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- Articles about Hanukkah
Jewish tradition and the rabbis of the Mishna took a wondrous event that many people would look at as being ordinary or natural and restored it to its true wondrous state. The story of Chanukah is that of a small and apparently weak nation overcoming a mighty army of a world empire. It records a triumph of monotheism and Jewish tradition over pagan culture and practices, of small lights in the Temple that were pure over flaming torches that were far from pure, of the vitality and resilience of Israel over those who would wish to snuff it out of existence. It is all wondrous but only if one views it all as being wondrous. The rabbis in their holy perspective of Jewish life and events elevated the mundane and seemingly ordinary to become miraculous and eternal. That is basically the main lesson that Chanukah teaches us - that we are a special people who live a miraculous existence with constant wonder surrounding us and yet is all encrusted in seemingly natural and ordinary occurrences. To deligitamize the story of Chanukah and to treat as just another ancient war of the Grecian period is the same tactic that the world uses today to deligitamize the State of Israel and our rights in our ancient homeland. If the wonder of it all is lost and forfeited than so is our struggle for existence and independence. Chanukah is pure wonder and hence its importance and relevance to us in today’s world.
Perhaps more than other holidays of the Jewish year, Chanukah is a children’s holiday. Tradition allows even the youngest to light the Chanukah candles, to play dreidel, to taste latkes and sufganyot, to have time off from school and to observe the holiday through the eyes and sense of a child. Children still retain their sense of wonder and imagination. Their world is not usually bound by the practicalities, realism and sometimes pessimism of their elders. Everything in life is still new and unexpected, worthy of curiosity and examination. Theirs is yet a magical world, even a spiritual world, viewed from a different plane of perception and thought. Therefore Chanukah is the perfect holiday for children for it requires this perspective to be made wondrous, miraculous and thereby meaningful and beneficial. Chanukah is not for the jaded and empty spirited. Its candles flicker only for those that see the fire of Torah, tradition and morality that lies beneath their small surfaces. One who is privileged and able to see the wonder of the events that occurred to us "in those days" will also be able to discern the wonders that we encounter daily here in Israel "in our time."
Rabbis in Midrash
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Hosha'ana Rabba FLYDUBAI & HOSHANA RABBA- ANI VAHU HOSHIA NA- I & HIM SAVE US
"Ani vaHu Hoshia Na", "I and Him, Save Us". We don't just pray to Him, but we also pray to and for ourselves that we should emulate and educate our children to have that instinctive altruism with which He created the world. President Trump seemed amused about Yaniv Hayon, our PLUMBER who confidently worked with G-d like Superman (he learned from a pilot on a TV show!) to save 174 lives on the Dubai hijacking, but we in Israel are totally accustomed already 78 years to our plumbers, teachers, garbage-men, rabbis, farmers & doctors being Hashem's shlichim! This is what Zionism is about.
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part I
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Our King on Rosh Hashana, Our Father on Yom Kippur.
Based on Aroch Siach, p. 221 (Rav Shaul Yisraeli)
