Tonight, we light the eighth candle of Hanukkah.
One week ago, as we prepared to light the Hanukkah lights, the Jewish world — and my own — grew noticeably darker with the death of Rabbi David Ellenson, z”l. In his memory, I share this Hanukkah teaching that he offered in 2018. Writing of a trip he took to El Salvador with the American Jewish World Service, he reflected on the universal and particular messages of Hanukkah. He writes:
The late Rabbi Hayim David Halevi (1924-1998), former Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, highlights these dual values in his ‘Aseh l’kha rav.’ While he acknowledges the importance of the particular Chanukah story — the victory of the Hasmonean family over its Syrian oppressors — he also points to a more universal theme — the miracle of the cruse of oil — that expresses universalistic hopes and aspirations. As Rabbi Halevi states, this miracle signals the “renewal of worship in the Temple, and the Temple was not a place where the Israelites alone worshiped God, but a site where all the families of the peoples of the earth did so. As it is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer for all peoples’ (Isaiah 26).” The miracle of the oil that lasted for eight days is a reminder that God rules over the entire world and that the light from the cruse must shine for Jew and Gentile alike. Interestingly, the famous Talmudic debate between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel over the lighting of Chanukah candles, recorded in Shabbat 21b, reflects the same desire to find the universalistic message in this seemingly particular story…
What might at first seem like the most particularistic of interpretations in a most particularistic story is, in fact, a subtle argument for the role of Chanukah in bringing peace to the world. Beit Shammai and Rabbi Halevi teach us that even during Chanukah — when we celebrate the nationalistic victory of our ancestors over tyrants — we must focus on the responsibilities to all humankind that this miracle entails. Even as we rejoice in the triumph of the Hasmoneans, they remind us that we must be mindful of and share our blessings with the rest of the world. God needs to be realized through us, both within and beyond our community.
May we be blessed on this last night of Hanukkah, and may we merit to share our blessings with family, friends, community, and beyond.
— Rabbi Sari Laufer