The Enhancement of Kedushah

Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav Kook

The Enhancement of Kedushah

(Excerpts from a Talk given by HaRav Shaul Yisraeli at Yeshivath Mercaz HaRav, on Hannukah, 5755)

The Enhancement of Kedushah

"...The Sages taught: the mitzvah of kindling the light of Hannukah falls upon each person and their household...Beth Shammai says: the first day eight lights are kindled, from then on the number lessens...and Beth Hillel says: the first day one light is kindled, from then on the number increases..." (Shabbath 21b)

According to Beth Shammai: the number of lights "lessens"; according to Beth Hillel: the number of lights "increases". Both Opinions are explained by the Gemara, which expounds the controversy within two contexts. The simple explanation is that the number of lights "corresponded in one case, to the number of days of the holiday which were to come, and in the other case, to the number of days which had already departed." But there is also another more closely applicable explanation according to which Beth Shammai derive this Opinion from a study of the Offerings of the Festival of Sukkoth - more specifically the number of the offerings of the bullocks which grew less each of the seven days of Sukkoth. On the first day of the Sukkoth Festival 13 bullocks were included in the festival burnt-offerings, on the second day 12, and so on. (Num. 29:12-36) All together the number of bullocks totaled seventy. According to the Sages this number corresponded to the seventy nations of the world whose numbers will lessen and diminish. Israel is likened to the offering whose number will remain fixed and constant and will never disappear. (v., Rashi - Num. 29:18; Sukkah 55b) The order in which the Festival Sacrifices are brought "lessens". Thus we see a connection between the matter of Hannukah and that of the Festival offerings.

The second Opinion, however, that of Beth Hillel postulates that: "one should enhance, not lessen, the importance of holy matters." Here we see that there is a controversy over the import of the days of Hannukah.

This matter is reflected in a previous incident, which takes place in the early days of Israel's history, which is the subject of the parshioth which are associated with the Hannukah period. This is the matter of the selling of Joseph into slavery by his brothers, and the manner in which events developed as a result. For on the one hand, the heart of the matter will in fact be the fulfillment of the Divine Intent, in contrast to what was planned by those who intended to sell Joseph into slavery. Nor does the matter end here, although it may seem to at first glance.

Shortly after these events appears this passage "And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren" (Gen. 39:1). The Sages relate this passage to one in Jeremiah (Bereshith Rabbah 5) : "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the L-rd, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." (Jer. 29:11) That is, explain the Sages, while the Brethren were occupied with the Selling of Joseph into slavery, while Joseph was occupied with mourning and fasting, while Reuben was occupied with mourning and fasting, while Jacob was occupied with mourning and fasting, and while Judah was occupied with taking a wife, with what was G-d occupied? He was occupied with the creation of the messianic light. For as a result of the events surrounding Judah's marriage Peretz was born. Peretz was one of the primal ancestors of King David, and from the line of King David is destined to come the mashiah.

The messianic light revolves through strange cycles, in a manner opposite to that which we would think. The Brethren were occupied with selling their brother Joseph into slavery, saying "we shall see what will become of his dreams" (Gen. 38:1) They thought that by this means they could bring those dreams to naught. What then did the Almighty? By means of those very deeds, through which Joseph's brethren hoped to bring his dreams to naught, saying "we shall see what will become of his dreams" - G-d said: "we shall see what will become of his dreams", by means of this selling him into slavery. Through their own deeds, by which they had hoped to annul Joseph's dreams, they helped to bring about their fulfillment. They themselves brought about the situation wherein they came to bow down before their brother, as he had envisioned.

But this was not G-d's principle aim. That was that "thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years" (Gen. 15:13). For as Jacob said, "...I have heard there is corn in Egypt. ...Get you down thither..." (Gen. 42:2 - v. Rashi) This was the count, that started the first Bondage of Israel. But, again the matter did not end here. For the end purpose was that Israel "shall come out with great substance" (Gen. 15: 15). And this too is not the end of the matter, but in the final accounting, the goal is to reach the messianic light. This light will be brought to us through these great cycles, this reality of varied exiles - of "serve them...[and be afflicted by] them" in the first exile, and also "I AM THAT I AM" (Exod. 3:14) of the following exiles. All this is entailed within the Divine "thoughts" - "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the L-rd..." (Jer. 29:11; v. Bereshith Rabbah 5). "Thoughts of peace" - thoughts of a new light that will shine upon Zion - thoughts of the messianic light.

This was the terrible reality of the beginnings of the first exile - the time of "serving and being afflicted " - that the source of the exile flowed from the deeds of Israel themselves, from the Brethren themselves, from their own actions. As if we had taken upon ourselves to come to a land that was not ours and to make the yoke of our bondage heavier. As if the bondage that was already ours in Eretz Israel in the form of the beginning of the days of Isaac was not sufficient but had to be in the form of "shall serve [and] afflict them", so that afterwards we could be made fit for Eretz Israel. But the preparation for Eretz Israel, was still not complete.

And so we come to the period of the Second Temple. We come to the war of the Maccabbees against the Greeks - and not less against the Greeks than against the Hellenists - against this reality of our own brethren of Israel who estrange themselves from all manner of Jewish Morality, of the Jewish function, of the Jewish destiny, of a Jewish Eretz Israel and a Jerusalem of Torah, of the Temple of the sacrifices of Israel. This was the total estrangement of the Hellenists from all those things. And in opposition to them came deliverance at the hands of the Maccabbees.

And so we examine this reality of the Maccabbees, we inquire and read further what happened subsequently - how they attained a kingdom for Israel, and how it was this kingship which in the final account brought about the Destruction of Israel (Ramban Bereshith 49:10) For it was the Hashmoneans who called in and invited Pompey the Roman to be the arbiter and judge in the controversy between two brothers of the house of the Hashmoneans, Hyrcanus and Aristobolus. Thus it was that in the final account the Romans became the rulers in Eretz Israel through the Maccabbees. So that the great awakening the Maccabbees had brought to the Land was the very means by which the lights were "lessened".

This was the same process of "lessening" as was represented by the sacrifice of the bullocks on Sukkoth, by whom G-d reckons the nations, who are destined to "lessen and diminish". For it is Knesseth Israel which must be the good, the central reality, as the seventy bullocks "lessen and diminish". For though we pray for their welfare and bless them, still they diminish. This is the reality, says Beth Shammai, that as we keep and honor the days of the Hannukah, so they too "lessen and diminish". For though the Maccabbees began by bringing about a great awakening, yet because they did not know how to use their great achievement of an independent kingship for Israel, instead it became a focus for strife and dispute until in the end they were ready to use the "wisdom of the Greeks" and to pollute the Holy Temple with an unclean animal as weapons against one another in their war of brother against brother (M'nachoth 64:b).

This is the Opinion of Beth Shammai - We must remember that the kingdom of Israel can sometimes be the cause for taking us in an entirely different direction than was the intent behind its attainment. When our kingship is wrongly used, when we lose our true faith - then the lights of Israel "lessen". Let us remember this, says Beth Shammai, for though upon the one hand we give thanks for the great miracle which has taken place, still we must know how to keep guard upon ourselves after this miracle, that we may not, G-d forbid, become debased in character. We must remember that G-d has performed this miracle for us, it was not we who did this. Certainly we must take care that the kingdom which we are establishing ought to be a kingdom of Torah, a kingdom of Judaism, of the unique Jewish condition. We must be aware that it is our task not to learn from the corruption of others, but rather to be those who instruct in the right way. This is what Beth Shammai are saying.

Beth Hillel says - all this is true; this is our reality. Nonetheless we must not forget that all this is only a means to the end. For after the Second Temple there will be a Third Temple, and a messianic light which had already begun to be kindled at the beginnings of our time - "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you..." - in the same time that the Brethren themselves were bringing about our Bondage. This account has revolved through all the exiles, through this exile too, this Hellenism, these difficult trials that have brought Rome to rule over us and the unclean animal to pollute Jerusalem, but in the final account the Jewish spirit will prevail. For "one should enhance, not lessen, the importance of holy matters". For this lessening is only a way, only a means, to a higher end. In the final accounting we shall prevail and rise higher and higher until the messianic light grows and blooms and bursts forth. This is what the Torah taught us in reference to the Brethren; this is what Beth Hillel teaches us in reference to the Maccabbees.

And this same point may be made in reference to ourselves. We too erred, we who were part of the generation in whose time the State of Israel was established. It was not the period of the Hashmoneans, but it was a time of awakening of the Jewish spirit, a time of idealism and a desire to appreciate ourselves as ourselves, the nurturing of Jewish nationalism, of Jewish uniqueness. But subsequently, when the "kingdom" was established they forgot what they had believed in. Those in authority began to take into account the needs of the surrounding nations over our own needs. They began to question our unique rights here...This manner of conduct has its source in forgetting who we are, in being ignorant of what our purpose is, of wherein lies the strength of the People of Israel, of what the goals and aims of the People and Land of Israel are...

We must repeat to ourselves - "one should enhance, not lessen, the importance of holy matters". If indeed, we do found ourselves in a situation of perplexity and confusion, if we find ourselves in a state of decline, if indeed there is a perception of "lessening and diminishing", then out of this we must rise to "increase and enhance", the inner awakening that will finally set in motion Klal Israel. For our particularity lies not in our power and our physical strength but in uniting together in the Jewish oneness, that binds us to the Torah, that binds us to Eretz Israel. Only thus can we know our own uniqueness as Your People - for Thou has Chosen us from among all the nations - and from this special principle which is ours, we must nurture ourselves, we must obligate ourselves, and we must dedicate ourselves - "to enhance...the importance of holy matters", so that in the final accounting the messianic light will indeed grow and bloom and flourish.
...there is no doubt that G-d will show the way to Knesseth Israel to rise higher and higher! And if there has been a decline, it was a decline for the purpose of rising - "to enhance, not lessen, the importance of holy matters"!
Let the halakhah be as Beth Hillel, and let us all bring back to ourselves this reality, this truth of the first Maccabbees, that this spirit may be awakened in our time. Let us awaken, let us strengthen ourselves, that G-d may shed a new light upon Zion quickly and in our days, amen!

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