News

Why Do We Celebrate Chanukah?

 “When the Y’vanim entered the Beis HaMikdash, they defiled all the oil set aside for lighting the Menorah. When the Chashmona’im were victorious, they searched and were able to find only one small jug of oil with the Kohen Gadol’s seal intact. It had sufficient oil to last only one day, but miraculously it lasted eight days. In honor of the miracle of the oil lasting eight days, Chazal inaugurated these days for Hallel and thanksgiving.” – Gemara Shabbos 21b

Imagine you have a wealthy uncle, and on your sixteenth birthday he wishes you a happy birthday and hands you the keys to a brand-new car. There’s just one problem: You’ve never driven before. And to be honest, you never really paid much attention to how to drive. But you think: Listen, it’s not a big deal; everybody drives, it can’t be that complicated. You get behind the wheel and start the car. After crashing around for a while, you learn to steer a bit and manage to get onto the road. All day long you’re crashing into things because no one taught you how to brake, how to slow down, or really, how to drive. Eventually, you conclude that either this car is a lemon, or this whole thing called driving is just not what it’s made out to be.

When Yaakov Avinu was told that his brother Eisav was plotting to kill him, he ran from his father’s home and prepared for an extended stay in exile. Along the way, he davened and asked Hashem for a number of things, including: “I should return to my father’s house in peace.”

In Parshas VaEschanan, we read about the Arei Miklat, the Cities of Refuge for those who unintentionally murder. This parshah almost always falls out immediately following Tish’ah B’Av, and, consequently, shortly before Elul. At face value, these two themes do not seem to share a thematic connection. The Ir Miklat is a City of Refuge, a safe haven, for one who unwittingly murders. Tish’ah B’Av is a day of sadness and destruction, as klal Yisrael mourns the loss of the Beis HaMikdash (First and Second) and the tragedies that have occurred throughout Jewish History. And Elul is the month of t’shuvah (repentance). What links these three topics together? In order to understand their deep underlying connection, we must first delve into each of these three seemingly unrelated ideas.

Eliezer, the servant of Avraham, went to find a wife for Yitzchak. He approached the city of Charan, waited at the well, and asked Hashem for a sign. “Let it be that the girl who not only gives me water when I ask for it, but says, ‘Not only will I give you to drink, but I will give your camels as well.’ She should be the one that is right for Yitzchak.”

“Do not covet the house of your neighbor. Do not covet the wife of your neighbor; his slave and maid servant, his ox, his donkey, and all that belongs to your neighbor.”

– Sh’mos 20:14

 *****

The Ibn Ezra explains that people are perplexed by this mitzvah. How is it possible not to desire that which I find beautiful? The Torah can forbid my actions or speech, because I can to control my behaviors. But desires dwell deep within a person. They are a function of the inner condition. I didn’t ask for them, but they are here. How can the Torah command me not to want?

The Ibn Ezra answers with a mashal. Imagine, he says, that a simple villager were to see a princess passing in a procession. He may find her very beautiful, but he would never fantasize about marrying her. She is so far removed from his social status that the idea of taking her as a wife is out of the realm of the possible. He wouldn’t even dream about it. If the idea would ever cross his mind, he would quickly rebuke himself, saying, “Am I insane? Do I dream about sprouting wings and flying?”

So, too, the Ibn Ezra explains, when a person understands that Hashem runs the world and sets forth the right woman for the right man, he will never desire that which isn’t his because he knows that it is impossible for him to have it. It is so impossible that it would be akin to a sane individual dreaming about growing wings and flying.

The Ibn Ezra is teaching us a fundamental concept in growth: that we can shape our very reality.