By definition golus is when one is exiled in a foreign land. The third golus we went through as a nation- the one that gave us Chanukah, was that of Yavan- the Greek empire. Yet we were in our homeland, with the Bais Hamikdosh standing, all along. What about the struggles we went through with the Greeks is categorized as golus? The Marsha (Megillah 11a) answers: The objective of the Greeks in their conflict with Yisroel was to take the kedusha out of Am Yisroel. The Greek philosophy was that there is no kedusha in the world, nothing is holier then the next thing- Yisroel is just like any other nation, the Torah is just as mundane as any other subject and the Holyland, Eretz Yisroel, is just like any other land in the world. In their fight against Yisroel the Greeks were successful in uprooting the kedusha from Eretz Yisroel thus making our homeland foreign to us. The three golios that took place outside of Eretz Yisroel are compared to a son that is lost and far away from his father. The golus of Yavan is compared to a son who doesn’t recognize his father’s house, thus feeling like a foreigner while he is in his own home. With the kedusha taken out of Eretz Yisroel, Eretz Yisroel itself became the foreign land we were exiled to. The victory of Chanukah had to have included in it the freedom from this struggle. With the Neis of Chanukah the kedusha was put back into Eretz Yisroel and was once again the home of Klal Yisroel.
Chanukah was the completion of the dedication of the second Bais Hamikdosh. Chasmal tell us that when they returned to Eretz Yisroel to build the second Bais Hamikdosh, Ezra sanctified the land for eternity- ‘kudsha leshata ul’usid lavoh’. R’ S. R. Hirsch (Bamidbor 15;18) explains this to mean, that the goal of the second Bais Hamikdosh was to equip Klal Yisroel and prepare them for the centuries of dispersion that lay ahead of them. The victory over the mighty Greeks completed the work of sanctifying the land that Ezra had started, making the kedusha of Eretz Yisroel a reality for eternity. Bringing the second Bais Hamikdosh and the kedusha of Eretz Yisroel to completion- a kedusha to last for eternity.
Showing posts with label Chanukah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chanukah. Show all posts
18 December, 2009
07 December, 2007
Chanukah
In ‘Al hanissim’ we thank Hashem for delivering “The strong in the hand of the weak, the many in the hands of the few, the impure in the hands of the pure, the wicked in the hands of the righteous…” The meforshim ask, the miracle of strong and many in the hands of the few and weak is a miracle worth mentioning, but what is the big deal if the victors happened to have been pure and righteous - that doesn’t make the miracle any bigger, so why mention it in the tefilah?
The miracle of Chanukah was twofold, one, Klal Yisroel defeated the mighty Greek empire. “The many in the hands of the few, strong in the hands of the weak…” The second miracle was that the oil that was enough to last one day lasted for eight. Yet we only commemorate the miracle of the oil and not our victory at war.
There are two different types of miracle, one is that we do some kind of hishtadlus- effort however small and Hashem ‘helps us’. Then there is a miracle where we just sit back and leave it up to Hashem to take care of us and our needs. Chanukah has both aspects. The Chashmonaim went out battle physically- even though they were heavily outnumbered they did what they were able and Hashem helped them out. (As opposed to Purim when all Klal Yisroel did was daven.) The miracle of the oil on the other hand was purely by Hashem from start to end.
The Chachomim of the time foresaw that if they institute a commemoration for the miracle, later generations would come and make the mistake and celebrate the unlikely victory and forget what it stood for and that it was all from Hashem. (As can be seen in modern day Israel every sports team is named Macabee.) Instead they gave us the miracle of the oil lasting for eight days as a miracle to celebrate and commemorate. A miracle that we will never be able to take credit, and all generations will thank Hashem.
Maybe we can suggest that is why we mention that the victors of Chanukah were pure and righteous, to remind us in later generations that the war wasn’t fought for our own political benefits and wasn’t won through our involvement. Only we fought for Hashems greatness and only because of him did we defeat the mighty and impure Greeks.
The miracle of Chanukah was twofold, one, Klal Yisroel defeated the mighty Greek empire. “The many in the hands of the few, strong in the hands of the weak…” The second miracle was that the oil that was enough to last one day lasted for eight. Yet we only commemorate the miracle of the oil and not our victory at war.
There are two different types of miracle, one is that we do some kind of hishtadlus- effort however small and Hashem ‘helps us’. Then there is a miracle where we just sit back and leave it up to Hashem to take care of us and our needs. Chanukah has both aspects. The Chashmonaim went out battle physically- even though they were heavily outnumbered they did what they were able and Hashem helped them out. (As opposed to Purim when all Klal Yisroel did was daven.) The miracle of the oil on the other hand was purely by Hashem from start to end.
The Chachomim of the time foresaw that if they institute a commemoration for the miracle, later generations would come and make the mistake and celebrate the unlikely victory and forget what it stood for and that it was all from Hashem. (As can be seen in modern day Israel every sports team is named Macabee.) Instead they gave us the miracle of the oil lasting for eight days as a miracle to celebrate and commemorate. A miracle that we will never be able to take credit, and all generations will thank Hashem.
Maybe we can suggest that is why we mention that the victors of Chanukah were pure and righteous, to remind us in later generations that the war wasn’t fought for our own political benefits and wasn’t won through our involvement. Only we fought for Hashems greatness and only because of him did we defeat the mighty and impure Greeks.
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