Chanukah and Tradition
Chanukah is an obsession with optimism, excellence, hope and certainty. An attitude like this can only exist for those who Judaism is a part of life. When it comes to life, we don’t want compromised life. We want and we seek to live our lives to the fullest.
Are we Just Obsessed with the Past?
Judaism is a rich tradition, and Chanukah, with its Menorah lighting, latkes eating and dreidel playing is certainly no exception to Judaism’s glorious obsession with nostalgic reminders of the past. Is this not so?
In fact, none of the above reflects the truth about Judaism and certainly not about Chanukah.
Judaism is not just a rich tradition, if tradition is to be defined as the perpetuation of ancient rituals or celebrations. As beautiful as this concept of tradition sounds, it obscures the vital, vibrant and relevant nature of Judaism.
What did our sages mean when they said that the words of Torah must be new, just as the day when they were given? They surely meant to underscore the need to view Torah as belonging to the present, not the past.
The blessings we recite over the Torah daily reflect this truth. We do not say “Blessed are You, G-d, who has given us the Torah,” but rather, “Blessed are you, G-d, who gives us the Torah;” who gives us the Torah this very day, this very minute.
Chanukah Celebrates the Power to Defeat Darkness Today
Chanukah for us is not simply the day, when the brave Maccabees of the past defeated the Syrian Greek forces. Chanukah is the day when we are given the Divine energies to defeat the forces of alienation and indifference today.
The Menorah lighting is not a mere reminder of an ancient temple ritual; it does generate spiritual light here and now, to transform the world from its state of darkness into a state of light.
Chanukah is not only a commemoration of the dedication of the temple 2400 years ago. Chanukah is the dedication of the temple within us this year.
What’s Wrong with Tradition?
But, you may ask, what is wrong with tradition? And what, we might add, is so right with viewing Chanukah as an ongoing saga?
The difference lies in the whole conception of Judaism. A religion that is obsessed with the past has essentially conceded defeat to the forces of convention and mediocrity. Students of history are wont to be pessimistic about the future. To the person who is focused on the past, the world can never, and will never change. “History is condemned to repeat itself,” is the cliché so many of us live with.
The traditional Jew, who celebrates only the defeat of the Syrian Greeks, is but one rung above the pessimistic historian. His is one of hope that, notwithstanding the perennial struggle with modern day Syrian Greeks for our very survival as Jews, with G-d’s help we will make it. From one battle to the next, Jewish life is an incessant struggle to regain our footing so that we can be pushed down once more. But, not to worry, G-d will get us out of this rut also. But, the difference is one of degree and nuance, not of substance.
Both the secular historian and the Jew of faith, who live with the past, acknowledge the futility of real change. Both have resigned themselves to an uncertain future. Both do not see the ultimate radical changes that G-d promised us would happen.
Chanukah: Antithesis of Convention
Chanukah, if anything, represents the antitheses of convention.
The Jews of that time, commentators inform us, were permitted to use any olive oil. Yet they insisted that they would only use untouched, undefiled oil, not because defiled oil was not kosher, but because they were intent on excellence, on doing things unconventionally.
Chanukah is thus a time when we say to G-d, “We know that You will accept us even if we are not perfect. We know that circumstances are such that we can get away with mediocre Judaism, but is that really what we are all about? Could G-d not make it so that we don’t have to get away with less? We, for our part, will not allow ourselves to be satisfied with mediocrity; we will do things with excellence and beauty, on the highest standard, oblivious even to Torah sanctioned compromises.”
And G-d did reciprocate in kind. He performed the great miracle we all know of, in which the pure, undefiled oil lasted for eight days instead of seven.
And it is interesting that our commentators have raised the question as to why we celebrate Chanukah for eight days. They did have a one day supply. There was nothing miraculous about the first day.
The answer to this question in light of the above is that there is a radical difference between one who has one cruse of pure oil and thinks that for the future he will make due with something that is substandard. Then, even the solitary unadulterated cruse of oil has become tainted with the despair and resignation inherent in such an approach. Then it is truly not a pure cruse of oil. Our ancestors, however, realized when they lit the menorah with the lone jug of pure oil that they would not compromise. And the one day supply of oil they viewed not as only one day and no more, but the beginning of a glorious chapter for the future of the Jewish people, which indeed it was.
Obsession with Optimism
This is Chanukah: An obsession with optimism, with excellence, with hope and certainty.
An attitude like this can only exist for those who Judaism is a part of life. When it comes to life, we don’t want compromised life, we want and we seek to live our lives to the fullest.
The light of Chanukah, in fact, serves more to presage the future than it is a remembrance of the past, or even living the present to its fullest. Our mystical sages tell us that the light of Chanukah represents the “Hidden Light” which will be fully revealed in the Age of Redemption; light that will enable us to “see from one end of the world to the other,” i.e., light that will remove all barriers and constraints.
The hope that we all express for the coming of Moshiach and for the Age of redemption is our way of expressing what the Hasmoneans of the past felt. We don’t want mediocrity any more than we want oppression. We are not satisfied with finding solace in the knowledge that things were worse in the past; that relatively speaking, life is quite good now.
The belief and anticipation for Moshiach, as the genuine nature of Chanukah, is a powerful repudiation of the “theory of relativity” as it relates to real life. We want essential goodness. We want unadulterated purity. We want uncompromised Jewish life and happiness. We want peace and fulfillment for all of humankind. And we exult now, especially during Chanukah, in the knowledge that G-d will make good on His assurances to make this world the ideal world He had envisioned.
This year, as we light the Chanukah lights, we look forward to a time when there will be no restraints on our Jewishness. And as we anxiously await the Redemption, when G-d will remove all of the barriers to completeness, it is our task to remove all self-imposed constraints, while asking of G-d - as we do countless times in our daily prayers - with sincerity - to usher in an age that will be characterized by the purity of its light and the integrity of its life.
From the book Light from the Future: Chanukah by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
