Weekly Story: Chanukah Live
by Rabbi Sholom DovBer Avtzon
As last night was the first night of Chanukah I am posting this Chanukah story. It was sent to me by a friend of mine. It seems as if it was already published somewhere, however, he didn’t inform me where it was taken from. So, I thank whoever is the source.
Additionally, I am also posting something that I mentioned at a farbrengen of Yud Tes Kislev.I am posting it exactly as it was sent to me.
As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated.
This story forgoes the need to imagine (thanks to my friend, the Shliach Rabbi Yossi Beitsch of Kfar Saba, for sharing):
In the summer of 5761 (2001), two young men went on merkaz shlichus to Mumbai, India. One day, to strengthen its small Jewish community, they took a long train ride to the city of Calcutta. The president of the community was happy that they had not been forgotten and asked to recount an unforgettable experience: “Nine years ago, on Chanukah 5752, I was here in Calcutta. Few Jews lived here, I had no close contact with them, and as night descended, I sat in a local hotel feeling lonely and alone, one Jew at the end the world.
Why light a Chanukah candle, I thought, since it doesn’t mean anything to anyone? I finally got over myself and lit the Menorah, but the loneliness was deep. I sat down in front of the TV and started flipping through the channels. Suddenly, I came across the image of the Rebbe in his Beis Midrash, with a huge Chanukah Menorah lit right behind him.
It was Sunday, 24 Kislev 5752, and Chabad broadcast live via satellite the lighting of the first candle from several capitals in the world: the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the Holy City, (lehavdil) the Red Square in Moscow, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Melbourne, Japan and Hong Kong.
The broadcast center was, of course, 770 in New York, where the Rebbe stood in front of a screen and watched the kindling of the various Menorahs. I closely followed the broadcast in my hotel room. After the lighting, the Rebbe began to speak: A Jew could think that one mitzvah in his place does not affect the rest of the world, and certainly not the whole world. That is why G-d revealed the “satellite” innovation with which one can tangibly see how one Jew in one place cold help another Jew in another place, even on the other side of the world. As we literally see it now, from here in New York you see and talk with Jews who are in the Land of Israel, Moscow, Paris, Japan, Calcutta in India, and Australia.
I thought I was imagining it: The Rebbe mentioned Calcutta. I didn’t understand; there was no lighting in Calcutta! Why did the Rebbe mention it? Who was the Rebbe addressing? It hit me like a blazing light: the Rebbe was talking to me! The Rebbe was sharing that the little light I lit in my hotel room illuminates as far as New York, Jerusalem, and to all the capitals and homes in the world!
A Taste of Chassidus
Ner Chanukah 5733
The Gomorrah explains and we say it in Al Hanisim that after the Greeks made all the oils in the Beis Hamikdash impure, the Jewish people found one jug of pure oil and it miraculously sufficed for eight days [until they were able to replenish the stock with fresh pure oil]. The following year, the chachomim enacted a directive that we should light a menorah in our own house as a remembrance of this miracle.
The question therefore becomes, if we light our personal menorah, because of and as a reminder of the menorah in the Beis Hamikdash, why are their guidelines so different?
A. In the Beis Hamikdash, the menorah had to be lit before sunset, (during the daytime), yet we are instructed to light our menorah after sunset.
B. In the Beis Hamikdash the menorah was lit inside the heichel (chamber), yet we are instructed to do so outside our house.
C. In the Beis Hamikdash, it was lit by one person, either the Kohen Gadol, as the commandment was given to Aharon, or another Kohen (and that takes care of everyone’s obligation), however, our custom is that each male lights his own menorah.
[Author’s note, elsewhere the Rebbe explains additional differences, such as the first light the Chashmonoem lit in the Beis Hamikdash was on the 25th of Kislev, while we light it on the eve of the 26th.]
However, the reason why we have these differences is because of the place (or situation) where they are being lit. In the Beis Hamikdash, Hashem’s glory is in a revealed state, and revelation is represented by daylight (when everything is seen). Therefore, it was lit before sunset. However, when the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, Hashem’s glory is concealed and not revealed, and that is represented by darkness, so nowadays we light our menorahs after sunset, when it is dark.
We can now understand why there is a difference of where it is to be lit. Chassidus explains the higher something is [in its source] the lower it can go. (For example, the wiser a person is, and the clearer he understands a concept, the better he can explain it even to others that are not knowledgeable in that concept. As it says that Shlomo HaMelech, the wisest of all men, was able to explain something on three thousand different levels.)
So, when you are speaking about the Beis Hamikdash, where Hashem’s essence is not revealed (besides in the kodesh hakedoshim, where the space the Aron occupied was not in existence), and only His glory is revealed, His glory can elevate only things that have some purity in them. However, when it comes to something that is completely impure, it doesn’t have the ability to elevate them. So therefore, it was lit inside of the Beis HaMikdash (specifically in the Heichel) which is a private domain, which shows that it is connected to Hashem). [ Author’s note: this concept is explained in Chassidus, that a private domain, means it belongs to one entity, and that represents the mindset that the entire universe is Hashem’s domain. Whereas, a public domain represents a person’s mindset, that there is no one in charge of the universe and each individual can do as they see fit.]
But the purpose of lighting the menorah on Chanukah is to bring G-dliness into this world. When one is bringing down G-dliness, you are drawing down Hashem’s essence, and His essence can even transform and change something that seemingly is totally evil. Therefore, we light our menorah, out of the house by the street in order to even illuminate and elevate the darkness of the public domain, which represents the ideology that we are not under Hashem’s control. Once they are illuminated and come to the recognition that they too are under his domain, then we will usher in the era of Moshiach, when all nations and individuals will proclaim that Hashem is the one and only G-d.
This clarifies why the menorah in the Beis Hamikdash was to be lit byAharon Kohen Gadol. The main service of the Beis hamikdash was bringing sacrifices, which denotes the elevation of our animalistic soul to become closer to Hashem. Once the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, we elevate ourselves through davening, However, only one who is higher than the thing which is being elevated can elevate it. So, we need the Kohen Gadol, a unique individual to elevate those aspects. As the possuk notes that Hashem said to Aharon, “When you elevate/lift up the candles (and it doesn’t say when you light them).”
However, nowadays our aim is to draw down Hashem’s essence into this world. Hashem’s essence can affect everything, even something that is evil, and their good is completely concealed. As Yaakov stated, Hashem’s Essence will be with me and therefore He will save me from Esau who wants to destroy me. [Destroying an individual is pure evil.] And every individual who connects themselves to Hashem draws down His essence. As we see by learning Torah, our sages inform us that Whoever reads/learns Torah, Hashem learns [that same Torah concept] opposite him. Therefore it is proper that not only does the head of the household light the chanukah candles but everyone does.
Rabbi Avtzon is a veteran mechanech and the author of numerous books on the Rebbeim and their chassidim. He can be contacted at avtzonbooks@gmail.com
