Now there is not much new or brilliant left to be said about the holiday of Chanukah, right? I think that maybe many old and grizzled rabbis like yours truly would probably agree with that statement. Over sixty years of writing and speaking about Chanukah should pretty much exhaust the topic, shouldn’t it? But then again that would be selling Chanukah short.
There is always a fresh insight that illuminates all the
holidays of the Jewish year and Chanukah is certainly no exception. Reminiscing
with myself (something that we senior citizens do often) about my own life and
past, I was amazed that somehow a lawyer from Chicago ended up being a rabbi in
Jerusalem. How did this happen? And how did the Jewish state itself happen—not in
terms of history, facts, personages, dates, places and wars but in the amazing
fact that such a state flourishes and progresses in spite of all odds, past and
present, against its existence?
The rabbis of the Talmud taught that people to whom wondrous
things occur do not really recognize those events as being wondrous. It is part
of the weakness of human nature to have such limited understanding. There has
to be a flash of insight, a commemorative act, a tradition of being able to
look past the trees to the forest, a spirit of almost childlike wonder in order
for the amazing to truly be believable in the eye and mind of the beholder. I
think that this is essentially how we have to look at Chanukah – as the
historical event, as the commemoration of that event and of the traditions and
customs that so endear this eight day festival to all of Israel.
Jewish tradition and the rabbis of the Mishnah took an astonishing
event that many people would view as being ordinary or natural, restoring it to
its truly wondrous state. The story of Chanukah is that of a small and
apparently weak nation overcoming a mighty army. It records a triumph of
monotheism and Jewish tradition over pagan culture and practices, of the small,
pure lights in the Temple that overcame the flaming torches that were far from
pure, and of the vitality and resilience of Israel over those who would wish to
snuff it out. It is all wondrous—but only if one views it all as being so.
The rabbis in their holy perspective of Jewish life and
events elevated the mundane and seemingly ordinary to the realm of the miraculous
and eternal. That is basically the main lesson that Chanukah teaches us: we are
a special people who live a miraculous existence with constant wonder
surrounding us, yet it is all encrusted in seemingly natural and ordinary
occurrences.
To delegitimize the story of Chanukah and to treat as just
another ancient war of the Grecian period is the same tactic that the world
uses today to delegitimize the State of Israel and our rights to our ancient
homeland. If the wonder of it all is lost and forfeited, then so is our
struggle for existence and independence.
Chanukah is thus the perfect holiday for children for it
requires this perspective: to be made wondrous, miraculous and thereby
meaningful and beneficial. Chanukah is not for the jaded and empty spirited.
Its candles flicker only for those that see the fire of Torah, tradition and
morality that lies beneath their small surfaces. One who is privileged and
able to see the wonder of the events that occurred to us “in those days” will
also be able to discern the wonders that we encounter daily here in Israel “in
our time.”
Shabbat shalom and Chanukah same’ach, Rabbi Berel Wein
