Sparks of Light: Seventh Night

Rav Soloveitchik was famously fond of building philosophical constructs from within Halacha. He believed that only in this way could a true Jewish philosophy emerge. In the same vein, it is through the Halacha – its parameters and guidelines, that Jewish ideals and values can be most keenly seen and expressed. Chanukah, to that extent, is no exception. The richness of its unique laws allows for a peek into the deeper message that the holiday represents.

The Talmud (Shabbat 21b) portrays the mitzvah of Chanukah lights as ‘נר איש וביתו’, literally ‘a light for a person and his house’. The specific halachic intent of this passage is to the define the basic requirement and manner of fulfilling the mitzvah of Chanukah lighting. As codified law, this translated into all the members of a household fulfilling their obligation with a single candle every night of Chanukah. However, the particular language used by the Talmud here is noted by commentators and has become the source of many heated halachic debates, whereby each side builds from here the very basic conceptual constructs for understanding this mitzvah. For example, the Rambam (Hilchot Chanukah 4:1-2) appears to hold that only one person within a household may light the candles, and that lighting automatically covers the obligation of every individual within the household. Accordingly, even when fulfilling the mitzvah in the more meticulous way as prescribed by the Talmud by adding a light for each member of the household, it would still only be one member of that household who lights all these lights! In other words, the commemoration of Chanukah as expressed halachically is not through the individual, but through the family as a unit and the individual’s connection to it.

It is not surprising that the mitzvah of Chanukah is intrinsically linked to and expressed through the Jewish home. It was the Jewish home; its values and strength, that stood at the forefront of the Greek’s battle against us. As Rabbi Waldenberg (Tzitz Eliezer 12:33) explains, it was the unique character of the Jewish family which the Greeks recognized as what holds us together. For this reason, the Greeks attempted to destroy us by attacking and dissolving this very strength. When the Chashmonaim defeated them, they not only established the Chanukah candle as a remembrance of the miracle, but also as a symbol for the restoration of the glory and unity of the Jewish family. It is for this reason that the mitzvah is expressed not only linguistically, but also halachically, through the family unit. We light ‘נר איש וביתו’ because it is through the family; its purity, character and values, that we have survived. And it is by the transmission of this message every Chanukah to the next generation that we will continue to thrive.