Pachad Yitzchak - Chanukah Ma'amar 6

Chapter 1

1. In the history of foreign oppresions that people Israel suffered under the nations of the world, the conquest of the Greeks (malchut yavan) is unique in that one finds for the first time the presence of Hellenist Jews (mityavnim). In the Babylonian exile we did not find "Babylonist Jews" (mitbavlim), nor during the Assyrian exile did we find "Assyrianist Jews"; only during the Greek conquest do we find the phenomenon of both Greeks and Hellenist Jews...

2. It seems that a possible textual source for the idea of the Hellenists is as the fulfillment of the biblical rebuke in Parshat Behukotai, "and your foes shall dominate you", which the sages interpreted as: "I will establish enemies from among you (mikem, b'chem), against you." It seems that the first appearance of the mikem, b'chem is integrally connected specifically to the Greek conquest, and the first instance of the mikem b'chem is the Hellenistic Jews. The inner meaning of this development we shall now explain.

3.See the words of Nachmanides on Parshat b'Haalotcha, describing how the rededication of the Menorah of the Hasmoneans is greater than the dedication of the Tribes in the Torah. For from the dedication of the tribes there is no lasting imprint, whereas the rededication of the Hasmoneans gave us an ever-lasting mitzvah, the lighting of the Chanukah Menorah. If we were to try and juxtapose this idea to one from the world of the individual, an appropriate illustration to this could be found in the two approaches to the verse, "Educate the child according to their path/Once they are older, they will not stray from it." The first approach to this idea is that a child educated according to their path, will not stray from that same path from which they were educated. Alternatively, they will maintain the knowledge or learning that they acquired through their learning. A second approach is even deeper, explaining that a child who is educated according to their path, will not stray from the path of being educable (mitchanech). The essence of being educable [or, maintaining an ethos of self-growth and learning] is in itself a path, and one on that path will remain as such. According to the first approach, the path is eternal, and the education is temporary. According to the second approach, both the education and the path are eternal. The dedication of the Mishkan by the Tribes was akin to the first approach. All the holiness they brought into the world remained, but the action of dedication was temporal. However the dedication of the Hasmoneans is according to the second approach - the re-dedication itself becomes an essential goal/aspect in and of itself; this makes an eternal imprint for the generations. The explanation of this phenomenon is itself rooted in the particular nature of the salvation from the Greeks itself.

4. The Sages taught on the verse in Song of Songs: "I was asleep, But my heart was wakeful. Hark, my beloved knocks! “Let me in, my sister, my friend, My darling, my faultless dove! For my head is drenched with dew, My locks with the damp of night.” My sister - that is Babylon. My friend - that is Persia. My dove - that is Greece. My faultless one - that is Rome. My dove - for all the days of Greece, the Temple stood, and Israel would offer doves and pigeons on the altar..."

We learn from here that the unique aspect of the Greek conquest was that it was the only one wherein during its entire duration, the Temple remained standing. What is the inner meaning of this? We have received from our sages that the miracle of the menorah was particularly suited to the salvation from Greece, since the Menorah is connected to the characteristic of Wisdom. [For instance, the Talmudic adage that "one who wishes to gain Wisdom shall face South during prayer, towards the Menorah"]. The animating element of Greece was its pursuit of Wisdom, and thus its opposition to Israel was directed specifically against the Wisdom of the people Israel. Naturally then, the miracle of the salvation of Greece was channeled through the lighting of the Menorah, as this action represents the "enlightening" of the power of Wisdom of the people Israel.

5. Certainly, this central aspect of the opposition of Greece to Israel demands explanation. For we find that the decrees of the Greeks against the Israelites did not necessarily have any explicit reference to the realm of Wisdom. For instance, the decree that the local Greek ruler (hegemon) was entitled to local Jewish women on the nights of their marriage. Rather, the source for understanding this idea is from Megillat Taanit that the 8th of Tevet was a fast day, for on that day the Torah was translated into Greek, and darkness descended into the world. The sages explain that the darkness of this translation came because it was through this translation that an historic vision was manifested: that of, "in the future, the nations of the world will claim that 'We are Israel too'!"(Midrash Tanchuma Vayera). That is, this translation grew out of an ultimate desire to blur the distinction between Israel and the nations. And we learn from here that the nation that most inhabits this idea is that of Greece. Greece is that nation most desirous of erasing the distinction between Israel and the other nations.

Ostensibly, these things don't match up perfectly to what we mentioned earlier, namely that the Greek opposition towards Israel was specifically in the realm of Wisdom. For it seems from the words of the sages that there were two types of darkness which Greece caused to descend into the world of the people Israel: the first darkness was brought on by the writing of the Septuagint, which was completed on the 8th of Tevet as described in Megillat Taanit. The second darkness was brought on through the polemical Greek decrees of "forgetting the Torah", alluded to in the midrashic statement on the phrase in Genesis 1:2 - "and there was darkness on the surface of the deep": "this is Greece, who darkened the eyes of Israel through their decrees. Between the two darknesses there was a period of several generations.

It seems, then, that we have here two separate phenomena: the first darkness was specific to Greece because it embodies the opposition to Israel towards the central ideological claim of a distinction between themselves and the other nations. This is why the Greeks translated the Torah into Israel, so that they could claim that they too are Jews. However, the second darkness was specific to Greece because it embodies the opposition to Israel in the realm of Wisdom, and therefore they enforced their wisdom onto the wisdom of the people Israel.

6. And now we have truly come to the essence of the idea. For we see that one's actions and characteristics, when they are in opposition to the Torah - we call these "sins" (aveirot), and the person doing the action is called "bad" (rasha). However, beliefs and ideologies that are in opposition to the Torah - such a believer is called a "heretic/apostate" (mumar). However, there is a major difference between the classifications of rasha versus that of mumar: it is only in connection with mumarut (apostasy) that the halachic concept of "behold, they are considered as if gentiles."

We can see from here the connection with the two types of darkness that Greece caused to enter the world of the people Israel. For it is only the nation that is intent on causing mumarut in Israel through their opposition to Jewish Wisdom, and such opposition leading to Jewish mumarut and the phenomenon of "they are considered as gentiles" - it is only such a nation that can possibly achieve the goal of blurring the distinction between Israel and the nations. It emerges that the attack on Jewish Wisdom, and the erasing of the distinction between Israel and the nations, are two sides of the same coin. For attacking Jewish wisdom causes mumarut, and mumarut creates the phenomenon of "they are considered as gentiles."

7. Let us continue on this point. Indeed, all the laws of "they are considered as gentiles" which apply to a Jew by means of heresy/apostasy, in no way affect the status of that person's child. The child of an apostate is automatically a Jew in every conceivable aspect. This is to say, that the phenomenon of "a Jew, though they sin, is nevertheless a Jew", is seen most directly in the presumption that their child is Jewish. For the procreative power of a Jewish individual is the vessel through which is realized the promise and vision of the eternality of the Jewish people; and, ipso facto, this same power stands in tension with all the laws of "they are considered as gentiles."

As we have already stated, we find that the position of Greece in relationship to Israel is that of its opposition to our distinction from among the nations, and the central goal of this ideology is the blurring and erasing of this very distinction. Understood through this lens, we can make sense of the law of "the local Hegemon": it is not ultimately an act of licentiousness from the perspective of the Greeks, but rather it is a decree rooted in the ultimate goal of forcibly inserting their own power/lineage into the procreative process of the Jews. By so doing they cause a further blurring of the distinction between Israel and the nations, even in this realm where no amount of great flood-waters of foreign ideology could ever touch.

8. The stance of Greece towards Israel is three-tiered. The first tier is the translation of the Torah into Greek as part of a broader ideology of claiming that "we are the true Israel." There are two sub-themes within this idea: one is the encouraging of a situation of "they are considered as gentiles" through religio-ideological subversion, and the second is the dilution of Jewish lineage as a means of hobbling the notion of "Jewish eternality" (netzach Yisrael), as seen through the decree of "the local Hegemon." And all of these elements are part of a broader conflict - that the Greeks are fundamentally opposed to the Jewish notion of a distinction from the other nations. This is essentially the explanation of the statement of the Maharal in his essay "Ner Mitzvah", where he notes that "it is specifically in the realm of Wisdom that the Greeks are unique, which is why they specifically targeted the Wisdom of Israel."

All of these elements illustrate for us the inner meaning of the name "My dove" (yonati) which the people Israel were called while under Greek domination. According to the midrashim of the sages, this name symbolizes the unique situation of the Greek domination, insofar as the people Israel were unified with their Temple which stood in its place. That is to say, Greece did not destroy the Temple, but rather desecrated it (this is referred to in Ezekiel, and then used in the Chanukah liturgy, as "ruffians shall invade it and defile it"); similarly, the Greeks did not pour out the oil, but rather made it impure. This intention flows from the general stance of Greece towards Israel. Not an opposition against the existence of the people Israel, but rather opposition towards their separation from the nations. Desecration of the sacred and impurification of the holy are another form of the erasing of the distinction of the sacred and the mundane, between the impure and the pure. "My dove" - this is Greece.

Part 2.

9. "The precept of lighting the Hanukkah lamp is exceedingly precious"; this is the language of the Rambam in the Laws of Chanukah. We must certainly acknowledge the uncommon description. Of course, the love of doing any mitzvah is a major precept and value in all sacred worship; what, then, is the meaning of the particular "preciousness" that needed to be specified regarding the Chanukah menorah? If we consult the further commentary of the Maggid Mishne on the Rambam, he cites the talmudic passage that one who is punctilious about the mitzvah of lighting the Menorah will merit to have scholarly children. But this is not a sufficient explanation, for there are other mitzvot which empower the individual to merit greater Torah learning, and in any event the mitzvah of Menorah lighting is unique in its description of being "precious". However, a spiritual attunement to that which we discussed in the first part will help us discover the a beautiful flower of an idea amidst all of this...

10. The sages teach us that the nations' claim of "We too are Israel" first comes through an event, the translation of the Torah into Greek. Juxtapose this with the claim of Rav Saadia Gaon that our own nation is only a nation with regards to our Torah. If this is so, then the erasure of the distinction between the wisdom of the Torah and other wisdoms is ipso facto the erasure of the distinction between Israel and the nations. And since, according to the understanding of the Sages, the spiritual root of the Torah's translation was its placement on the same shelf with the other Wisdoms of the world, then it follows that this translation is a fulfillment of the prophecy that "in the future the nations of the world will claim that 'we too are Israel'."

11. Now, within a person's own soul, the difference between engaging in Torah wisdom and engaging in other intellectual pursuits has to do with the power of enjoyment (ta'anug). However, in order to fully clarify this point we must first offer two introductory ideas. The first introduction is the phenomenon we find regarding Torah study: "a person must study that which their heart desires." And it is clear that this rule only applies to Torah study. If one were to be confronted with two sick individuals, equally deserving of the mitzvah of bikur cholim (visiting the sick), then one would certainly visit the person they more desired to visit. But this is decision based on choice, as there was is no way to decide between the two - in such a case, one goes where their heart desires. But Torah study is different, in that the rule of "where their heart desires" is the deciding factor itself.

We explain it as follows: any interaction a person has with their external reality happens through connection (derech chibbur). All of a person's senses fucntion by means of connection as well. The sense of touch works through connecting to what one is feeling. The body of the thing touches the person's body. The sense of sight works by connecting through the light-waves. The sense of hearing works by connecting to the sound-waves.

12. We must understand that this same process occurs in the process of intellectual comprehension. It is impossible for the intellect to understand something if it doesn't connect to the idea itself. This connection between the intellect and the idea is effectuated through the power of the joy that is hidden/inherent (tahmoon) in the understanding. The power of the intellect without the function of joy is like the power of sight without light, or like the power of hearing without air. Now, when the eye enjoys the sight of something beautiful, or when the ear enjoys mellifluous tones, this enjoyment is additional tothe power of sight or of hearing. However, when the intellect finds joy in comprehension, the enjoyment is the soul of the intellectual movement, without which the mind would rest like a silent stone. Therefore, the desire of the heart is decisive only in the realm of Torah study. For the mitzvah of Torah study is fulfilled through the power of intellect and comprehension. Any additional joy one feels at the moment of comprehension - that is in and of itself an additional form of comprehension. And not only that, but we see that the blessing the sages created on Torah study involves the very language of joy and sweetness (v'ha'arev na), which was only true for this mitzvah. And this makes sense, for the joy in understanding words of Torah is embodied in the mitzvah itself, whereas for other mitzvot the joy is a but a crown on their head. That is the first introduction.

13. We learned in the fourth essay in this book that the sages referred to other forms of wisdom "external wisdoms" (chachamot chitzoniyot"). This is because God's wisdom is revealed to us in two ways: Creation/nature, the world that was created through ten statements; and at Mt. Sinai, through the Torah that was given through ten commandments. Both of them are Divine revelations. But there is a fundamental difference in the way that these things are revealed. God is revealed in nature in a "necessary" way, but is revealed in Torah through "choice". For example, "Let there be Light" - that is a necessary/automatic way that God is revealed. "Though shalt not bow down" - this is a commandment that is fulfilled through free-will. The laws of nature are certainly a science of the laws that God revealed through the "ten statements", but since these laws reveal God automatically/necessarily, it is considered an "external wisdom" to the wisdom of Torah which is the wisdom of God's will revealed through free-will. This is what it means that the sages call non-Torah wisdoms, "external." "As surely as I have established My covenant with day and night—the laws of heaven and earth—" meaning, God only created the workings of nature in order to make a place for the laws of free-choice. This is the second introduction.

14. And since we learned in the first introduction that intellectual comprehension without joy is intrinsically impossible, you therefore see that the distinction we have laid out between external and internal wisdom has a parallel phenomneon in the realm of joy. For there is nothing in wisdom that doesn't exist in joy. So, if in wisdom there is external and internal, then in joy itself, which vitalizes wisdom, there must be an internal and an external. And the form of this distinction within joy is that which we see in life: joy that deals with intermediaries is external to the joy that deals with the essential things. A person building a house for themselves to live in derives joy from the building itself. But this joy is ultimately external to the joy derived from living in the house itself.

The central difference between external and internal joy isn't about their respective strengths - rather the capability they have for eternal attachment/clinging (hadbaka). The capability of external joy for eternal attachment pales next to that of the internal joy with regards to the soul clinging to the Eternal.

And we can now understand with clarity the earlier statement we made, that the difference in a person's soul between engagement with Torah wisdom and other intellectual pursuits is in the realm of joy. The external joy signifies the externality of the pursuits.

15. And we continue on this same idea. The placing of the Torah on the same shelf with the other wisdoms of world - which, according to the sages, is the issue with translating the Torah to Greek - is ultimately aimed at debilitating the power of joy. Meaning, that same internal joy of comprehending the wisdom of Torah along with its holy attachment, is given and prolonged and strengthened in the process of studying external wisdom.

Since the light of chanukah represents the salvation of the Torah's wisdom from the external wisdom forced upon it, this salvation is integrally related to the freeing of the power of internal joy from the external joy, that it may be free and set apart for use like all holy matter, and set apart for special use with Torah study. "They will be yours alone, Others having no part with you."

If we come, then, to match up the blessings (brachot) of Torah study to the Torah-light of the Chanukah candles, we must say that these blessings of "sweeten for us" are the most appropriate. The salvation of the wisdom of Torah from the darkness of Greece is the return of the sweetness of divrei Torah (words of Torah) to its full inner strength, by means of restoring the distinction between the wisdom of Torah and other wisdoms, and to nullify the darkness brought about by the translation of the Torah into Greek. And through all of this, to strengthen the holiness of the separation between Israel and the nations which the translation sought to erase.

Once we are properly attuned to this process, we see that the Torah blessings of sweetness are intimately connected to the "Torah-light" of the menorah flames; this is the key for understanding the statement of the Rambam that the "mitzvah of the Chanukah lights are exceedingly precious." This preciousness is not an additional element of the mitzvah - for why would he note this point regarding Chanukah candles more than any other mitzvah? Rather, the essential fact of the salvation from Greek oppression, represented in the lights of the menorah, is actually the salvation of this very preciousness itself. And just like we see in words that the sages chose for the language of the blessings - namely, the emphasis on sweetness regarding Torah study - for that same reason, the Rambam chose the language of preciousness regarding the Menorah lights. And further we can now understand the Maggid Mishne, who cited the talmudic passage that one who is punctilious about the mitzvah of lighting the Menorah will merit to have scholarly children. Understand this.

16. And since we have arrived at this point, we must continue further. While it is true that in educating a person for a service, there is no need for them to be prepared in the form of being educable (mitchanech) - it is enough that they fulfill the service, even if simply out of routine. As long as the service is fulfilled, we needn't be concerned if the person's learning was only temporary. But if we can educate the person to experience the joy of the service, then that person will automatically retain the sense of preparation, for the preparation itself turns into a lifelong acquisition. When one performs service only out of routine, it saps the joy out of the performance; routine saps joy, as the sage [the Baal Shem Tov] taught: "constant joy is not joy."

And with that, we return to our opening discussion. It was only the inauguration of the Menorah performed by the Hasmoneans, for whom the preciousness was part and parcel of the act insofar as it represented a freeing of the sweetness of the light of Torah, which transformed itself into an educational model that transcended its own time and became a lasting phenomenon. One who follows this model will themselves achieve a deep-rootedness in the joy of Divine service.

17. Through all of this we can come to understand the significance of the emergence of Hellenized Jews specifically in the time of Greek oppression (there were no "Babylizers" during the Baylonian exile, etc.). For we have already seen how Greece was the first instance of the Torah prophecy of "I will create rebels against you, from among you." Its simple meaning seems to be that if a single Jewish person attacks or injures the masses of Jews due simply to their own degraded soul, that is not what the prophecy is speaking of. Rather, it speaks of a situation where the oppression is ultimately due to an external, occupying force. And along with this comes a diminishment of the people as described in the rebuke, of which a significant part is due to the actions of Jews themselves, whose actions can be seen as a fulfillment of Jeremiah's statement: "See, the House of Judah is like all other nations”. From this perspective we can relate to the internal Jewish detractors as a fulfillment of the rebuke, because at the end of the day it is the existence of the other nations which are the proximate cause, even though the detractors themselves are Jewish.

18. And thus we've returned to the beginning. The first internal rebellion within Judaism took place during Greek oppression, and these phenomena are inter-related. For even though the other nations oppose specific aspects of Judaism, it is specifically the stance of Greece which stands in opposition to the holiness of our separation from the other nations.

The first darkness of Greece was their claim of "we too are Israel." And since the internal fighting of Jew against Jew is part of the prophecy of the rebuke, its meaning is the blurring of the holiness of this separation, whose root source is in the Greek kingdom.

It seems that the blessing on the lights of the menorah are three-fold. The salvation from the Greek polemic of "We too are Israel"; the salvation of the believing Jews from the Hellenizing Jews who represented "The House of Judah is like all other nations"; and the salvation of the inner wisdom of the sages from the external wisdom of the Greeks and the Hellenists. Paralleling this we see the liturgy of the thanksgiving blessing on Chanukah is also three-fold: "you delivered...the impure into the hands of the pure, the wicked into the hands of the righteous and the arrogant into the hands of those engaged with Your Torah." Clearly, we who have merited to be among those who toil in the study of Torah, know for certain that within the oil of the Chanukah menorah are hidden great storehouses of power in strengthen our guarding of the boundary between the wisdom of Torah and other wisdoms. It should remain closed and secure in its purity to allow us to continue striving in and for Torah's wisdom. "They will be yours alone, Others having no part with you."

Across from each other at Target: