Mr. Jonathan Parker
Assistant Principal & Director of Education, Yeshivat Or Chaim
In seeking to understand the proper time for lighting on Chanukah, the Gemara (Shabbat 21) notes that it is “עד שתכלה רגל מן השוק ועד כמה אמר רבה בר בר חנה אמר רבי יוחנן עד דכליא ריגלא דתרמודאי”—until the “תרמודאי” have stopped walking around in the streets. Rashi elaborates that the תרמודאי were those who sold sticks to others to light their homes; the תרמודאי were the very last people outside in the dark of night, hoping to sell kindling to others whose homes needed light. This means that the Chanukah lights could not be lit until everyone was indoors, until all hope was lost by the תרמודאי that others would need light for their homes.
This darkness, deeper than at any other point, must remind us that first deepest-darkness at the dawn of creation in בראשית א, when we read that “ויבדל א-להים בין האור ובין החשך”. Sforno notes that this distinction between light and darkness is unrelated to nature, and that God designates certain times to be dark and certain times to be light, irrespective of the sun and the moon. Sometimes there are darknesses that are beyond cosmology.
And into the literal darkness identified by the absence of the תרמודאי, we are told to inject the light of the חנוכיה. When the night is darkest, it is then that we place our candles outside. And why? Because one of the central messages of the holiday is that when we are faced by darkness—be it literal or metaphorical—we must bring light to fight back. As we say when we light the candles, “כדי להודות ולהלל לשמך הגדול על נסיך ועל נפלאותיך ועל ישועתך”. Since the dawn of time it has been a foregone conclusion that there will be darkness in our lives, and when that darkness is deepest, it is then that we light the way and praise God’s place in our lives.
Reena Fixler and Nava Rabinovitch
Grade 12 Student and Grade 11 Student, Ulpanat Orot
“כשנכנסו יונים להיכל טמאו כל השמנים”
“When the Greeks entered the sanctuary they defiled all the oils.” (Shabbat 21b)
If the intention of the Greeks was to extinguish the light of the menorah and prevent its rekindling, why did they defile the oil specifically? Would it not have been more effective for them to simply use up or destroy the oil completely?
The true objective of the Greeks was not to prevent the rekindling of the menorah, but rather, to have it be rekindled with defiled, spoiled, oil. Hence, they purposely left a supply of this spoiled oil in the Beit Hamikdash to be readily available for the Jews for this exact purpose.
The Greeks were willing to recognize the Torah as a beautiful and sacred creation, with exceptional wisdom and profound philosophy, provided that it was considered as a human creation only, just like their own mythology. As such, they believed that the Torah could be changed and modified from time to time, so as to align with the values of the people and the new ideas and morals of each time period. Thus, their goal wasn’t to suppress the Torah, but “lehashkicham Toratecha” — “to make them forget your Torah”, and not treat it as a gift from Hashem.
Ultimately, the goal of the Greeks wasn’t to stop the menorah from being lit, but to make its light reflect Greek influence instead of pure holiness.
