Hanukkah Is a Strange Holiday… Until You Understand This - Tehila Gimpel | The Land of Israel

I loved hearing everyone talk about what a great holiday it is. I hate to be the party pooper. I'm just kidding. I don't hate it. Let's put it out there. There's an elephant in the room. It's a weird holiday. It's a weird holiday, people. When you parse it down to its parts, it doesn't actually make obvious sense. Okay, guys. Pop quiz. You take a random kid off the street. Why do we celebrate Hanukkah? They will, of course. Hey, there was a little jug of oil and it lasted eight days, right? Very cool. It lasted eight days. Amazing, right? I don't want to be a wet blanket, but does a jar of oil lasting longer than it's supposed to last actually justify thousands of years of celebrating every year? You know those talent shows Jeremy and I when we were younger, we'd watch. There was like American Idol and now my kids tell me there's a show called America's Got Talent where people come and like compete for their talents. Okay, let's say there was a show called Israel's Got Miracles. Okay, and we were having a miracle competition. Would the oil make it past the first stage? Like as miracles go, and no offense to the to the jug, but we had the crossing of the Jordan, the walls of Jericho, the sun stood still in Gon. Do I need to go on? We have dozens. Some are like great public miracles like Elijah and the Carmel. Some are, you know, national salvations. Some are, you know, personal salvations like uh, you know, Alicia reviving a dead boy. Uh, you know, we had Naman's leprosy being heal healed. No one gets their own holiday. I'm going to say something even a little bit worse, a little bit more sacrilegious. Did the oil even matter? Let's take your worst case scenario. Okay, worst case scenario, the oil didn't last. They found a little jug and it didn't last. Or you know what, even worse, no jug whatsoever, the temple has been out of commission for years. It took a few extra days cuz they didn't have oil. Would anyone even remember that? It wouldn't have even made it into the book. It wouldn't have made it into the story. It would just say, "Then they harvested some olives. They made some pure oil. And a week later, they renewed the lighting in the temple." Big deal. Big deal. And I [snorts] know you're like chuckling in your hearts. Oh, Tahila. Yes. But that miracle was secondary. The real miracle was the Jewish people, a tiny nation, defeating the Assyrian Greeks, right? Okay. That's like the main thing. And like the oil thing is like a like a good like it's a good story for the kids. But I have to break the news to you guys. Um, first of all, wars don't get wars don't get uh holidays. We've had I mean, did you read the book of Joshua? Did you read the book of Judges? Did you read the book of Kings? There have been a bunch of good wars. David killing Goliath didn't even get one day. And okay, fine. It's a really incredible victory. But I have to remind you of something else. The holiday of Kaneka was established before the victory o the complete victory over the Assyrian Greeks. Book of Makabe has 15 chapters. The dedication of the sanctuary is in chapter 4, guys. There was like 20some years of still fighting against the m the Mcabe brothers were still alive on the original Kaneka. They would go on all to die except for one. They didn't even know if they were going to ultimately win. So what is this holiday about? What is the miracle? And furthermore, what do we do on Kaneka? We light the candles. That's the symbol. We don't go out reenacting battles. There's something really important going on here with the lights. So, at least to the innocent observer, it would look like we are acting out the main theme of the day being a jug of oil that just didn't matter that much. Are you guys with me? That this is a little bit of a it's a strange holiday. I want to ask you another question. I'm going to make it even worse. What would the oil miracle and the military victory even have to do with one another? Seemingly they're completely unrelated. They almost seem opposite. Like even within society, you'll see like more secular Zionists. They really like the memory of the story of the battles, miracles. That's like a that's like the Santa Claus equivalent. It's, you know, it's like a magical story. It doesn't really matter. We need to fight. We need to take destiny in our own hands. Jews who are more distant from Zionism in the land of Israel if it's because you know they're more uh they believe that you know Hashem is first going to bring Mashiach and then we come back to Israel or some people say we want to just integrate into the societies that we live in they love the story of the oil they less connect to the story of this battle it's so aggressive so independent it's not their jazz seems like two trains passing in the night never wanting to meet so it's there's a lot of strange things going on here I want to suggest that when you look closely at the miracle of the oil. It's not just a cute story. It's not just magic. I think it actually speaks to the essence of the holiday because it is a symbolic reenactment of the deepest, most profound miracle of Hanukkah. Think about the time that this is taking place. The vast majority of Jews at that time had succumbed to the poisonous mental and spiritual venom of Hellenism that was just eating away at the holiness of Israel. a culture of decadence, materialism, immorality, idolatry. The Hellenist Greeks had come into the land and basically defiled the entire people. It was like a social contagion. And there were some people trying to hold on, but they were so meek, so timid, they didn't know what to do. And there's this one family that stayed pure. What is the story of Hanukkah? It wasn't even a community that stayed pure. Right there in Modí, there were Jews willing to make their idolatrous sacrifices. But there was this one father, one set of parents. They kept their children's minds strong and pure and steeped in Torah and holiness to be inoculated against this toxic Henanism. I want to look first in the book of Mcabes. Hellenism was sweeping across the world and the land of Israel. It wasn't just in Israel. The Greeks were trying to spread their culture everywhere. And so many people were trying to cling to the Torah, but they didn't know what to do. And then most people just kind of gave up into society, just swept up into this wave of Hellenism. And this Assyrian Greek governor comes to Modí, and he calls upon Matiu, the Cohen, the priest, to sacrifice in the Greek worship, and he refuses. And then this other Jew is like, I'll do it. I don't mind. And he becomes zealous for this awful desecration and kills the Jew and the governor. And it says, "Matiu cried out in the town with a loud voice, saying, "Let everyone who is zealous for the law and supports the covenant come with me." And then he and his sons fled to the hills. And they left all that they had in the town. Now, you can imagine them fleeing. They don't know what's going to happen. They've been watching the spiritual decline of their society for decades. And they're just sitting there in the wilderness. They don't know what's going to happen. But then somehow that call reverberates through the nation and awakens this sleeping lion. And the next verse says at that time many who were seeking righteousness. There were people secretly seeking righteousness in their heart and they went down to the wilderness to live there. And that is when the story starts. And then we hear about this gathering of the rebellion. So at its core, the Hanukkah story is not a story of a little nation defeating a big nation. It's a story of a little family on the backdrop of a little nation at the verge of spiritually succumbing to impurity and unholiness. And like someone with their finger in the dam that's about to burst, this one little family lights up the nation of Israel turns their hearts and then they become a little nation that beats a big nation. Because the story of a little nation beating a big nation is cool, but it can happen. You know, we've seen big countries fighting little countries. Ukraine is standing up pretty tough to a big country like Russia and holding their ground. It's cool. It's even a miracle. It's not unimaginable. But think about what is unimaginable. One little family staying pure and turning around the cultural tides of an entire nation that the majority had turned to Hellenism or were at least timidly accepting it. By any logic, not enough should be extinguished after just a few days. But that fire burns and burns and after just a few years, Mati is gone. The brothers are killed in battle except for one. it doesn't matter because they reignited the people of Israel in their zealousness for Hashem and the Torah that had almost almost died out. So, it's not a competition between two miracle stories. There was a historic battle, but what made it possible? One family of McBaes that lit up the nation. Now, imagine they came into the sanctuary and they see this one little pot of oil and they think, "Wow, that possibly could not possibly be enough oil." And they light up these seven candles. What is seven candles? Imagine them looking at this thinking a mom and dad and five sons [snorts] watching in awe as they see it burn and burn powerfully and long enough for new oil to be purified and then for there to be continuity of this pure holy light shining from the temple for hundreds of years. I imagine them looking at each other and just thinking, is this not what just happened to us? And now they're humble. They don't say, "Hey, make a holiday celebrating us." Because they realize it's not about them. This is the message that every family would need for the rest of history. This is the last holiday to be set into time. This is the message that's needed. It's cool that a little nation can beat a big nation, but we don't have all all have armies, but we all have families, a small circle of people that can hold on to that loyalty to the Torah. And if you don't believe me, that that's the secret message of the story of the oil. Just look at the mitzvah. Look at the commandments that we do on the day. I think it's one of the only mitzvah, one of the only commandments that is on the household and not the individual. When a person has to hear the chauffar, it doesn't help me that Jeremy heard the chauffeur. I have to hear it, too. But in our homes, it's on the home to light the candle. You put it in the window. Most of our commandments we do quietly when we even when we go to the synagogue, we pray the silent prayer silently. We don't make a whole big show out of doing a commandment. But on Kaneka, we shine our manora out the window. We [snorts] say, "Hopefully, we'll look down the street and see that we're in a beautiful community of other people lighting as well." But we might not. And we say, "I don't care. I'm going to fight like a mcabe because I'm going to keep my home and my family pure even if I'm the last one because I don't care. Because the story of Hanukkah first and foremost is a miracle of one little jug staying pure. One little family keeping their family protected, keeping their children protected from the influences of Helenism and lighting up everyone else. And afterwards that led to a great military victory. But the root is not a military battle. So that is the essence of Kaneka. And I just it it just reminds us that this is the essence. These are not candles that shined for 8 days. These are candles that have shined for 2 and a half thousand years. With every family that has decided to keep the Torah and to keep their family pure and holy shining onto the whole world. So, may we all merit to be mcabes in our homes and please God to shine onto the whole world. Bye, guys. >> Hey, that was a highlight from this week's Land of Israel Fellowship. If you like that highlight, you'll love the Land of Israel Fellowship. Find out more on the land of Isisrael.com. 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