SEEING THE LIGHT

There is a remarkable law quoted in the Talmud (Shabbat 23a) and codified in the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim 767:3)

Someone sees a Chanuka light. They know they are not going to be able to light a Menora themselves that night, and no-one else is going to do it on their behalf. (E.g., they are travelling.) Nevertheless, they should make the following blessing on simply seeing the Chanuka lights:

“Blessed are You HaShem…She’asa Nisim La’avotenu, Bayamim Hahem Bazman Hazah – Who performed miracles for our ancestors in those days, at this time.”

Normally, a person kindling the Chanuka candles says this blessing together with the one on lighting the Menorah – Lehadlik Ner Shel Chanuka.

But it seems that this blessing is so important that even if he is not going to light himself, when he sees someone else’s light, he must still thank G-d for the miracles that were performed at this time. This doesn’t apply in any other situation in Judaism. For example, someone who can’t eat matza doesn’t make a blessing on seeing someone else eat matza, even though the matza reminds us of the miracle of the exodus. Someone who can’t sit in a Succah doesn’t make a blessing on seeing someone else sit in a Succah, even though the Succah reminds us of G-d’s protection during the forty years in the desert.

It is clear that simply seeing the Chanuka lights connects us enough to the miracles that took place that we must thank G-d for them with a blessing. This points to a fundamental feature of Chanuka that distinguishes it from every other festival.

Although Pesach recalls the Exodus, the beginning of our nationhood and Shavuot, the drama of Revelation on Mount Sinai, there was a time in Jewish history when we nearly lost it all.

When Antiochus IV enacted his legislation enforcing Hellenism and banning key Jewish practices, such as Shabbat and circumcision, shockingly, these measures were embraced enthusiastically by many in the Jewish community. The Second Book of Maccabees (4:14) records how young priests would abandon the Temple service to run and participate in the new gymnasium built in Jerusalem. Matters came to a head when the Temple was defiled with a sacrifice of pig to the Greek gods.

Had not Matityahu and his sons rebelled, fought back, and against all odds defeated their enemies and rededicated the Temple, Judaism would have gone the way of other ancient sects and become a footnote in history.

Indeed, the late Christopher Hitchens, in an outrageous essay entitled Bah! Hannukah (in his book, God Is Not Great: Why Religion Poisons Everything) blames us for surviving and then giving the world Christianity and Islam!

When we see the light, we see the light!

The light of Chanuka is an instant vision of the inextinguishable faith of our people that has survived across the millennia, despite the efforts to snuff out our lives or our beliefs. It reminds us of the miracles that occurred then, and the ongoing miracle of Jewish survival today.

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Chanuka.