Rethinking the Hasmonean Kings

The LORD will inscribe in the register of peoplesthat each was born there. Selah.

(105) Your word is a lamp to my feet, a light for my path.

Your eyes saw my unformed limbs;they were all recorded in Your book;in due time they were formed,to the very last one of them.^-a

“What is Chanuka?” (Shabbat 21b). It is written (Tehilim, 119: 105), “Your word is a candle to my feet, and light for my path.” “A candle to my feet,” meaning that God bestows the words of Torah in a way that “His Sovreignty in all of His dominion” (Tehilim, 103:19) is recognized in each detail of action. “A light for my path” means that God illuminates a special recognition also in a general way, for “the kingdom is His.” (It is written this way) because a candle is something specific, and light something general. God created the world in general, and divided it into three categories—time, place, and person. It is written (Tehilim, 139:16), “He fashioned days, and it is in one of them” (usually understood that when He created each of the six days of creation He knew everything, every detail, that would ever happen in that day for all time to come).This means that in these three categories, He chose in particular the choicest element through which to illuminate in a revealed way a specific light and the recognition of His sovereignty, may it be blessed. In the category of place, He created the world in general, where the land of Israel is sanctified above the whole earth. (See Mishna Kelim, Ch. 1:6.) Jerusalem sanctified above all the land of Israel, the five-hundred-square cubits of the temple mount sanctified above Jerusalem, and the courtyard and chamber sanctified above them all. In this very place He commanded to light the Menorah in order to illuminate this particular recognition in this specific place. In the category of time He created the six days of creation, in particular the day of Shabbat, and then we also find the commandment to kindle the light of Shabbat. In the category of person He chose specifically the nation of Israel out of all the nations. For now, until the final birrur (clarification) in Israel, He chose the tribe of Levi, and among them the Cohanim, and among them the High Priest, and gave him in particular the commandment to light the Menorah.


In the days of the Hasmoneans, the Holy One, blessed be He, shone into them from the illumination of the future, for at that time he merited Malchut, sovereignty. And so it is that in the future Moshiach ben David will reveal this illumination when the birur is complete and the chosen tribe is Yehuda. So then, when the Hasmoneans merited this Malchut, the light of the recognition of the chosenness of each individual soul in Israel was greatly increased. As a result from the miracle of the Menorah, an individual candle (illumination) was established for the chosenness of each individual soul in Israel.This is as King David said (Tehilim, 87:6), “God will count, when He writes down the nations, and for Zion He will say each one born to her.” “Count, when He writes down the nations,” for with the nations, God’s Providence is only for the endurance of the species, like other parts of creation. “And for Zion He will say each one born to her” is that for Israel the Providence of the Holy One, blessed be He, is for each individual soul, each one born to her. The verse continues, “and He will establish her at the highest,” means that for every one born to Israel, immediately upon birth, there is a recognition that the choicest soul has been born anew, and this is as it is said, “a candle for every one.” This is the difference of opinion between the house of Shammai and the house of Hillel, meaning just how the final birrur, refinement, will be in Israel, and how to light the Chanuka candles, which hint at this. The house of Shammai asserts that we light all eight on the first night, and remove a candle each night, like the (13) bulls (on the first day) of succot, (each day decreasing by one, until 7 were offered on the last day.) This represents how the birur destroys the waste, decreasing and continuing until the Kedusha (holiness) remains, completely clarified. The house of Hillel asserts that we add and continue, adding a candle each night, for here the principle is to cause the Kedusha to spread forth at all times, and this in and of itself nullifies the waste.This is also the meaning of the Halacha for the time of lighting the candles “from the setting of the sun until the foot [regel] finishes from the market,” meaning that (with lighting) no force of habit [hergel] will be found in any soul in Israel. This is the mitzvah to light it in the doorway of the house from outside, meaning that the candle—this recognition discussed above—should illuminate every step with intent for the sake of Heaven. And of what is said (Shabbat, 21b), “until the wood-sellers will leave the market [who would stay after everyone else had left to gather leftover wood],” which means, when the final birrur in Israel will be completed.Concerning this it is explained in the tractate Yevamot (17b), “they established six thousand archers [who went and raped the daughters of Jerusalem at the time of the destruction],” meaning that their seed was mixed into Israel, and this is the principal reason for the lengthening of the exile. When this becomes undergoes birur, then God’s will will be explicit before us, and this is “from the setting of the sun,” for the sun hints at the principles of the words of Torah, and in the future these principles will not be necessary; rather God will cause an effusion of explicit understanding to each one in Israel for each specific action. This is as it is said, “a Chanuka candle that is placed above twenty cubits is invalid,” which is true for a sukkah and a mavoy (an open street or alley, concerning its width in the laws of Eruvin, symbolic Shabbat boundaries). (So for the three general divisions of existence) the Chanuka candle represents person, sukkah represents place, and the mavoy (in the laws of Shabbat) represents time, for the choicest of times is Shabbat.

“And God spoke to Moshe in the wilderness of Sinai in the Tent of Appointed Meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year from their departure from the land of Egypt, saying, Raise [count] the heads of all the congregation of the children of Israel.” (Bamidbar, 1:1–2)“Raise” signifies importance. By means of counting the numbers of each tribes, every individual will know his special importance. This is as it is written (Hoshea, 2:1), “And the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted.” This verse seems to contradict itself (v. Gemara Yoma, 22b), for at the beginning it says, “and the number,” implying that they can be counted, and at the end it says, “which cannot be measured.” But in truth, the community of Israel as a whole is without number, and what was said, “and the number,” was said concerning the specific souls of Israel, that each one should have a number.This is said in the sense that something that is counted will be important in the eyes of God, as it is written (Tehilim, 87:6–5, Tr. of Hirsch), “God will count when he registers the peoples.” “But of Zion it is said, every man that was born there, the Most High maintains her thus.” “God will count when He registers the peoples” meaning that the Providence of the Holy One, blessed be He, also extends to the nations of the world. Not in an individual way, but in a general way for the maintenance of the species. “But of Zion it is said, every man that was born there, the Most High maintains her thus” means that the Providence of the Holy One, blessed be He, is over each individual soul.This is the meaning of “and the number of the children of Israel,” that each and every one will be absolutely necessary. The greatness of God is seen in the entire community of Israel as a whole, and if just one member of that community is missing then the mixture will be deficient. It is as if the image of the king were made up of a mosaic of many small parts, and if just one of the parts were missing, then the picture of the king would be lacking. So at the time when each member of Israel is counted, then He is the greatness in all of Israel, for each one of Israel is a portion of God. This is as it is written (Devarim, 32:9), “for His nation is a portion of God.” Each individual possesses one of the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He, and at the time when that individual is counted, then God himself is present in that attribute which he possesses, and clearly whatever is being counted is at that time the greatest of all. This is how each member of Israel has a special state of elevation.

And to Zion it will be said of each one that he was born in her [and is being returned]. And He shall establish it as supreme [over all the cities].