Child’s Play?

Our task as Jews is to be a “light unto the nations,” to preserve and regenerate the purity and holiness that existed before people began to soil and despoil the world. There is no time where this mission can be realized as much as it can during Chanukah, where light is not just a metaphor, but a tangible reality. When we light the Chanukah candles and gaze at the small, but, pure, flames, we are reminded of the message of Chanukah. This message is to find and recapture the Moshiach-purity and light within ourselves, and to allow the whole world to bask in the glow of it.

Post Chanukah, Chanukah

If you thought Chanukah was over, think again. Though the formal celebration of Chanukah has ended at the culmination of its eighth day, the spirit of Chanukah thrives until at least the Shabbat afterwards.

Indeed, this week’s Torah portion, Vayigash contains a hint to the dreidel, the children’s adorable toy that is so closely associated with Chanukah. And lest we forget, Chanukah is a children’s holiday. The very word Chanukah derives from the Hebrew word “chinuch” which means education. Whether it is the Chanukah Gelt/money (not chocolate money, but the real thing it is customary for) children receive from their parents, the sizzling Latkes, the beautiful and mesmerizing sight of the burning candles, Chanukah—with all of its light and joy, song and fun— leaves an indelible imprint on the minds and hearts of every Jewish child.

Of all the Chanukah traditions, the dreidel is the most obvious juvenile oriented one. The dreidel has embossed on its four sides the four Hebrew letters: Nun, Gimmel, Hei, Shin. They are actually the initials of the four words, “Nes gadol haya sham-A great miracle occurred there,” referring to the great miracle of Chanukah which transpired in Israel over 2,200 years ago.

The Four Letters

It is significant that these letters, rearranged, spell the word “Goshna,” meaning “to Goshen.” This refers to the verse in this week’s Parshah which tells us (according to Rashi) of Jacob sending Judah to establish a place of Torah in Goshen, the area in which the Jews would reside during their stay in Egypt.

This dovetails with the popular idea that Jewish children used the dreidel during the time of Chanukah as a way of concealing their Torah studies (which were banned by the Greeks). The children would secretly study Torah, and when a Greek soldier was noticed approaching, they would hide their books and bring out their toy “tops,” claiming that they were really playing. The letters on the side of the dreidel hint at the dreidel’s connection to our dedication to Torah study, which goes as far back as Goshen.

Tradition even shows a thoughtful message contained within the numerical value (gematria) of the dreidel’s letters: they add up to 358, the same value as the word “Moshiach.” (Incidentally, in Israel, the final letter on the dreidel is a pey. There the sentence reads: “Nes gadol haya poh, A Great miracle occurred here.” The numerical value of this phrase is 138, which is the equivalent of the name Menachem, the name, the Talmud (Sanhedrin 98b) assigns to Moshiach!)

Moshiach Captured by the Innocence of a Toy

But why is the age-old belief in Moshiach linked to Chanukah through such a seemingly insignificant thing as a child’s toy? The answer lies in a better understanding of what the nature of children is and what we can learn from them.

The Talmud (Shabbat 119b) tells us that when the Bible warns “Do not touch My anointed ones (Meshichoy, lit. “My Moshiach’s”), it refers to children, whose innocence and purity sustain the world.

The Messianic Age can best be described as childlike, a time of purity, holiness and pristine innocence. Chassidic thought teaches that everyone has a spark of Moshiach inside of them, but this is most true of children. Their purity is so close to the surface that they are obvious expressions of the Messianic Age.

Indeed, it is taught that at the time of creation—when the world was in a pure and childlike state—the “the spirit of G-d” “hovered above the waters.” This “spirit of G-d” Ba’al Haturim states actually referred to the spirit of Moshiach. Indeed, he writes the words “The spirit of G-d hovered” has the same numerical value as the words “this is the spirit of Moshiach!” G-d’s plan to make a peaceful serene world with the coming of Moshiach was most evident back then when the world was in its most innocent child-like state.

The Adult Child

The goal and objective of the world is not to remain that way, just as one cannot and should not forever remain a child. The purpose of creation was to give the human being the challenge of re-introducing purity and holiness into a world that is plagued with corruption and evil. The challenge of adulthood is to reclaim the innocence of childhood within the framework of maturity.

Our task as Jews is to be a “light unto the nations,” to preserve and regenerate the purity and holiness that existed before people began to soil and despoil the world. There is no time where this mission can be realized as much as it can during Chanukah, where light is not just a metaphor, but a tangible reality.

When we light the Chanukah candles and gaze at the small, but, pure, flames, we are reminded of the message of Chanukah. This message is to find and recapture the Moshiach-purity and light within ourselves, and to allow the whole world to bask in the glow of it.

The great miracle of Chanukah which occurred “there” is not only a reference to the miracle of the victory over the Syrian Greek forces, or the miracle of the lone cruse of oil which lasted for eight days. It refers primarily, perhaps, to the internal miracle that occurred then.

The miracle was that the Hasmoneans acted like children. They could not tolerate the loss of G-dly purity at the hands of the forces of assimilation that tried to extinguish the internal, pure and unadulterated flames of their souls. The Moshiach component within them was unleashed and the tiny band of Macabees did not rest until they liberated the land from the encroachment of alien values.

Restoring the innocence and re-introducing the pure light of G-dliness which prevailed at the beginning of creation, is the miracle we are celebrating today, because it is that miracle which was the catalyst for all the other miracles that followed.

Our goal now is to ignite the spark of Moshiach within us. In the aftermath of Chanukah and particularly on the Shabbat afterwards, as we read about the hint to the dreidel with its emphasis on children, purity and miracles, is a time most suited for achieving this goal.

Searching for Purity in Goshen

We must still try to understand why the allusion to Chanukah is connected to the word Goshnah, which is the part of Egypt the Jews settled in when they lived in Egypt.

When we look for Moshiach purity, it is natural to find it in the most holy of places. The Land of Israel is where we expect to find holiness and purity. Living in exile would be contraindicated as a source of child-like purity.

The message of the dreidel—with its association to Moshiach-purity is that even when we are in exile, we can—nay we must—search for that purity. True, the emphasis of the dreidel is that a “great miracle happened there,” with the emphasis on the word “there,” suggesting that the miracle of purity is connected to “there”—the Land of Israel, in the Sanctuary of the Holy Temple. Nevertheless, we can and must be able to recognize that even as we are situated in Goshen/exile.

There is one caveat. Goshen, although a province of Egypt, was actually an extended part of the Land of Israel. The Midrash relates that as compensation for the suffering our Matriarch Sarah endured as she was abducted by Pharaoh, the land of Goshen was given to Abraham and Sarah as a gift. As a result, when the Jews were settled in Goshen by Joseph it was actually in a place that is considered to be an extension of the Land of Israel.

Moreover, when Jacob set out to go Egypt he sent Judah ahead to establish a place of Torah. Jacob wanted to transplant the spirit of Israel in Goshen.

The lesson from the above is that while we can and must search for Moshiach-child-like-purity-and-innocence even as we are in exile, the most conducive place for it is in the extensions of Israel in exile. A Synagogue or a House of Study is a miniature Holy Temple, our Sages tell us. These are places that capture the spirit of holiness and purity characterized by the Holy Temple. And it is in and through these places that we generate the yearning to be back in the Holy Land with Moshiach so that the purity and innocence will be unfettered.

So when your child asks you to play “dreidel,” the “spin” (pun intended) you are to place on this innocuous juvenile exercise is that it is an inspiration and challenge to us to find that miracle “there” deep down within ourselves. The spin of the dreidel is about children, purity and Moshiach.

The spin of the dreidel is about searching within so that we can be transported there—where the inner and outer dimensions of life will merge and the outer innocence and purity will be a reflection of the inner..

May we all merit to light the Chanukah lights together with the restoration of the Beit Hamikdash in Jerusalem, in a spirit of purity, holiness and true peace.

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