CHANUKAH5784 Fighting with Light Rabbi Andrew Shaw Chief Executive, Mizrachi UK
It is Chanukah tonight. Normally it is a festival filled with joy, happiness and thanksgiving. This year it occurs exactly two months after the horrific atrocities of October 7th. How can we celebrate Chanukah as per normal? We are still at war. Rockets are still being fired. Over 130 hostages are still within Gaza. Yet, we will light the lights tonight, sing the songs and eat our doughnuts – and celebrate. I believe in many ways that this year Chanukah is more relevant than ever and we should celebrate the ancient miracle with even more passion and commitment than normal. Let me explain: The Gemara in Shabbat asks:
What is Chanukah, and why are lights kindled on Chanukah? The Gemara answers: The Sages taught in Megillat Ta’anit: On the twenty-fifth of Kislev, the days of Chanukah are eight. One may not eulogize on them and one may not fast on them. What is the reason? When the Greeks entered the Sanctuary they defiled all the oils that were in the Sanctuary by touching them. And when the Hasmonean monarchy overcame them and emerged victorious over them, they searched and found only one cruse of oil that was placed with the seal of the High Priest, undisturbed by the Greeks. And there was sufficient oil there to light the menorah for only one day. A miracle occurred and they lit the menorah from it eight days. The next year the Sages instituted those days and made them holidays with recitation of Hallel and special thanksgiving in prayer and blessings. (Shabbat 21b) This is the major source in Jewish law for Chanukah. What is the focus? It is clearly the miracle of the oil. The miracle of the war with the Greeks is hardly mentioned. Yet when you think about it, that seems strange.
Without the miracle of victory in the war, there would have been no rededication of the Bet Hamikdash. Yet, had the oil not lasted eight days but gone out after only one day, they still would have cleaned up the Bet Hamikdash, they still would have removed the Avodah zara and they just would have to have waited a week to relight the Menorah. Would that have been such a problem? So surely of the two miracles, the war was far more important and far more pivotal in the grand scheme of things. So why did Chazal focus on the lights and not the war? Surely, we are missing the real miracle, beating the Greeks. Yes, we talk about it in Al ha Nissim but nowhere in the ritual observance of the festival. Yet Chazal tell us, light the candles, that is the focus – why? The first answer is historical. It may be true that the Hasmoneans succeeded in securing theBet Hamikdash and re-establishing the Temple service, but the rest of Israel remained in control of the Greeks and the Hellenized Jews. Even when the Greeks finally left Israel, political freedom was quickly lost to the Romans already on their way to world domination. Even in the temple itself the relief was short lived – bitter infighting resulted in the complete destruction of the Hasmonean dynasty. It was only a matter a time before the might of Rome became the agent of destruction. So, to focus on the military victory which was a brief light in the darkness. Chanukah needs to be more – and that is why the miracle of oil, of the lights, became the focus of the Chag. There is another answer, a much more powerful answer which links us to our current conflict on multiple fronts. For many decades I have been involved in Holocaust Education. One of the areas I have been inspired by are the survivors. All who I have had the honour of meeting have been so positive, not bitter. We are inspired by these survivors. Their strength and courage to engage and embrace life. They are heroes for their ability to respond to the hatred they received with a love for humanity and to build families and futures for our people. They give us hope for the future. As one survivor told me. ‘I defeated Hitler by having a family, having children, by living a Jewish life, living a life of joy. A Jew never fights with a sword – he defends with a sword. We fight by being more alive, we fight with light.’ Two months ago, we had to fight, to defend our country to defeat the barbarians of Hamas. Yet throughout these two months – we have all seen so much light. The tefillot of the IDF and the Jewish people, thetziziot, the learning, the tefillin, the unity. Never in my lifetime has the Jewish people felt more alive, even as we battle with our enemies. Never has there been such clarity for what is good and what is evil, for what is light and what is darkness. There is so much evil and darkness all around. From Hamas and its allies in the media and governments, the shocking testimonies this week of Harvard, Princeton and MIT who could not bring themselves to openly condemn the rampant anti semitism on their campuses. Tik Tok, X and Facebook are awash with hatred, lies
and evil on a scale not seen before and yet…. There is an awakening from people, Jewish and non-Jewish to understand the enormity of the battle we are all engaged in and to realise that it is literally a battle of light against darkness and tonight we begin to bring more light into the world and every day that light increases. We realise now as we did then, that Hashem is with us. And we dare not fail. As Rabbi David Fohrman said:
It was a confusing time, a dark time, a time when we were oppressed: from without by Antiochus, and the Hellenizing elements that sought to destroy Judaism from within. At that time, a band of people came together, the Maccabees, to oppose all of this; and strangely, they began to win. They beat armies many times their size, but in the wake of it all, no one could be sure, "Was this God? Or maybe it was just us?" It was a dark time in history, and in the dark, you are never sure whether you are alone, even when someone is right there next to you. The war was won, but even as the Maccabees swept in to purify the Temple, the nagging uncertainty persisted; "Did we do this all by ourselves, or was God a partner in all of this?" Maybe we won the war, but maybe we are still all alone. We weren't invited by God to go to the Temple to meet with Him, as it were. But then, there came a miracle, an unnecessary miracle. We lit the menorah with just a bit of oil, but God made sure the light didn't go out; it burned and it burned and it burned. The miracle itself was trivial, but the message itself wasn't trivial at all. something happened to show us that it wasn't just us lighting the menorah alone; God was meeting us, He was our partner. It was subtle, you could miss it if you weren't looking, but it was God's way of winking at us, as if to say, "You thought you were all alone in the dark? Come on. I was right here with you the whole time." And so we too light the lights every year to commemorate this. So tonight, as you light those flames, be aware that just over 2000 miles away, the Jewish people are once again at war as we were just over 2000 years ago. Just as Hashem was with us then, He is with us now. And what has brought us together now, brought the Maccabees together back then. A realisation that our nation, started by Avraham, who battled against idol worship. Our nation, who were forged in the crucible of Egypt where we battled to keep our identity intact. Our nation, who were given their Divine mission at Har Sinai and we have battled for millennia to transmit Torah to the next generation. Today as we were 2000 years ago - we are still fighting with light. Shabbat Shalom Chanukah Sameach
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