Chanukah and the Beauty of Judaism



I would like to begin my devar Torah the following question:

According to the Gemara (Shabbat 21b), we are only "required" to light a single candle each night for Chanukah. The Gemara continues saying that the next level of observence is Mehadrin meaning that you light a Chanukah Menorah, adding one new candle each night. Finally, the Gemara mentions Mehadrin Min HaMehadrin which is (for Ashkenazim, see the Ramah in the Shulchan Aruch 671:2) each member of the house lighting their own Chanukah Menorah and adding a new candle each night. Today, everybody follows the Mehadrin Min HaMehadrin (with each family member lighting his or her own Chanukah Menorah). Nowhere else are we Mehadrin Min HaMehadrin, why here for Chanukah?

To answer this question, we must first understand Chanukah's historical background. In Rabbinic literature, we find references to four exiles which we will undergo, the exile of Babylon, the exile of Persia, the exile of Greece (during which Chanukah took place), and the exile of Rome (which we are still in today). We must ask, why is the Greek exile considered an exile if we were dwelling in the land of Israel? The classic (and in my opinion correct) answer is that unlike the other exiles, the Greek exile was of a spiritual nature. The Greeks and the Hellenists wanted the Jews to assimilate. At that time, Greece was the center of culture in the ancient world and the Greeks and Hellenists imported their culture to Israel and built sacrificial alters, sports arenas, etc. To speed up assimilation, the Greeks forbade practicing Judaism and studying Torah.

The Maccabees victory was thus both a military and a spiritual victory. Thus, the great Rav Hirsch explains in Horeb (pages 152-157) that Chanukah is the celebration of our spiritual survival in exile.

Now we can answer why everybody follows Mehadrin Min Hamehadrin. Rav Moshe Eisenmann explains (near the beginning Of Parents & Penguins) that the conflict between the Maccabees and the Greeks and Hellenists was one of beauty and the beauty of Torah conquered the beauty of culture. Thus, we beautify the mitzvah of lighting the Chanukah menorah by performing it in the optimal way.

At this point, I would like to mention that the beauty of Judaism needs to be experienced. As I wrote in the Jewish times "Our ancestors chose death with the Shema on their lips over baptism so we could practice Judaism. But alas! What once was about having a relationship with our loving Creator has now been reduced to bagels, klezmer music, and hollow slogans. Can we expect Jews to marry Jews when they have never experienced the joy of a Shabbas meal or the holistic stimulation of studying Gemara?"

I believe very strongly that each and every Jew should read Rav Hirsch's The Nineteen Letters. Rav Shlmono Zalman Spitzer said "Anybody who reads the Nineteen Letters will find that until now he did not know Judaism as he knows it now, and literally becomes like a new being..." Translated into plain and simple English, reading the book is an amazing experience which never gets old (I have read it multiple times). The Nineteen Letters was so beautiful that Abraham Geiger, leaderof the Reform movement in Germany, praised the book. Similarly, Solomon Schecter (of JTS) was extremely pleased when it was first translated into English. Feldheim is having a 20% off sale for Chanukah and now is the ideal time to purchase this gem. (I have serious questions one some of the content in the explanatory notes but they are still extremely helpful.)

http://www.feldheim.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?item=0-87306-696-0&type=store&category=search

Chanukah Sameach,
Mordechai