Day Seven: The Light We Hold In Our Hands
There was an amazing aspect to the kedusha of the Mishkan in the desert. Unlike the Beit HaMikdash, where we had to travel to its place to experience its kedusha, the Mishkan had no place. It traveled wherever we traveled, and even dismantled, and in the hands of the Kohanim as they traveled across the desert, it was always halachically the dwelling place of the Shechina. As Hashem promised, we ourselves were the place where the Divine Presence rested. The Kohanim held its kedusha in their hands.
Aharon inaugurated this aspect of the Mishkan through the menorah and Hashem promised Aharon that the lights that he inaugurated would be eternal. Ramban (Bamidbar 8:2) tells us that this is the light that we continue to light in our homes on Chanukah. However, the light of the Chanukiah is the light of the Menorah in a transformed state. Chanukah marks a fundamental change in our relationship with Hashem. The figure that can help us understand this change is Shimon HaTzadik.
Shimon HaTzadik lived three generations before Chanukah, but he is credited by the Gemara (Megilla 11a) with paving the way for the defeat of the Greeks. Interestingly, he is also credited by the Gemara (Yoma 69a) for paving the way for the victory of the Greeks. The Gemara describes Alexander the Great marching on Jerusalem to destroy the Beit HaMikdash, and Shimon HaTzaddik coming out to meet him in the clothing of the Kohen Gadol. Alexander bows to Shimon, recognizing Shimon’s face as the image of victory he sees before him in battle.
How can Shimon HaTzadik be both the reason for the rise of the Greeks, and the reason for our defeat of them? Shimon Ha Tzadik’s has a very specific place in our mesorah. He lived at the very end of the period of nevuah, and with him begins the period of Torah SheBa’al Peh. His is the first name in Avot (1:2), the first to have Torah given over in his name. This was the beginning of a new kind of innovation. From now on, the Torah would be carried in the hearts and minds of the Sages, and be brought into the world, not through nevuah, but through their innovation.
The rise of Torah Sheba’al Peh illuminated our world tremendously. For the purposes of free choice, there had to be a counterbalancing darkness. This came into the world through Greek culture, which affirmed the power of the human intellect and then divorced that power from Hashem. It was therefore Shimon HaTzadik, first of the Sages of the Torah SheBa’al Peh, who paved the way for Alexander the Great’s victories in the world.
Shimon HaTzadik was not just a sage, he was also Kohen Gadol. His mesorah was taken from Aharon, and carried on by his children, the Chashmonaim. They were tremendous innovators in the service of Hashem. After miraculously winning the war no Navi had told them to fight, they went back to the Beit HaMikdash and decided not to wait a week, but to use their one vial of pure oil to light the menorah. There was no navi, there was no clear halacha that told them to light. They innovated because Hashem inspired them, and their menorah stayed lit, because Hashem was with them.
Aharon inaugurated the idea that Hashem’s light and kedusha can travel with us and within us wherever we are, even when the mishkan is completely disassembled. The Chashmonaim reinaugurated this idea and used it to illuminate a changed world. We continue the tradition. The form of the light may have changed, but we can still use it to rekindle our relationship with Hashem and illuminate our homes.
To explore this idea further in the sefer, see pages 86-92.