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The
History of Chanukah
Well,
we all know about the miracle of the lights,
but that is not the real reason the Sages
instituted the Holiday of Chanukah. The
miracle of the lights is the reason the
Sages instituted the lighting of the
Chanukah Menorah lights, but the Miracle of
the Lights teaches us something bigger than
that.
Everyone
agrees that there was some sort of victory.
The Jews won something from the
Syrian-Greeks. The point of popular
misconception is what exactly we won.
But
how does the Menorah fit into that?
Why
did the Rabbis focus on the Menorah more so
than any other service in the Holy Temple?
It is true that a miracle happened with the
Menorah in the Holy Temple. Then the
question almost asks itself: why did the
miracle happen with the Menorah, and not
with some other element of the Temple
service?
The
truth is that there is a lot of symbolism
there.
The
Menorah symbolized the wisdom of Hashem,
i.e., the Torah.
What
were the ancient Greeks most famous for?
Their wisdom and knowledge; art,
architecture, philosophy.
It
was in fulfillment of Noah's blessing. You
remember how Noah blessed his sons Shem and
Jefeth?
In
Genesis, Noah blessed them with: "May
Hashem give beauty to Jefeth, and may He
dwell in the tents of Shem." The Greeks
were descended from Jefeth (Yavan, the
ancestor of the Greeks, was the son of
Jefeth), the Jews are descended from Shem.
The Greeks were devoted to creating beauty.
The Jews were devoted to experiencing G-d.
Jefeth had beauty, but Hashem dwelled in the
tents of Shem, i.e., in the Holy Temple.
The
Greeks displayed much beauty, but it was all
external. It was all with self-promotion,
not with the intent to glorify G-d. This was
why they invented narcissism. They would
exercise and compete in the nude, for
example.
The
Greeks built beautiful edifices, but it was
all so that they could worship false gods
and hold orgies. So, while there was beauty
and wisdom among the Greeks, it was alien
and repulsive to Jews and Judaism.
And
that was the essence of the friction between
the Jews and the Greeks. The Greeks did not
mind if we worshiped Hashem, as long as we
also worshiped their gods and did things
their way. As long as we studied their
wisdom, learned to admire the naked human
body, and the beautiful statues of the gods,
we could worship what we wanted. Wisdom and
beauty it is, but not our kind.
And
that is also the point of the Menorah. The
Menorah gave light. Light is a euphemism for
wisdom.
When
G-d created the universe, He created a
special light that He later hid for the
righteous to enjoy in the World To Come. The
Rabbis taught that if you wanted to get
wise, you should go to the Holy Temple, face
the Menorah, and pray for wisdom, because
the Menorah represents wisdom. Even the
olive oil that went into the Menorah had to
be pure, according to the Bible's
Commandment. The oil could have no
admixtures from outside. So, it was very
significant that it was oil that they found!
Of all the things they could have had a
miracle with, it was the oil. This
symbolized the triumph of the wisdom of
Torah over the wisdom of the Greeks.
And
that is what we celebrate on Chanukah.
There
are popular misconceptions about Chanukah.
Many people think that the Hasmoneans were
farmers who wanted back the land that had
been stolen from them by the Syrians. But
the truth is that the Hasmoneans were
priests, and priests were forbidden to own
land! They could not have been farmers who
owned land!
The
only land they won back was the Temple
Mount, which had been converted to a pagan
temple. I think it had been used as a temple
to Mercury. Whatever it was, it was
horrible. Even the city of Jerusalem was
still under Greek control. At no point did
the Jews actually gain political freedom
from the Greeks.
The
only real victory was the right to restore
the Holy Temple service. So, in essence,
what was won from the Greeks at that time
was religious freedom. The right to keep our
own wisdom, without being forced to keep the
wisdom of the Greeks. And that is the real
reason for the miracle of the oil and
Menorah.
So
many people find strange ways to celebrate
Chanukah, and often it contradicts the very
message of Chanukah! Like Chanukah bushes,
one of the more startling examples of
diluting our religion. A Chanukah bush is an
imitation of the Xmas tree. It is an example
of the very thing the Hasmoneans were
fighting against!
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