Chanukah and Education
In Jewish education, there are times when a child (and the child within us) has to know that he or she must search, probe, question and seek answers. Never be satisfied with what we now understand. The child must also know that there are certain things that are elusive; they are beyond us and for which we do not know the answer.
Two Education Holidays
There are two Holidays that relate to chinuch/education of children: The Biblical Holiday of Pesach and the rabbinic Holiday of Chanukah One of the characteristics of chinuch is the interaction between the educator and those whom he or she is educating. That interaction is punctuated by the questions that the student asks, and the way the teacher responds to those questions.
The Power of Questions
Pesach and Chanukah are both Holidays of chinuch and they are therefore both involve questions.
We all know that the Seder features the four question asked by the child. In addition, we are told that certain customs—such as dipping the parsley in salt-water— were designed to get the child to ask questions.
Chanukah is also a Holiday, about which hundreds of questions have been asked in Torah literature, ranging from Halacha (Jewish law) to Kabbalah. There are certain questions that have been asked repeatedly and for which hundreds of answers have been provided.
So the common denominator of these two Holidays is that they both involve questions.
Difference between Pesach Questions and Chanukah Questions
Where they differ, however, is that Pesach focuses on the questions; Chanukah dwells on the answers as well.
During Pesach the child is encouraged to ask questions, but the answers are not always forthcoming. For example, the reason we dip the parsley in salt-water is to get the child to ask questions, despite the fact that there is no real answer to the question. Likewise, not all of the four questions are answered explicitly in the Haggadah. While the Haggadah mentions the reason for Matzah and Maror, it says nothing about the dipping and the reclining. Even the explanations of Matzah and Maror are not given forthwith, but the child has to wait until the end of a long recitation of the Passover story before he gets his answer.
It seems that the emphasis of Pesach is to ask questions and to know that some of these questions will be answered eventually.
Indeed, there is a Chabad Chassidic tradition that the discourses said by several generations of Chabad Rebbes started with questions, but provide no definitive answers.
Chanukah, by contrast is dedicated to the answers, contrasted with Pesach which is time for asking questions Two Approaches to Chinuch Both are related to chinuch but they reflect two approaches to chinuch; one is to ask questions, the other to answer them. Why?
During Pesach the answer is elusive; because the Geulah-Redemption of Pesach was incomplete.
Chanukah is the hidden light of Moshiach. Here the questions are answered, because Chanukah is about discovery, whereas Pesach is about the search. Indeed, we search for Chometz the night before Passover, even if we know that no Chometz exists. It is not considered a blessing in vain to search and not find; it is a blessing in vain if we don’t search properly.
In Jewish education, there are times when a child (and the child within us) has to know that they must search, probe, question and seek answers. Never be satisfied with what we now understand. The child must also know that there are certain things that are elusive; they are beyond us and for which we do not know the answer.
Primary Question Remains Unanswered
The primary question that Passover does not answer is why are we still in exile? Why is there suffering and pain in the world? Pesach, the Festival of Freedom, beckons us to ask why, and not accept any answer until we have Moshiach and the complete Redemption.
Sometimes having the answer makes us complacent. If I can understand why there is suffering in the world, will I be motivated to do something to alleviate the suffering?
G-d deliberately makes it difficult, if not impossible, to fathom certain things, so that we continually struggle to find the answer, and in so doing pave the way for the final Redemption.
Chanukah, by contrast is when the hidden light of Moshiach was first revealed to the world. Chanukah is thus about the answers.
In terms of chinuch, it is important that the student knows that there are answers and be given a sample of that glorious period in the future when all of our questions will be resolved.
Proper chinuch requires that the student knows that the search for truth is no less important an ideal than the discovery of it. As long as we are on this journey from Egypt to the final Redemption, what propels us to the next level is the search for the elusive answer.
Moshiach is called a metziah, something that is elusive and when it is found it comes as a total surprise; yet we are obligated to search for Moshiach and Redemption, as it says (Hosea 3:4-5):
For the children of Israel shall sit solitary many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without pillar, and without ephod or teraphim; afterwards shall the children of Israel return, and seek the L-rd their G-d, and David their King; and shall come trembling unto the L-rd and to His goodness in the end of days.”
This verse, incorporated into the monthly prayer for the new moon, we fulfill every time we see the diminished moon symbolic of our diminished fortunes in exile. At that time we motivate ourselves to search for the Redemption, for the moon to wax until it becomes a full moon.
Simultaneously, proper chinuch requires that the student be imbued with the knowledge that there are answers and that the goal is and will be reachable. For this reason, Chanukah is about asking questions, but also about finding the answers, just as the Maccabees found the lone cruse of undefiled oil, the symbol of the Messianic anointment and light.
Connection to Weekly Parsha
That Chanukah is about discovery and not just about search, is perhaps alluded to in the weekly parsha we read before or during Chanukah: “Vayeishev Yaakov- And Jacob settled.” The very name Jacob connotes an impediment, a question; like a log that stands in the way and blocks our passage. And the word—which is the actual name of the Torah portion—“Vayeishev-And he settled”, connotes the idea of the settling of an issue that was unsettling—answering a question.
Indeed, the very name Chanukah incorporates the idea of clarifying those things that are unclear—answering questions. The word Chanukah, commentators say, is a composite of two words: chanu chaf-hei, they encamped (and had a respite from battle) on the 25th (of the month of Kislev).
When we are plagued with questions and doubts, it is like a war situation. Chanukah represents the end of the struggle with the forces of evil and darkness, and it is also the time that we celebrate the emergence from the intellectual darkness that is generated by the questions that cloud our understanding of the Torah.
This and Thus
We can take this “hint” a step further. The second part of the composite word Chanu-kah is the Hebrew word “chof-hei” which, can read koh, that translates as “thus.” The difference between “this-zeh” and “thus-koh” is that the former means that we are referring to something that we can see clearly, whereas “thus” implies that it is virtually this way, but not quite.
The difference between “this” and “thus” is discussed in the context of the distinction between Moses’ prophecy and all the other prophets. Whereas Moses could say “zeh” this is precisely what G-d had said to me—there was no trance or dream when G-d communicated with him—other prophets could only say “Koh”, Thus says the L-rd,” suggesting that they had a hazy image of the message.
Chassidic thought speaks of the difference between chof-hei Elul, the day the world was created, and the first of Tishrei, Rosh Hashanah, the day that Adam was created in the context of the difference between “this” and “thus.”
Concerning Rosh Hashanah we say in our liturgy: “Zeh- This is the day, the beginning of Your handiwork.” The word “this” is employed, because previously the world did not possess the ability to rise above the virtual or concealed reality. Only with the advent of the creation of Adam, was the power to introduce true reality into the world a manifest possibility.
Returning now to Chanukah, the composite of chanuchof hei, it may be suggested that Chanu-chof-hei that the state of koh, of virtual reality has been settled.
In a state of virtual reality, we cannot see clearly and we are inundated with questions. We cannot see truth and how G-d’s message to us is valid. We cannot see and understand why things are happening the way they are. We can only see a small slice of the picture of life, and we are left confused by what is happening. And this state of concealment raises questions in our minds and present formidable obstacles to our spiritual growth. In short, the idea of chof-hei is that we live in a virtual reality; we don’t see the true reality.
Chanukah is when we remove the cover; the concealment; the virtual nature of existence: Chanu-chof hei.
As stated earlier, Chanukah is the revelation of the “or haganuz,” the light that was created on the first day of creation, but hidden and preserved for the Messianic Age. It is the light of Moshiach, which enables us to see from one end of the world to the other; enables us to remove the concealment of the world, which in Hebrew is olam, etymologically related to the word “concealment.” This light enables us to see things in depth and in the context of all space, time and spiritual energy.
The entire phenomenon of exile/Galus is one big question, Four Torah Portions and Chanukah This week’s parsha begins with Jacob wanting to settle, and G-d causes the rivalry to unsettle him. Jacob tried to get rid of the question of exile, but needed Joseph, the dream interpreter to find the answer to the dreamlike virtual reality of exile. But even Joseph could not finalize the answer until Vayigash Yehudah, when Judah and Joseph have their rapprochement.
Thus, Vayeishev is Jacob’s attempt at “retirement” after finding the “pach hashemen-the cruse of oil” and vanquishing the angel, who renamed him Israel. Jacob, now named Israel, thought that he had earned his retirement from the struggle. But, the time was not yet ready. He did not yet accumulate all the necessary energies for that to occur.
But in the next parsha associated with Chanukah— parshas Miketz—Joseph—whose very name which means “increase” is associated with the increased measure of light every night—the next major step in preparing the world with the energy to get out of the dream state of exile occurs.
But only in Vayigash, the third parsha associated with Chanukah—it always occurs immediately after Chanukah—when Joseph and Judah come together, only then do we find the word goshnah; the letters which appear on the Dreidel and which have the gematria, numerical value of Moshiach.
In other words, there are four stages in the unfolding of the Chanukah drama: First: the light has to be discovered that enables us to dispel the darkness of exile. This light has been revealed to the world with the revelation of Chassidus. This is what happens in parshas Vayishlach, where Jacob retrieves the cruse of oil-the pach hashemen.
Five Stages in Redemption
This first stage may be said to correspond to the revelation of the Ba’al Shem Tov, who introduced the light of Chassidus.
The second stage is taking that transcendent light and bringing it into the parameters of our world. This is alluded to in parshas Vayeishev, which implies the internalization of the concepts.
It may be suggested that Parshas Vayeishev alludes to the teachings of Chabad—introduced by the Alter Rebbe and expanded on by subsequent leaders of Chabad, especially the Rebbe Rashab, the Rambam of Chassidus—who brought Chassidus into the world.
But even this was not enough; there was still an attempt at the “other side” to extinguish the light of Moshiach, which is what the last word of Parshas Vayeishev alludes to. It is “vayishkacheihu-and he forgot him.” This refers to the butler who completely forgetting about Joseph and his kindness to him; one of the symptoms of Galus.
Therefore we need parshas Milketz, with the emphasis on Yosef, increasing the light despite the obstacles.
Parshas Miketz can be said to allude to the Previous Rebbe—Yosef—whose contribution helped to transform the dream into Geulah.
But, even that was not enough. Chanukah with all of its light is a not complete until we have parshas Vayigash, where the union of the dynamic forces of light (Yosef) is connected to Moshiach (Yehudah).
Parshas Vayigash, can therefore be said to correspond to our Rebbe, who brings an end to the golus, followed by Vayechi,-and he lived which alludes to the eternal life we will experience in the Messianic Era.
Chanukah is thus the time when we have a right to expect the answer to our question: “Ad Masai-How much longer?!”
From the book Light from the Future: Chanukah by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
