Today I would like to look at the origins of the mitzvah to light Chanukah candles in The Talmud (Shabbat 21a) to gain some insight into the meaning of this holiday.
The Talmud says,
“The mitzvah of Chanukah is for each person to light 1 candle in their house. A beautiful way to do this mitzvah is for each person in the house to light 1 candle. The most beautiful way to do this mitzvah…Bet Hillel says on the first day you light one candle and then you continue to add on candle more on each of the following nights…the rationale for Bet Hillel’s opinion is because we want to ascend in holiness.”
Normally, the Talmud will state a law and the details of how to fulfill that law, or the Talmud will record a few opposing opinions with regard to the basic details of the law. The above section of the Talmud which relays the basic law for Chanukah candles is to light 1 candle and then provides 2 degrees of a more beautiful way to do it is uncommon. Often if the Talmud relays different levels of doing a mitzvah, the bottom line is what is accepted and then people on an individual basis choose if they want to do the more beautiful way of doing it. But the fact that the Jewish people has universally adopted the most beautiful way to fulfill mitzvah as the only way to fulfill the mitzvah alludes to what Chanukah is really about.
Bet Hillel says that we add an additional candle on each night because we want to ascend in holiness. This is what Chanukah is really about. There is a difference between surviving and thriving. It’s a beautiful thing to celebrate the survival of the Jewish people, but Chanukah is even more beautiful because we aren’t just celebrating a bottom line survival of the Jewish people, we are celebrating the continuity of Judaism and Jewish culture. And when it comes to the continuity of Judaism as a culture and a way of live we don’t just want it to survive, we want to THRIVE!
Therefore the law about lighting candles is a lesson to take with us for the rest of the year both individually and communally. On the individual level, Chanukah candles are teaching us that to live a thriving Jewish life we don’t just want to maintain our religious status-quo and only be concerned with what is the bottom line minimal amount of Jewishness I need to put into my life in order to be a good Jew is, it’s teaching us that we want to be ascending in holiness and always looking for ways to add more spiritual connection to our personal lives, and by doing this in the context of a community we will ensuring the continuing growth and depth of the Jewish community and hopefully the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment