My Israel Home

My Israel Home Chanukah Symbols – And One Resilient Flag

By Gedaliah Borvick

My colleague recently contacted me regarding a property for sale on Menorah Street in Herzliya. I did not find the property particularly interesting, but I was absolutely thrilled by the street name, as I sensed the makings of a Chanukah article.

The Menorah, a 7-branched candelabra used in the Mishkan (Tabernacle), and later in the Temple’s permanent residence in Jerusalem, has been a Jewish symbol for over 3,000 years. Today, the Menorah, surrounded by olive branches, serves as the emblem of the State of Israel. The olive branches hearken back to the Biblical story of Noah and the flood and are a symbol of peace. In addition, olives played a prominent role in the Chanukah story, as a jug of pure olive oil, barely sufficient to light the Menorah for one day, miraculously lasted for eight days. Dozens of streets across Israel are named HaZayit in honor of the venerated olive tree.

Outside of Israel, the 9-branched lantern kindled on Chanukah is also called a menorah. In Israel, it is known as a Chanukiah.

In addition to Menorah, other streets related to Chanukah include Maccabeem, found in several Israeli cities, which is named for the Maccabean warriors who led the revolt against the Greek armies and the Hellenistic influence on Jewish life. Half a dozen cities have streets named for

Yehudah Hamaccabi, who led the Maccabean revolt. One of these cities is Modiin, which is named after Judah’s father, the priest and leader Matityahu.

The Menorah got me thinking about another street in Herzliya that is named in honor of an arguably more famous national symbol, the Magen David, also known as the Star of David.

Magen David literally means David’s Shield because the star was similar to a design that was emblazoned on King David’s legendary shield. For many years, the 6-pointed star was primarily used as a Kabbalistic symbol. However, in 1354, King Charles

in 1354, King Charles IV of Bohemia presented the Prague Jewish community with a red flag with the Star of David.

IV of Bohemia presented the Prague Jewish community with a red flag with the Star of David. The Praguers became the first Jewish community to use the hexagram as their official crest, and this symbol slowly spread to other Jewish communities. By the 17th century, the Star of David’s use was so widespread that it became the international symbol of Jewish houses of worship.

The Israeli flag proudly displays the Star of David flanked by two blue stripes, which were inspired by the stripes on the tallit. This design was originally adopted at the first Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897, and over time became universally accepted as the emblem of the Zionist movement.

Ironically, in the 1930s, the Nazis took the Star of David’s symbol of strength and courage and cruelly transformed it into a badge of shame, dishonor, and death. Perhaps it was most fitting that the newly established Jewish state, which rose from the ashes of the Holocaust, used the selfsame Magen David to demonstrate the eternal and inextinguishable flame of the Jewish people.

Gedaliah Borvick is the founder of My Israel Home (www.myisraelhome.com), a real estate agency focused on helping people from abroad buy and sell homes in Israel. To sign up for his monthly market updates, contact him at gborvick@gmail. com.

By Alanna Apfel

There is something incredibly alluring about Chanukah for Jews of all ages. I’m not referring to the gelt, the sufganiyot, the dreidels, or the gifts. We don’t call it the festival of lights for nothing after all. We enjoy neiros each week when we light Shabbos candles. The light of the neiros Chanukah, however, is different.

We learn as children that there is a minhag to stay by the candles for at least 30 minutes after lighting. Each night when I gaze into the flames, each night the light of the menorah stronger and more powerful than the night before, I feel a deeper and deeper sense of spiritual and emotional healing and restoration. What is it about the ohr of the Menorah that gives it this unique quality?

Although two miracles occurred over Chanukah, winning the war against the Greeks, and the miracle of the pach shemen, our Sages clarify that it is for the miracle of the oil that Chanukah was established and is celebrated throughout Galus. We are familiar with the story recounted in the gemara– we won back the Temple only to discover that everything was destroyed and contaminated by the Greeks. Miraculously, one pach shemen was found with the Kohen Gadol’s seal intact. Although there was only enough oil for 1 day, the oil burned for 8 full days.

The Netivot Shalom points out, that if the essential nes of Chanukah is the oil, the beginning of the miracle surely has its own significance worthy of exploration. The event that set the Chanuak miracle in motion was the discovery of the pach shemen. The Netivot Shalom compares the pach shemen to the kernel of a seed, which if intact, enables a plant to regenerate and grow even after the plant has died. However, if that seed is destroyed completely, rebirth and renewal is impossible. This comparison sheds light on our understanding of the miracle of Chanukah. While the Persians attempted to wipe us out physically, the Greeks attempted to destroy us spiritually. So thorough was their attempt to wipe out all traces of our Yiddishkeit, they even contaminated every vessel of oil. They destroyed everything ruchani they could find. Except for one pach shemen, referred to Kabbalistically as “Kusta D’chayusa”, or, the “eternal spark. When the last pach shemen was discovered, it was that only remaining shred of purity. Against all odds, and defying literally the laws of nature, from that small pach, from that small spark, began the journey of rebirth and renewal.

Chanukah is the last chag that was established l’doros to be observed throughout exile until the coming of Mashiach. Chazal was sending us a powerful message. Anytime we as a People find ourselves on the brink of destruction where the end seems certain, it is within us to remember and believe that G-d is our Protector. G-d always leaves us with a small spark, the “Kusta D’chayusa”, from which we will again grow, rebuild and be renewed.

This is the lesson of the pach shemen, and that which we can take with us this year when we light neiros Chanukah.

When we light the neiros, we follow the custom of Beis Hillel, adding an additional flame each night, just like the spark, which starts out small, and is barely visible, but grows and gets steadily stronger. Rambam refers to the mitzvah of ner Chanukah as “beloved, more than any other, chaviva hi ad meod, an attribute that he gives to no other mitzvah. The Netivot Shalom explains that the mitzvah of ner Chanukah is of course deserving of this description – the ner and ohr of Chanukah is the source of our unique strength. Whenever we find ourselves in a period of darkness, whether as a nation or as individuals, we still have within us the eternal spark from which we can rebuild and be reborn anew. This message of renewal, the message of the kusta d’chayusa, the eternal spark, that each and every Jew has within them, is the message in the nes of Chanukah, whose start was in the discovery of the single pach shemen. It is from this eternal spark found within each of us, that we can experience rebirth and renewal no matter how dark our current circumstances may appear to be. When we understand that the driving force behind our eternal spark is our emunah, our uncertain and unwavering belief in G-d’s eternal love and support, we realize that we have the strength within us to sustain and overcome any and all of life’s challenges, big or small. As long we have even a shred of Emunah, or our eternal spark, we will discover the strength within ourselves and we will prevail. May we each connect with the kusta d’chayusa that lives within each of us when we light the neiros this year. Wishing you and yours a Chanukah Sameach. Alanna

Alanna Apfel is the founder and patient advocate at AA Insurance Advocacy, which helps therapy patients, individuals, couples, and children, save thousands of dollars annually on their out of network mental health therapy bills. In the months that AA Insurance Advocacy has been advocating on behalf of patients, clients have collected anywhere from $5,000 to $45,000 a year in reimbursements, depending on the cost and frequency of therapy. If your preferred therapist doesn’t take your health insurance, we can help negotiate with your plan to cover your out-of-pocket therapy costs. For further information, please contact aainsuranceadvocate@gmail.com.

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