The Miracle of the Lights
by Rav Yair Kahn
Also available
at Yeshivat Har Etzion
Virtual Beit Midrash.
"What is
Chanuka? Our Rabbis taught: On the twenty-fifth of Kislev begin the
eight days of Chanuka; we may not eulogize on these days nor may we fast on
them. When the Greeks entered the Temple, they defiled all the oil in the
Temple. And when the royal house of the Chashmonaim prevailed and were
victorious over them, they searched and found only one vial of oil which still
had the stamp of the Kohen Gadol intact, and it contained enough to
light for only one day. A miracle occurred and they used this oil to light for
eight days. The next year, they fixed this date and made it a festival, celebrated
with praise and thanks." (Shabbat 21b)
Everyone knows that the definition of Chanuka as a festival is based on the
miracle of the cruse of oil. But what is common knowledge even to young
children is questioned by many historians. This doubt arises from the absence
of the story of this miracle from all early sources dealing with the Hasmonean
victory. If Chanuka was indeed established as a festival because of this
miracle, why is there no mention of it in the Sifrei Makkabim, in the beraita
dealing with Chanuka, or in the special prayers recited on Chanuka? Why is
this miracle mentioned for the very first time in a statement of the Amoraim?
Moreover, many greater and more publicly visible miracles were performed for
our ancestors, but no
festival was established in their honor. What, then, is the special
significance and importance of the miracle of the cruse of oil?
MIRACLES IN THE TEMPLE
In order to appreciate the nature of this miracle, we should examine other,
similar miracles. Let us begin with the first mikdash – the mishkan.
The parasha of the mishkan does not conclude with the finishing
touches to the construction of the edifice and its vessels, nor even with the
commencement of the sacrifices during the seven days of "milu'im."
The whole enterprise peaks on the eighth day, "for today God is revealed
to you" (Vayikra 9:4). Without this eighth day, the entire
construction of the mishkan is meaningless:
"For all seven days of milu'im ... the Shekhina did not rest
there, and Benei Yisrael were saddened and said to Moshe, 'Moshe
Rabbeinu, all the labor that we performed [was] in order that the Shekhina
should dwell amongst us...'" (Rashi).
Even after Benei Yisrael had completed all the preparations as
commanded, the mishkan remained an empty shell until the moment of
revelation:
"And a fire came out from before God and consumed the burnt offering and
the fats, and the entire nation saw and they rejoiced, and they fell upon their
faces." (Vayikra 9:22)
Correspondingly, we find in the case of the first Beit Ha- mikdash:
"And when Shlomo had finished his prayer, the fire descended from heaven
and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of God filled
the House ... and all of Benei Yisrael saw the descent of the fire and
the glory of God upon the House, and they prostrated themselves upon the floor,
and bowed and thanked God for He is good, for His mercy is forever." (Divrei
Ha-Yamim II 7:1-3)
So long as God's glory is revealed in the mikdash, it is not permissible
to enter the Kodesh at will. It is instructive that immediately
following the divine revelation in the mishkan, at the moment Nadav and Avihu
sacrificed their 'strange fire,' "a fire came out from before God and
consumed them" (Vayikra 10:2). However, after the destruction of
the Beit Ha-mikdash, when God's glory is no longer apparent ("for
Mount Tzion which
is desolate; foxes walk there" - Eikha 5:18), strangers enter the
mikdash without suffering any harm ("For she has seen Gentiles coming into
the mikdash - those concerning whom You commanded, 'They shall not come
into your congregation'" ibid. 1:10).
How remote is the era of the destruction from that eighth day when Aharon's
sons were punished! Hashem's glory, which was once manifest so clearly, is
perceptible no longer. For this reason, when the nation returned from Babylon
to build the second Temple, once again some sign was required to indicate that
the Shekhina, as it were, had returned.
In Sefer Makkabim II (2:1) we read as follows:
"And now that our hearts desire to celebrate the day of the rededication
of the altar ... you shall celebrate it, like the day upon which Nechemia found
the holy fire when he returned to build the mikdash ... For when our
fathers were exiled, the holy kohanim secretly took the fire and hid it
... and it came to pass after many days that the king sent Nechemia to
Jerusalem ... they could not find the fire, and found only freezing water
instead ... and it happened that when they offered God's sacrifice, he
commanded them to sprinkle some of the water on the wood and on the sacrifice
which was upon the altar, and they did so. When they had finished, and the sun
shone upon the earth and the clouds were scattered,
behold a heavenly fire ignited the sacrifice, and the entire nation surrounding
it was astonished, and the kohanim and all the nation fell upon their
faces ... and the kohanim sang praise and thanks to God."
Aside from this miracle which took place at the time of the rededication of the
mikdash, the gemara describes another miracle which occurred
daily in the mikdash and which was similar to the miracle of the cruse
of oil both in terms of form as well as character:
"It was testimony to the entire world that the Shekhina rested with
Israel. What was this testimony? Rav said: This refers to the western lamp (the
western-most light of the menora in the Beit Ha-mikdash), which received
the same amount of oil as all the other lamps, and from which the kohen would
light the others, and it lasted the longest." (Shabbat 22b)
According to the gemara (Yoma 39a), this miracle occurred even
during the period of the Second Temple, up until the death of Shimon Ha-Tzaddik.
In all of the above cases, the significance of the miracle is that it bears
testimony to the fact that the Shekhina dwells amongst Israel. The
necessity of the sign comes about as a result of the nature of the Divine
Presence in general. In order to clarify this issue, let us turn our attention
to the sphere of prophecy.
PROPHECY
The Rambam in Moreh Nevukhim (2:32) maintains that although a person may
have reached the spiritual level necessary for prophecy, "it is still
possible that he does not actually prophesy, and this because of the will of
God." The Rambam, as opposed to the philosophers, removes prophetic revelation
from the purely intellectual sphere and defines it as a function of Divine
will. The Rambam's personal position on prophesy
notwithstanding, if we take this idea further we conclude that a person has to
prepare himself to attain prophecy; he must labor and strive to attain
revelation of the Shekhina, but the level attained by finite man
nevertheless cannot and does not obligate a revelation of the Infinite. A
person cannot "force" a prophetic revelation by natural means; the
revelation depends upon God's grace.
On the national level, as well, the revelation of the Shekhina in the Beit
Ha-mikdash is not a natural phenomenon. The construction of the mikdash by
the nation of Israel, corresponding to the preparations of the prophet for
prophecy, allows for - but does not obligate - revelation of the Shekhina.
Ultimately, this revelation depends on God's will. It is in light of this
principle that we may understand the words of the Sifri:
"'But only to the place which the Lord your God shall choose from among
all your tribes' - [this means that you shall] inquire of the prophet [as to
the exact location]. Perhaps this means that you should wait until a prophet
comes and tells you [where the place is]? This cannot be the case. Therefore
the Torah teaches, 'You shall inquire as to His dwelling, and you shall come
there' - first [make the effort to] seek it and find it, and thereafter the
prophet will tell (confirm)." (Sifri, Re'eh)
The nation of Israel is obligated to "seek out the mikdash,"
to yearn for revelation of the Divine, but the mikdash is only built
following the revelation of God's will by the prophet.
GOD'S PRESENCE
Thus the miracle which follows the construction of the mikdash expresses
the same Divine will which stands at the foundation of "and I shall dwell
amongst them." It is only through this miracle which testifies that the Shekhina
dwells amongst Israel that there is any significance to the command "Let
them make Me a mikdash."
At the beginning of the period of the second Beit HaMikdash, the 'western
light' bore faithful testimony that the Shekhina dwelt amongst Israel.
But once Shimon HaTzaddik died and the Hellenist culture began
infiltrating the nation, sometimes the light would remain lit and sometimes it
would be extinguished (Yoma 39). This situation deteriorated until the
point when the Hellenists gained the upper hand, desecrated the mikdash
and
disqualified the testimony of the light.
When God took pity on His nation and the Chashmonaim prevailed, they
purified the mikdash and rededicated the altar. But where was the testimony?
Where was the Shekhina? If there were no heavenly sign, what would all
the efforts of the Makkabim be worth? In this context, the significance
of the miracle of the cruse of oil becomes apparent. After the mikdash had
been defiled, this tiny cruse bore witness that the
Shekhina dwelt amongst Israel.
In light of the above it becomes clear that although the actual event which was
celebrated was the rededication of the altar, our Sages understood that the
significance of this rededication rested on the miracle of the cruse of oil.
This miracle returned the glory of the nation to its stature from the days of Shimon
Ha-Tzaddik. In the words of the Penei Yehoshua (Shabbat 21b):
"Therefore it would seem that the crux of the miracle was that it was
performed only to show God's love for them ... For this reason this miracle,
too, was performed for them concerning the lights, which was testimony for
Israel that the Shekhina dwelt amongst them, as we have explained with
regard to the western light. But after the death of Shimon Ha-Tzaddik,
even the western light sometimes was extinguished. Therefore a
miracle was performed regarding this exact matter, at that time which was a
time of Divine favor, in order to show that they had returned to their original
status of being beloved in God's eyes. This appears to me the correct
interpretation."
Hence, it is not surprising that the story of the miracle of the cruse of oil
is absent from the Sifrei Makkabim. For it was not for this miracle that
Chanuka was established, but rather for the rededication of the actual altar.
But following the desecration of the mikdash by the wicked Antiokhus, the
miracle of the oil represented the awaited signal from God which imbued the
dedication of the altar with its significance. A close
inspection of Sifrei Ha-Makkabim reveals an emphasis of these motifs –
the desecration of the mikdash by the Hellenists and its purification by the Chashmonaim.
Sefer Makkabim II opens with the story of the miracle in the days of
Nechemia, during the time of the dedication of the second Beit Ha-mikdash,
which bore testimony to the Shekhina's presence. Thereafter we read the story
of Heliodoros who was sent to steal God's treasure from the mikdash:
"And he saw the glory of God, Lord of the winds, in a terrible vision ...
and he fell upon the ground and fainted ... for the hand of God had struck him
... and the entire nation praised God, for He had given honor to His mikdash
..." (Makkabim II, chapter 3).
In contrast, during the time of Antiokhus, God's glory is absent from the mikdash:
"And Antiokhus destroyed all the holy vessels with a wicked hand ... and
were it not for God's anger against His nation because of their many sins, the
hand of God would have struck him as it did Heliodoros when he went, by order
of Silikus, to rob the treasury of the Temple. But because God did not choose
His nation because of His city, but rather chose His city because of His
nation, and because He watched over His nation, therefore
He watched also over the Temple." (ibid, chapter 5)
And with the victory of the Chashmonaim, they returned and purified the
Temple and rededicated the altar, and for this reason Chanuka was established:
"From God this thing came about, to purify the Temple on the very day upon
which the gentiles had defiled it, which was the twenty-fifth day of the month
of Kislev. And they celebrated a festival of eight days to God ... and
sang songs of praise and thanks to God Who gave them salvation, to purify His
Temple. And a decree was sounded throughout the cities of Judea, to celebrate
this festival each year." (ibid., chapter 10)
Chanuka celebrates not merely the rededication of the altar, but also the glory
of God which once again became manifest in the Beit Ha-mikdash. This is
why Sefer Makkabim II (ch. 1) compares it to the day of the dedication
of the mikdash in the time of Nechemia, when the miracle of the hidden fire
occurred. On Chanuka the Chashmonaim regained the same level of God's
love as they had enjoyed at the beginning of the period of the second Beit
Ha-mikdash.
The conclusion which arises from the above discussion is that there is no
contradiction between Sifrei Ha-Makkabim and the version recorded by the
Sages.
Sifrei Ha-Makkabim make reference to the historical event upon which
Chanuka was established. From this perspective, Chanuka was indeed in honor of
the rededication of the altar by the Chashmonaim, but our Sages
perceived the profound significance of the moment. After the defilement of the
mikdash by Antiokhus, this rededication would have been hollow without that
essential heavenly signal - the miracle of the cruse of oil, which
bore testimony to God's Presence amongst Israel.
May our eyes merit seeing the return of God to Tzion with mercy, and the
fulfillment of God's promise: "And I shall build it with fire, as it is
written, 'And I shall be unto her (Jerusalem) a wall of fire round about, and
My glory shall be within her'" (Bava Kama 60b).
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