klahr@csd2.UUCP (12/04/85)
C_H_A_N_U_K_A_H
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Historically, the holiday of Chanukah commemorates two events: 1) The
military victory, in 165 B.C.E., of a small Jewish army, the Maccabees, against
the vast array of forces of the Syrian-Macedonian empire. The ruling Syrian-
Greeks attempted to suppress Judaism and the study and practice of the Torah.
They defiled the Temple and promoted the worship of the Hellenistic deities.
The Maccabean victory restored the free practice of Judaism and regained a
measure of political independence for the Jews. 2) A symbolic ritual miracle
accompanied the military miracle. Eager to resume the Temple service, the
Maccabees wished to rekindle the lamps of the Temple Menorah (candelabra). A
search of the Temple revealed only one intact flask of ritually pure oil,
enough to keep the Menorah lit for only one day. However, the oil miraculously
burned for eight days, until new pure oil could be prepared.
In remembrance of these events, we light Menorahs each of the eight
nights of Chanukah, lighting one candle the first night and adding an
additional candle each successive night.
To be sure, these miracles were both highly significant during the
period in which they occurred. But what is their relevance to us?
Perhaps some questions about the Chanukah story itself can be of help.
What is the connection between these two apparently very different miracles?
And why were the Maccabees particularly preoccupied with the lighting of the
Menorah? Many types of ceremonial services were done in the Temple and had
been stopped when the Temple was defiled? If a miracle was to occur in
connection with the Temple, why did the miracle have to take place with the
lighting of the Menorah?
Unlike the Jews of many other eras, the Jews in the time of Chanukah
were not physically threatened. Chanukah was unique in that the threat was one
of spiritual and moral extinction. The Syrian-Greeks, and their Hellenized
Jewish cohorts, wanted the Jews to abandon their religion and assimilate into
the mainstream of Greek civilization. While Greek culture, in its science,
art, and philosophy, demonstrated much of the physical and intellectual beauty
of nature and the world, it viewed nature and the world as ends unto them-
selves. Rather than looking at man as being created in the image of G-d, it
worshipped anthropomorphic deities that were only reflections of man himself.
A picture of a world operating solely in accord with mechanistic laws was
offended by the entire concept of a Torah given by G-d. The idea that man and
his world must be in harmony with a higher set of morals and values was one
that the Hellenists would not tolerate.
After emerging from battle victorious, the Maccabees were eager to
light the Menorah. Light in general is a universal symbol of knowledge and
understanding. By lighting the Temple Menorah, the Maccabees wished to reaffirm
the centrality of G-d's word, as expressed by the Torah, to all human
endeavors. Quite central to the Hellenistic argument was a denial of the
possibility of a miracle, with its implication of a non-material G-d revealing
Himself by intervening in nature. It was therefore appropriate that a miracle
occur in the lighting of the Menorah, the expression of the need for G-dly
illumination of our actions.
The two miracles therefore form complementary parts of one whole. One
could look at the military victory as an ostensibly natural event, much like
many other military "upsets" throughout history. One could attribute the
victory to clever strategy on one side, miscalculations on the other side, with
a hefty dose of "luck" mixed into the middle, and deny any supernatural
component in it. But the clearly miraculous burning of the oil reveals G-d's
guiding presence even in the supposedly "natural" occurrences that we see.
Miracle and nature are not two contradictory concepts, they are merely
different manifestations of the same principle. G-d's hand, so often hidden
in the daily wonders we call nature simply because we are so used to seeing
them, is the same hand that produces miracles-both of a material sort and
those in which man plays a key part.
The answer to our original question is clear. Chanukah is extremely
relevant to us. It emphasizes G-d's presence in our normal, everyday world,
that "nature, too, is miraculous". Rather than being the secularizing forces
they are traditionally considered, the sciences, mathematics, and the arts can,
to the properly trained eye, provide man with as spectacularly breathtaking
a view, and as intimate an encounter with G-d, as all the razzle dazzle and
fire and brimstonethat one could imagine, if not more. Chanukah stresses the
overriding importance of the laws and values of the Torah to everything we can
hope to accomplish in our civilization. The word Chanukah means a dedication.
On Chanukah, the Maccabees rededicated themselves to the study and practice of
the values of the Torah and its commandments. So can we.
H*A*P*P*Y C*H*A*N*U*K*A*H
Pinchus Klahr klahr@NYU.ARPA {allegra,ihnp4}cmcl2!csd2!klahr