:
Seeing through the now
By:
Rabbi Dovid Samuels
Pullquotes:
“Chanukah comes from the word chinuch which means both education and inauguration. These two definitions show us that Chanukah was going to prepare us for a new era.”
Looking at the festivals we celebrate, we notice a common theme. The Jewish people is about to receive a tremendous revelation of Hashem, and He will bend or even break nature to show His involvement. But each time, something is expected from us; we need to do something to warrant the revelation. At Yetzias Mitzrayim, Hashem was preparing to reveal Himself like never before, as He pulled his people from the impure prison of Egypt. But first, we needed to perform Bris Milah and offer the Korban Pesach. Only through our “contribution” would Hashem bring the exodus to full fruition. Later, at Har Sinai, He was again going to reveal His presence like never before as He gave us His Torah. But again, we needed to prepare for this event. For three days we went through an intense and restrictive preparation, and only then would we be fit to receive the Torah. Sukkos, too, was a miracle that occurred only to those who were deserving. The Clouds of Glory that Hashem brought to protect the Jewish people as we wandered through the desert were reserved for those who truly deserved it. Those whose behaviour did not match up to the standards expected were expelled from the Clouds and were more susceptible to the harsh desert environment. Purim is no different. We were facing a terrible decree of complete annihilation, chas v’shalom, but because of our national repentance, we were saved by Hashem. But what about Chanukah?
While it is true that a small group of tzaddikim waged a war against the Greeks, resulting in an unexpected and miraculous victory, topped off with the oil in the Menorah burning for eight days instead of only one, but what did we do as a people to deserve this? Unlike the fast of Esther, on which we remember the mass fasting and repentance of the Jews to nullify Haman’s evil decree against us, we seem oddly quiet in the story of Chanukah. In fact, the Greeks were concerned about such spiritual resistance, and they forbade us from gathering in prayer and public fasting. The Jews as a whole were on a very low spiritual level at that time, and the influence of the Greeks – their idolatry and anti-Torah philosophies – had infected our people quite drastically. It seems that not only did we not do anything to prompt the miracle of Chanukah, but we also weren’t even on the level to deserve it. So, as the gemora asks: What is Chanukah?
If we understand the timing of the miracle, we will be able to see a great light coming from this special gift from Hashem. As the time of our supreme closeness to Hashem was drawing to a close, with the Beis Hamikdash approaching its destruction and the Jews staring a long and bitter exile in the face, there was a question that needed to be answered: How will we be able to survive without the Hashem in our midst, for 2 000 years? Hashem would provide an answer to this question, and it was necessary for it to come without any effort from our side. The name Chanukah comes from the word chinuch which means both education and inauguration. These two definitions show us that Chanukah was going to prepare us for a new era, and it would be through the lessons learned from this miracle that we would be able to train ourselves to survive. We were being inaugurated for a new mission, and we were being educated in its fulfilment.
Quite simply, the miracle of Chanukah is Hashem’s way of telling us that He loves us beyond comprehension. If we do a Bris Milah and a korban Pesach, and then experience a miracle, it could be that Hashem loves our Bris or our korban Pesach. If He gives us His Torah after days of preparation, it could be that He only loves us when we prepare. If He gives us Sukkos, but only to those who are faithful, then maybe He loves us only for our faith. But when He gives us a miracle like Chanukah, when we didn’t pray, we didn’t fast, and we didn’t even deserve it, it must be, logically, that Hashem simply…loves us!
There was one other time in history that a miracle was performed on earth without any prompting. This was Maaseh Breishis – the creation of the world. There was no earthly promotion of this miracle…there was no earth! There were no good deeds, fasting, or repentance…there was no man! What was it that motivated Hashem to perform the greatest miracle in history? It was the knowledge that there would be a Jewish people that would serve Him and receive His Torah. Likewise at Chanukah, it was the knowledge of what the Jewish people would accomplish after the miracle that motivated Hashem’s involvement. This is love. And this shows us that all of the previous miracles that we had experienced, and all of the subsequent ones too, are because of one thing: He loves us, with a deep and unbreakable love.
Before the destruction of the Temple, it would have been understandable for a king to lose faith in his people, as they strayed further and further from him. In galus, as we became influenced and absorbed in the cultures of our host nations, a king of flesh and blood would not even recognise his own people, let alone boast being their leader. But that’s because he lacks a key ingredient: he doesn’t love them. A father, on the other hand, would pour fortunes of time, effort, and money into his child’s future, even if that child would not recognise all that benevolence. And a parent begins this from the earliest age of the child. The child is fed, he is cared for, he is put to sleep and taken to the doctor. The child has not done anything to deserve this, but for one thing: he has stirred his parents love. And the child is rewarded by being raised from day one with the knowledge that there are people who will help him, no matter what! In a more perfect way, it is the same with us and our Father in Heaven.
A 2 000-year galus would inevitably see the Jewish nation behaving in ways that are not befitting the chosen people. It would also be a time where the involvement of Hashem in our lives would be concealed behind the veil of nature. Untrained eyes would become despondent, disbelieving, and even despair. But we underwent the necessary training. Chanukah was our chinuch seminar: Hashem loves us, even when we may not deserve it, and His involvement in our lives is more constant than the most caring parent.
Chanukah is Hashem’s love for us, and our response to Chanukah is this: acknowledge that He loves us, and that He sees what we are capable of in the future! Chanukah was fixed for all times as days of Thanks and Praise. Thanks, stemming from our acknowledging Hashem’s constant involvement in our lives even when things don’t look so miraculous; and Praise, that His love for us knows no bounds, even when we may not deserve it. So, with the status quo of Hashem’s revealed providence in the Temple period coming to an end, and the Jews wondering if they would ever be able to live up to their side of the agreement, Hashem sent them the strongest message: Yes, you will, because if you recognise how much love I have for you, and how much you can accomplish with that love, then you will understand how it could be that I will never leave you. You just have to acknowledge it.
“We take up the holy responsibility of being the educators of our households; to teach the children who will also live in times of darkness, that there is light.”
Jews, as we have throughout the period of galus, are experiencing thoughts similar to the ones we had at the end of the Temple period. But Hashem has already inaugurated us for this task, and he educated us how to succeed. He gave us Chanukah, a festival of lights in a dark time, that we should revise the message that we are loved by the Creator of heaven and earth; that our lives are full of miracles cloaked in nature, and no matter how dark it might seem, we cannot lose sight of the light. This is apparent in the way we perform the mitzvah of lighting the Chanukiah. Each family lights it for his own household as it begins to get dark. We all need to train ourselves to see Hashem’s involvement, not only in the Jewish nation, but in our personal lives. We draw from the light of knowing that Hashem has bent nature in the past and we light up our homes to dispel the darkness that has confused us in galus, where Hashem’s actions are hidden. We take up the holy responsibility of being the educators of our households; to teach the children who will also live in times of darkness, that there is light, and when we look closely at that light, all darkness will be dispelled. That even though things might not look so great at present, our future is magnificent, and Hashem is willing to invest in that.
There is not much more time for our candles to pierce through the darkness of the night before Hashem will fully reveal His true love for us, and then all of the Jews’ Chanukah lights from the last 2 000 years will join together, and the holy glow that will emanate will be more than anything we have ever seen. Until then, we continue to see through the darkness and dedicate ourselves lehodos ul’hallel – to Thank and to Praise.
