By Rabbi Seth Grauer
Rosh Yeshiva/Head of School
This coming Sunday evening we will begin the holiday of Chanukah. For your children, Chanukah will represent not only an exciting holiday that they have no doubt been looking forward towards, but a conclusion of a long stretch of learning and growth at our school. Your children have spent these last few months working hard and engaged in meaningful co-curricular activities and programs that contribute daily to their development and maturity.
As many of you know, there is very little written in the Gemara about the holiday of Chanukah. What does appear is found within only a few pages in Mesechet Shabbat. In the midst of that discussion the Gemara cites a pasuk from this weeks parsha which seemingly has nothing to do with Chanukah. The Torah tells us [Bereishit 37:24] that when the brothers threw Yosef in the pit, “the pit was empty and no water was in it.” The Gemara proceeds to question, “If the pit was empty isn’t it obvious that no water was in it?” The Gemara answers, “True, there was no water in the pit – but there were snakes and scorpions within it.”
Rav Soloveitchik once commented that the connection between this derasha and Chanukah is clear. The Greeks weren’t interested in physically killing the Jewish people, but rather destroying our spiritual and religious connection to Torah and Mitzvoth. There were some within the Jewish people who might have reasoned that perhaps it wouldn’t be so terrible if they couldn’t learn Torah, since they could still maintain their commitment to Judaism and Hashem. What those Jews didn’t realize, though, was that if there is no Torah influence, negative influences would inevitably fill that void. One cannot simply remove Torah and its accompanying mitzvoth and remain neutral.
I often say that religious growth in the world around us is like trying to walk up a downward-moving escalator. If we attempt to remain still, the world will naturally bring us down. If we simply want to stay where we are spiritually, we need to walk slowly up the escalator. If we really want to grow religiously and increase our commitment to H”KBH, we need to work hard to get up that escalator, but we need to be careful, because if we run too fast, we will trip and fall.
The Gemara discusses the contents of Yosef’s pit right in the middle of its discussions on Chanukah to demonstrate that if the pit is empty of water (or Torah, as water is often compared to Torah), snakes and scorpions will undoubtedly fill that void.
It is within that vein that we as a school continue to daily endeavor to find new, creative and innovative ways to enrich the lives of your children. Chanukah at UO and YOC will be jammed with daily meaningful growth opportunities, special shiurim, tisches, trips and various other Chanukah related activities. We will do our best to ensure that your children feel the simcha of Chanukah and that the Yom Tov truly comes alive for them. Finally, we will be minimizing tests and nightly work in an effort to encourage more family time and allow your children to benefit from wonderful communitywide Chanukah programs.
This year, in an effort to encourage some family learning, each night we will be sending out brief divrei Torah and thoughts about Chanukah just prior to the times for lighting candles. Our goal is for you to read these email messages with your children as you are lighting candles and briefly discuss their meaning and message.
These last few months have seen great growth, learning and achievements for your children and our school community, but this time has also been filled with much sorrow and heartbreak from our brothers and sisters in Israel. It is our hope and prayer that Chanukah will bring greater peace, security, simcha and joy for all Jews throughout the world, both in Israel and abroad.
Chanukah Sameach,
Rabbi Seth Grauer
Rosh Yeshiva/Head of School
