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Rabbi Andrew Shaw
The Challenge of Chanukah
Rabbi Andrew Shaw
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There is something about Chanukah. The cold winter nights, the shorter days – and then comes those lights. It begins small, with only one candle (thank you Beit Hillel!), and then, night by night, it grows. By the eighth night, our homes are aglow. Chanukah, in a few short days, transforms the darkness of winter into warm illumination. Now you may think that Chanukah has nothing to do with the winter solstice, which seems pagan and foreign. But the Maharal of Prague explains the deeper meaning of Chanukah in relation to its calendrical date. He explains that one solar quarter, exactly three months before the start of Chanukah on the 25th of Kislev, is the 25th of Elul – the day Hashem created the world, and the day He created light. The light of creation receded until the last day of the solar quarter, the 25th of Kislev, which is the darkest point of the year. And so the lighting of our Chanukah candles is, in a literal sense, an illumination of the darkness that descended upon the world. Historically, Chanukah was established at a time when there was no “light”, in an era bereft of Divine prophecy or inspiration. Appropriately, the midrash refers to the period of Greek dominion in Israel as “the time of darkness”. According to the Maharal, the light of Chanukah illuminates on two levels, illuminating the physical darkness of the world as well as the spiritual darkness that surrounds us. The word “Chanukah” means “dedication”, for it celebrates the rededication of the Beit HaMikdash. It was a renewal and rededication of the physical lighting of the Menorah, and also a time of rededication to our eternal values – the light of Torah. When Ya’akov prays to Hashem to protect him from Eisav, he says: “Hatzileni na miyad achi, miyad Eisav”, “Save me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Eisav.” But why does Ya’akov repeat himself? Why does he ask Hashem to save him from both “the hand of my brother” and “the hand of Eisav”? Ya’akov only had one brother!
The Beit HaLevi explains that Ya’akov was afraid of “the hand of Eisav”, the man who had sworn to kill him and the father of antisemitism. At the same time, Ya’akov was also afraid of forming a friendship with his brother, for “the hand of my brother” could cause the immoral values of Eisav to seep into the family of Ya’akov. We live in a generation when both of these dangers are ever present. The threat of antisemitism is a clear and present danger, and we must remain vigilant. The second threat, of assimilating inimical values, is more subtle, more gentle, and more friendly – but it is just as dangerous. It can make us forget who we are, skew our value systems and damage our Jewish future. Chanukah is the festival that asks us to focus on the problem of “achi” – on our relationship with the western world and the dangers of embracing its values. The rabbis explain that the underlying struggle of Chanukah was an internal one, pitting Jews loyal to tradition against those who embraced Hellenization and assimilation. The stakes were, and continue to be, very high; the physical and spiritual welfare of our people depend upon it. In this edition of HaMizrachi, you will read about our ground-breaking Yehudi initiative, now in its second year, which aims to strengthen our young people’s connection to Judaism and Israel. So as your candles light up the darkness, realize that that physical image of light should inspire us to the spiritual challenge at hand, and realize that hundreds of young men and women, our Yehudi madrichim, are dedicating themselves to this very challenge. Chanukah Sameach!
Rabbi Andrew Shaw is the Chief Executive of Mizrachi UK.
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