so i was learning the halachos of chanuka, and i had a few questions.
1. i saw brought down that rav soloveitchik had a diyuk in rashi that the persumei nisa we do on chanuka by lighting the menora is not only for jews, but for non-jews as well. based on that, he asked, why specifically by chanuka do we do persumei nisa to non-jews, when by purim (krias hamegilah) and pesach (arba kosos), the pirsumei nisa is only for jews. i would add to the question one point- do we really think we will accomplish anything productive in our pirsumei nisa to the goyim. as the rambam emphasizes in several places, the point of persumei nisa is not just to remember a historical event - it is to recognize yad hashem in our lives and give thanks for his saving us bayamim haheim bazman hazeh - do we really succeed at all in accomplishing that.
2. the gemara writes as follows: the mitzvah of ner chanuka is to light it outside next to one's door. if one lives on a higher floor of a building, one may light in the window and be mikayem persumei nisa that way. bishaas hasakanh, one may light on their table and that suffices. ignoring why we dont light outside nowadays, this gemara is very difficult. most rishonim understand that shelo bishaas hasakanah, one is not yotzeh at all by lighting on their table, because there is no persumei nisa there. (tosfos is michadeish that even on the table, there is persumei nisa for bnei beiso, but thats a big chiddush -- unclear if most rishonim agree). if so, then why bishaas hasakanah do we light on the table - we just shouldnt light at all. if we cant be mikayem the mitzvah, so its very sad, but why "pretend" that were doing it when in reality, theres no persumeinisa being accomplished and in normal circumstances, one wouldnt even be yotzeh bdieved with what one is doing now?
it is noted quite often that a distinction between the nisim of purim and chanuka is that on purim, we faced a physical tragedy - death. on chanuka, we faced a spiritual enemy - the greeks didnt want to kill us, they wanted to convert us. i think that there is something very important hidden in that distinction:
when facing death, there is no choice but to fight. if you dont fight, you definitely die, if you fight, maybe you'll live - its a very simple cost benefit analysis. however, in a state of spiritual danger, the decision to fight or not is not always so clear cut. sometimes, you'll lose more by fighting than not, and it would be better to just accept the bad circumstances you're in and make the best of them. as chazal say, tafasta merubah lo tafasta, tafasta muat tafasta. (as a mashal, a person who isnt cut out for learning shouldnt try to force himself to learn 16 hrs in the beis medrash every day, because he'll end up making things worse by driving himself insane and killing himself. he should accept the circumstances he is in, and make the best of them).
a half- truth is always the strongest lie. when the yetzer hara persuades us to not fight a spiritual battle, but to accept things as they stand, he uses this argument and makes a compelling case because there are many times when this argument is actually correct. but, too often, we may accept this argument in cases where it should not be applied -- where we should fight -- out of a sense of spiritual complacency - we feel comfortable where we are spiritually, and dont feel the burning desire to push forward and grow. hence, it becomes easy to justify our inaction by saying, well, if we fight the greeks, we'll just make it worse.
the miracle of chanuka is not only that we won, but that we chose to fight. we were able to throw off this sense of complacency and say that we will not accept the spiritual state of affairs as it stands. because we kept our ideals, and our constant desire to grow in spirituality, we were able to recognize that chanuka was a time when we did need to fight for our beliefs, and not say that we should do the mitzvos as best as we can given the circumstances.
going back to question 2, i had an interesting inference in the rambam. there is a halacha that one needs to put another light next to the menorah to use, so that one will not use the ner chanuka which, as we say in haneros halalu is kodesh and hence forbidden to derive benefit from (this is the source of the minhag of the shamash). the rambam only mentions this halacha in the context of lighting al shulchano, but not in the context of lighting outside or by the window. it is easy to understand why one would not need a shamash when lighting outside - after all, one will not use the light of the menorah there since people generally dont hang out outside. but why when lighting by the window do we not need a shamash - isnt there a chashash there too that one will use the ner chanuka?
rashi writes that the purpose of a shamash is not just to avoid accidentally using ner chanuka, but as a heker - to make it obviously recognizable that the ner chanuka is not there for lighting purposes, but rather, for leshem mitzvas ner chanuka.
we asked - why bother lighting at all al shulchano bishaas hasakanah - after all, you're not accomplishing pirsumei nisa. but the whole point of chanuka is to recognize that we cant be complacent about the negatives in the current spirtual state of affairs. we have to try to push to accomplish our goals and objectives, even if we will not succeed at doing so much. davka when one lights on the table, and they think theyre not really being mekayem mitzvas ner chanuka, thats when chazal said make a heker to recognize that this is ner chanuka. ner chanuka is about not giving up and doing whatever one can to not be complacent in their spiritual state.
going back to our first question, the answer is very similar. davka on chanuka is the time to focus on our ultimate spiritual goals - vihayah hashem limelech al kol haaretz, bayom hahu yihyeh hashem echad ushmo echad. normally, we dont focus on that so much, because we cant win that battle now - halvai that we make hashem a melech over us personally. but chanuka is the time to remember what we truly want, and to not accept the lowly spiritual state we are in now. even though it may have little effect now, we ultimately have faith that one day, hashem will be the melech al kol haaretz, and all the nations will appreciate the persumei nisa of chanuka, lichsheyibaneh beis hamkidsah bimheirah biyameinu.
after thinking this through, i think it answers some other questions as well: theres a famous kashya of the pnei yeshoshua i believe, why couldnt they light shemen tamei - dont we have a principle that tumah is hutrah bitzibbur? lidvareinu, it doesnt matter if technically you're allowed to light with shemen tamei in certain circumstances. the whole point of chanuka is to rise above the "circumstance excuse", and to live in the ideal world.
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