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By The Light of Half-Stories: Rabbi Tanchum Cohen
By The Light of Half-Stories: Rabbi Tanchum Cohen
he closing chapter of
Masseches Sanhedrin records
the image sketched by Rabbi
Yehuda ha-Nasi of two disabled
individuals who could only act in
tandem, for one was lame and the
other blind. They could only pick
fruit if the lame person rode upon the
shoulders of the blind one, thereby
harnessing the sight of the former and
the mobility of the latter:
... ,] [
,
, .
. ,
.
[Rebbe] said, I will offer a parable ... A
king had a nice orchard and there were
nice fruit in it. Two watchmen were
placed in it, one was lame and one was
blind. The lame one said to the blind
one, I see nice fruit in the orchard, come
and place me on your shoulders and
we can gather them and eat them. The
lame one climbed on the blind one, they
gathered them and ate them.
Sanhedrin 91a-b
At first glance, this image captures
something of the story of Chanuka,
for as we learn and study the most
ancient texts in our tradition that
address the narrative of Chanuka, we
discover that mysteriously in
any one given text, Chazal choose to
tell us only one or the other of the two
aspects of the story.
The Two Texts
Popularly, the most prominent retelling
appears in Al ha-Nissim (referenced
in Masseches Shabbas 24a and Tosefta
,
will. But You in Your great compassion
.
stood by them in time of their distress. You
,
fought their battles, judged their claim,
,
and avenged their wrong. You delivered
.
the strong into the hands of the weak,
,
. ,
the many into the hands of the few, the
.
impure into the hands of the pure, the
What is [the reason for] Chanuka?
wicked into the hands of the righteous,
For our Rabbis taught: On the twentyand the arrogant into the hands of those
fifth of Kislev [commence] the days of
who were engaged in the study of Your
Chanuka, which are eight on which a
Torah. You made for Yourself a great
lamentation for the dead and fasting are
and holy name in Your world, and for
forbidden. For when the Greeks entered
Your people Israel You performed a great
salvation and redemption to this very day. the Temple, they defiled all the oils, and
when the Hasmonean dynasty prevailed
Then Your children entered the holiest
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Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series Chanuka 5777
:
Understanding the Two
Let them give thanks to Hashem for His Miracles of Chanuka
This baraisa exactly inverts the pattern kindness, and His wonders to people.
From our belief in Hashem as Creator
of Al ha-Nissim, focusing entirely on
Radak 107:8 notes that this brief
and Sustainer of the universe, it
the miracle of the oil while omitting
verse describes presentations to
follows logically that any miracle is
any reference to the miraculous nature two different audiences: Divine and
possible if He wills it.2 Nevertheless,
of the preceding military victory of the
human. Moreover, Radak and Malbim Ramban3 posits that Hashem chose
Chashmonaim. That victory appears
both highlight that the content of each to create a rhythmic universe usually
here only in passing, as backdrop to
presentation is differentiated: one
governed by the scientific laws and
the miracle of the oil.
thanks Hashem for His chesed, His
patterns that He created, and therefore
Why did Chazal bifurcate the
kindness, while to people one speaks
He typically chooses to minimize
narrative of the miracles of Chanuka
of His niflaos, His wonders.
overt nissim and to perform them only
into two half-stories? Why does Al
In other words, this verse profiles two as necessary to accomplish specific
ha-Nissim focus only on one miracle
objectives that cannot be attained
distinct verbal responses to Divine
while the baraisa in Shabbas 21b only
naturally. Rambans axiom sets the
intervention in ones life:
on the other?
stage for the question raised by Penei
Hodaa thanking Hashem for His
Yehoshua4 and others5: what was the
His Kindness and His Wonders chesed, for the help He has provided,
purpose of the neis ha-shemen, of the
whether evidently miraculous or not.
single days worth of pure oil burning
The objective of hodaa is gratitude.
Tehillim 107 showcases those who
for eight days, if (under emergency
When one eats foods (other than bread) that are derived
from the seven species that the Land of Israel is praised
for (see Devarim 8:8), one recites an abridged version of
Birkat HaMazon titled Beracha Meiain Shalosh (known
colloquially as Al HaMichya). On Shabbat, yom tov and
Rosh Chodesh, there is one sentence that mentions the
specific day that is being observed. Chanukah and Purim
are noticeably absent from this list. Why dont we mention
Chanukah or Purim in the Beracha Meiain Shalosh?
R. Yosef D. Soloveitchik (cited in Harerei Kedem Vol. I,
page 302), suggests that the additions of Shabbat, yom
tov and Rosh Chodesh have a different status than the
additions of Chanukah and Purim. On Shabbat, yom tov
and Rosh Chodesh, the function of the additions is to
mention the day. On Chanukah and Purim, the function
of Al HaNissim is to provide a more detailed account of
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Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series Chanuka 5777
Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series Chanuka 5777
:
neis nigle an open miracle, an outright
Let them give thanks to Hashem for His suspension of the principles and patterns of
chemistry. The neis ha-milchama, though, was
kindness, and His wonders to people.
Endnotes
SACRIFICE
NOTHING
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Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series Chanuka 5777