Shabbat Chanukah: The Hidden Light

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.

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׃

 

 

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.

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׃

 

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.