Of all the אומות who ruled over us, the Greeks were the ones we’d least call חושך. This was the first real intellectual threat. We are always battling our instincts, with our שכל. Greece had their share of תואבה, but they also stood for intellect, and it was a question of which intellect was correct. We therefore hit our first real threat, as they were our first intellectual alternative. It was אפיקרסוס as opposed to ע"ז and stupidity. It was therefore a whole new level of threat, which meant that the ישועה was on a much higher level. That which was built on חנוכה was not freedom, nor just Jewish survival; rather it was the חכמת התורה versus the חכמת יונית. We therefore reached a דרגה of חכמה we would not have had if not for our battle with the יונים.
The second ביהמ"ק was missing the ארון and אורים ותומים amongst other things. It was lacking the כח of נבואה. The essence of בית שני was the development of תורה שבע"פ. It was the development of the חכמה of תורה. That came about by fighting חכמת יונית. The new דרגה that we reached, with the organisation of תורה שבע"פ, that came about by way of the מחלמה against the יונים. We had חכמים in place of the נביאים
The מהר"ל has several יסודות. The first one is to answer the question that we are always celebrating the fact that we prevailed through סכנה. However, since the רבש"ע runs the world, just as he performed all the נסים, he also created all the צרות. We would be מוחל the נסים if He wouldn’t give us the צרות. The מהר"ל starts off with a יסוד that this world is a נברא and a מושפע, and is really an אין from a יש, as it is צמצום of Hashem כביכול. It is certainly a step down from infinity, not a step up. It exists only through Hashem’s existence. Therefore, הפסד is inevitable. The whole תכלית of this world is to be מתקן the ירידה of the fact that this world is finite. Just as our goal is to become less finite, more שלם and דבוק בד', this is the whole מציאות of עוה"ז.
Therefore all growth in this world begins with הפסד. In life it is simple that things work this way, we grow
Chanuka is said to be the 'festival' of the Oral Torah, so why is there no Gemora about Chanuka? We have by Purim, Pesach, Succos, but why not by Chanuka?
Rav Nissan Kaplan shlit"a suggests a beautiful answer:
The Greeks did not try to destroy us physically, they tried to destroy our Torah - our identity. So, when it was time for Rebbe to write down the Mishnayos due to fear that the Jewish People would start to forget the Oral Torah, to some extent, the Greeks had succeeded. They had taken our Oral Torah and to a degree, reduced it. So, when it came to Chanuka, the time when we celebrate our success over the Greeks and their values, Rebbe could not let Chanuka be written down into Mishnayos, Chaunka had to remain as
What zechus did the Yidden have at the time of Chanuka with which to win a war against the mighty Greek army? Don't forget there were only a mere handful of Macabeeim, as most of the Yidden had become Misyavnim.
Several years ago I heard the following powerful answer, which changed my whole attitude to davening.
The Yidden did NOT have enough zechusim with which to win the battle, and they knew this.
Instead they did something extraordinary, they took out a 'loan'.
They turned to Hashem and cried out for mercy. They then went on to say "We understand
Why is it that by the Mitzvah of lighting the lights on Chanukah there is a special emphasis on publicising the Miracle? We don’t find that we have to eat the korban Pesach on the street. We don’t have to put the story of Yetsius Mitzrayim on the billboards of city. Leining Megillas Ester doesn’t have to be done in the town square. These miracles were of no less importance than that of Chanuka?
The Chasam Sofer explains that there is a major difference between the miracle of Chanuka and that of Yetsius Mitzrayim for example. Unlike all other miracles the miracle that occurred with the jug of pure oil that burnt for eight days was a miracle seen by very few. Only the Cohanim who were in the Beis Hamikdash saw the miraculous burning of oil. In actual fact it is specifically a miracle of this nature
Chanuka is said to be the 'festival' of the Oral Torah, so why is there no Gemora about Chanuka? We have by Purim, Pesach, Succos, but why not by Chanuka?
Rav Nissan Kaplan shlit"a suggests a beautiful answer:
The Greeks did not try to destroy us physically, they tried to destroy our Torah - our identity. So, when it was time for Rebbe to write down the Mishnayos due to fear that the Jewish People would start to forget the Oral Torah, to some extent, the Greeks had succeeded. They had taken our Oral Torah and to a degree, reduced it. So, when it came to Chanuka, the time when we celebrate our success over the Greeks and their values, Rebbe could not let Chanuka be written down into Mishnayos, Chaunka had to remain as the Oral Torah in its unchanged form. So even though the Greeks succeeded in a way, by causing our Oral Torah to be written down, at least when it came to Chanuka, the 'festival of the Oral Torah', that would have to be learned totally orally without any Mishnayos.
We can look to the Rambam for an answer to this question. In the Rambam's Thirteen Principles of Faith, there is a statement that relates to Chanukah. In principle #8 he states: "I believe with complete faith that the entire Torah now in our hands is the same one that was given to Moshe, our teacher, peace be upon him." Now, you might ask yourself, what does the Torah's timelessness have to do with those eight little candles and greasy little pancakes? Indeed, this principle can teach us the essence of the days of Chanukah.
During the times of the Chanukah story, Greece was the cultural epicenter of the world. Along with this "culture" came a drive to influence the whole world to be like them, including the Jews. Unfortunately, many Jews became interested in the Greek-Hellenist culture, and they themselves became Hellenists. The saddest part is, that for these lost Jews, their Hellenism overshadowed their Judaism
One of the reasons the Greeks targeted the Mikdash to defile was because the Mikdash ran contrary to their philosophy and outlook on life. The Greeks believed in aesthetics and beauty, which meant that only that which is appealing to the eye is beautiful and praiseworthy. Thus, the Mikdash, with all its accompanying laws of tumah which the eye cannot see, was a threat to their very beliefs - hence their need to divide, conquer, and defile it. Us Jews know that beauty does not begin or end with the eye. The greatest beauty is the beauty of soul; a spiritual beauty that is covered up and hidden, yet it is beautiful nonetheless. Real beauty is spiritual beauty.
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Site Dedication
This website is dedicated to the memories of
Moshe Shlomo ben R'Shmuel | Shlomo ben R'Chaim | Aryeh Leib ben Pinchas Tzvi
