[The following is an excerpt from Vayeishev Moshe
written by HaRav Berl.]
HaRav Yitzchok Hutner zt'l, the rosh yeshiva of
Yeshivas Rabbenu Chaim Berlin in Brooklyn, New York,
discussed, in Pachad Yitzchok on Chanukah, the unique
significance of Chanukah. For a better comprehension of what
Chanukah really is HaRav Hutner's essays on that topic are
indispensable.
In my humble opinion, in order to understand the meaning of
showing our gratitude to Hashem on Chanukah we must first
explain what it means to thank HaKodosh Boruch Hu in
general. We will start off by citing the gemora
(Brochos 7b): "R' Yochonon said in the name of R'
Shimon bar Yochai: From the day that HaKodosh Boruch
Hu created His world there was no person who thanked
HaKodosh Boruch Hu until Leah came and thanked Him, as
is written, `Now I will thank Hashem' (Bereishis
29:34)."
This is really amazing. Thanking Hashem is common and routine
among us: it is done many times a day. How can it be that it
never occurred to the holy Patriarchs and all the
tzaddikim -- until Leah -- that we should thank
Hashem?
All of the brochos open with the second person --
"Blessed are You" -- and conclude in the third person -- "Who
loves His nation," "Who guards His nation," "by Whose word
everything was created." The seforim hakedoshim
explain the reason for this change in form (the basis of the
explanation is in the Rashbo). Since HaKodosh Boruch
Hu is revealed through His acts, while He Himself is
hidden, we therefore start our brochos with the second
person, referring to His acts, and conclude by praising Him
in the third person, since He is hidden. "And the
Chayos ran to and fro" (Yechezkel 1:14) -- so
do we first start by praising Hashem with His deeds and then
with His concealed presence.
The text of one brocho is distinctive from all the
others. That is the brocho of thanking Hashem in
Shemoneh Esrei: "Blessed are You, Hashem, You Whose
name is `The Beneficent One' and to You it is fitting to give
thanks." In this brocho both the beginning and end are
in the second person. We are directly addressing HaKodosh
Boruch Hu.
Let us analyze two different reasons for thanking
Hashem.
First I will offer a parable. There was once a benign king
who had pity on his kingdom's old men and women, and he fed
and supported them. Now, when an elderly person receives the
king's gift it is undoubtedly proper for him to praise
the king for his great kindness. Nevertheless, there is no
need to thank him for this kindness, since it was not an
individual kindness, a kindness directed only to him. The
elderly person was merely one out of thousands of elderly
people who benefited from the king's kindness.
In modern times this can be compared to retired people
receiving social security from the government. They should
surely praise the government for its benign attitude and
help, but since no one has received a personal benefit,
specially, only for him, he does not need to thank the
government.
If, however, a person was sentenced to die according to the
country's law, but later the king, through his clemency,
released him, such a person, besides having to praise the
king for his kindness in general, must personally thank him
for the benevolence he showed especially towards him. He
should request an audience with the king and thank him for
making an exception and saving him from death.
Praising and lauding someone can be done even in the third
person -- from far away. But thanking someone for his
particular kindness for him must be done in the second person
-- in front of the one who had mercy on him: "Blessed are
You."
Now we can begin to understand why the Ovos themselves
did not thank Hashem until Leah. "The kindness of Hashem
fills the earth" (Tehillim 33:4). "He sustains the
living with chesed" (Shemoneh Esrei). "Who
nourishes the whole world in His goodness, with grace, with
kindness, and with mercy" (Bircas Hamozone). We are
well aware that even if we labor to comprehend the full
essence of Hashem's chesed we are unable. Certainly we
are unable to grasp the limits of Hashem's chesed --
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts" (Yeshaya
55:8). Since HaKodosh Boruch Hu and His kindness are
one, just as we cannot perceive Him so we cannot perceive the
limits of His goodness.
The Ovos realized that Hashem's attribute of goodness,
that they perceived in the Creation in general and even in
their lives in particular, is only a minute part of His
universal goodness. They did not understand that Hashem had
done any particular special goodness to them, but thought
that this was part of the general goodness that HaKodosh
Boruch Hu sends to every individual in the Creation. The
Ovos therefore never thanked Hashem for His goodness,
but only praised and exalted Him.
Leah was the first person who felt that besides the general
chesed that Hashem sends into the world for His
Creations, He had sent her an individual goodness and
kindness, and moreover, one that was more than she even
deserved. It was therefore proper for her to thank Hashem in
the second person -- directly to Him.
"And You have brought us close to Your great Name . . . to
thank You" (Bircas Krias Shema). If we are so close to
Hashem that we can receive special goodness we should thank
Him directly -- in the second person -- for this
closeness.
The brocho in Shemoneh Esrei mentioned above,
that starts and ends in the second person, is the bircas
hahodo'oh (the brocho of thanking Hashem). This
brocho is intended to thank Hashem for His particular
goodness to us and is therefore completely in the second
person.
Usually we divide the miracles of Chanukah
into two: the miracle of victory over the enemy and the
miracle of the lamps. The miracle of our victory was
certainly needed greatly, since without it we would, chas
vesholom, have been destroyed. We must still, however,
analyze the miracle of the menorah's lights.
1) What was the chidush in this miracle? There were
ten miracles that were done daily in the Beis
Hamikdash (Ovos 5:5). The Beis Hamikdash's
miracles were natural for such a center of kedusha and
Shechina. Moreover, the gemora (Taanis
25a) writes that one erev Shabbos at the end of the
day (see Rashi) R' Chanina ben Dosa asked his daughter why
she looked sad. She answered that she had confused a pitcher
of vinegar with one of oil and had filled the Shabbos lamps
with vinegar. There was no time now to empty the lamps, clean
them, and go and look for oil. R' Chanina said to his
daughter: "What difference does it make to you? The One Who
told oil to burn will tell the vinegar to burn." The
beraissah tells us that the lamp burned a whole day
until it was used even for havdoloh.
We see that for R' Chanina vinegar could burn even longer
than if it were ordinary oil. Oil would have burned only a
few hours but the vinegar burned more than a day. If so,
where was there so great a chidush if in the
menora oil burned eight days instead of one?
2) What halachic need was there for the miracle of the
menora (as the acharonim ask)? Since the
halocho is that tumah is permitted for a
tzibbur, the Maccabees were allowed to light the
menora with tomei oil.
"`Outside the veil of the Testimony, in the ohel
mo'ed, shall Aharon order it from evening unto morning
before Hashem continually' (Vayikro 24:3). Does He
need its light? For forty years bnei Yisroel went
through the desert and were only guided by His light. [The
menora of the Beis Hamikdash] was a testimony
for everyone that the Shechina rests upon Yisroel.
What is the testimony? Rav said, `This is the western lamp
into which was put the same amount of oil as the other lamps,
enough to last through the night, but it would burn the whole
night and day.' In the evening the Cohen would light the
other lamps from the western lamp, and it would be the last
lamp to be cleaned in preparation for the lighting"
(Shabbos 22b).
Although the mishna in Tomid (3:9) says that
the cleaning of the five lamps came before that of the two
eastern lamps [meaning the lamp east of the western lamp and
the western lamp] (a halocho inferred from a
posuk), and this apparently shows us that all the
lamps were extinguished at night -- even the western lamp --
this was in days when the miracle did not happen. The
posuk does not rely on a miracle and teaches us what
to do when the miracle did not happen. However, as long as
Yisroel were cherished by Hashem (the period before Shimon
Hatzaddik died) the western lamp would burn the whole day,
and that was the testimony of the menora.
We learn from this that long before the time of the miracle
of Chanukah, the testimony was void and the Shechina
was no longer among Yisroel. The sign of love from Hashem to
Klal Yisroel no longer existed. Nonetheless, the
mesiras nefesh of bnei Yisroel against the
shmad decrees of Greece caused Hashem's testimony and
love for the Jewish People to return.
So we see that actually the miracle of Chanukah offered no
chidush, and in addition there was no halachic need
for the miracle of the Chanukah lights. The miracle's aim was
that Hashem congratulated bnei Yisroel for endangering
their lives to observe His covenant, and furthermore it
showed that Hashem's love for Klal Yisroel still
endured.
The miracle of Chanukah was the "end of all miracles" (see
Midrash Tehillim 22:10). It was a miracle that
displayed Hashem's excessive love for His people. With this
miracle we received "more than our share," and therefore
Chazal decreed these eight days of Chanukah specifically to
thank Hashem.
