Chanukah: Recognizing the Hand of Hashem in Our Lives

The holiday of Chanukah is in commemoration of two miraculous events: the miracle of one jug of oil lasting eight nights and the great victory of the Maccabees over the Greeks. One might suggest that we do two things to commemorate these two events; that we light the menorah to commemorate the miracle of the oil and we recite hallel on each day of Chanukah to show gratitude for the miraculous victory of war.

But is this really true? Are these two events so distinct? Are these two commemorations so distinctly applied to each event?

The famous Gemara in Shabbat (21) asks מאי חנוכה?, “What was the miracle of Chanukah?” It then proceeds to tell the story of the oil, but concludes by saying the Jews at the time made this into a Yom Tov, and said Hallel. This implies that Hallel is to be thankful for the miracle of the oil? We could similarly ask from the text we recite while lighting the menorah, הנרות הללו..., which primarily describes the miracle of the oil, but it also mentions the victory of the war. So which is it? It seems these two miracles are intertwined.

I had the privilege this week to hear a shiur from my Rebbi, Rabbi Yonason Sacks, Rosh Yeshiva of Lander College for Men. In his shiur, Rabbi Sacks explained the true message of these miracles, and ultimately the true message of Chanukah. The miracle of the oil was clear and undeniable to all. The miracle of the war, however, could be explained rationally as another example of the underdog winning.

Imagine you were there at the time of these miracles; we could visualize the debate over the question of the war being miraculous or not. But then you hear of miracle of oil, which is undeniable, a נס נגלה, which illuminates for us the certainty the war was miraculous as well.

This idea is supported by the words of the Ramban at the end Parshat Bo, where he writes that miracles are there to shed light on everything Hashem does. We do not have a portion in Torat Moshe until we recognize that nothing in life is natural. It is all miraculous – some miracles are open and some are hidden, but they are not brought for that moment; they are brought to help us see that everything comes from Hashem. Rabbi Sacks added that in addition to translating נס as miracle, a נס can also be translated as flag or a banner. Why? Because miracles are intended to reveal to us the miraculous nature of the daily routine. There is no such thing as nature – it is all yad Hashem.  The Maharal expands, saying this is the real reason we needed the miracle of the oil altogether! Many commentators wondered why we needed a miracle at all, as the oil could be used in the Beit Hamikdash despite its impurity; that impurity is overridden when the entire tzibur is impure. It must be that this miracle was really only to shed light, and to indicate that miracle of the war was the same Yad Hashem.  This idea can be seen as well in the Rambam (3:3) where he describes the purpose of lighting the menorah as להראות ולגלות הנס, “to demonstrate and uncover the miracle.” One could have wondered, what are we uncovering? It must be, as explained earlier,  that the miracle of the oil uncovers the great miracle of Hashem, saving us in the aw; both events are miraculous and are absolutely critical. It is for this reason, when we light and say הנרות הללו, we mention the war in addition to the oil, and it is also why the Gemara, when describing מאי חנוכה, mentions the story of the oil but also mentions Hallel – we cannot separate these – they are all part of the same yad Hashem.

Rabbi Sacks concluded his shiur by explaining that most of our Yomim Tovim commemorate נסים גלויים, the open and undeniable miracles of יציאת מצרים, מתן תורה וענני הכבוד, but Chanukah and Purim are dealing with times of galut and hester panim, they are hidden. The purpose of these miracles are to reveal that the miracles of the שלש רגלים teach us how to celebrate Chanukah and Purim. This helps explain why in a Jewish leap year you delay and connect redemption of Purim to Pesach – Pesach represents the open and undeniable miracles, whereas Purim represents the hidden miracles. But these are not independent experiences;  they are all the same Yad Hashem, and it is for this reason we celebrate Purim in Ader Sheini and not Adar Alef.

We must recognize that life in its entirety is a miracle. There is no such thing as coincidence. Our waking up each day, the fact that most of us remain healthy with our physical and emotional capacities intact is in fact miraculous. As we celebrate this Chanukah, let’s be sure we share this idea with our children. Let’s be sure to show them the world is a miraculous place!

Parshat Yayeshev: How to Measure Our Intentions

This week’s parsha presents us with two potential acts of illicit behaviour, in the stories of Tamar and the wife of Potifar. Yet, the Torah reveals the same potential behaviour could in fact be viewed in opposing ways; one positive and one negative. Let’s explore how this could be possible.

The Torah tells us that Yehudah had three sons: Er, Onan and Shelah. He married Er off to Tamar, but unfortunately, Er passed away after not living up to Hashem’s expectations. The concept of Yibum (Levirate marriage) led to Yehuda’s next son, Onan marrying his late brother’s wife, Tamar. Soon after, Onan died as well. In accordance with the laws of Yibum, the last son, Shelah should have married Tamar, but he was too young for marriage at the time and Yehudah gets in the way (having lost his first two sons) and sends Tamara away, telling her she could come back when Shelah matures. Tamar returns to her hometown, but eventually realizes Yehudah has no plans for her to marry Shelah, and a while later Yehudah’s wife dies. Hearing this news, Tamar devises a plan to pose as a harlot to seduce Yehudah to sleep with her so she could be the ancestress of malchut David. Her plan works, and she becomes pregnant without Yehudah realizing who she was. Three months pass and her signs of pregnancy become apparent; she was accused of illicit extra-marital relations and sentenced to death. Rather than publically humiliating Yehudah, Tamar accepts her fate, but sends a secret message to Yehudah.  He understands what had happened, and that he had errored in not giving Shelah to Tamara as a husband. He saves Tamar, declaring צדקה ממני, “she is more righteous than I,” and

she goes on to have twins, eventually becoming the ancestress of malchut David.

The very next chapter describes the episode where the wife of Potifar tried to seduce Yosef into extra-marital relations. Yosef denies her, leaving his cloak in her hands which allows her to accuse him of harassing her, subsequently leading him to be thrown in jail.

Rashi (39:1) explains the juxtaposition of these two episodes in an interesting way. He says these stories are placed side-by-side. They show that just as Tamar acted לשם שמים, to bear Jewish children who would lead to malchut David, so too, the wife of Potifar saw from her astrologers she would bear righteous children from him (not realizing it would be through her daughter that Yosef eventually marries), and hence acted לשם שמים as well. The strange point is that most commentators leave these episodes with a righteous outlook on Tamar, but a negative outlook on the wife of Potifar. Didn’t she have good intentions too?

In his sefer Otzrot HaTorah, Rav Eliyahu Cohen suggests that the way to measure any deed, good or bad, is only by evaluating it after the fact. When the wife of Potifar was denied by Yosef, even though she started with good intentions, she felt rejected, perhaps nervous her husband and family would learn of her illicit intentions. This led to her putting blame on Yosef, sending him to jail. Despite her initial intentions being לשם שמים, since she chose to falsely lay the blame on Yosef, revealing she was really in it for personal pleasure and gain. Tamar on the other hand, after showing signs of pregnancy and being sentenced to death, did not want to embarrass Yehudah. So not only did she have good intentions at the start, but her actions afterwards confirmed her intentions as purely לשם שמים.

There is a huge lesson here for all of us. Many times we do things, believing that we have the best of intentions, but in actuality the action might not be proper. The way for us to evaluate this is by introspecting on how we dealt with the challenges that came along the way. If we remain positive in our actions, it is likely we were acting properly. However, if we end up blaming others, speaking ill of them, or react in other negative and hurtful ways, that reveals the truth; perhaps our intentions were not so good from the start.

Parshat Vayishlach: It's the Little Things that Matter Most

This week’s parsha tells the episode of Yaakov’s struggle with the angel of Eisav. The Torah says, ויתר יעקב לבדו, ויאבק איש עמו עד עלות השחר - “Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn.” Many commentators question why Yaakov remained alone? Why did he separate from the rest of his family? Rashi answers that after crossing the river with his family, he realized  he left some small jugs behind and went back to get them. Why? For a few small jugs? It was dangerous to go back alone. What was so important about them? Rashi explains further -- the righteous guard over monetary possessions more than their own bodies;  he went to save these small jugs despite the danger involved. But many commentators suggest there must be an even deeper lesson here. Let’s try to understand it through a parable.

A man once knocked on the door of a home and was greeted by the homeowner. “I absolutely love your house and must have it; I know it is worth $500,000, but I love it so much that I will pay you $1,000,000 for it.” The owner discussed it with his wife and they decided they had no interest in selling. The visitor was persistent and said, “All I need is one room in your amazing house. I will give you $250,000 to buy one room!” The owner discussed it with his wife, who felt this would leave her with little privacy in her own home, and so they rejected this offer as well. The visitor persisted, “All I need is to put one of my nails into your wall and I will pay you $50,000 for it!” The owner discussed this with his wife and they agreed that a nail couldn’t be too intrusive and so they agreed. The visitor came in the home, took a nail, hammered it into the living room wall and left.”

Later that night at 3:00 AM, a knock on the door awoke the homeowner’s wife. She asked her husband to answer the door and there he found the man who purchased a slot in the wall for his nail. The owner inquired to why he was there at such an odd time. The visitor replied, “I couldn’t let the nail stay there without a picture, so I brought a beautiful picture to hang up. I paid a lot of money for this so I must come inside now to hang up the picture. At 4:00 AM the door rang again, the visitor said, “I found an even better picture, I must hang this one up.” The same thing occurred at 5:00 AM, and repeated for a week.

The homeowner's wife told her husband she had enough and had not slept all week. She instructed her husband to go sell the visitor the home. The owner first offered to sell the home for $1,000,000, but the visitor replied, “I no longer need the whole home; I have my nail.” The owner replied, “just take it for the market value of $500,000.” The visitor again replied he no longer needed the home, as he was happy with just his nail. The owner persisted, “I will even sell it at a loss for $250,000; just take it and leave us alone.” But the visitor replied again that he no longer needed the home and was content with his nail. Finally, the owner and his wife were so frustrated that they just got up, left the house and told the visitor he could take over the home for nothing.

The lesson from this story can help us shed light on the importance of the small jugs of Yaakov. Each of us is on a path of growth in avodat Hashem and it is only the yetzer hara that gets in the way. He tries to attack us over small things, just to get his foot in the door, so he can break us down completely. This occurs in two ways:

1. The yetzer hara gets us to do small aveirot which eventually leads us to do bigger aveirot. He gets us first to do small things, convincing us they are not that bad. Once we fall in our spirituality and get used to some aveirot, our guard is down, and he gets us to perform even worse acts.
2. The yetzer hara prevents us from performing small mitzvot first, but eventually that prevents us from performing even bigger mitzvot. Again, he convinces usthe smaller ones are not so important and once we get out of the habit of performing these mitzvot, he is able to more easily prevent us from performing the big ones.

So what is our response? How do we overcome the yetser hara?

We need to live in the here and now. We need to take small steps. Remember the small jugs of Yaakov. Taking small steps in our avodat Hashem; not taking on too many new things at once, will allow us to grow in a healthy ways --  ways that will allow us to maintain our growth over the long term.  From a slightly different perspective, we sometimes tragically see ourselves as pachim ketanim and listen to the deflating and denigrating lies of the angel of Eisav. We don’t believe we are capable of greatness; we believe we are worthless pots that are certainly not worth others risking their lives for us. If we focus on the moment, we can conquer the yetzer hara and achieve greatness!

Parshat Vayeitzei: Full Dedication to Torah Study

Before Yaakov traveled to Padam-Aram, he first stopped to learn Torah in the Yeshivah of Shem V’Ever for fourteen years. In this week’s parsha, as he continues his journey after those 14 years, the Torah says, וישכב במקום ההוא, “And he lay down in that place.” The Medrash teaches that for fourteen years while learning in yeshivah, Yaakov did not sleep at all; he remained totally immersed in his learning. Only now, after completing those fourteen years does he choose to sleep.

One question that often concerned me is, if this is in fact what occurred, why doesn’t the Torah itself state it? These fourteen years are not mentioned directly in the Torah at all? In fact, Rashi in the last pasuk of last week’s parsha (28:9) quotes Chazal, who try to calculate the years of Yaakov’s life and are missing fourteen years. They then conclude these must have been years spent in Yeshivat Shem V’Ever. Again, why struggle to find it in this kind of backwards way? Why doesn’t the Torah say it directly?

Rav Mordechai Gifter zt”l suggests that the Torah is teaching us a most important lesson about Torah study. The Torah purposely “hides” the fourteen years that Yaakov “hid” to totally immerse himself in Torah study. There is a point in one’s life when we all need to totally immerse ourselves in Torah study for some period of time - albeit for most people that is not fourteen years - allowing one to be totally immersed in the sanctity of Torah, hidden from all other matters. Moreover, only now as Yaakov lies down, he does so to receive prophecy. Clearly, spending fourteen years totally immersed in Torah study was Yaakov’s priority; even to the extent that it kept him from prophecy. That tells us just how important Torah study must be.

I would consider two points of conclusion from this lesson:

1. It is vital and ideal to have the opportunity in life to totally immerse oneself in Torah study. This is one of the theories behind the gap year of study in Israel, between high school and university. Some people wonder why there is a need for this year of study. After all, the child has spent 17 years in Jewish Day School, right? The answer is this: there is no match for a year of total immersion in Torah study. For most individuals who have had this experience, there is no doubt the experience impacted their lifelong level of commitment to Torah study and observance.
   
2. Beyond the gap year of study, this lesson of Yaakov applies to ALL of us. There is a mitzvah to learn some Torah every day, and it is incumbent upon all of us to find time in our day to devote time to Torah study. But Yaakov is teaching us that taking time to learn is not enough; we need to be totally immersed during that time in the Torah itself, and in nothing else. Let us learn and not check our email or text messages during the shiur we attend or allow for any other distractions. When we are in the world of Torah, let us be like Yaakov and be in it fully.

Parshat Toldot: Free Will or Predestination

The Torah tells us that while Rivkah was pregnant with Yaakov and Eisav, ויתרצצו הבנים בקרבה, “and the children clashed within her.” (25:22) Rashi quotes the famous Medrash that says that whenever Rivka passed the entrance to the Beit Medrash, Yaakov struggled to get out of her womb;  when she passed the entrance to the house of idol worship, Eisav struggled to get out. It seems from this that Yaakov and Eisav already had fixed tendencies towards righteousness and evil, respectively, prior to birth. Doesn’t this contradict one of the basic tenets of Judaism that each individual is born with free will?

The Rambam in Hilchot De’ot discusses personality traits and predispositions, and says that by nature some people are cruel, while others are merciful. Yet in Hilchot Teshuvah he says these dispositions do not cause man to be righteous or evil, merciful or cruel, wise or foolish, generous or stingy; that choice lies completely in the hands of man. Don’t these ideas contradict each other?

Rabbi Zev Leff suggests a resolution based on the following premise. While no two people are born with the same exact character traits -  and those traits are influenced by many factors - the traits are not inherently good or bad; they are parve. A predisposition towards anger, for example, is not necessarily an evil trait as there are times when anger is required and appropriate. Similarly, all natural traits can be directed towards good or bad. For example. the tendency to shed blood could be used by a surgeon, a shochet or mohel, or it can be used towards murder. Although traits are predetermined, their function and control are directly in our hands. We have total free will to utilize our character traits for good or for bad. We choose when to utilize these tendencies and when to suppress them.

Rabbi Leff adds one more layer to this premise. He says that while no trait is intrinsically good or bad, there are traits that are more conducive to righteous conduct, while others towards evil conduct.  A tendency towards anger for example, is more prone to be abused since there are more instances when anger is negative than positive. Calmness, on the other hand is more often used for positive then it is negative, and as such is more prone to lead to righteous conduct. With this point in mind, it might seem unfair: why do some of us contain predetermined traits that are more prone to evil while others get traits more prone to righteousness? To explain this, let’s keep three points in mind:

1. We all have many traits. Some will be positive and others negative.
2. Hashem takes these predispositions into account when considering what situations to test and challenge us with.
3. Hashem takes into consideration these predispositions when he judges us.

Considering all of this, the Medrash is not telling us that Yaakov and Eisav were acting in a good or evil fashion prior to birth.  Rather, they displayed tendencies towards more spiritual traits or more physical traits.  The Beit Medrash represented the spiritual traits and the house of idol worship represented the more physical, negative traits.