Empty Pits and Chanukah Menoros Placed Too High

Those who think that Moshiach is not real have adopted the Galus, which is likened to snakes and scorpions. And those who think Moshiach is too sublime for us have place their Chanukah Menorah beyond twenty cubits. Moshiach is sublime but he is also down-to-earth and part of our reality. We just have to open our eyes to see it!

EMPTY PITS AND CHANUKAH MENOROS PLACED TOO

HIGH

An Empty Pit with Snakes and Scorpions

Joseph’s brothers were about to kill their own flesh and blood. Reuben, however, convinced them not to spill his blood. Instead, he suggested, Joseph should be thrown into an empty pit. Reuben’s intention was to later return him safely to his father.

The Torah describes the pit as “an empty pit, without any water.” The Talmud makes the observation that the words “without any water” are unnecessary. “If the pit was empty, do we not know that it contained no water?” the Talmud asks.

However, the Talmud answers, this is to teach us that while there was no water in the pit, there were snakes and scorpions.

What is the significance of the Torah telling us that the pit into which Joseph was thrown contained no water, but it did contain snakes and scorpions? And what eternal lesson is there in this knowledge for us?

The Metaphor of Water

Water is one of the most common metaphors used in Biblical and Talmudic literature to describe the characteristics of Torah. When a person is devoid of Torah that is likened to water, one should not think that they are just empty and innocent. Wherever there is an absence of Torah-water, there will automatically be snakes and scorpions, i.e., harmful influences and spiritually venomous forces that will attempt to destroy us.

Lest anyone might think that one can be “neutral,” by not learning Torah, the Talmud exhorts us that a person without Torah becomes susceptible to all kinds of negative influences.

Connection to Chanukah

It is interesting that the Talmud makes this observation about the empty pit in the context of a discussion of the laws of Chanukah. The Talmud states that a Chanukah menorah that is placed higher than twenty cubits (approximately 30 feet) above ground is not acceptable for the fulfillment of the mitzvah of lighting the Chanukah menorah. The reason for this is that a menorah placed so high is out of sight.

Commentators have grappled with the juxtaposition of the laws of Chanukah with the throwing of Joseph into a pit filled with snakes and scorpions.

Two Extreme Approaches to Torah

One explanation is that the Chanukah lights symbolize the light of Torah. There are two extremes in the way some relate to Torah, both of which are to be rejected.

There are some – as the Greeks of old – who view the Torah as being nothing more than a beautiful human artistic creation. The Greeks stripped the Torah of its holiness and its transcendent nature.

There are those who go to the opposite extreme and declare the Torah to be so spiritually sublime that it cannot be considered relevant to our lives. They deny the Torah’s applicability to real life “down here on earth.”

By placing the Menorah – symbolizing Torah – beyond our sight, to put the Torah on a pedestal and to regard it as transcendent and holy and therefore, not relevant to us “down here,” is the equivalent of denying the Torah completely. The Torah, as G-d’s wisdom is relevant on all levels and was given by G-d to us within the parameters of this physical world.

The Talmud is thus teaching us, that when one places the Torah above and beyond our reach, it is the equivalent of creating an empty pit devoid of water - read: Torah, and filled with scorpions. To deny any aspect of Torah’s importance is to deny the totality of Torah and an invitation to all the negative forces.

Only by preserving the integrity of Torah can we dispel the darkness of exile and usher in the ultimate Redemption at which time, G-d will remove all the impurity from the world and “the world will be filled with the knowledge of G-d as the sea is covered by water.”

Chanukah Light and the Light of the Future

The Kabbalists taught that the Chanukah lights are a sample of the light of the future Messianic Age.

Here too there are two extreme and equally wrong approaches:

There are those who deny Moshiach and the Final Redemption relegating it to the category of a myth. Even this myths has merit, they will argue, for it conveys humanity’s dream of utopia and will drive us to be better people.

The other extreme approach is that Moshiach is so sublime a subject that it is elusive and unfathomable. It is far better to focus on basics such as Torah study and Mitzvah observance and let G-d bring Moshiach whenever He so desires. Let’s not focus on it, they will argue.

Both of these are approaches contradicted by the message of Chanukah and the pit into which Joseph was thrown.

Those who think that Moshiach is not real have adopted the Galus, which is likened to snakes and scorpions. And those who think Moshiach is too sublime for us have place their Chanukah Menorah beyond twenty cubits.

Moshiach is sublime but he is also down-to-earth and part of our reality. We just have to open our eyes to see it!

From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Vayeishev by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.