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Chanukah: In the Marketplace · A Thought for the Week

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to a Thought for the Week, a Torah in
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  Speaker 1: Motion podcast. I'm Jake Helman, founding director of Torah in Motion,
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  Speaker 1: and it's a pleasure to have you here with us.
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  Speaker 1: Ghanika is the only holiday that takes place in the winter,
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  Speaker 1: and it's the only holiday that takes place in the
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  Speaker 1: second half of the lunar month, like on the twenty
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  Speaker 1: fifth of Kissling. Most of our holidays, for sure, the Shalushi, Ghalim, Psakshabod,
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  Speaker 1: and Sukkot have agricultural themes, perhaps even Russiashina too, and
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  Speaker 1: therefore they have to take place in the spring, the summer,
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  Speaker 1: and the beginning of the fall. They acknowledge that God's
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  Speaker 1: role in history, and they acknowledge God's role in nature,
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  Speaker 1: and basically our holiday they celebrate that the God of
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  Speaker 1: nature and the God of history one today have take
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  Speaker 1: place a certain times of the year. The winter is
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  Speaker 1: not a time of growth, at least not outwardly that
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  Speaker 1: we notice Pessach and so quote. Of course, on the
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  Speaker 1: fifteenth of the month, along with Tubishvat, tuba av even
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  Speaker 1: Pourim in Jerusalem, the fifteenth of the month, the fifteenth,
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  Speaker 1: of course, is when we have a full moon, and
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  Speaker 1: those holidays that are not on the fifteenth of the
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  Speaker 1: month are always in the first half of the month. Russiashana, Shavu,
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  Speaker 1: and Sukhoa take place as the moon is growing and
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  Speaker 1: getting stronger. From our perspective on Earth, the moon, of
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  Speaker 1: course represents the ups and downs in life. The sun
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  Speaker 1: is constant nature, and the moon reflects the holidays. Jewish
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  Speaker 1: history as its up periods and its stamp periods, and
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  Speaker 1: the holidays is when sort of the Jewish people are
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  Speaker 1: most manifest, where God is most manifest, So that's why
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  Speaker 1: they take place on the fifteenth of the month generally
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  Speaker 1: or close by. We don't have any holidays except for
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  Speaker 1: Khanaka on the second half of the month. It's not
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  Speaker 1: a coincidence that the first myth given to the Jewish
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  Speaker 1: people is to sactify the moon to make time special
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  Speaker 1: and to acknowledge this idea of the sanctity of time.
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  Speaker 1: Khanika therefore takes place where there is the least amount
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  Speaker 1: of sunlight because it's in December and these are literally
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  Speaker 1: literally the shortest days of the year, and of course
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  Speaker 1: there is the least amount of moonlight the last week
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  Speaker 1: of the month. You can't see any part of the moon. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: it is no surprise that we celebrate Khanaka by lighting candles.
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  Speaker 1: Many people even call it the festival of lights. Light
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  Speaker 1: is the symbol of spirituality. Now, the difference between something
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  Speaker 1: spiritual and something physical is if it can be shared,
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  Speaker 1: something physical cannot be shared. It's true, I can give
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  Speaker 1: you half my pizza, but then I have less pizza.
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  Speaker 1: But if I share my light with you, you you know
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  Speaker 1: want go le maya. A life for one person, a
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  Speaker 1: life for one one hundred people. That doesn't take any
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  Speaker 1: other way. Knowledge is very spiritual when you share knowledge.
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  Speaker 1: Not only don't you lose knowledge, you generally gain knowledge
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  Speaker 1: by sharing with others. And Khanika therefore, the spiritual halliday
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  Speaker 1: of light has to be celebrated when the world is
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  Speaker 1: in its physical darkest place. We have to bring the
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  Speaker 1: light of spirituality, of morality, et cetera, ethics to the
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  Speaker 1: world that is all too often dark. Khanika is all
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  Speaker 1: about the relationship between the physical and the spiritual worlds,
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  Speaker 1: and it's a complicated relationship. God created us with both
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  Speaker 1: a body and a soul, our physical and our spirit,
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  Speaker 1: but they're often intention with each other. The body desires
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  Speaker 1: one type of pleasure and seeks out certain activities, and
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  Speaker 1: the soul seeks out other activities, which don't always very
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  Speaker 1: often don't agree with each other. This tension is reflected
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  Speaker 1: on a national level with the tension between Athens and Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 1: Athens the capital of Greece, the story of what Kanaka
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  Speaker 1: takes place. They, of course are the founders of the Olympics.
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  Speaker 1: That celebrates our physical prowess. In Greek mythology, human being
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  Speaker 1: can even become a god. Hercules began as a human
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  Speaker 1: and turns into a god. That business on the physical
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  Speaker 1: is not something terrible. We are physical beings. As we mentioned,
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  Speaker 1: the Rabbis clearly appreciated the beauty of Greece, and there's
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  Speaker 1: certain laws about that that reflect that in terms of
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  Speaker 1: writing our text, and anybody who's been to Greece knows
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  Speaker 1: what a beautiful country it is. And of course Greek
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  Speaker 1: made many many of the bases of Western civilization, art
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  Speaker 1: and architecture, science, mathematics. So much was developed by the Greeks,
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  Speaker 1: and of course no less a bigger than the Rumbam
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  Speaker 1: embraced Greek culture the whole. That is more in the
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  Speaker 1: book Guide to the perplexes a way to reconcile Aristotilian
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  Speaker 1: philosophy and Jewish philosophy. And we are to beautify means
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  Speaker 1: for beauty that Greek represents beauty Athens beautiful, and we
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  Speaker 1: are to beautify meets what he dor meetzvah, and we
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  Speaker 1: to make a beautiful kanukaya. The question is where he
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  Speaker 1: draw the line. The Greeks went too far. They banned
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  Speaker 1: breathed melve and that's one of the ordinances they made
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  Speaker 1: against the Jews. Can't do breat me low, what whatever?
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  Speaker 1: Against preach me love? What is a part of them
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  Speaker 1: so clearly that they consider that a mutilation of the
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  Speaker 1: body and they bandit. The relationship, or perhaps the tension
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  Speaker 1: between the physical and the spiritual is reflected, I say,
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  Speaker 1: in at least two laws of Khanika. The fundamental difference
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  Speaker 1: between shabas scandals also light spirituality. Of course, light is
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  Speaker 1: related to Shabbat also, and the laws of Khanika are
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  Speaker 1: in Masaka Chabad in the chapter that talks about the
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  Speaker 1: what candles, how you light the candles for Shabbad. It's
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  Speaker 1: in the midst of that discussion that this discussion of
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  Speaker 1: the story of khanaka and the laws of khanaka and
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  Speaker 1: the lighting and the kanukia all take place, but the
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  Speaker 1: fund there's a fundamental difference, namely that on Shabbat, the
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  Speaker 1: only purpose or the primary purpose of lighting Shabbat candles
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  Speaker 1: is to benefit from the light. They had no electricity,
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  Speaker 1: and you know, they wouldn't have any lights on Shabas,
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  Speaker 1: so we had a We don't want to eat in
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  Speaker 1: the dark, so we had a light candle so we
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  Speaker 1: can benefit. Kind ofka is the exact opposite kind of
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  Speaker 1: you're not you're not allowed to benefit light. That was
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  Speaker 1: easier to do in the old custom where they used
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  Speaker 1: to like the candles outside, but even inside, we're not
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  Speaker 1: allowed to benefit from the light. And that's perhaps the
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  Speaker 1: reason we have a shamash, or one of the reasons
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  Speaker 1: we have a shamas, the extra candle, that is the
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  Speaker 1: candle we can benefit from, but we cannot benefit from
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  Speaker 1: the others from the other candle. What the time would
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  Speaker 1: says in saying you cannot be a fit from the
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  Speaker 1: kind of countos The example it uses is you cannot
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  Speaker 1: count your money by neighors kanaka. It's interesting, of all
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  Speaker 1: the things to say, like I don't know that's probably
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  Speaker 1: not where I would like. If you know, if that's
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  Speaker 1: the only light around, I'm probably not going to count
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  Speaker 1: my money on the kind of account They' probably going
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  Speaker 1: to wait till it's like bright in the middle of
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  Speaker 1: the day. I don't want to any mistakes. I want
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  Speaker 1: to count it properly. Why do they specify that so clearly?
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  Speaker 1: Kanokiya the kanaka nero represent the spirituality, the spiritual side
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  Speaker 1: of life. Money is the most sort of mundane. Not
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  Speaker 1: there's anything wrong. Money is important, but it represents the
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  Speaker 1: physical aspect, the aspects that you're not allowed to combine
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  Speaker 1: the money and the nay with kanaka to take and
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  Speaker 1: make it a little bit more complex or another law
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  Speaker 1: that reflects this idea, but in a in a probably
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  Speaker 1: sharper way or more nuanced way, is that when do
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  Speaker 1: we like the kanaka candles? Or how long do you
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  Speaker 1: have to lie for? And the time Wood says we
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  Speaker 1: like kanaka from misha tishka from basically sunset or nightfall?
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  Speaker 1: Whatever I should Tickla reko mean has shook until the
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  Speaker 1: last people have left the marketplace. Tick lebreco mean has
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  Speaker 1: shook and as long as the marketplace is open. Remember
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  Speaker 1: you're supposed to publicize the miracle. Pe ifle are supposed
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  Speaker 1: to know about it. So you have to like the candles.
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  Speaker 1: As long as there are people in the marketplace, we
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  Speaker 1: are lighting candles. The marketplace, of course, is the place
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  Speaker 1: of the physical, the give and take the mundane. We
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  Speaker 1: like candles until there's nobody left in the marketplace, as
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  Speaker 1: long as someone has left. And that was really the
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  Speaker 1: way many commentaries understand the Talmud. There was the time
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  Speaker 1: to light is in that time period you come home
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  Speaker 1: late at night and there's no one in the marketplace.
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  Speaker 1: The ancient world, you can't like candles as long as
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  Speaker 1: somebody is out there in the marketplace you liked. Of course,
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  Speaker 1: what does this mean. It means that the kanka candles
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  Speaker 1: must illuminate the marketplace. The marketplace can be a place
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  Speaker 1: of tension and jealousy and cheating and money. Money, money,
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  Speaker 1: that's all we care about, but it can also be
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  Speaker 1: a place of commerce and raising money is very important
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  Speaker 1: and earning a livelihood. Judaism likes that. Judaism is not
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  Speaker 1: against well raising each other up. The word for business
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  Speaker 1: dealing is massa umtan, which literally means massill like and
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  Speaker 1: Nassie to lift up and to give by giving the
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  Speaker 1: give and take of the business world, that honestly, we
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  Speaker 1: can lift each other up. And that's why the town
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  Speaker 1: says the first question we are asked after one hundred
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  Speaker 1: and twenty years nasata muna, did we conduct our It's
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  Speaker 1: normally translated did we conduct our businesses faithfully? Means that
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  Speaker 1: we lift each other up? The way we conduct business?
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  Speaker 1: Where properly did we bring God into the marketplace? The
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  Speaker 1: candles have to be lit. That's particularly recommend show we
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  Speaker 1: have to combine in a certain sense or bring delight
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  Speaker 1: into the marketplace. God is our partner and God is
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  Speaker 1: also the partner of our competitor. And if you can
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  Speaker 1: remember that, then our search are seeking money can be
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  Speaker 1: done in a proper way, the way it's supposed to
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  Speaker 1: be done. Now, this tension between the physical and the
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  Speaker 1: spiritual began with Adam Harisham in Ghanaidan. It seems to
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  Speaker 1: be that the physical and spiritual world were harmonious, and
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  Speaker 1: that's why Adam didn't I and Eve didn't have any clothes.
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  Speaker 1: They were naked thelloy bushershoe, and they were not embarrassed.
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  Speaker 1: What's to be embarrassed about Tom what's the problem. It's
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  Speaker 1: only after they sinned that this tension began. I've often
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  Speaker 1: mentioned That's why I think that this, I think is
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  Speaker 1: the real deep meaning between ripping our clothes. When God
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  Speaker 1: forbids somebody passed away, we rip our clothes because no
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  Speaker 1: longer are the physical and spiritual intention. That physical is ended.
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  Speaker 1: We just have the spiritual rip off our clothes. We
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  Speaker 1: go back to the original state in the garden of Eden.
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  Speaker 1: But that's Adam started it. It could very well be
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  Speaker 1: that the initial origins of Khanaka begin with Adam Harishan.
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  Speaker 1: This is an idea I think many some of you
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  Speaker 1: may have heard it. I mean I first heard it
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  Speaker 1: from Revio big Noon, the expert in tach in Israel
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  Speaker 1: and the Talmud in the track data of Otisara. That
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  Speaker 1: deals with our relationship with non Jews, which is a
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  Speaker 1: very important theme of Kanaka and of course Greeks Athens
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  Speaker 1: and Jerusalem, but obviously here too, and not just Athens,
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  Speaker 1: Christmas and Kanaka. The so my second about it, Tarzara
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  Speaker 1: deals with that, and they're the law is, without getting
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  Speaker 1: into all the details, you're not allowed to do business
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  Speaker 1: with an idol worshiper. However, we define that an immoral pagan.
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  Speaker 1: You're not allowed to conduct business just before his holidays,
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  Speaker 1: just after, just before. So the toumb would has to
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  Speaker 1: lift off. What are the all the egan holidays? So
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  Speaker 1: what are these holidays? So the tomb Wood says that
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  Speaker 1: Talanda is eight days before the winter sold this and
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  Speaker 1: sitter Rundra is eight days after the winter solstice. And
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  Speaker 1: what happened is that when Adam sinned, the days started
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  Speaker 1: getting shorter. You know, if you live out in the
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  Speaker 1: you know, in the stakes, not in the big city,
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  Speaker 1: you notice nature a lot more. So Adam he got
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  Speaker 1: to notice, assuming he's born Russia Shana, you know, and
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  Speaker 1: it's the fall September, the days are moving pretty quickly,
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  Speaker 1: ten to fifteen a half an hour week, ten fifteen
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  Speaker 1: minutes in the morning and in the evening. So he's
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  Speaker 1: beginning to notice the days are getting shorter and shorter.
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  Speaker 1: And Adam then fasted for eight days because he said, oh,
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  Speaker 1: God warned me, if the day I eat from the fruit,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to die. The world's coming to an end.
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  Speaker 1: So he fasted and prayed, and then after December twenty
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  Speaker 1: first he noticed pretty quickly the days were getting longer.
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  Speaker 1: He said, ah, beautiful, Olam kimin hago, no way, this
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  Speaker 1: is just the ways of the world. There's their seasons, seasons.
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  Speaker 1: And he was very excited, and he made an eighth
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  Speaker 1: day party, an eight day party. And the Tamud then
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  Speaker 1: says lashana ahert in another year. That expression lashana ahert
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  Speaker 1: appears exactly in the Talmud a Khanaka, they tell the
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  Speaker 1: story about Khankaka, and they say lashana aherit in another year.
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  Speaker 1: For the next year, they made it a holiday. So
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  Speaker 1: that zach language, which right away connects these two Talmudic passages.
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  Speaker 1: Some we are they in other words, the Pagans and
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  Speaker 1: the Jews, I mean at the descendants of Adam, but
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  Speaker 1: meaning us here made them holidays. Hey, who Adam made this?
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  Speaker 1: Lea shame Shama. He made this as a holiday to
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  Speaker 1: thank God. Hey, they made it for their idle worship.
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  Speaker 1: And it's obviously you can see the residence of a
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  Speaker 1: khanika here, getting back to nature and the idea of
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  Speaker 1: light and darkness and the world operating as it does.
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  Speaker 1: Everything that happened temple, that's a separate story. But this
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  Speaker 1: is really put's khanika like all the other others in
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  Speaker 1: a sort of agricultural framework about the time of the season,
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  Speaker 1: and it's kanaka to recognize that's God's mastery of nature
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  Speaker 1: even in winter, even when it's dark, to bring the
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  Speaker 1: light of torah. Really, that's the ability to re establish tora.
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  Speaker 1: That's also part of kanika. To bring our light into
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  Speaker 1: the world. And may we illuminate the marketplace and let
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  Speaker 1: us merit to do so so the lights of kanaka
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  Speaker 1: can sound brightly throughout the year. Ka. We hope you
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  Speaker 1: enjoyed a thought for the week a Torrah in Motion podcast.
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  Speaker 1: you very much, looking forward to learning with you next week.