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Kislev, 5766 by Rabbi Paul L. Saal
Congregation Shuvah Yisrael - Simsbury, CT
Last Shabbat coincided with Christmas Eve and occurred a day before the first night of Chanukah. This always creates an odd tension for us at Congregation Shuvah Yisrael. While we celebrate the incarnation throughout the year, we do not celebrate the Christian or cultural phenomenon of Christmas. Still, given the number of intermarried couples in our synagogue and the expectations of their extended families, and the attractive festivities of the season, the specters of Christmas loom larger over our Messianic Jewish congregation than they do in Dickens's A Christmas Carol. Frankly, they are just tough to ignore.
So ignore them we did not. At the end of the service our musicians played Adon Olam to the melodies of Greensleeves and Deck the Halls. We like having fun at Shuvah and it is not unheard of for us to do Adon Olam to a non-traditional melody, but the odd syncretism in this case was palpable, and so it was meant to be. The punch line to our musical gag matched the more serious message of the sermon; avoid assimilation, at all costs.
I am going to repeat that theme, for in fact it is one of the primary messages of the Chanukah season. I know that is not always the clear and unambiguous signal sent by contemporary American Judaism, which is seeped and marinated in American pluralism. Now I am not knocking American pluralism; after all, is there another formative sea from which the modern Messianic Jewish movement could have emerged? But in the final analysis our form of Judaism, as all Judaisms, should be God centered, Torah connected and-most often ignored-coherent. So how do we so often hear that the Chanukah story is about religious freedom? As if any religion would have been OK, so long as everyone got to choose for him or herself. Is that really true? Can we possibly imagine old Mattathias accepting a compromise whereby the east wing of the temple would have offered kosher sacrifice, while in the spirit of pluralism the Hellenistic Syrians were featuring pork barbeque on the west side?
Let's make no mistake; the Hasmonean wars were not fought for religious freedom, but to cleanse the land for the worship and service of the one true God of Israel. While the battles were fought to end the Greek cultic practices imposed through the military tyranny of Antiochus, the Syrian Greek ruler, they were also fought to end the long-felt and gradually deleterious effects of assimilation. The hard to swallow truth is that many Jews then, as today, envied the freedom and fanfare of the nations, and were too happy to put off the yoke of Torah. Perhaps the subtext of the Chanukah story could have been, "Beware Greeks bearing strange gifts." So the war opposed the attractive popular spectacle of uncircumcised athletes in public sport as much as it did the forced sacrifices to Zeus in the Great Temple. It should not surprise us then that the greatest miracle of Chanukah is not the immediacy of military triumph, rather the sustenance of the Divine light.
Perhaps the tradition surrounding how we light the Chanukah menorah can helpfully illumine (pun intended) this point. The manner by which we normally light the hanukiah is left to right, placing the candles from right to left. One candle is lit the first night with the number of candles increasing each successive night. This is in fact the tradition handed down from the school of Hillel, (Shabbat 21b) and universally accepted by most practicing Jews in the world today. Also recorded in Talmud is the dissenting view of the school of Shammai, the loyal opposition. Attributed to Shammai is the view that all eight candles should be lit on the first night, and the number of candles should diminish by one each successive night, similar to the descending order of the Sukkot sacrifices (Numbers 29:12-36). This view is somewhat logical since each night the sanctified oil used to light the menorah in the Temple would have diminished. But then this would have assumed that there was enough oil to light the menorah in the first place.
Hillel argues that each night more oil was necessary to light the lamp, so the magnitude of the miracle increased. This follows the concept of Ma'alin Bakodesh, or the ascendancy of holiness. Since lighting the Chanukah candles is a holy act, each night the holiness increases and so therefore should the number of candles.
The two schools of thought punctuate the two-prong nature of the Chanukah miracle as identified in the prayer Haneirot Halalu which is recited after lighting the menorah each night. The first part states "These lights we kindle to recall the wondrous triumphs and the miraculous victories wrought through your holy kohanim for our ancestors in ancient days at this season." So at Chanukah we acknowledge that as is often "His style," God "gave the strong over into the hands of the weak." The second part of the prayer usually referred to as al hanisim, or upon the miracles, goes on to say,
"These lights are sacred through all eight days of Hanukah. We may not put them to ordinary use, but are to look upon them and thus be reminded to thank and praise You for the wondrous miracle of our deliverance." It continues to encourage us to look upon the spiritual miracle of maintaining the Jewish people in the face of ongoing assimilationist influences. The real miracle of the lights is that they do not end in eight days, rather we are encouraged to become participants with God in our own spiritual deliverance by directing our attentions to praising Him and remembering Him as He remembers us.
We might infer that Beit Shammai emphasizes the military victory. Though important, the effects of physical victory quickly fade, leaving few lasting results. We have seen this in our own times. How often has the U.S. military machine removed a rogue dictator only to fight the "democratic regime" which succeeds it within a quarter of a century? In the same way history records that the Hasmonean's the party of the Maccabees, the so-called champions of religious freedom, became strong-armed dictators of religious oppression in Eretz Yisrael during the century that followed. So by lighting eight candles on the first night we observe the diminishing power of military might.
Spiritual power on the other hand begins modestly and is often barely noticed, then increases over time and slowly displays its lasting effects. By lighting the candles in ascending order as Beit Hillel suggests, we illumine (there I go again) the more efficacious nature of the spiritual miracle, the power of the spirit grows day by day.
So as it was for the Maccabees, it is for us. We have a culture that continually seduces us into believing that true power is in wealth and influence. We American Jews try our hardest to look and act like our neighbors. I think my least favorite song in the whole world is Adam Sandler's Hanukah Song, which reminds us of all the "beautiful people" who are surprisingly Jewish. Sandler lists all of the Hollywood stars and starlets who are Jewish. We should not be surprised given the source that he doesn't waist his time with Nobel laureates. The subtext is apparent, "Jews are as capable as gentiles at producing living Barbie and Ken Dolls; we are not the, umm, 'hook-noses' you thought we are. We are really capable of being as shallow as you." The really offensive part for me is not the silly musings of one silly Jew, but the number of Jewish people who proudly play this dribble. But perhaps I should not be surprised since we crowd the malls this time of year with the same deliberate worship of consumerism as our neighbors, losing the true spiritual meaning of Chanukah.
But let me not just pick on our Jewish people. What of the Christians across the country who have been advocating the boycotting of retail stores unless they put the name Christmas back in their holiday advertisements. I think I missed something. Shouldn't believers in Yeshua boycott stores that even lightly imply any connection between the "Christ Child" and consumerism? After all, wasn't Yeshua the greatest counterculturist of them all? When the exuberant crowds called out for a military hero like Judah Maccabee didn't he respond by laying down His own life? When Caesar, much like Antiochus, sought to grasp divinity and make himself the object of worship, didn't Yeshua selflessly empty himself into the form of a humble servant, only to be exalted to the right hand of God on high?
Shouldn't we then as Messianic Jews during this season become imitators of Yeshua, separating ourselves from the basest tendencies of our culture? Can't we suffer the indignation of being different from our neighbors for the sake of God's kingdom? Do we seek after the fading victories of military might and conspicuous wealth, or will we seek after God's higher standards? This year as we light the menorah on the eighth night of Chanukah, let's remember the greatest miracle of the season, that God has sustained His light among His people Israel despite the best efforts of both militant tyrants and seductive assimilationists, recalling the words from this week's haftarah portion, "Not by might or by power, but also by my spirit says the Lord of hosts." (Zechariah 4:6)
One person has commented on this article. No.1 Untitled
Thank you for your commentary Rabbi Saul on the meaning of the lighting of the Menora, as well as the rich symbolism and history that is connected to it. I am researching as much as I can what it means for a Gentile follower of Yeshua, to honor the festivals and holy days intended by G*d in the Torah.
This assimilation that Jews have so painstakingly avoided, is something that through my own seeking of G*d in the Word, see as a mixing (the assimilation) of unholy with holy, of the things of G*d with the things of the profane, a sort of spiritual fornication, if you will (Rev 17:5 The False Church). Mainstream Christianity today is full of myths (Santa Claus), and fables (the Easter Bunny) which the early church was warned against by the Apostle Paul(1 Ti 1:4, 2 Ti 4:4). My whole family is Catholic, so I will need G*d's strength and wisdom to honor them with the truth and help them to understand this, as I have long ago left the Catholic church. They see these unholy practices as harmless and "for the children". Will G*d give us a snake when we ask for a fish? why is this deception so prevalent in mainstream Christianity. Does G*d not still hate a lie?
I admire your dedication to keep the doctrines of YHVH pure, keeping the holy vessels free from dirt and dishonour. There are many Christians who believe that, because we are under grace by the atoning sacrifice of Yeshua, that none of these distinctions (holy days and festivals, true Shabbat) no longer matter. I am so thankful that through the revelation of the true Messiah in Yeshua, that I am beginning to understand that it does matter to G*d, and therefore should matter to not only Jews, but Gentiles as well. Neither Jew nor Greek, all one in Yeshua, honoring G*d and Torah.
Shalom
In Messiah
Kevin Doucet
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