Three minyanim, with more than 125 people, came together to celebrate Chanukah at the Young Israel of Forest Hills on Thursday, December 18.
The Main Shul, the Young Married Minyan, and Tifferet Shalom, a Sephardic minyan at the Young Israel of Forest Hills, brought together younger and older participants who intermingled throughout the evening.
David Gottlieb, President of the Young Israel of Forest Hills, spoke of a friend in the Five Towns who attends a shul where everyone is the same. “Everybody finds a shul that suits them. I think something very special, unique, and enjoyable about our shul is that we have many different types of people and a lot of diversity.”
Rabbi Elisha Friedman of the Young Israel spoke about the terrorist attack in Australia. Hashem sends us messages. “We obviously can’t figure them out.” However, the miracle of one cruse of oil lasting eight days in the Beis HaMikdash occurred while the war was still ongoing. It took years until the Jews defeated the Syrian-Greeks.
“What we celebrate on Chanukah is not so much that the Jews won that war, but that Hashem sent a message through the oil that whatever was going to happen, we don’t know what’s going to happen, but He would be there with them.”
“The miracle of the oil is even more relevant after something like that. The fact that Hashem had that oil burn for eight days is a reminder that we were guaranteed it was going to work out, and Hashem is there with us,” Rabbi Friedman said.
The Jews could have easily said, “We can’t do it now. We’ll just wait it out.” But they went ahead and lit that one jar, even though it didn’t make sense. It burned for eight days. “That was when they realized that if they do their part, then Hashem will give them the success they need.”
“Obviously, there are scary things going on in the world, but our job is always to do our part. Then Hashem will make us successful, and hopefully we’ll see that success all over the world very, very soon.”
Rabbi Zalman Mergui of Tifferet Shalom, the Sephardic minyan at the Young Israel of Forest Hills, said Jews don’t celebrate the victory of their culture over the Syrian-Greeks during Chanukah. Ancient Greek is the only language in which the sefer Torah can be written. Rambam and the Sages of Israel learned Greek culture, philosophy, and astronomy.
Jews and Greeks are descendants of Noach. His son Cham “was animalistic, only concerned about self-pleasure.” Shem, from whom Avraham descended and from whom Jews are called Semitic, represents spirituality “until today.” Yefes is the forbearer of Western culture, including the Greeks and the Romans.
Rabbi Mergui quoted Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, explaining that Yefes is a bridge between the animalistic Cham and the spiritual Shem. During the Renaissance in Europe, people began valuing intellectual capacity, university study, and learning. “That slowly brought the world to values and good behavior, not only thinking about themselves, their pleasure, and passion. That was the bridge between Cham and Yefes.”
On Chanukah, Jews “infuse the Greek, Roman, and Western world in general with the values of Torah. That’s the only bridge to influence Cham and bring the entire world to a proper, peaceful state.”
Rambam said Christianity and Islam are bridges for the coming of Mashiach. Paganism once dominated the world. “Today, the majority of humankind believes in something, though with some errors. Mashiach will come and clarify everything. It will illuminate their lives. All these developments are only to prepare the time of Mashiach.”
La Pizzeria in Great Neck provided the ziti dishes, Queens Pita the sufganiyot, and Elite Cafe the potato latkes.
By David Schneier
