Page 33 - HAMIZRACHI #5-Chanuka-USA-flipbook_Neat

Rabbanit Chana Henkin
Always Look on the
Bright Side of Torah
e have two mitzvot of the entrance to the home we are not
lighting candles – Shabbat allowed to use.
W and Chanukah – and they
couldn’t be more different from each Ner Mitzvah v’Torah Or. “A mitzvah
other. is a candle, and the Torah is light”
(Proverbs 6:23). The two paradigms
The purpose of the Shabbat candles for hadlakat nerot are also two
is for us to use them. If we light paradigms for halachic learning.
Shabbat candles in the house, and
go out and eat Shabbat dinner There is halachic learning for
in the yard and never use those one’s own enrichment and there is
Shabbat candles, the bracha we learning that impacts public space.
recited over them becomes a bracha We began studying the laws of
l’vatala. Candles that are not used Niddah at Nishmat for our own
1
do not fulfill the mitzvah of lighting benefit, so that as observant women
Shabbat candles.
we could understand and master the
Shabbat candles should be placed on mitzvah ourselves and increase the
the table or as near to the table as is light of Torah within our homes.
practical. The table is the innermost Very quickly, we realized there
2
center of the house, and the light of was a need and a mission to train
the candles creates an environment women – Yoatzot Halacha – to bring
of shalom bayit (marital accord) and that learning out into the main
infuses the home with the joy of
Shabbat. street of Jewish life, and benefit
tens of thousands of women and
In contrast, according to the original families. The Yoatzot Halacha are our
mitzvah, Chanukah candles are lit Chanukah candles!
outside, to the left of the entrance
to the house, opposite the mezuzah. There is another connection
This became impossible in many between Yoatzot Halacha and
communities, and the custom Chanukah. The name Chanukah
developed to light in a window comes from the phrase Chanukat
facing the outside. Only during HaMizbeach, the dedication of
a time of religious persecution the altar. The altar in the Temple
may one light in the interior of the was defiled by the Hellenist Jews
house, and not beside a window or and their Syrian Greek allies,
doorway. and Chanukah celebrates its
rededication. Yet we have no ritual
The purpose of Chanukah candles is on Chanukah that in any way
pirsumei nisa, publicizing the miracle, reminds us of the altar. Everything
infusing public space with awareness is associated with the menorah, with
of G-d. We are not permitted to use the miracle of the oil. Why?
their light for any other purpose.
The altar and the menorah represent
These two mitzvot are opposite two models of serving G-d. One
poles: candles at the heart of the model involves death and sacrifice
home we must use, and candles at and one represents light. These two
are intertwined in the Chanukah
story and in all of Jewish history.
The model that our Sages preferred
is not sacrifice and not zealotry.
They chose spreading light, one
candle lighting another candle. We
have a halachic principle “deracheha
darchei no’am,” the ways of the
Torah are pleasant (Proverbs 3:17).
Jewish history has been filled with
sacrifice, but the Sages call upon us
to model ourselves after light and
pleasantness.
Deracheha darchei no’am is not merely
a description but a mandate. We
have a responsibility to make the
Torah’s ways pleasant, to make
Jewish observance pleasant, infused
with light.
This is the role of the Yoatzot
Halacha – providing an address for
intimate halachic questions and
helping women and their health care
providers understand each other.
Helping women observe mitzvot with
light instead of sacrifice.
This Chanukah, may we continue
to enjoy the pleasantness of Torah
within our homes and to spread its
light throughout the world.
1 A ‘wasted’ bracha. Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim
263:9.
2 See Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 263:10, Rema
and Mishna Brura.
Rabbanit Chana Henkin is Head of
Nishmat, The Jeanie Schottenstein
Center for Advanced Torah Study for
Women
33