Chanukah - 007 Light & Darkness Together

When The Darkness Is Total, The Light of the Menorah Begins

The days of Chanukah are described as days of “light.” The halachah is that we light the Menorah only after it is confirmed dark, after sundown[1], precisely so that the light of the Menorah can light up the darkness.

The lighting of the Manorah reveals a new kind of illumination which it is not simply how the light of the sun “lights up” the day. We light the lights of Chanukah when the light of the sun is gone to reveal a new unique light in its place.

The Light of The Menorah On Chanukah Counters The Greek Darkness

The Greek exile is referred to as “darkness.” At the beginning of Creation, the possuk states that there was nothing but darkness upon the waters of the earth. The Midrash[2] says that this darkness represents the Greek exile, who “darkened” the eyes of the Jewish people with their decrees, for they said, “Write on the horn of an ox that We have no portion in G-d of Israel.” In another place, the Sages refer to the Greeks as a “great darkness”.[3]

Through the Menorah lights, a “great light” can come and conquer the great darkness of the Greeks. This is not just in the same way that light of the sun can penetrate darkness; rather, it is a light that is above regular light.

Greek Wisdom: The “Beauty of Yefes in The Tents of Shem”

The source of the Greeks’ power stems from their ancestor Yefes [oldest son of Noach]. When Yefes and Shem covered their father’s nakedness, Yefes was rewarded with beauty, and Shem was rewarded with the Torah that would come from his descendants. The Sages said, “The beauty of Yefes shall dwell in the tents of Shem.”[4] In other words, at some point, there is a connection of Yefes with Shem which is why their influence is such a challenge to us today. If Yefes would have been totally alienated from our life, we wouldn’t have to fight their influences. But the fact is, that Yafes is here with us today- right now.

Yefes is allowed to dwell in the tents of Shem, and for this reason, we have an avodah to sift out the good from the bad in all of the influences that we receive. At the same time, it is forbidden for us to learn Greek wisdom, and in this aspect, we have to fight their influences totally. So part of Yefes can be accepted by us, but another part of Yefes is forbidden.[5]

What The Greeks Inherited From Their Ancestor Yefes

The good parts of Yefes which are allowed stems from the fact that Yefes did a noble act in covering his father Noach. In other words, the entire praise of Yefes was that he covered his father, and therefore, the Greeks have a power to “cover.” Yefes used this power for holiness – but his descendants, the Greeks, use this power for evil.

The Sages describe the Greeks as being “a darkness”, and darkness is the power to cover and conceal. Clearly, the Greek darkness means that their power to “cover” is used for evil, for concealment. On the other hand, Yefes is praised for covering his father. This was the same power to “cover”, but Yefes used it for holiness, which his descendants took this power and used it for evil.

Yefes covered his father’s nakedness; the entire concept of nakedness only came after the sin, for only after the sin did Adam and Chavah become ashamed of their nakedness. Modesty was a concept that was introduced as a result of the sin, because before the sin, there was no concept of nakedness.

There are two concepts of coverings – before the sin, and after the sin. After the sin, Adam and Chavah covered themselves with fig leaves. When Yefes covered his father’s nakedness, this was a kind of modesty that came after the sin of Adam; when a covering is used to cover nakedness.

At the giving of the Torah, we returned to the level of before the sin, but with the sin of the Golden Calf, we fell back to the level of after the sin, and the concept of being ashamed over nakedness returned. Thus, the Greek concept of covering nakedness came back with the sin of the Golden Calf; it enabled the Greek nation to nurture their power to “cover”.  When the Chashmonaim defeated them, they defeated this Greek darkness.

Modesty Before and After The Sin

There are a few ways how the “Greek darkness” can be vanquished.

The simple approach is: “A little bit of light can push away a lot of darkness.”[6] This is one approach, and it is true. This is the simple idea of Chanukah: to illuminate darkness.

But the deeper understanding is as follows.

There was a kind of darkness that existed before the sin[7], and there was a darkness that came after the sin [which we are currently in]. Darkness, in essence, is a power to conceal and hide something.

This entire concept of “covering” is really the concept of modesty, which only came into Creation after the sin. Modesty is needed when something is proper to be kept hidden. For example, “The Jewish nation are a holy people, and therefore they do not have marital relations during the daytime”.[8] The time when marital relations are proper is nighttime – a time in which there is darkness, covering, concealment, privacy, modesty. But the entire nature of concealment, which is the idea behind modesty, is an idea that only came into Creation as a result of the sin.

But where do we find the holy roots of concealment/covering/darkness, which existed before the sin?

Hashem made a separation between light and darkness. Rashi explains that Hashem saw that it won’t be good if light and darkness are allowed to be mixed together, and therefore He separated them.

But before the separation, light and darkness were mixed together. Darkness, in its original form, was mixed with light, and this is the original and pure kind of darkness.

It was not a kind of darkness that existed for the purpose of covering; thus, it is not a kind of darkness which needs to be fought. Gehinnom and strife were only created on the second day, but on the first day of Creation, there was no strife yet, even though darkness existed on the first day. Therefore,  we see that the original state of darkness, on the first day of Creation, was not a darkness of strife. It was a higher kind of darkness.

On the second day of Creation, strife was created when the Lower Waters sought to overpower the Upper Waters. When strife entered Creation, the idea of disparity entered  resulting in Hashem separating light and darkness from each other. It was then that the idea of opposition between the Jewish people and the Greek nation began conceptually. But before the second day of Creation, light and darkness were together, and there was no concept yet to disassociate yet from darkness.

The first day of Creation thus contained a kind of darkness which did not have to be fought, in which darkness can be together with light and there is no opposition between them.

The Victory of The Chashmonaim: Returning To The Original Darkness

Now we can understand the depth behind the victory of the Chashmonaim over the Greeks. It wasn’t simply because “a little bit of light can dispel a lot of darkness.” In waging war with the Greeks, the Chashmonaim were able to reveal the original darkness of Creation, the root darkness, in which darkness and light were together. When the root of darkness is returned to its root, revealed is a point which is above war which is the ultimate victory.

The superficial viewpoint is that there was a war between light and darkness, a war between the Jewish people and the Greek nation, a war between the light of the Jewish people with the Greek darkness. But the inner perspective of the war was that it returned to darkness to its root, to its upper source, to the original way it looked on the first day of Creation. And since this original darkness became revealed – the kind that was originally mixed with light – it followed that there could be no more war. The power of the Greeks who tried to uproot our holiness was eliminated.

The Power of Mesirus Nefesh

The power of darkness/concealment which came after the sin is the kind of darkness of Yitzchok Avinu, who was blind.

Because Yitzchok was blind, his vision was covered, so he was affected by the darkness that came after the sin. Yaakov Avinu, however, did not become blind in old age; rather, his vision became heavy upon him, but he was still able to see.

The depth behind this was because Yitzchok represents gevurah/strength, which implies war, thus, he was affected by the darkness which came after the sin, which is the kind of darkness that needs to be fought. But Yaakov Avinu represents the middle point between Avraham and Yitzchok, therefore, he did not suffer the blindness of Yitzchok that came from his blindness/darkness. 

The Midrash states that when Yitzchok was on the Altar, the angels were crying, and their tears went into his eyes, which blinded him. The Midrash also brings that because he gazed at the Shechinah when he was on the Altar he was punished with blindness.

This was really the deep rectification of the blindness. The test of the Akeidah was a revelation of mesirus nefesh of Yitzchok Avinu – he was ready to die for Hashem. The Sages state that a person merits to see Hashem in death.[9] When Yitzchok was ready to die for Hashem, it was as if he saw the Shechinah. This was a kind of seeing, and it resulted in his blindness. This was a kind of “darkness” that was mixed with light.

Holiness Is To Be Separate

What exactly does it mean that light and darkness are mixed together? What does it mean that the Chashmonaim returned the darkness of the Greeks to the original state of darkness, in which light and darkness were mixed together, and thus there was no more point of war?

Before we bring the answer, we need the following introduction.

The halachah states that the lights of the Menorah have holiness and, therefore, we have no permission to benefit from them – we may only look at them[10]. Even though, there is an argument in the Gemara concerning this[11], the halachah is that we are not allowed to benefit from them. We are only allowed to see them.

What is the concept of holiness? Rashi and Ramban (in Parshas Kedoshim) describe holiness as a concept of being “separate”. The same can be said of the holiness of the Menorah lights – they are above our level of understanding, therefore, we have no permission to benefit from them. There are two kinds of seeing: 1) One kind of seeing is when we use light to see with, like when we read next to the light. In this scenario, using the Menorah’s light for his own personal benefit, is forbidden. 2) Another kind of seeing is when you see it as holy, when you see it as something that is above your comprehension, and you are aware that it is more exalted than you. We are allowed to see the Chanukah lights with the second kind of vision: to just see it, and no more.

This alludes to how the Chashmonaim rectified the Greeks whose wisdom is a kind of wisdom that we can comprehend with human understanding. The wisdom of the Torah, by contrast, is not able to be comprehended through human wisdom alone. It is like the original darkness of Creation, which was mixed together with light.

Greek Wisdom Is Tangible Wisdom, Torah Is Inner Wisdom

How can it be that the original form of light and darkness were able to co-exist together? Why don’t the light and darkness cancel each other out?

When a person sees something and he knows he can’t reach it, he cannot use it, even though he is aware of it. This is like light and darkness together; the light is here, because he can see it, but the fact that he can’t reach it is a degree of darkness. When one can see something but he can’t understand it or reach it, that means he is really missing the inner view of what he is seeing; he sees the external layer of what he’s seeing, but he can’t see the internal layer of what he’s seeing.

When we see the lights of the Menorah, all we can do is see them on a physical level. We can see them, but we cannot benefit from them – meaning, we can see them on a physical level, but we cannot see the inner essence of the light.

This describes the difference between the wisdom of the Greeks and the wisdom of the holy Torah. Greek wisdom is a kind of wisdom that is tangible. The Ramban[12] wrote that the wisest of all the Greek philosophers (Aristotle) was skeptical about spirituality, because he didn’t see it. By contrast, the wisdom of the Torah, when we learn it, we know that we are barely scratching the surface; all that one knows about the Torah is only about the external layer of the Torah, but the inner essence of the Torah’s wisdom cannot actually be comprehended.

This is the deep meaning of “light and dark mixed together.” Whatever we do know about the Torah’s wisdom is what we see, but we know that there is always more depth to it, for it is written, “It is vastly deep, who will find it?”[13]

This is darkness at its holy root.

Darkness “After” The Sin

When a person falls to a sin, chas v’shalom, it is upon him to understand that he is in a darkness which conceals him. The Gemara says that if one cannot overpower his evil inclination to sin, he should go to a place where no one recognizes him, don sackcloth and cover himself with black garments.[14] In other words, sin must be covered.

The sin of Adam is what produced the need for modesty, which is the power to conceal; when a person sins, it is a revelation of the covering and concealment that the first sin produced.

But concealment at its root is good and holy. The holy kind of concealment, which was around before the sin, has nothing to do with sin.

Holy concealment is the mere fact that a person cannot comprehend the essence of Hashem  –  a person cannot get to the depths of the Torah, for “Hashem and His wisdom are one.” Shlomo HaMelech declared, “I said I would try to understand it, [but] it is far from me.”[15] When a person tries to learn the Torah’s wisdom, he is viewing its light, but he sees that he cannot understand the depths of the Torah’s wisdom, and this is darkness to him. This is the “light and darkness mixed together.”

This does not mean to imply that one should give up on trying to understand the Torah, chas v’shalom. The Torah is not only a darkness – it is light together with darkness. Thus, we have a mitzvah to delve in it all day and try to understand it, but at the same time, we must know that its depths are far from us. It is both light and darkness together.

The Sage Who Wanted To Learn Greek Wisdom

The Gemara[16] brings that one of the Sages knew the entire Torah, and he asked his teacher if he can learn Greek wisdom. His teacher showed him the possuk, “And you shall immerse yourself in it [the Torah], day and night.” He said to him, “Find a time which is not day and not night, and then you can learn Greek wisdom.” Rashi explains that since there is no time which is not day and not night, therefore, there is no permission granted to learn Greek wisdom.

We can ask: Why didn’t his teacher just tell him that it’s forbidden? The response of the teacher implies that there is such a time in which it is not day and not night; what is the meaning of this?

The deep understanding is as follows. The mitzvah to light Menorah is after sundown, and the time of lighting lasts preferably [l’chatchilah] until passerby’s are no longer walking in the marketplace. It is really the time in which darkness and light are mixed together, because it is the time of twilight (bein hashemashos)  – the time in between day and night. It is complicated to discuss the status of the time of bein hashemashos[17], but with regards to our discussion here, it is a time in which the sun has already gone down, yet it is not totally night time. The time in between day and night is the time to light Menorah.

Thus, when the teacher said to go find a time which is not day and not night, he was really referring to the time of lighting the Menorah. That is the time in which one can draw forth the strength to defeat the influence of Greek wisdom, through “darkness and light mixed together”, which is darkness at its root – which can rectify the nature of Greek wisdom. When the holy root of darkness is revealed, the darkness of the Greeks has returned to its root, and that will enable a person to learn Greek wisdom; meaning, Greek wisdom is like a branch cut off from its root – it is darkness without any light in it.

The Elements Which Conceal: Earth and Fire

From the words of our Rabbis we can see that there are two elements which bring darkness. There are four elements – fire, wind, water, and earth. Water is naturally clear, so it does not conceal. Unless you make water dirty, the water itself remains clear, and it does not conceal things. Wind does not either conceal, because we can see clearly through the air.

The elements of fire and earth, however, are both elements which conceal. The earth covers the dead in burial, and fire turns things into coal, which is dark. So each earth and fire can cause concealment. But there is a difference between them. When earth covers something, it covers it totally blotting out any light from entering. But when fire causes concealment, at least the light of the fire doesn’t allow for a total darkness. So fire resembles light and darkness mixed together.

When you think about it, the study of the nature of the world, which is Greek wisdom, is really the study of the earth. Thus, studying nature is a kind of darkness which is total, because studying nature is really involving oneself in “earth”, and this prevents a person from knowing about inner and spiritual wisdom.

On the other hand, the element of earth reveals the potential of the other elements[18], so earth can both conceal as well as reveal. The Greek darkness resembles the element of earth, for it is a total darkness that causes total concealment. It is rectified through the higher kind of darkness, which comes from the element of fire, in which light and darkness are mixed together. The Torah is likened to a fire[19], and it is also called “black fire on white fire”[20], because the light and darkness mixed together that is the Torah is what can rectify the darkness of the Greeks.

The Eighth Light of Chanukah

The miracle of Chanukah was that the oil of the Menorah lasted for eight nights. In the Menorah of the Beis HaMikdash, there were seven lights, while on Chanukah we light eight lights in the Menorah. What is the source for lighting the eighth light? How can it be that we light eight lights, when the Menorah in the Beis HaMikdash had only seven? The Menorah’s light represents the source of all light in Creation – so if all light is modeled after the Menorah, how can it be that we light more than what the actual Menorah in the Beis HaMikdash was?

Rashi[21] states that in the evening, the wicks from the Western Light were removed, placed in the Kohen’s hand or in a vessel, and the wick would continue to burn from the oil that was absorbed in it; as this was going on, a new wick and oil replaced the old one, and then they would relight the new wick from the old wick, and from the new wick they would proceed to light all of the other lights of the Menorah.[22] From these words of Rashi we can find a hint to the concept of the eighth light. The Western Light was split into two different lights as it was being replaced – there was a new one and an old one burning at the same time. The old wick, as it continued to burn after being taken out of the Menorah, is really the root of the concept of the eighth light in the Menorah.

The Maharal[23] though finds a different source for the eighth light in the Menorah: there was a light coming from the Aron in the Holy of Holies (Kodesh Kodashim), and there was a light coming from the Menorah in the Sanctuary (Heichal). The Aron is from the word ohr (light), because the Aron contained its own light. This was like an eighth light – it was a level of light above the seven lights of the Menorah.

Inner Modesty – The Root of Understanding Torah

The source of ohr/light is called “Torah Ohr”, and Torah is light and darkness mixed together. Hashem is concealed yet revealed, and His Torah is also concealed yet revealed.[24] There is an aspect of revelation in the Torah, as well as an aspect of concealment in it [as it was explained here].

The days of Chanukah, the war between the Chashmonaim and the Greeks, is a war of how to define darkness. {Do we want] to have the darkness that came after the sin (Greek darkness), or the darkness which came before the sin (light and dark mixed together). When the Chashmonaim won, they revealed that concealment is not only used for modesty, which comes to conceal that which should be covered. They revealed that there is more to darkness than just covering.

The root of modesty is contained in these words of Chazal: “The holy names [of Hashem] are not revealed except to one who is modest and humble.”[25] Modesty is the tool to understand the hidden[26]. Modesty, which is really the power of darkness/concealment, at its root, is to reveal the hidden. In order for the hidden to become revealed, it needs a container that is hidden; thus, modesty is the hidden container that can contain revelation.

Chazal say that nighttime was created for sleep, (and this refers to the kind of darkness which came after the sin), and Chazal also say that daytime was only created for learning Torah.[27] Now that we are after the sin, darkness is used for sleep, but at its root, the nighttime/the darkness is the time in which a person can reach into his innermost depths, and this is the holy kind of darkness.

Modesty And Women

The mitzvah to light Menorah is on “a man and his household”.[28] A person without a home is excempt from the mitzvah[29]. Thus, lighting Menorah includes the whole family, not just the person himself.

Women do not light, unless the husband is not home[30]; the reason why women are exempt is because “a wife is like his body[31]”, therefore, a married woman is included with her husband when he lights.[32] Another reason brought[33] is because “the entire honor of a daughter of the king is on her inside”, [so it is not modest if she lights]. The Vilna Gaon[34] says that the nature of a woman is to be modest; the level of a woman’s spirituality is determined by how modest she is, because the inner depth of something is what defines it.

The Light of Chanukah: The Depth of Increasing Shalom Bayis

The mitzvah of lighting Menorah is on “man and his household”, and the wife is called the “home” of her husband[35]. The depth of this is because the light of the Menorah is light and darkness mixed together; it is not simply a light that comes to dispel the darkness, because if that would be the purpose, then the obligation would be separately upon man and woman. But lighting Menorah is the light of “light and darkness mixed together”, which was the light of the first day of Creation, and on the first day of Creation it was “one day”; husband and wife are commanded to become “one flesh”, which reflects the oneness of the first day of Creation, in which light and darkness were together as one.

In other words, the concept of lighting the Menorah symbolizes the connection between man and his household. The Gemara[36] discusses which is more important: Shabbos lights, or Chanukah lights (if one only has enough money to purchase one of them)? The Gemara answers that Shabbos lights take precedence, because Shabbos lights were established by Chazal to bring Shalom Bayis (marital peace) to the home, and Shalom Bayis is more important than Chanukah.

This needs understanding: Does Shalom Bayis push away all other mitzvos as well? It cannot push away a Biblical mitzvah, but there are times when it can push away a Rabbinical mitzvah. But the deeper reason why Shalom Bayis is more important than Chanukah is because the entire purpose of lighting Menorah on Chanukah is “man and his household”, that there should be marital peace; lighting the Menorah is all about Shalom Bayis.

The Two Purposes of Lighting The Menorah

There are really two aspects to lighting the Menorah. It is lit to spread the miracle of Chanukah (pirsumei nisa), and in this sense, it can be understood as “a little bit of light that pushes away a lot of darkness”. The light of the Menorah spreads outward into the night and illuminates it.

But in a deeper sense, the Menorah is lit inside the home, which implies that it is also meant to light up the home from within. This is the exact idea behind lighting the Menorah of Chanukah, which is an obligation of “man and his household” – a mitzvah about Shalom Bayis – in which light and darkness can be mixed together yet be harmonized.

May we merit from Hashem to return to the source of darkness, the holy and original kind of darkness, in which light and darkness were mixed together – to the “one day” of Creation which come [once again] with help from Heaven, and reveal the only One of the universe.