Why did the sages make Hanukah a holiday?
Shmu’el Shalom HaKohain
Jerusalem, Israel; Eugene, Oregon
Why did the sages make Hanukah a holiday?
The obvious answer is the two miracles: defeating the greeks and the oil lasting 8 days. However, we have had other miracles like these that the sages did not turn into holidays: Joshua stopping the sun and the defeat of Cicero two name just two. So why did the sages make a holiday of Hanukah?
The answer to this I think can be found in the words of the blessings we say when we light the candles, and in the added part of the shmonei esrai. When we light the candles we say “in our time,” and in the smonei esrai we say “like today.” Just like during pesach, we experience the redemption personally, today, and just like on sh’vuot we experience the receiving of the torah in the moment, we are to experience for ourselves, right now, that we have defeated the greeks, have cleaned and rededicated the temple, and as we light and watch our candles burn, we are to feel the awe of the oil in the menorah lasting not one day, but 8 days.
How are we to do this? The answer to this question is that there is a third miracle to hanukah: The Maccabbis and their followers willingness to trust in Hashem so much that they became the vessels for the miracles to manifest thru them. For without that belief, there would have been nobody to fight the greeks and nobody to find and light the oil.
So, hanukah is about putting your trust in Hashem, that he will, thru you, defeat what common sense says is unbeatable. It is believing that even though you don’t feel you have enough holy energy, you are going to do what you need to do and that Hashem will somehow provide. And then watching as Hashem helps you defeat the unbeatable, and somehow your light never gets extinguished. The money shows up, or the food, or the clothing, or the friend, or the teacher, whatever it is you need.
[So, all we need to do is be like the Maccabbis and trust in Hashem so much that we believe that we have defeated the greeks ourselves, and that our candles are really the holy oil that lasted for 8 days.]
And I bless everybody here that all of us will have so much trust and faith in Hashem, that his miracles can flow thru us each and everyday, from today and for every day of our lives.
Copyright 2003 Shmuel Shalom/Geoffrey Cohen
