Shalom everyone! I'm sorry for not posting last week, things have been quite busy over here at the yeshiva. This week, instead of posting a blog on the weekly Torah parsha, I'd like to talk about Chanukah, specifically the miracle that took place over two thousand years ago and how it is still relevant in our lives.
Most people know the basic story: during the time of the Second Temple, the Greeks began their campaign of conquest in Israel through assimilation. Their mission was simple: deconstruct any sort of religious Jewish identity, forcing the Greek customs and society upon the local Jews. Although many brave Jews who stood by their convictions were forced to become martyrs, the battle being fought was essentially a spiritual one; it was to wipe out the Jewish nation off of the spiritual map. They did this by prohibiting certain practices such as a bris (ritual circumcision), the study of Torah as a religious text, and even forced the sacrifice of pigs on the ritual alter. Hope seemed to be completely gone, when a militia of soldiers called the Hashmoneans led by Matisyahu (later on to be led by Judah Maccabee), challenged the Greeks head on. Although the odds were completely against them winning, it was their spirit of fearless self-sacrifice that led to their victory.
Now this would seem like a good enough reason for a commemorative celebration, yet the event most spoken of in connection to Chanukah is the miracle of the oil. After reclaiming and purifying the Temple, the Hashmoneans, wanting to light the menorah in dedication, were sadly disappointed to find that all of the oil had been made impure except for one jug, a jug that still had the unbroken seal of the high priest protecting it. They decided to light it anyway and, to their shock, the oil that should have lasted for only one night lasted for eight nights. These two accounts- the victory over the Greeks and the oil- form the collective narrative of the miracle of Chanukah. Something that seems a bit puzzling though is why they're connected. Let's "shed some light" on the subject.
In chasidic philosophy, oil is symbolic of kodesh (holy). According to Judaism, kodesh doesn't just mean "holy", but it also signifies "separateness". By having something separate from everything else, it keeps it special, pure, and untouched. However, there's another aspect of kodesh that seems to be the complete opposite, the idea that it permeates everything, adding infinite depth to seemingly finite things. This idea of kodesh is paralleled perfectly with oil: oil, when mixed with most other liquids such as water, will separate and float on top (remember those 3rd grade science projects?). Oil can also saturate, the exact opposite of separateness. What is it that the Greeks were fighting against? It was the kodesh found in Judaism, the holiness that pervaded the study of Torah, the practice of rituals, and the loftiness of G-dly things i.e. the sacrificial alter. This is why the jugs of oil were made impure, because the Greeks had done all that they could to spiritually eradicate the soul of Judaism (the G-dly element of Torah), leaving only an empty body (a dry and lifeless academic approach). Their best wasn't good enough since there was that one jug of pure oil that had the unbroken seal.
The importance of this jug cannot be expressed enough, yet before going into it, it's important to understand what it was that the Greeks in this story stood for. The Greeks were considered to be the pinnacle of logic and philosophy; open up any philosophy text book and you have the Greeks to thank for their foundations. While they provided us with an absolutely amazing body of knowledge, it was this hyper-rational approach, of the supremacy of the human intellect, that could not understand the supra-rational beliefs of Judaism, the idea that there is something outside of the four corners of our heads that we will never be able to grasp or understand. This is why they were so against the Jewish practices and beliefs: because, just like the oil comes to permeate everything, the supra-rational kodesh permeated Judaism. The main idea of supra-rationality in Torah is this: although G-d made Torah so that we can understand certain concepts and commandments, our finite understanding of them will never be able the reach the infinite understanding of G-d; the two understandings are completely different orders. With this understanding, any human-given reason for the commandments pales in comparison to that of G-d's and it is because of this that the driving force behind observance of commandments is that they are G-d given. In simple terms, where reason ends, faith begins and not only that, but the faith encompasses the reason as well. This was a concept that the Greeks could neither appreciate or understand, which led to such a fierce conflict between the two opposing sides of Greeks and the Jews.
This brings us to the last jug of oil. What is the significance of its finding? The oil represented a level of holiness untouched, a level of the soul that can never be destroyed, a level that will always remain kodesh and pure even in the face of the fiercest adversity, the level where the soul is most connected to G-d. This is the level with which the Hashmoneans fought the Greeks. We now see why it was possible for there to be such an underdog victory: the Hashmoneans were few and their weaponry not nearly as advanced as the Greeks, yet their secret weapon was a spiritual one, a supra-rational faith in G-d's Will and a spirit of self-sacrifice that washed over the Hellenistic rationality. This is the why the fire burned for as long as it did, because it was a fire connected to the infinite light of G-d. The Greek campaign of assimilation and spiritual destruction was a darkness so black that it threatened to swallow up the spark of the Jewish soul. However, when that tiny spark touch the surface of an endless supply of "oil", a vast infinite sea of G-dliness and truth, that the spark transformed into an all-consuming fire, fighting off the darkness and even turning that very darkness into light.
This concept, the victory of light over the darkness, is especially important in our lives. This world is filled with a darkness that we know all too well. Our lives can often feel empty without a meaning or purpose for existence. Depression often creeps upon us, smothering us and snuffing out our spark. We've tried materialism and its proven to only increase the depth of the darkness. We've tried hedonistic indulgence, and yet deeper still. Stumbling around this world like someone in a room deprived of all light, we sometimes have the fortune to come into contact with a random, lone candle. It is up to us what happens next: either we let it pass us by and we continue on in our blind journey, or we do something, taking the initiative; we grasp the candle in our hand and kindle more candles, slowly increasing the small collection of candles into a steadily building flame. Once we do that, it won't be long until the room becomes illuminated, clearly showing us it's true nature. A world once thought to be completely lost in darkness will suddenly be revealed to have merely been hiding the beauty that was there all along.
Happy holidays and with all my love,
Zach
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