B"H
THOUGHTS ON CHANUKAH
Dear Friends:
Is Chanukah a "minor" holiday? Is it less important
because it is not mentioned explicitly in the Written Torah?
Perhaps its very "hidden-ness" hints precisely at its importance. Perhaps
its "hiddenness" reminds us that G-d Himself is "hidden" during
our terrible Exile. G-d's Name is also hidden in the
Book of Esther, during Purim, the other major Holiday of Exile. Because
it is hidden, we must look all the more diligently for the
Presence of G-d to sustain us during this long night.
My friends, we are facing a terrible crisis, no... more than
a crisis... we are facing a galaxy of crises! The entire
universe is in crisis; only those who cling to fantasy fail
to perceive the gravity of the situation. The very stars
are shaking in the heavens!
Our own Holy Land is in terrible danger, not only from outsiders,
but from some of our own brothers and sisters, who fail to
value it, who fail to love it and esteem it, who fail to perceive
and believe in G-d Who gave it back to us after two thousand
years!
How can we continue to live in the Holy Land if we fail to
believe in the Existence of the Power by Whose goodness and
mercy we were given that Land?
What is wrong with us?
"Beware lest your heart be seduced and you turn astray and
serve gods of others and bow to them. Then the wrath
of G-d will blaze against you... and you will swiftly be banished
from the goodly land which G-d gives you..." [1]
My dear friends, within the last few weeks we read the Torah
Portion "Vayishlach," which recounts the famous
confrontation between Jacob and his brother Esau. We
are Jacob's children, and the Western Nations are the children
of Esau. For two thousand years we have lived among them.
It is an axiom that "Esau hates Jacob." [2] Esau
hates his brother Jacob, because Jacob asserted himself to
take possession of those rights which were naturally his: the
blessings of his father Isaac and the inheritance of the firstborn,
to which Esau attached no importance. But once Esau saw
how valuable they were to his brother Jacob, he regretted having
released any good thing to him; "Esau let out an exceedingly
great and bitter cry...."
That "great and bitter cry" has reverberated through history:
we heard it in the destruction of the Second Temple, the Crusades,
the Inquisition, the Talmud burnings, the expulsions from England
and France, the pogroms, the Third Reich and in countless instances
of brutal oppression in the years between. Esau has never
forgiven his brother Jacob.
So, my friends, in the Portion of Vayishlach, when
Esau approached his brother Jacob with four hundred men, WHY
DID ESAU NOT KILL JACOB (G-d forbid)? What stopped him? What
on earth prevented Esau from killing the brother whom he hated
with an eternal hatred?
I understand that Jacob separated his camp into different
groups, prepared gifts for Esau, prepared for war and prayed
that G-d save him and his family. Yes, our Father Jacob
did all that.
BUT WHY DID IT WORK? HOW DID JACOB SURVIVE?
Our sages tell us "ma'ase avos siman l'banim," the
actions of our fathers are signs for the children, and we are
the children.
What happened just prior to the confrontation between Esau
and Jacob?
"Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him until
the break of dawn. When he perceived he could not overcome
him, he struck the socket of his hip...." [3]
When the morning sun arose, Esau expected to find Jacob dead,
G-d forbid! Esau expected that the angel would have "taken
care of" Jacob during the night and there would be no brother
left when the night was over.
BUT JACOB WAS THERE! JACOB LIVED! [4] AM YISROEL
CHAI!
ESAU WAS IN SHOCK! A SHOCK FROM WHICH HE WILL NEVER
RECOVER!
During the seemingly endless night of Exile, Jacob never gave
up! Jacob never stopped fighting! Wounded though
he was, he kept at it, and in the end, it was Esau's angel
who had to admit that he "could not overcome him." [5]
When Esau saw in the morning that Jacob had survived the night,
the darkness of Exile, then Esau realized, "It's all
over! I cannot prevail! Jacob is indeed invincible!"
That is our secret, my friends, the secret of how we will
get through this bitter and terrible Exile. That is how
we will survive the pain and bitter tears and terror, the insane
hatred of this world, how we will make it through to the moment
when the "dawn has broken" and the "sun rose for him."
HOW WILL WE MAKE IT? PRECISELY BECAUSE OUR FATHER JACOB
MADE IT. THAT'S HOW WE WILL MAKE IT! NO MATTER
HOW DARK IT IS, THE DAWN IS NOT FAR AWAY!
Yes, we will make it through, my friends. We will fight
on to the end, just like our Father Jacob fought on to the
end. We will fight our own evil tendencies. We
will fight not to become like Esau! We will fight to
be good Jews, to keep the Torah in holiness and purity. We
will never give up; we will never lose heart. Only
a few more moments until the dawn will be upon us and "the
sun of righteousness will shine... with healing on its wings...." [6]
Only a few more moments until our Moshiach ben Dovid will
rescue us and bring the Holy Temple back to our beautiful,
complete and spacious Land of Israel.
And, with G-d's help, we will all be there!
Let us learn from our Father Jacob.
May the lights of Chanukah give us strength and courage to
fight on to the Final Redemption and the coming of Moshiach
ben Dovid, may we see it soon in our days.
A LICHTIGE CHANUKAH TO KLAL YISROEL!
Roy S. Neuberger
[1] From the Shema, Genesis 11:16-17
[2] See
Rashi on Genesis 33:4
[3] Genesis
32:25-26
[4] Genesis 47:28 (The
Torah Portion in which Jacob dies is called "And Jacob Lived.")
[5] Genesis 32:26
[5] See Rashi on Genesis
32:32 and Malachi 3:20
