Chanukah: Celebrating Innerness

Rooted in Wisdom

The Ari Ha’kadosh, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, teaches that an ordinary Priest receives his vitality through the Divine energies of Netzach, Victory, and Chessed, Loving-Kindness, while the High Priest receives his from Chochma, Wisdom. (3) In short, Chessed and Netzach are known as “lower” Divine energies, which enable us to engage with the finite reality around us. Chochma, by contrast, is rooted in the realm of potential,(4) which fuels those “lower” energies. Chochma takes us back to our roots because it has the capacity to become anything as it manifests. As discussed previously, the Syrian-Greeks initially valued Judaism because of our emphasis on wisdom and study. They loved our philosophical debates and our passionate and heated discussions. But we clashed when it came to Chochma because of its place beyond reason. The Syrian-Greeks wanted to replace our inner Chochma with the external wisdoms of math, science, and the like, which is also what the snake attempted to do when it seduced Chava into eating from the not-yet-permissible fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden.(5) Chava believed that being G-dly is knowing truth from falsehood and right from wrong; she failed to appreciate the G-dliness that existed within her. Chava didn’t realize that there can be more to what we see on the surface of reality, there can be a piece (or pieces) of us that transcends the external mistakes we might make, which can be witnessed with the human eye.(6)

Proper Closure 

Rabbi Moshe Weinberger explains that while we do spend most of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur focusing on this inner potential, Chanukah is really when the fall holiday season receives its closure. Our Sages teach that there are 2 types of songs which David sings in the Book of Psalms: “A Song to David” and “To David, a Song.”(7) While these may seem like mere grammatical nuances, they encapsulate what it means to return to, and reconnect with, our authentic selves. “To David, a Song” symbolizes those moments in his life when David felt like himself. He was inspired and had clarity. There are other times, though, when David felt distant from his inner self. He was distracted and busy with life. We celebrate Chanukah during the coldest and darkest days of our year because the flames of the Menorah teach us how to sing “A Song to David,” even if we’re not yet feeling that song so passionately in that moment. Despite not being able to kindle our Menorah in the sheltered sanctity of Jerusalem, Chanukah empowers us to sing wherever and however our here-and-now might be – whether in physical or spiritual exile, or both.(8)

This is what distinguishes the mitzvah of kindling the Menorah so uniquely from the bulk of our other mitzvos. Akin to Chava’s binary belief that G-dliness is solely knowing right from wrong and good from evil, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach explains that we often think of mitzvahs in terms of “always” – we either always do them or we never. Chanukah, by contrast, is about “moments.” It’s about light that emerges from flickering flames instead of the kind of light that stays shining, and in its place, as soon as we switch it on (or off). Unlike the weeklong festivals of Passover or Sukkos, and even the recurring 25 hours of Shabbos each week, our Chanukah flames only shine for a short period of time. And if they burn out, contrary to our Shabbos lights, we don’t have to re-kindle them.(9) This is because true, inner knowledge, can only be experienced with a specific type of light. Indeed, it’s possible to know every single commentary in the Torah, and follow all the nuanced details of Shabbos – or any other mitzvah in Judaism – but that doesn’t mean we’ll get to see and experience the “light” of that mitzvah. 

Celebrating Moments

Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach teaches that as important as it is to create structure and routines in our lives, sometimes, the “always” mindset isn’t enough. We have to know how to tap into the “moments” of life, which too often pass us by because we don’t take the time to appreciate the innerness of existence.(10) As such, Chanukah is all about rededication (and education), but it isn’t about (re)dedicating ourselves to the entire spectrum of mitzvahs. Chanukah is when we (re)dedicate ourselves to doing just ONE mitzvah fully – with all our heart, soul, and being. It’s about (re)dedicating ourselves to celebrating “moments” in life and not just milestones. 

Chanukah is about being real, about being here, and about being together: ish u’veiso, people with, and within, their homes.(11) 

Rabbi Elimelech Biderman explains that we don’t make Havdalah at the close of Chanukah, as we do at the end of Shabbos and festivals, because the lights of Chanukah stay with us throughout the entire year ahead. Chanukah doesn’t fit the same binary that Shabbos and festivals offer us: where we’re able to tap into their holiness and elevation for some time, and then revert back to our ordinary lives. This is why our Sages celebrated the miracle of Chanukah a year after it initially occurred, and not immediately upon experiencing the miracle of the oil. As much as we need to be present to celebrate the “moments” that come our way in life, we also can’t get stuck in those experiences and not take their lights with us into the future. Instead of the faulty thinking that we had to use the light immediately or we’d lose it, our Sages understood that true Chochma is finding ways to keep that light with us every day and using it to continuously illuminate our lives.(12)

May we each merit to access the lights we uniquely need to see all that we need to see in this world. May we come together to kindle the flames of the Menorah collectively, as a unified people, and in our Holy Land. And, by extension, may G-d illuminate the entire universe with an influx of revealed goodness – mamish NOW!

A lichtichen Chanukah!

Jonah Simcha Chaim Muskat-Brown is an educator, social worker, and freelance author from Toronto, Canada. He draws inspiration from the vast sea of Chassidic wisdom and the many works of psychology and human development as he empowers others to discover and unlock hidden potentials within themselves along the journey of unleashing their own greatness.

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1. Shabbos 21b.
2. Orach Chaim 673:1.
3. Pri Eitz Chaim,Shaar Ha’purim 6.
4. Tanya, Iggeres Ha’teshuva 4.
5. Genesis 3.
6. Bnei Yissaschar, Maamarei Chodesh Kislev, Maamar 6:1-4.
7. Pesachim 117a.
8. Rabbi Moshe Weinberger. “Coming Back to Ourselves.” In By the Light of the Fire, 189–91. Woodmere, NY: Binyomin Wolf, 2023.
9. Orach Chaim673:2.
10. Kislev 5746, Jerusalem; Transcribed by Yehoshua and Emuna Witt.
11. Shabbos21b.
12. B’ohr Ha’Chaim, Drushim L’chanukah, Yara Ish Navon.