The Nine Hanukkahs of Light
Rabbi Isaac Roussel, Congregation Zera Avraham, Ann Arbor, MI
Part One
Hanukkah begins this coming Sunday evening. We all know the story, how Mattityahu and his sons led a war against the Syrian king, Antiochus, who had demanded that the Jews give up their faith and merge with the pagan Hellenism of the day. The sons of Mattityahu were successful and recaptured the Temple. It had been desecrated with idols and the sacrifices of pigs. The Jewish soldiers cleansed the Temple, brought in the priests, and rededicated it. This is where we get the name Hanukkah, which means “dedication.”
A midrash (Pesikta Rabbati 2:2) says there was not just one Hanukkah but actually seven. The seven mentioned in the midrash are:
1. The Hanukkah of Creation
Genesis 2:1 says “when the heavens and earth were completed.” The midrash says that “completed” here refers to dedication, because when Israel had completed all of the accoutrements of the Tabernacle Moses dedicated them to be used in holy service. So, goes the midrash, God dedicated creation.
2. The Hanukkah of the Tabernacle
As we just mentioned, Moses dedicated the Tabernacle to the service of Hashem.
3. The Hanukkah of the First Temple
King David wrote a psalm for the dedication of the First Temple, which was actually performed by his son Solomon. Psalm 30 starts out, Mizmor shir hanukkat habayit, “A psalm, a song, for the dedication of the Temple.”
4. The Hanukkah of the Second Temple
In the time of Ezra when they rebuilt the Temple, they dedicated it with sacrifices.
5. The Hanukkah of the Wall of Jerusalem
When Nehemiah led the people to finish the wall around Jerusalem they dedicated it. In Nehemiah 12 it says, “And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they sought all the Levites from all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to rejoice in the dedication”
6. The Hanukkah of the Maccabees
This is the Hanukkah that we are currently celebrating.
7. The Hanukkah of Olam Ha-Ba (the World to Come)
In Isaiah 30 it says, “The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days.” This, say our Sages, refers to the end of time, Olam Ha-Ba, when Hashem will dedicate the New Heavens and New Earth.
I would like to propose to you that there are in fact nine Hanukkahs, not seven; these nine round out the number of the Hanukkah menorah. We are the eighth Hanukkah of light. All of us are called to dedicate ourselves to Hashem. The ninth Hanukkah of light is the Hanukkah of Messiah Yeshua. He is the Shammash, the servant candle. He is our example of total dedication to Hashem. But he is also the one who lights our fire of dedication and empowers us to shed that light to the world.
Let’s consider three specific aspects of Hanukkah that Yeshua exemplifies and that we are also called to.
First, Hanukkah is about dedication to Torah.
Antiochus had ordered our people to give up Torah and adopt Hellenistic ways. Mattityahu and his sons and those who fought with them refused to do this. They showed their dedication to Torah by resisting this forced enculturation and, with God’s help, defeating their enemies.
The book of Maccabees records Mattityahu’s words to his sons as he lay on his death bed:
My children, be zealous for the Torah, and give your lives in behalf of the testament of our fathers. Be mindful of the deeds of our fathers, which they performed in their generations, that you may receive great glory and eternal renown. Was not Abraham found faithful in time of trial, and it was accounted to him for righteousness? . . . Be strong and courageous in behalf of the Torah . . . gather about you all who observe the Torah, and avenge fully the wrong done to your people. (1 Maccabees 2:50–67)
If it were not for their dedication to Torah, we might not even be here today. Judaism could have simply ceased to exist.
Yeshua himself was also dedicated to Torah. Yeshua did not abrogate or cancel the Torah; instead he upheld it and gave it its fullest meaning. He said, “I did not come to abolish the Torah, but to fulfill it” (Matt 5:17).
His issue with the leaders of his day wasn’t that they obeyed the Law, but that they let ritual aspects of Torah supersede what he called the weightier aspects, namely mercy and compassion. He says to them, “You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the Torah—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former” (Matt 23:23). Notice that he doesn’t tell them not to obey these lighter commandments, but that they should be kept in addition to the weightier ones.
Yeshua showed his dedication to the Torah through his actions as well as his teachings. He consistently sent people that he healed to the priests for verification that they were in fact healed. He could have been a total rebel and told them not to mess with the priests and their rules. But instead he upheld their authority and ensured that all of the aspects of Torah were fulfilled.
Hanukkah calls upon us to also be dedicated to Torah. We are in an age not unlike that of the Maccabees. If you read historical accounts of Hanukkah, you realize that observance was already on its way out when Antiochus issued his edict against Jewish practice. Jews were already slowly being Hellenized; many had already fully assimilated into Greek culture. This is why the Sadducees were opposed to the doctrine of angels and life after death. They were priests who were highly assimilated into Greek culture. They felt it unsophisticated and contrary to modern philosophical thinking to believe in such things.
The reality is that it might have been for the best that Antiochus forced the issue with his edict, because it pushed the issue to the forefront. Had he not, some historians think that Judaism would have simply faded slowly away.
Today is similar to that. We have a high rate of assimilation. Torah observance is at an all-time low in the United States and Israel. We must be dedicated enough to the observance of Torah that we do our part to preserve it. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch said, “One single spark, loyally treasured in but one single Jewish heart, is sufficient for God to set aflame once more the whole spirit of Judaism.” Each one of us is that one small candle, which God can do a miracle with.
Every morning we pray in the Shacharit service:
Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with his commandments and has commanded us to engross ourselves in the words of Torah. Please, Hashem, our God, sweeten the words of your Torah in our mouth and in the mouth of your people, the family of Israel.
The root word of Hanukkah is Hanakh, Het-Nun-Kaf, which means “to train.” We are to train ourselves in Torah. Train as athletes do for a major competition.
The Rabbis say that Hanukkah marks a shift from Torah being transmitted by the prophets and the priests, to each individual Jew. When the Jews of that day were confronted with either apostasy or death, they were forced to internalize the Torah themselves and no longer just follow what their leaders said. After the Maccabean rebellion, the Torah is always quoted in the name of individuals. In the Mishnah we see references to the Torah of Rav/Rabbi so-and-so. We are called to make the Torah our Torah. Hanukkah calls us to be dedicated to God’s Torah, to teach it to our children, teach it to one another, and thereby preserve it.
Next time we'll look at two more ways in which Yeshua exemplifies Hanukkah and empowers us to do the same.
Happy Hanukkah!