Dedicated to Harav Yitzchak ben Shlomo Jacobs ztl - May his memory be a blessing.
I have never
experienced anything like it.
Not only were
we entirely enveloped in darkness, but the absence of any sort of light caused us
to be rooted to the spot and too frightened to move.
There was
a complete absence of light, the kind of which I had never experienced. My daughters and I were visiting Chislehurst Caves
and our guide had warned us that we were about to experience something unusual.
We switched
off our torches and there we were standing in awe and fear, excited at the thought of the situation we found
ourselves in. It was also very unnerving. I remember trying to make sense of the moment
and two thoughts came into my mind.
Firstly, I
was reminded of the plague of darkness that afflicted the Egyptians. For three days it was so dark that they were unable
to move from the spot.
I then recalled
the first few pesukim/verses of Bereshit/Genesis:
Genesis 1:
(1) When God began to create heaven and earth— (2) the
earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and
a wind from God sweeping over the water.
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בראשית א׳:א׳-ד׳
(א) בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹקִ֑ים
אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃ (ב) וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ
עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹקִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם׃
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It was that
kind of darkness - where objects were unformed and void and there was a depth to
the environment that could not be fathomed, literally or figuratively. The only difference is that Gd's spirit was not
sweeping anywhere that we could feel and there certainly wasn't any water in the
vicinity!
What did Gd
do to initiate the creation of the world?
(3) God said, “Let there
be light”; and there was light.
Gd spoke and
in doing so created 'light', presumably to replace the darkness with its rival?
Not so.
The next pasuk
tells us that:
(4) God saw that the
light was good and God separated the light from the darkness. (5) God called the light ‘Day’ and the darkness
He called ‘Night’. And there was evening
and there was morning, a first day.
Gd had created
two equal forces by separating one from the other. Day and Night. And that's it. Day One was completed.
If we consider
the first five pesukim of Bereshit, we are left with a number of questions:
1.
How can you have day and night without the presence of
either the sun or moon?
2.
If this is the case, what is the 'light' that Gd created?
3.
What happened to that 'light'?
Chazal, our
Sages, struggled with the very same questions and shared an incredible insight with
us.
They called
this primordial, pre celestial creation, the Or HaGanuz, the 'Hidden Light'
which was too bright and pure for the Universe that was being created and was then
hidden away, for use at a future time when the world would be deserving of its presence. It was so bright and overpowering that it would
put the light generated by the sun and moon to shame. Has this light ever been seen?
Perhaps, but we need to
consult the Torah for clues as to when this might have been the case.
I have a fun
exercise for you to do!
Look at the
first three verses below and count the first twenty-five Hebrew words from "Bereshit/In
the Beginning":
Genesis 1:
(1) When God began to create heaven and earth— (2) the
earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and
a wind from God sweeping over the water— (3) God said, “Let there be light”; and
there was light.
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בראשית א׳:א׳-ג׳
(א) בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹקִ֑ים
אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃ (ב) וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ
עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹקִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם׃ (ג) וַיֹּ֥אמֶר
אֱלֹקִ֖ים יְהִ֣י א֑וֹר וַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר׃
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The twenty-fifth
word is "Or" the Hebrew word for light. This is referring to the light that was ganuz
(from the same root at Genizah) which means 'hidden'...but for how long was this
spiritual light hidden?
Let's look
at the wonderful festival of Chanukah that we are now celebrating. We lit our first candle on the night of the twenty-fifth
of Kislev and the festival of Chanukah celebrates the finding of a hidden jar of
untainted oil. Could Bereshit be hinting
at a time when some of the spiritual light that was hidden on the very first day
of Creation was revealed to our people as they reclaimed and rededicated the Beit
Hamikdash/Temple through the use of a hidden vial of oil?
The word 'Chanukah'
means 'dedication'. It comes from the same
Hebrew root as the word 'Chinuch' which means 'education'. We can only educate ourselves if we are dedicated
to doing so. The words are connected in many
different ways.
Yet, there
is a dichotomy between the festival of Chanukah and the concept of a hidden miracle.
Isn't Purim
the chag that celebrates such a concept? If anything, we have a mitzvah to advertise
the festival, through 'pirsumei nisa' - publicising the miracle of the oil (as in
the case of Chanukah) by lighting our Chanukiyot in our windows or indeed as in
recent times, in public places. This doesn't
seem to fit in with the idea of a 'hidden miracle'.
I think we
need to look a little deeper into the very concept of Chanukah to really understand
what is happening and how I believe the connection between the hidden light and
the festival of Chanukah is not as strange as it may seem.
In our Northern
Hemisphere, we know that Chanukah also arrives in the dead of winter, even if we
celebrate it at the end of November. It is
a struggle to get home in time from work or school in order to light the candles
or the oil at the optimum time (as close to night as possible). Indeed, sometimes, I have not been able to light
my chanukiah until late at night. But that's
the point. We have to light it at night because
it is only at this opportune time that we can appreciate how special the lights
are.
The text that
we recite after we make the brachot is 'Hanerot Halalu':
“We light these lights
because of the miracles, the deliverances and the wonders You performed for our
ancestors, through Your holy priests. Throughout
the eight days of Chanukah these lights are holy and we are not permitted to make
any other use of them; except to look at them that we may offer thanks to Your name
for Your miracles, Your deliverances and Your wonders.”
Notice the
text that states: "these lights are holy and we are not permitted to make any
other use of them".
These are
not 'ordinary lights'. They have a special
significance. They need to be respected and
admired because they are holy. There is a
spirituality that resides in them which provides them with a set of laws that are
even more stringent that those of Shabbat.
We are never told that we cannot benefit from the light emanating from our
Friday night candles. On the contrary, we
light the Shabbat candles to promote Shalom Bayit (peace in our households) - see
Messechet Shabbat 23b.
The festival
of Chanukah commemorates the victory of the few over the many.
As the Al
Hanisim prayer that we recite throughout the festival states:
"You delivered the strong into the hands of
the weak, the many into the hands of the few, the impure into the hands of the pure,
the wicked into the hands of the righteous and the arrogant into the hands of those
who were engaged in the study of Your Torah".
Perhaps, referring
back to our original source, Gd revealed part of the hidden light to the world and
in the process, saved the soul and spirit of the Jewish people. Even through the darkest of nights, in the darkest
of centuries, in the darkest of locations, Gd did not forget His people.
He brought
us His light.
This year
has been very dark indeed and at times, we have felt like my girls and I did in
the Chislehurst Caves. Yet, right now, at
Chanukah, we have, for the first time witnessed some light breaking through the
darkness in the form of a vaccine that could potentially save hundreds and thousands
of lives, both Jewish and Gentile.
Light can
take many forms as I have discussed above.
Chanukah is
a festival that celebrates both the spiritual and physical light that broke through
the darkness and has continued to do so over the last two-and-a-half thousand years.
May the special
lights of our chanukiyot bring to us and the world the brachot that we so desperately
need and may the light of the Torah be our strength. We might think that the light is hidden but in
fact, it is much brighter than we could ever imagine. Gd willing, one day soon, we will benefit from
its full impact.
Wishing you
a Shabbat Shalom and Chanukah Sameach.
