Reena Fixler and Yamaya Newman, Grade 10
Why do we celebrate the holiday of Chanukah on the 25th of Kislev specifically?
Chanukah is a holiday filled with light and happiness. It’s a time when all Jews – no matter their specific beliefs – get together and remember the miracles our ancestors experienced many years ago. Sometimes it seems strange that we celebrate Chanukah, such a warm and bright holiday, in the winter, a very dark and cold time. Why is it marked on the calendar as the 25th of Kislev? In this Dvar Torah, we will explore the answer to the significance of the date of Chanukah.
Many years ago, the construction of the Mishkan was completed on כ”ה כּסלו, which was the same day that the dedication was supposed to take place. However, since the 25th of Kislev wasn’t an especially holy day, Hashem told Moshe to wait to dedicate it for a holier day, and so the dedication was moved to Rosh Chodesh Nissan.
Because of this, it is said that כ”ה כּסלו was “offended” that the dedication was moved. This is a similar concept to the story about the forming of the aleph-bet, where some of the letters felt different human emotions, and felt like they deserved a sense of justice.
To compensate for the dedication being moved, Hashem chose the 25th of Kislev as the date of the rededication of the second Beit HaMikdash, built in the times of the Hasmoneans (when the Chanukah story took place).
Something else that is interesting about this is that the gematria of the words describing the Mishkan, “זאת חנוכת המזבח,” has the same numerical value as the words “זאת יהיה בימי חשמונים,” which mentions the time period the Hasmoneans lived in.
Therefore, we celebrate Chanukah on the 25th of Kislev, the day that the second Beit HaMikdash was dedicated, which took place at the time that the Chanukah story unfolded.
The lesson we can learn from this is that everything that happens has a reason behind it. Similarly to how Hashem planned a specific date for Chanukah, Hashem plans everything in our lives to happen for a purpose, whether it seems that way or not. We must remember that nothing that Hashem does is random, and everything He does carries significance and meaning.
The Light of Shabbat Versus the Light of Chanukah
Mrs. Sarit Anstandig, Judaic Studies
The Gemara in Masechet Shabbat discusses the similarities between Chanukah candles and Shabbat candles. One question that arises is the concept of benefiting from the light. One may, and even should, use the light of the Shabbat candles. Is one allowed to benefit in the same way from Chanukah candles? While various opinions are cited, we follow the final opinion that Chanukah candles are distinct because we are prohibited from using their light. Evidently, a clear contrast is established between the candles of these two mitzvot.
On a philosophical level, how can we understand the difference between these two types of candles, the Shabbat candle and the Chanukah candle? In Days of Deliverance, Rabbi Soloveitchik offers insight into this distinction. He explains that light can serve two different purposes. The first purpose is that it can illuminate something in its presence. For instance, the sun illuminates the earth.
In contrast, a light can be too far away to illuminate anything perceivable. However, it can stand out in the darkness as a guide for those who see it in the distance. The first type of light, Rabbi Soloveitchik explains, characterizes the light of Shabbat. The Neirot Shabbat are intended to illuminate our homes and allow us to enjoy our Shabbat meal in the presence of others. On the other hand, the Chanukah candles parallel the second type of light. While the Chanukah candles are physically close to us, they represent a light that we can only see, but it is too far for us to bask in its glow.
Taken one step further, the two candles model two ways human beings can approach the world. On the one hand, we use our mental capacities to make sense of the world, to place things in order and find patterns in our lives. Our lives are illuminated after we reflect on and study them. This is similar to the light of Shabbat. On the flip side, there is a darkness to our world, a part of our existence that we cannot grasp and which simply remains beyond our comprehension. This is similar to the light of Chanukah, a light that we see in the distance but cannot understand. “Ner Chanukah,” Rabbi Soloveitchik says, “… is lit not to illuminate, but to address itself to us from the vast, dark spaces, to tell us to move along invisible paths.” The Chanukah candle “tells us a story of a strange world, of unimaginable darkness.”
These two approaches to the world are clear when we reflect on the numbers that are associated with each of these candles. Shabbat candles make their appearance every seven days. This number, as the Maharal explains, is associated with the natural and perceivable world. In contrast, Chanukah candles work within a framework of eight. This number in our tradition represents what is beyond the natural world, what lies in the supernatural and unknown.
As we light our Chanukah candles, may we be able to appreciate what is both within and beyond our reach as human beings. May we appreciate the light in our lives that both illuminates our path and guides us from afar as we navigate G-d’s vast world.
Shamash: Igniting Our Lives
Jacob Astroff, Grade 10
Taking It up a Notch
Rabbi Bentzi Shor
Chanukah is an exceptional time. The lights, the foods, the family gatherings. It is easy to see why so many Jews – even the less observant ones – celebrate Chanukah, and it is no wonder that for so many people, it is their most anticipated time of the year and their favourite holiday.
Another notable, perhaps even unique, aspect of Chanukah is that, unlike other mitzvot, we have the primary obligation and an additional level of mehadrin. Those who are meticulous in the performance of mitzvot, when it comes to lighting the Chanukah candles, besides our primary obligation, we have two additional levels of hidur: the regular mehadrin and a further level of mehadrin min hamehadrin.
Furthermore, unlike other mitzvot, where some people may elect to perform the primary obligation, when it comes to the lighting of Chanukah candles, everyone takes two extra steps of mehadrin min hamehadrin. Nobody lights just one candle in their homes each evening of Chanukah, which is the basic obligation; we all go through the effort of performing the mitzvah in its highest form of hidur (each according to their custom).
What is going on here? Why, specifically regarding the lighting of the Chanukah candles we all go the extra mile?
One of the beautiful answers to this question is that the way we practice the mitzvah nowadays reflects the original miracle that led to the mitzvah – the lighting of the Menorah in the Beit HaMikdash by the Hasmoneans with the little jug of oil that they found. According to halacha, if we only have impure oil, we may use it to light the Menorah in the Beit HaMikdash. So if the Hasmoneans were permitted to use impure oil to light the Menorah, what was the point of the miracle of finding the little jug and that it sufficed for all eight days?
The answer is that, indeed, we could have survived without the miracle and used the impure oil to light the Menorah. However, God took the extra step toward us. He saw how much the Hasmoneans strived to light the Menorah in the ideal fashion, without leniencies or cutting corners. Therefore, he performed a miracle for them to practice the mitzvah in its highest and most ideal form possible.
That is what we are reflecting. In the same way that God and the Hasmoneans went the extra mile to perform this mitzvah to its best, so too do we all go the extra mile and light out Chanukah candles as the mehadrin min hamehadrin, the highest and most ideal form of hidur.
This concept of reflecting is accurate in many aspects of our life. How we treat our property, time, other people, and even ourselves reflects so much upon us and toward us. “As in water face answers to face, so the heart of man to man” (Mishlei 27:19).
Let us take the reflection we are now doing while lighting the Chanukah candles and apply it to all aspects of our life, enhancing the good around us and improving our lives beyond measure.
Chanukah Sameach!
