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Translated by Balbino Cotarelo Núñez
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There is a well-known contradiction between the liturgy and the Talmud regarding what we celebrate on Hanukkah. During the holiday, the poem Al-Hanisim is inserted into our prayers . This poem commemorates the military victory of the Maccabees over the Greeks. The evocative language of the poem describes how, against all logic, the poorly armed Maccabees defeated the more than prepared Greek army and as a result, the Rabbis established an eight-day holiday to celebrate the victory.
The Talmud, however, offers a very different reason for the celebration. It describes the development of the holiday as follows:
What is the reason for Chanukah? … Because when the Greeks entered the Temple, they defiled all the oil in it. When the Hasmonean dynasty defeated them, they searched and found only one jar of oil with the seal of the High Priest. It contained enough oil to light the Temple lamp for one day and yet there was a miracle and the oil lasted for eight days. ( Talmud Bavli , Shabbat 21b)
According to the Rabbis, Hanukkah celebrates the divine miracle that occurred with the oil.
In the more than four pages of Talmudic discussion of Hanukkah, there is no mention of the holiday’s military victory. If one were to read only the Talmud, without paying attention to the liturgy, one would never have been able to know that Hanukkah also commemorates the restoration of Jewish sovereignty. The absence is so glaring that one is left with the impression that Chazal deliberately suppressed any mention of the holiday’s military component.
Our liturgy predates the Talmud. The liturgy was composed earlier in our history (historians do not have an exact date for when the poem al hanisim was composed) while the Babylonian Talmud was composed approximately in 499 CE. The liturgy was composed when the Jews still enjoyed their sovereignty. The Talmud, however, was primarily compiled after the destruction of the Temple, when the Jews were living under the yoke of a foreign government.
Clearly the sages who authored both the liturgical and Talmudic texts believed that both things happened, both that the enemies were defeated and that the oil miraculously lasted for eight days. Nevertheless, prudence dictated that different aspects of the miracle be emphasized at different times.
Since the liturgy was composed in the era when the Jews still had political power, it made perfect sense that military prowess would be celebrated. At the time of the Talmud’s writing, however, they no longer had control over their destiny. They were ruled by an oppressive foreign government. Highlighting military victory could have been fatal at that historical moment. The Roman power might have interpreted the celebration of former glories as a subtle attempt at subversion and rebellion. In response, Chazal decided to shift the focus of the holiday from military victory to the miracle of the oil.
The emphasis on a different miracle has significant implications for the nature of the holiday. Military victory is primarily a political celebration. The miracle of the oil, on the other hand, does not involve political aspirations.
That shift also resulted in a significant sociological transformation; it transformed Hanukkah into an inclusive and egalitarian holiday. Military victories celebrate warriors, who historically were male. In fact, this cultural phenomenon has subsequently been codified in Jewish law. Halacha explicitly forbids women from going into battle. In the early stages of the holiday, when tradition emphasized warfare, the holiday was primarily about male warriors and was primarily celebrated by men. Warfare was specifically male; religious observance was not!
For Chazal, the miracle of the oil symbolizes the religious prowess of the Jews at that time. From their perspective, the fact that the laws of nature were suspended for those eight days was sufficient proof that they lived just and religiously correct lives. Living morally is gender-neutral . Men and women are equally capable of creating a just society, making us worthy of a world that transcends natural limitations. This shift in understanding the meaning of Hanukkah transformed the nature of the holiday; it became egalitarian and inclusive.
This transition is hinted at in the Talmud. Concluding a long debate that, though not explicitly, clearly deals with the question of whether the holiday celebrates the war or the miracle of the oil, the Talmud emphatically states: השתא דאמרת הדלקה עושה מצוה, אשה וודאי מדליקה שאף הן היו באותו הנס; now that we have concluded that the mitzvah is the lighting (i.e., that we are celebrating the religious victory) certainly the women should light as well, since they, too, were part of the miracle. In other words, since we no longer celebrate war, there is no reason to exclude women from the rituals of Hanukkah. The holiday is for women and about women as much as it is about men.
This change is also codified. The halacha therefore is that both men and women are obligated in the mitzvah of lighting the Hanukkah lights.
In its final iteration, Hanukkah was conceived by the Rabbis as a family-oriented and egalitarian holiday. The lights remind us that when we strive to live lives filled with holiness, we can transcend the limitations that life, society, and even nature impose on us. The obligation to create such a world is neutral. It is not gender-specific. During this time of celebration, all of us, men or women, adults or children, fathers or mothers, have the responsibility to לתקן עולם במלכות שדי; to help create a world of holiness, a world of mercy, justice, and where no person is marginalized or abandoned. It is a holiday celebrated by the entire world and for all of humanity.
Daf of the Day
