The Oil and the Shechinah
Q:
What’s the significance of the nes shemen? It’s a miracle but what’s so important about it, that it should be the main miracle we celebrate?
A:
We have to understand what happened at that time.
You know, in the Mishkan and the Beis Hamikdash there was a menorah and part of the avodas Beis Hamikdash was לְהַעֲלוֹת נֵר תָּמִיד, that the kohanim had to kindle the lamp of the menorah.
Now, the Gemara explains something interesting about this menorah. It says that in the days of old, in the Bayis Rishon, when they used to come in in the morning after the lamps had burned out, there was one lamp, the ner ma’aravi, that continued to burn always. It was a miracle. It didn’t go out. And they used that miracle lamp to rekindle all the other lamps. Then they put out the ner ma’aravi and they kindled that too, from the other lamps.
Now the Gemara (Shabbos 22b) says about this phenomenon that the menorah was עֵדוּת הִיא לְכָל בָּאֵי עוֹלָם – it’s a testimony to all those who come into the world. It means everybody, even gentiles, has to know this, שֶׁהַשְּׁכִינָה שׂוֹרָה בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל – that the Shechinah rests on the people of Yisroel. That’s what the light of the menorah, the miraculous ner ma’aravi, served as: It was a special sign that Hashem is here; that He’s dwelling among the Am Yisroel.
Now, that background is fundamental in our understanding of the nes Chanukah because you have to know that at the time of the nes Chanukah there was no menorah at all. For years the gentiles had kept the Beis Hamikdash in their power. You couldn’t come in. You couldn’t kindle the menorah. And so there was no miracle anymore, where the ner ma’aravi stayed lit.
And so a question began to enter the mind of those Jews. Is the Shechinah still with us? It was a question that bothered them: The fact that for all these years the menorah was not kindled and there was no nes, did that demonstrate any weakness, any reduction, any diminishing, of the presence of the Shechinah in Yisroel?
Now, today we wouldn’t think of such questions. It doesn’t concern us too much. And not because we have emunah that the Shechinah is with us, no. It’s because we have other worries on our mind. How to buy a better house; how to change our furniture every few years. Where to go in the summertime, which bungalow colony. We have other things to keep us busy, to worry about. But in the days of old you must realize this was the main concern of the Jewish people. Is the Shechinah with us like before?
And then out of the blue like a bolt of lightning came the nes Chanukah. The menorah, the symbol of the Shechinah resting on the Am Yisroel, is burning again! And it’s not going out! It’s something miraculous! Baruch Hashem the Shechinah did not depart from us!
And that’s what the Chanukah lights are proclaiming! When you see the Chanukah lights flittering in your house or in anybody’s house that’s a demonstration the Shechinah will always be with the Jewish people. And for that לְהוֹדוֹת וּלְהַלֵּל – that’s what we have to thank Hashem for on Chanukah!
And even when the lights go out after a half hour, or even at the end of Chanukah, the Shechinah will never go out. That was the lesson of the nes, that forever and ever it burns. It burns not only in the hearts of the Jewish people. It’s a light above our heads, the Shechinah. It’s a great happiness forever and ever and that’s the great Chanukah lamp that will never go out.
December 1986
Spread the Good Word
Q:
Can you explain what’s the big idea of pirsumei nissa?
A:
Pirsumei nissa means that we have to go against the world – the world wants to hide the nes; they want to make it into nothing – and so we have to pull the nes out from its secret and publicize it.
That’s why Chanukah, in the olden days, you had to light the lamp outside of your door. Nobody lit in the house; the ner Chanukah was put in the street. Remember the Mishna in Bava Kama (62b)? גָּמָל שֶׁהָיָה טָעוּן פִּשְׁתָּן – A camel was loaded with flax and he passed by the ner Chanukah that someone had placed outside and the ner Chanukah set fire to the camel’s load and the fire burned down the house. So the Gemara says that the man who put the ner Chanukah outside is patur because he did it b’reshus – he’s not responsible for the damages caused by his fire because he had a right to keep it outside. Everybody had a right to put ner Chanukah in the street in those days because that was the crux of the mitzvah, to publicize it.
Now, nes means to uplift, to raise up, but we’re not interested in elevating the nes per se. It means to uplift Hashem. Like we say in Al Hanissim, וּלְךָ עָשִׂיתָ שֵׁם גָּדוֹל בְּעוֹלָמֶךָ – You made for Yourself a great Name in the world. The purpose of the nes is to elevate Hashem’s name in the world, to make great the Hand of Hashem in this olam, in this world.
You know what olam means? It means ‘concealed’. Why is this world called ‘concealed’? Because Hashem is hidden in this world. Even though He is מְלֹא כָל הָאָרֶץ כְּבוֹדוֹ, even though He is everywhere but people don’t want to see Him; they don’t look for Him so He’s concealed in the world. And so we say נְקַדֵּשׁ אֶת שִׁמְךָ בָּעוֹלָם, that in this world of darkness and concealment we are going to sanctify Your name. We’re going to light our candles and we’re going to say, “Af al pi ken, even though you, the world, wants to hide Him away, we’re going to say the truth. We’re here to tell the world – at least among ourselves we have to say it – that the Shechinah is with us forever!”
We say to all of those who bring darkness upon the world with their false religions and their colorful lights and their lies about Hashem changing His mind, chas veshalom – they say He changed His mind and said goodbye to the Am Yisroel and He chose a mamzer instead – so we say nothing doing. We light the ner Chanukah in public in order to demonstrate that He did a nes for us and that שֶׁהַשְּׁכִינָה שׂוֹרָה בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל. That’s the purpose of the neiros Chanukah, to publicize what Hakadosh Baruch Hu did for us, the miracle that demonstrated that He is with the Am Yisroel forever.
But it’s not enough, just to light the neiros. We have to talk about the nes, about the One Who made the nes. So if you’re going to make a little party, a Chanukah party, make sure to talk about the nes. We have to make latkes too. We have to buy dreidelach for the children. We have to teach the family to enjoy Chanukah. We have to do everything. But don’t forget while doing all these things to din in their ears over and over again the nes of Chanukah. The nes of Chanukah, the nes of Chanukah, the nes of Chanukah over and over again.
Let them remember that it was the yad Hashem; it was a demonstration of the Glory, the Might of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, in order to publicize that He is with us and will be with us forever.
November 1981