The Miracle of Light
by Velvel "Wally" Spiegler

"Purify our hearts that we may serve you in truth". This celebrated expression from the Jewish prayer book echoes a passionate plea for personal purification, so much so that we can find innumerable related passages throughout Jewish literature. What’s all this fuss about purity? Listen to just a few of the mitzvot commanding us towards purity—refrain from contact with a corpse, immerse yourself in the mikveh, wash your hands before eating bread, and the list goes on and on. In fact, an entire order of the Talmud consisting of no less than twelve tractates are devoted to ritual purity as well as all the laws of kashrut.

This all came to mind during the week of Hanukkah, with its seemingly simple story all the children know so well. There is, however, one point that's unclear. Why did the Rabbis take this particular story, one without any Torah enactments or biblical background, and insert it as a holiday during the darkest time of the agricultural cycle? Answer: to complete the process of purification that began at Rosh HaShanah. We have three themes intertwined in the Hanukkah story: the military victory, the re-dedication of the Temple, and the miracle of the lights.

As I grappled with all of this, I kept in mind two compelling thoughts.  First, the unique Jewish idea that Torah is symbolic of every aspect of our lives. Secondly, that we are all guilty of defilement, impurity, those little glitches in our consciousness that causes us to behave inappropriately at times. Purification is about cleaning house of those snags, like the dust on the windows that obstructs the light from shining through. So, how do we purify our hearts? All year long we constantly struggle with our personal enemies, the impurities; they are a hindrance to living life fully. These adversaries are what motivates us towards such traits as selfishness, the concern for oneself alone; envy, the desire for someone else’s possessions; or worry, the fear of some future occurrence.  At Rosh Hashanah, we declared victory over our enemies with our choice to do the work of t'shuvah, repentance; the process continues with Yom Kippur and Succot. At Hanukkah, we re-dedicate our own personal temple, now freed of impurity, with the miracle of the lights. I told you there is a deeply personal aspect to these stories. 

How can we be sure that this series of holidays actually initiates purification? For that we have to turn to the pages of Leviticus where we find a correlation in the diagnosis and cure of leprosy, a generic disease caused by spiritual impurity, a distancing of oneself from God. If a person suffers a disease, such as leprosy, God is assumed to be afflicting that person for some cause, presumably a sin. Leviticus 14:17 begins with "these are the rules for one who has become ritually unclean", and the verses go on to explain in a vague manner the three types of sacrifices necessary to complete the process, in order to stand clean before God. We can glean insight here to the roots of Jewish healing. First the candidate must begin with the initial purification; this is comparable to the service of Rosh Hashanah. We go on to the admission and atonement of guilt; that's Yom Kippur. And finally, a transformation to one's former purity, with gifts for good relations, that takes place during the week of Succot.

Blood and fire are the two elements of purification.  Blood that the priest sprinkles on the Altar, in the case of communal purification and the fires that consume the sacrificial animal. Leviticus 14:14-17 opens with the catalog of sacrificial offerings. The metzora, the contaminated individual is required to undergo rites of purification, involving animal sacrifices that relate to the three major holidays preceding Hanukkah. These include chatas, the sin offering; asham, the guilt offering; and olah, the burnt offering. All of this catharsis as a precursor to healing arises from the miracle of light. I guess the Hanukkah story wasn’t so simple, after all.

Hanukkah is over. We must, once again, begin the battle to overcome our oppressors. How well equipped are we to go into battle in the year 2000? What will be our strategy? With the destruction of the Temple behind us for nearly two thousand years, we cannot perform the sacrifices any longer. But the Rabbis with their boundless wisdom tell us study is as acceptable as action. One place to start is with the Sefer Vayikra, the book of Leviticus, and then move on to the many of sources of rabbinical commentary. The insights composed by these great sages throughout the last thousand years provide personal inspiration rather then direct answers to the many problems that faced the community. Torah study is our link to spirit. The morning service in the Jewish prayer book quotes from the Talmud and lists acts of kindness expected of us all. It begins with, among others, visiting the sick, honoring father and mother, and hospitality to guests. It concludes with “the study of Torah is equivalent to them all”.