aking It Even Higher: Going Beyond Everyday Reality – By Rabbi Pinchas Winston

The Gemora sees no reason to ask about the basis of the holiday of Purim, even though it is not from the Torah. Everyone knows what happened, and there is even a megillah mandating the holiday and its minhagim. None of it is a mystery to anyone.

Not so Chanukah:

What is Chanukah? The rabbis taught: On the twenty-fifth of Kislev begins the eight days of Chanukah…When the Greeks entered the Sanctuary they defiled all the oils that were in the Sanctuary. And when the Chashmonaim overcame them and emerged victorious over them, they searched and found only one jar of oil that was placed with the seal of the Kohen Gadol. And there was enough to light for only one day. A miracle occurred and they lit from it eight days. The next year they established [those days] as holidays… (Shabbos 21b)

But this doesn’t answer all the questions. For example, there is a joke regarding Jewish victories: We came, we conquered, let’s eat. That’s what we Jews do whenever we have a miraculous victory, we make a holiday out of it and mandate a festive meal.

But not Chanukah. We eat plenty during the eight days…but only if we want to, but not because we have to. Any time you eat and say divrei Torah it constitutes a Seudas Mitzvah. But unlike the other chagim, if you never do during Chanukah you will not have broken any halachah.

In fact, though we mention the military victory in tefillah, it doesn’t figure much in the celebration itself, not to the extent that one might have thought. Instead, the main focus of the eight days is on the miracle of the oil, which we recall by lighting our menorahs for eight days.

After all, had we lost the war, there would have been no Menorah miracle, and possibly no more Jewish people. But had there been no pure oil at all, or enough to burn for only one day, we could have just used impure oil instead for the mitzvah while we worked on producing new, pure oil. Something needs to be explained here.

It’s like the difference between oil and wine:

It is known that oil is with a quiet and wine is with a raised voice. Therefore, the kohen cannot have wine or raise his voice. The kohen serves in quietness, specifically the incense, b’sod “Oil and incense make the heart rejoice” (Mishlei 27:9), and “he shall make it (incense) go up in smoke” (Shemos 30:7), as known. (Yahel Ohr, Bereishis)

Hence, Purim is loud and Chanukah is quiet.

Even the grape and olive have their differences. Both have hidden juice that must be extracted through squeezing. But a ripe grape is sweet straight from the vine, whereas an olive is too bitter to eat, and its oil, far from being sweet, does not look much like a source of light either until ignited.

It’s not even clear what Chanukah accomplished historically. Self-governance was not immediately accomplished and only lasted twenty-five years until the Romans conquered Jerusalem in 63 BCE. Prior to that, there was Jewish civil war which led to Rome entering the picture and beginning the fourth and longest of the predicted four exiles, Edom.

Even the Chashmonaim, the heroes of the victory over the Greeks, were completely wiped away shortly after, leaving not even a single descendant. They were murdered by Herod who began as their slave and ended up their ruler, later appointed by Rome to rule the country on their behalf.

Then again, the historic setting was different at the time of the Purim victory. Mordechai and Esther led the Jewish people to victory over the Persians while prophecy still existed. They still had to go back to Eretz Yisroel and resume work on the Second Temple. History was still biblical.

By the time Alexander conquered Asia, prophecy was long gone, and history had moved from being biblical to modern. Miracles still existed and there were even more miracle workers than in previous generations, like Rebi Meir, Rebi Chanina ben Dosa, etc. mentioned in the Gemora. But those miracles usually happened on an individual basis, not nationally.

And yet…

There is an interesting gemora that speaks to this idea:

Rav Sheshes was blind. Everyone was going to greet the king and Rav Sheshes stood up and went along with them. A heretic found him there and said to him: “[Intact] jugs go to the river, where do the broken [jugs] go (i.e., why would a blind person go to see the king)?”

Rav Sheshes told him: “Come see that I know more than you.”

The first troop passed, and when the noise grew louder the heretic said to him: “The king is coming!”

Rav Sheshes told him: “The king is not coming.”

The second troop passed and when the noise grew louder, the heretic told him: “Now the king is coming!”

[But] Rav Sheshes told him [again]: “The king is [still] not coming.”

The third [troop] passed and there was silence. Rav Sheshes [then] told him: “Certainly now the king is coming!”

The heretic [was amazed and] asked him: “How do you know this?”

He answered him: “Royalty on earth is like royalty in Heaven, and it says [regarding God’s revelation to Eliyahu HaNavi on Sinai], ‘He said: “Go and stand upon the mountain before God,” and behold, God passed by and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before God, but God was not in the wind. After the wind [there was] an earthquake, but God was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake [there was] a fire, but God was not in the fire. [But] after the fire [there was] a still small voice, [and when Eliyahu heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave].’” (I Melachim 19:11-13). (Brochos 58a)

In other words, Rav Sheshes told the heretic, God’s revelation was specifically at the moment of silence, something he knew but not because he could see with his physical eyes, but because of what he could see with his mind’s eye. As it says, “The secrets of God to those who fear Him,” the word for fear having the same root as seeing because it is the result of seeing with the mind’s eye.

But the bigger question is, why does Heavenly royalty only come during quiet and not fanfare, as one might have expected?

The answer is, of course, kabbalistic.

It’s the reason for this book.