With out a doubt, the best part of giving a shiur is how much I learn in preparation. (The worst part, but the way, is agonizing and panic in the weeks leading up to giving the shiur making sure I have something to say that is worth the attendees time to hear.) Moreover, I find that while actually giving the shiur, ideas and thoughts that were still a bit murky come into sharp focus. Then there are questions that come up after the shiur. This TftD is in response to one of those questions.
So regarding the reason that חנוכה is the name of the holiday that commemorates our victory over the Greeks and the miracle of the one-day-supply-of-oil-that-lasted-eight-whole-days: it's because our enemies stopped bugging us on the 25th of Kislev -- חנו כ''ה/they rested ("parked" according to Google translate) on the 25th. (See Mishna Brura 670, sk 1.) I know that's not what I learned in Sunday school... shocking.
But hang on... besides that fact that the commemoration of such an amazing victory is called "they parked", why is it so important to encode the date in the name? I mean, even though they (you know who "they" are) wanted -- for the sheer poetry -- WWI (aka, The Great War) to end at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the still called it Armistice Day. And one more thing: כ''ה/they rested?! Shouldn't it be: חנינו/we rested? Why aren't we celebrating חנינוכה?
The Maharal (in נר מצוה) explains that חנוכה had to be on the 25th of Kislev. Why? The world was created on Rosh HaShana, the 1st of Tishrei (according to R' Eliezer)/Nissan (according to R' Yehoshua); which that man was created on that day. That means that light was created on the 25th of Elul (according to R' Eliezer)/Adar (according to R' Yehoshua). At the moment of creation, the length of day and night was equal; in Elul the days are starting to get shorter, while in Adar the days are starting to get longer. Either way, the night will be longest -- and correspondingly light will be rebounding from its shortest day -- on the 25th of Kislev. The lighting of the miracle of the one day's worth of oil lasting eight days -- that is, our small addition of light to the world -- corresponds to the light of the world beginning its climb from the depths.
Ok, that's very cool. But cool enough to name the commemorating holiday after the date it happened? Moreover, we are still stuck with why we say "they rested", instead of "we rested". More moreover, why did not the hashgacha just ensure that they rested on the 17th and then would take eight days to clean things up, during which time they could make more טהור oil (which takes eight days) to be able to light without relying on a miracle on the 25th. More and more moreover, why was there only one cruse of טהור oil that had been personally sealed by the Kohein Gadol? We know there is a general principle that HaShem wants to minimize miracles. Finding eight cruses of טהור oil, each with the seal of the Kohein Gadol -- a miraculous as that may be -- is still a smaller departure from the natural course of things than one cruse of oil lasting for eight days.
While the Maharal does not address that question directly, I have a thought. The Greeks had a single intention: to separate Klal Yisrael from HaShem by denying the existence of קדושה. Their proof: The sin of the Golden Calf. In the midst of the miraculous redemption of Klal Yisrael from slavery, the Jewish nation (according to the Greeks) turned to avoda zara. "See!", the exclaimed, "there is not such thing as קדושה! You proved that yourselves!" The Greeks even forced us to engrave that message: אין לנו חלק באלקי ישראל/We have no part in the G-d of Israel on the horn of an ox as a stinging reminder. We replied that we panicked and made a mistake -- not, chas v'shalom -- of avoda zara, but of looking for an intermediary to replace Moshe Rabbeinu. An intermediary that had not been sanctioned, and therefore a grave error, but certainly not a turning away from HaShem.
So on this 25th of Kislev, the most dark day of the year, they were given a respite from the fighting and found a single cruse of טהור oil that had been personally sealed by the Kohein Gadol. After all their struggles, all their מוסר נפש/martyrdom -- on the darkest day of the year, they find only a single cruse of oil. The response could have been one of exhausted resignation. Instead, they looked not at the darkness, but focused their attention that this was the beginning the increase in light. The didn't despair that they only found one cruse of oil, rather they celebrated that the would be able to light the holy Menorah for even one day!
Chanuka is way, way too big to have a single "take away." Perhaps, though, we should at least realize this: When someone is feeling so distant from HaShem that he thinks of Klal Yisrael as "them", he is still connected with a bond that can never be broken; a bond with Klal Yisrael and a bond with HaShem Himself. Even when he feels that nothing he could ever do is enough to return, the truth is that anything -- the smallest point of light -- is enough to begin the return to complete reunification.
So regarding the reason that חנוכה is the name of the holiday that commemorates our victory over the Greeks and the miracle of the one-day-supply-of-oil-that-lasted-eight-whole-days: it's because our enemies stopped bugging us on the 25th of Kislev -- חנו כ''ה/they rested ("parked" according to Google translate) on the 25th. (See Mishna Brura 670, sk 1.) I know that's not what I learned in Sunday school... shocking.
But hang on... besides that fact that the commemoration of such an amazing victory is called "they parked", why is it so important to encode the date in the name? I mean, even though they (you know who "they" are) wanted -- for the sheer poetry -- WWI (aka, The Great War) to end at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the still called it Armistice Day. And one more thing: כ''ה/they rested?! Shouldn't it be: חנינו/we rested? Why aren't we celebrating חנינוכה?
The Maharal (in נר מצוה) explains that חנוכה had to be on the 25th of Kislev. Why? The world was created on Rosh HaShana, the 1st of Tishrei (according to R' Eliezer)/Nissan (according to R' Yehoshua); which that man was created on that day. That means that light was created on the 25th of Elul (according to R' Eliezer)/Adar (according to R' Yehoshua). At the moment of creation, the length of day and night was equal; in Elul the days are starting to get shorter, while in Adar the days are starting to get longer. Either way, the night will be longest -- and correspondingly light will be rebounding from its shortest day -- on the 25th of Kislev. The lighting of the miracle of the one day's worth of oil lasting eight days -- that is, our small addition of light to the world -- corresponds to the light of the world beginning its climb from the depths.
Ok, that's very cool. But cool enough to name the commemorating holiday after the date it happened? Moreover, we are still stuck with why we say "they rested", instead of "we rested". More moreover, why did not the hashgacha just ensure that they rested on the 17th and then would take eight days to clean things up, during which time they could make more טהור oil (which takes eight days) to be able to light without relying on a miracle on the 25th. More and more moreover, why was there only one cruse of טהור oil that had been personally sealed by the Kohein Gadol? We know there is a general principle that HaShem wants to minimize miracles. Finding eight cruses of טהור oil, each with the seal of the Kohein Gadol -- a miraculous as that may be -- is still a smaller departure from the natural course of things than one cruse of oil lasting for eight days.
While the Maharal does not address that question directly, I have a thought. The Greeks had a single intention: to separate Klal Yisrael from HaShem by denying the existence of קדושה. Their proof: The sin of the Golden Calf. In the midst of the miraculous redemption of Klal Yisrael from slavery, the Jewish nation (according to the Greeks) turned to avoda zara. "See!", the exclaimed, "there is not such thing as קדושה! You proved that yourselves!" The Greeks even forced us to engrave that message: אין לנו חלק באלקי ישראל/We have no part in the G-d of Israel on the horn of an ox as a stinging reminder. We replied that we panicked and made a mistake -- not, chas v'shalom -- of avoda zara, but of looking for an intermediary to replace Moshe Rabbeinu. An intermediary that had not been sanctioned, and therefore a grave error, but certainly not a turning away from HaShem.
So on this 25th of Kislev, the most dark day of the year, they were given a respite from the fighting and found a single cruse of טהור oil that had been personally sealed by the Kohein Gadol. After all their struggles, all their מוסר נפש/martyrdom -- on the darkest day of the year, they find only a single cruse of oil. The response could have been one of exhausted resignation. Instead, they looked not at the darkness, but focused their attention that this was the beginning the increase in light. The didn't despair that they only found one cruse of oil, rather they celebrated that the would be able to light the holy Menorah for even one day!
Chanuka is way, way too big to have a single "take away." Perhaps, though, we should at least realize this: When someone is feeling so distant from HaShem that he thinks of Klal Yisrael as "them", he is still connected with a bond that can never be broken; a bond with Klal Yisrael and a bond with HaShem Himself. Even when he feels that nothing he could ever do is enough to return, the truth is that anything -- the smallest point of light -- is enough to begin the return to complete reunification.
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