Part I
"Speak to Aharon and say to him: `When you kindle the lamps,
toward the face of the menorah shall the seven lamps
give their light'" (Bamidbar 8:2).
The Midrash (Tanchuma 5, cited in Rashi, ibid.)
asks: "Why is the parsha of the menorah
juxtaposed to the inauguration of the mizbeiach by the
nesi'im? When Aharon saw the inauguration done by the
nesi'im he was distressed at his exclusion and that of
his shevet in the process. HaKodosh Boruch Hu
said to him: `Your share is greater than theirs, since you
shall kindle and clean the lamps.'"
What exactly is the meaning of HaKodosh Boruch Hu's
answer as the Midrash describes it, "Your share is
greater than theirs"? Why was Aharon not satisfied by the
fact that he would offer the other korbonos and do the
other avodos in the Beis Hamikdosh? Why was
kindling and cleaning the lamps more of a consolation than
all else? The Ramban, in his commentary on the Torah
(ibid.), analyzes this problem:
"It is unclear why the kindling of the lamps would console
[the Cohanim for being left out of the inauguration]. Why was
the offering of ketores every day and
night—which the posuk (Devorim 33:10) praises:
`They shall put ketores before You'—why were all
the korbonos, the minchas chavitin, the
avodoh on Yom Kippur permitted solely to the Cohen
Godol, the Cohen Godol's entry to the Kodesh Kodoshim,
when he becomes a kedosh Hashem standing in the
Heichal to serve Him and make a brochoh in His
name—why was his whole shevet being servants of
our Elokim, all still insufficient to console [Aharon]?
Furthermore, why should [Aharon] be distressed at all? He
offered more korbonos than the nesi'im, and
even offered at that time, during the days of the
milu'im, many obligatory korbonos . . ..
"This aggadah is teaching us that the parsha
alludes to the inauguration of the lamps in the time of the
second Beis Hamikdosh, by the Chashmonai and his
children, the offspring of Aharon the Cohen Godol."
But the basic difficulty remains. Why was even the kindling
of the menorah at Chanukah time by the Chashmonaim,
who were Cohanim, more significant than all the
korbonos offered by the Cohanim and their performing
of all of the other avodos in the Beis
Hamikdosh?
"R' Yochonon said, His name was Palti but he was called
Paltiel since Hashem had saved (polat) him from
aveiroh. What did he do? He stuck a sword between him
and [Michal, Dovid's rightful wife who was given to Palti by
Shaul Hamelech] and proclaimed: `Whoever engages in [intimate
relationships with her] will be stabbed by this sword!' R'
Yochonon said, The beginning of the posuk (Mishlei
31:29): `Many daughters have done virtuously', refers to
Yosef and Boaz, and the continuation: `but you excel them
all,' refers to Palti ben Layish. R' Yonoson said, The
beginning of the posuk (ibid., 30): `Grace is
deceitful,' refers to Yosef, and its continuation: `and
beauty is vain,' refers to Boaz, and its conclusion: `but a
woman who fears Hashem, she shall be praised,' refers to
Palti ben Layish' (Sanhedrin 19b)."
Yosef resisted succumbing to the licentious desires of
Potifera's wife. Boaz too withstood temptation when he found
Ruth lying next to him at night in a deserted field.
Likewise, Palti ben Layish resisted yielding to his yetzer
hora, but his degree of temptation cannot be compared to
that of the other two. Yosef and Boaz proved their
tzidkus once, but Palti was continually tested over
several years while he lived with Michal the daughter of
Shaul in the same house. Only the sword that Palti had stuck
in the ground divided between them, something that could have
been easily removed by Palti himself if he wished to do
so.
From where did Palti draw this great strength? The
posuk tells us that it derived from his middoh
of yiras Shomayim. Palti realized that "Many daughters
have done virtuously, but you excelled them all. Grace is
deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears Hashem,
she shall be praised." The Midrash emphasizes that the
quality of "who fears Hashem shall be praised" refers to
Palti, and with its power he excelled over all others.
Avrohom Ovinu's ability to prove himself during the Divine
test of Akeidas Yitzchok is attributed to the fervor
of his yirah—"For now I know that you fear
Elokim, seeing as you have not withheld your son, your only
son, from Me" (Bereishis 22:12). The akeidah
was a tremendous test, and throughout history we have
benefited from the zchus of Avrohom's success with it,
an act that the Torah explicitly teaches us was caused by his
intense yiras shomayim, his true fear of Hashem.
"`If you should sell to your neighbor' (Vayikra
25:14). R' Chiya, the son of R' Ada from Jaffa, said: `If you
should sell'—in the future you will be sold to the
nations of the world. Be partners with your Creator like
Chananya, Mishael, and Azarya, who said to Nevuchadnetzar,
`We have no need to answer you in this matter. Our G-d Whom
we serve is able to deliver us; He can deliver us from the
burning fiery furnace and out of your hand, O king'
(Daniel 3:16-17) . . . Rabbonim said: [Nevuchadnetzar]
told them: `Did not Yirmiyahu (Yirmiyahu 27:8) say,
"And it will come to pass that the nation and kingdom which
will not serve this Nevuchadnetzar king of Bovel and that
will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Bovel,
that nation will I punish, says Hashem, with sword and with
famine and with pestilence, until I have consumed them by his
hand."' . . . Nevuchadnetzar said to them: `Either you
fulfill the beginning of the posuk (to obey the king)
or I will fulfill the end of the posuk (he will punish
them with a sword).'
"`Shedrach, Meshakh, and Aved-nego (Chananya, Mishael, and
Azarya, as they were called in Aramaic) answered and said to
King Nevuchadnetzar, We have no need to answer you . . ..' If
he was a king, why did they add Nevuchadnetzar (they should
have only addressed him as "O King")? If he was
Nevuchadnetzar, why did they add `King' (it would have been
sufficient to address him as `Nevuchadnetzar,' without adding
his title as king)? They were as if saying to him, You are
only a king to impose various sorts of taxes on us. As for
this thing that you are telling us (to worship avodoh
zorah) you are [merely] Nevuchadnetzar — your name
is Nevuchadnetzar. You and a dog are equal for us.
Nevuchadnetzar [is an acronym that] means barking like a dog
(novach), anger filling him like a swollen pitcher
(kad), and chirping like a cricket (tzratzar).
Immediately, Nevuchadnetzar barked like a dog, his anger
filled him like a swollen pitcher, and he chirped like a
cricket, as is written, `I counsel you to keep the king's
commandment' (Koheles 8:2). R' Levi said: `I will obey
the mouth of the King of Kings, HaKodosh Boruch Hu,
the mouth that said to us on Sinai (Shemos 20:2) `I am
Hashem your Elokim'" (Vayikra Rabbah 33:6).
The declaration of Chananya, Mishael, and Azarya to
Nevuchadnetzar that "you and a dog are equal for us," meaning
that he was totally unimportant to them, was an indispensable
step in preparing Yochonon the Cohen Godol and his sons the
Chashmonaim to defy the Greeks. Where did the Chashmonaim
find such strength of spirit, to revolt against the all-
powerful Greek Empire, whose immense and mighty army was well
equipped with the latest deadly weapons? After all, the
Chashmonaim were only a few persons and they were not
prepared to wage war against the Greeks.
The Chashmonaim heard how Chananya, Mishael, and Azarya spoke
to Nevuchadnetzar, telling him that he and a dog were equal,
that although he was a powerful king he was actually
worthless. When compared with HaKodosh Boruch Hu he
was nothing. They learned from this example that when one is
supporting the Torah one takes nothing else into
consideration for nothing has any independent strength. The
Chashmonaim initiated a war solely for the sake of the Torah,
and therefore the whole Greek Empire was valueless and
powerless. They did not even have to consider the enemy's
strength, and accordingly waged war against them.
Throughout history, during the long golus in which we
live, Jews always maintained the authority to control
themselves. Kiddushin and gittin were under the
strict auspices of the gedolei Yisroel, the leaders of
the golus. Also litigation in financial matters was
conducted by the botei din. Although the non-Jews also
had their set of laws for their country, they allowed the
Jews to rule themselves. This was true until contemporary
times, when those influenced by the Enlightenment Movement
ruined it. This conduct was made possible through what
Chananya, Mishael, and Azarya said to Nevuchadnetzar, "You
and a dog are equal," declaring that those who oppose the
Torah are not to be taken into consideration.
End of Part I
