Chanukah – The Kindling of Continuity

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December 05 2012
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There is a law about Chanukah that I find moving and profound. The Rambam (Hilchot Chanukah 4:12) writes that “The commandment of Chanukah lights is very precious… One who lacks the money to buy lights should sell something, or if necessary borrow, so as to be able to fulfill the mitzvah.”


The question then arises: what if, on Friday afternoon, a person finds himself with only one candle? Should he light it as a Shabbat candle or a Chanukah one? It can’t be both. Logic suggests that he should light it as a Chanukah candle. After all, there is no law that a person must sell or borrow to kindle lights for Shabbat. Yet the law is that if faced with such a choice, he should light it as a Shabbat light. Why? The Rambam explains (ibid. 4:14): “The Shabbat light takes priority because it symbolizes shalom bayit, domestic peace… And great is peace, because the entire Torah was given in order to make peace in the world.”


Consider: Chanukah commemorates one of the greatest military victories in Jewish history. Yet Jewish law rules that if a person can light only one candle – the Shabbat light takes precedence. Why? Because in Judaism, the home is valued more than the battlefield, marriage more than military grandeur, and children more than generals. Peace in the home matters more than the greatest military victory.


But Chanukah is about more than just what goes on at home or the values we impart to future generations. At its heart, Chanukah is about one of the first great clashes of civilization, between the Greeks and Jews of antiquity,Athens and Jerusalem. The ancient Greeks produced one of the most remarkable civilizations of all time: philosophers like Plato and Aristotle, historians like Herodotus and Thucydides, dramatists like Sophocles and Aeschylus. They produced art and architecture of a beauty that has never been surpassed. Yet in the second century before the Common Era, they were defeated by the group of Jewish fighters known as the Maccabees. And from then on, Greece as a world power went into rapid decline, while the tiny Jewish people survived every exile and persecution and are still alive and well today.


What was the difference? The Greeks, who did not believe in a single, loving God, gave the world the concept of tragedy. We strive, we struggle, at times we achieve greatness, but life has no ultimate purpose. The universe neither knows nor cares that we are here. Ancient Israel, on the other hand, gave the world the idea of hope. We are here because God created us with love, and through love we discover the meaning and purpose of life.


Tragic cultures eventually disintegrate and die. Lacking any sense of ultimate meaning, they lose the moral beliefs and habits upon which continuity depends. They sacrifice happiness for pleasure. They sell the future for the present. They lose the passion and energy that brought them greatness in the first place. That’s what happened to Ancient Greece.


Judaism and its culture of hope survived. If the lights of Shabbat are the lights of inner peace, the Chanukah lights are the symbol of our people’s outer strength and survival, of Judaism’s refusal to jettison its values for the glamour and prestige of a secular culture, then or now. So as we celebrate Chanukah, spare a thought for the real victory, which was not military but spiritual, not just physical but cultural. In Judaism, the light of peace takes precedence over the light of war. A candle of hope may seem a small thing, but upon it, the very survival of a civilization may depend.


On behalf of the students of Yeshiva, The Lamdan staff would like to express its deepest thanks to Chief Rabbi Sacks for his beautiful words of wisdom and inspiration and look forward to similar opportunities in the future.


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From "The Lamdan" publication of SOY-JSC

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    Learning on the Marcos and Adina Katz YUTorah site is sponsored today by Judy & Mark Frankel & family l'ilui nishmos מרדכי בן הרב משה יהודה ע"ה and משה יהודה ז"ל בן מאיר אליהו ויהודית