The Chanukah Reframe

Have you noticed Chanukah seems to be celebrated more today than it was even in the past? Well before Chanukah begins, you can start to see the donuts, the decorations, the sweaters, and the store shelves piled high with Chanukah related paraphernalia. We go way beyond the core mitzvah of lighting the menorah! Even amongst Jews who didn’t have as much of a religious upbringing,” Chanukah seems to be widely acknowledged and celebrated.

This begs the question, is something deeper going on with how Yidden are celebrating Chanukah nowadays? 

A beautiful aspect of pnimiyus haTorah, the inner dimensions of Torah, is its synergy with Halacha, the revealed dimension. Chanukah is a perfect example of the symmetry between the two. In fact, one of the most well-known halachos of Chanukah is to be mosif v’holech, we increase the number of lights on each successive night. But this outward action of adding candles is an external manifestation of the holiday’s inner essence: Chanukah itself is mosif v’holech, it grows and increases in light as the days progress. Chanukah becomes the actual paradigm of mosif v’holech, perpetually increasing and expanding its own illuminating qualities. 

Let’s explore the light of Chanukah, this ever-growing light that draws us in. What is it that we celebrate and revel in? The Arizal and many Chassidic masters teach that the light of Chanukah is actually a revelation of the Ohr HaGanuz: a mysterious, hidden, eternal primordial light that was created during Bereishis. It may sound familiar that on Day One Hashem created light with His utterance of “Yehi Ohr.” But what was the purpose of such light when the sun and moon hadn’t yet been created? This primordial Ohr was a potent light that enabled one to see from one end of the world to the other. 

To prevent it from being used by the wicked, Hashem chose to hide the Ohr Haganuz away and save it for the righteous in the future. Although this Eternal Light will be fully revealed l’asid lavo, at the end of the fourth and final exile, a small measure of this light was actually uncovered during the end of the third exile, Galus Yavan, on Chanukah. Sparks of the Ohr Haganuz are embedded within the Chanukah lights, and just as they came out byamim haheim, they perpetuate bazman hazeh, each year showing up again. In fact, the very name “Chanukah” hints to the idea that these days are a chinuch, a training or preparation, for that future Geulah, when the Ohr HaGanuz will be revealed fully.

We are witnessing today an explosion of connection and excitement around Chanukah because Chanukah itself is mosif v’holech with an ohr that we are more and more shayach to as we get closer to the final Geulah. The candles increase each day in tandem with the inner light, the Ohr HaGanuz, which itself grows stronger as we move closer to Yemos HaMashiach. The ohr of Chanukah keeps getting more and more spiritually intense. 

Imagine two powerful magnets placed at opposite ends of a timeline. The first magnet correlates to Matan Torah, a seismic influx of kedusha and ohr that molded us into a people utterly bound up with the mission of carrying out Hashem’s expressed will. From that moment, everything we received was passed down through the mesorah: “Moshe kibel Torah m’Sinai…” But as the generations went on, yeridas hadoros inevitably occurred, generated by the simple mechanics that as we get further and further away from Matan Torah, the magnetic, energetic pull feels weaker and weaker. Every successive generation is only further down the chain of the mesorah, further away from Anshei Knesses Hagedola, from the Neviim, the Zekeinim, Yehoshua and ultimately from Moshe Rabbeinu and hearing Hashem speak to us directly. Where we are right now is the farthest a generation has ever been from hearing Hashem’s voice at Sinai.  

But at the opposite end of the timeline stands another magnet, which represents the light of Geulah. With every passing year, as we get closer and closer to Yemos HaMashiach, its pull becomes stronger. The light of Geulah grows and grows like a breaking dawn, unstoppable, irresistible, until it is undeniable, and the whole world is illuminated completely.

So here we are: Kislev 5786. Never has a generation been further away from Matan Torah. And never has a generation been closer to the coming of Mashiach and the Geulah Sheleimah.

Chanukah is here, the Ohr HaGanuz is in the air. As we feel the closeness of the approaching Eternal Light of Geulah Shelaima, we naturally celebrate Chanukah, a taste of that light, with increasing enthusiasm. Even if we don’t yet have the keilim to fully perceive and contain the holy light, our neshamos feel it, and we are drawn to connect and to celebrate, Bazman Hazeh, as best we know how. 

So when you see sufganiyot in Israeli bakeries emerging even before Rosh Chodesh Kislev, smile, because the light of Chanukah is spilling out into the calendar. When you see lots of Chanukah Sweaters, decorations strewn across homes, and even giant inflatable lawn dreidels, lift up the corners of your mouth and smile. What a people we are, so connected and so close to the Ohr Haganuz that our enthusiasm spreads out over our homes and environments. 

Even those without much of a Jewish upbringing at all can still feel it; their souls are drawn to it. And even without having the language to articulate it, they still connect and celebrate. They are also shayach to it. 

This year, when you play your Chanukah playlist, decorate your home, and go to another Chanukah party, let yourself get caught up in the craze that is Chanukah. Get crazy over it. It’s powerful, it’s potent, and it’s a light we so desperately need and want. Let it draw you in. 

When you sit by the menorah and just gaze, without knowing or understanding what you’re really gazing at, lean into it. Stay with that warm, cozy feeling of contentment and wistfulness all at the same time. Embrace and celebrate the reality we find ourselves in, so irresistibly close to a Yom Shekulo Shabbos, to the Ohr of Geulah Shelaima.