah, through our candles, we too can catch a glimpse of absolute truth with the clarity of that primal light, writes Moda Labinah. Adam’s visual and spiritual clarity and acknowledgement of Hashem is the first element of mesorah, of tradition handed down from generation to generation, as Adam imparted this knowledge to Methuselah, who imparted it to Noah, who imparted it to Shem and Ever, who imparted it to Abraham until it became part of the Abrahamitic tradition and was finalized with our receiving the Torah at Sinai. It is the acknowledgement of that great truth that inspired Adam to sing praises to Hashem and that ultimately inspires all of Tehillim.
How do the Chanukah candles inspire us? Basing his understanding on the work of Ramban in Parshat Bo, Rabbi Egbi writes in Chochmat Hamatzpun that by witnessing and acknowledging the great miracles Hashem has performed for us, we are led to reflect on our own lives and miracles Hashem performs for us on a daily basis. We start by acknowledging the gift of the additional seven days of light from the oil, then realize that even finding the oil, and finally that oil has the power to burn and spread light are all equally miraculous. Finally, we acknowledge Hashem’s daily kindnesses that we tend to take for granted.
With all this, why did our Sages wait a year before establishing Chanukah as a holiday for the ages? The simplest answer is that the nation was mourning their dead from the war during that first year. But the Sefer, Shallal Rav offers an additional explanation, among others that we will explore further on. During this year, the Sages debated whether to establish a holiday for the victory of the Chashmonaim or not, for they seemed to have usurped the kingship, a role designated for the tribe of Judah, not for the Kohanim. Finally, they decided that if it were not for the Battle the Chashmonaim waged, the Torah and our nation would have been lost.
Rabbi Roberts in Timeless Seasons offers a perspective that honors both the miraculous military victory and the miracle of the oil. When the Sages in the Gemarrah ask, “Mei Chanukah,”they are debating which of the two miracles to commemorate with this new holiday. While the military victory was witnessed by all, there was a human element, and there was a danger that eventually the people would forget God’s intervention and attribute the victory to the brilliant strategy and bravery of the Maccabees. On the other hand, the miracle of the oil was witness by only the priests, but all could understand that this was purely God’s work. By the end of the year, the people were already beginning to attribute the victory to man, and so our Sages saw fit to keep the miracle of the oil, which could not be disputed, as the main reason for establishing the holiday. Therefore, we light the menorah as the centerpiece of Chanukah observance.
But the military miracle is not forgotten, continues Rabbi Roberts. In the Amidah and inBirkat Hamazon we add the passage of Al Hanissim that commemorates the military victory. These two prayers are replete with acknowledge of Hashem’s benevolence and requests that Hashem provides for us in our daily lives. Within this context, one would not attribute the military victory to human attributes.
Perhaps there was a question whether to establish this holiday to begin with. This is the discussion of the Gaon Rav Moshe Chaim, Reish Galutha of Bavel as cited in Kimotzei Shallal Rav. Certainly that first year the people celebrated for eight days as the miracle was unfolding before them. The following year, the Rabbis noticed a similar energy and aura enveloping them, and they understood that the aura of the previous year had returned. They therefore realized that these days had already been established as holy days in Heaven, keva’um, and now they would do the same on earth, va’asa’um. (He uses the same argument about Purim – Kiyemu – in Heaven, vekiblu – on earth.) But that energy is not limited to times past, writes Rabbi Reiss citing the Kedushas Halevi. That same energy that was found then, bayamim hoheim, is found today, bazman hazeh. The Rabbis understood that the hope and truth those original lights represent would be necessary to sustain us in the long exile that would soon engulf us. Here in the miracle of the oil would be proof that even if we seem to be totally assimilated in the impurities of the nations, writes Rav Aharon Kotler, as long as there remains a small cadre of pure, Torah Jews, the light of Yiddishkeit will burn again with new energy. That light and energy returns each year presenting us with an opportunity to feel the closeness to Hashem and present our requests, writes Rabbi Gamliel Rabinowitz in Tiv Hatorah.
And that light is completely necessary, continues Tiv Hatorah. During this time of year the influences of Yavan, Greek philosophy of the supremacy of the temporal world, invades the mentality of people and inserts another partition between man and God. The light of Chanukah counteracts this influence. Rabbi Rabinowitz, citing Meor Vashemesh, validates this assertion through observation of the young. In youth, people are filled with enthusiasm in serving Hashem. As they grow older, they get more involved in the materialism of the world. They may continue to fulfill the mitzvoth, but their observance tends to become rote and that fire and innate spirituality is gone.
What do the holidays of Chanukah and Purim have in common that the Rabbis felt it was necessary to add them to our annual observance? Both are based on the power of emunah andbitachon, faith and belief, writes the Slonimer Rebbe in Netivot Shalom. When the Chashmonaim Priests went out to battle, they had minimal weapons, but their battle cry was Chapter 91 of Tehillim: “… Hashem is my refuge and my fortress … No evil shall befall you … He will call upon Me and I will answer him … With long life will I satisfy him and I will show him My salvation.”These holidays let us experience faith, for in the darkest night, it’s hard to believe, but it’s then that the light of Chanukah awakens us and reinforces us.
Jewish history is replete with battles for the Jewish body, the Jewish mind and the Jewish soul. Most of these battles are forgotten. If it were not for the Chashmonaim, this too would have been forgotten. The greatness of Chanukah, writes Rabbi Meir Chodosh in Ohr Olam, is that our Sages were able to recognize that the spirit of Chanukah came back, and they acted on that feeling, and established it as a holiday of inspiration for generations. Among the greatest gifts that Chazalgave us, writes Rabbi Belsky in Einei Yisroel, were the holidays of Purim and Chanukah. We capture the energy of Chanukah through the fourfold process of Yom Tov, Hallel, Hoda’ah and candle lighting, and harness the energy of those days in our time. Hashem put the energy there; we need to create the space to receive that energy within ourselves and concretize it. Interestingly, the priests found a pach shemen - an oil jar, not a pach shel shemen – a jar of oil. Rabbi Schorr inHalekach Vehalebuv continues quoting the Derech Hamelech, and notes, that even then there was no oil left in the jar, it miraculously filled with oil. Similarly, we need to make ourselves vessels and purify ourselves to receive the spiritual energy that comes down every year at this time.
Perhaps this further explains why the Sages waited a year before establishing the holiday in perpetuity. The Tosher Rebbe uses a wonderful analogy to explain what happens in a year. By focusing on the verse, “Ohr zaruah latzadik … - There is a light planted for the righteous,” the Tosher Rebee explains that when a seed is planted it is quite small, but after time passes, so much more grows from the original seed. Here too, Chanukah was not just those original eight days, but its spiritual effect was maintained over the entire year. By establishing the holiday of Chanukah, our Sages hoped the seed would be planted and continue to grow this spiritual energy.
The Maggid of Mezerich finds this theme connected to the mesorah of Pesach. Each draws its energy from the first one, and continues from one year to the next. Likewise, the power of the first Chanukah energized the people for the entire year, and at the end of the year, Chazal wanted to renew that energy to carry on for another year. They understood that simcha – joy – is transient, so establishing Chanukah as a joyous holiday would not maintain or propel the spiritual energy forward. Establishing Chanukah for hallel and hoda’ah – praise and thanksgiving/acknowledgement– would propel us forward to recognizing Hashem in all aspects of our lives.
There is one more point of interest. The Bnei Yissasschar notes that oil clings to its container. (Every housewife can attest to that fact.) We want the power of Chanukah to cling to us for the entire year so that we can see Hashem’s presence in our lives and in the world with the same clarity as was experienced on that first Chanukah.