Page 42 - HaMizrachi #15 2019 Chanuka USA

Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Brody

FEASTS AND MIRACLES

hile we all enjoy potato In support of this position, Rabbi Mor- this opportunity to sanctify the mun-
latkes and sufganiyot dechai Jaffe (Levush) noted that on dane. The Munkatcher Rebbe, for
W(donuts) on Chanukah, Purim, our enemies tried to physically example, held special dinners on Cha-
it remains striking that the holiday annihilate us and thereby prevent us nukah to transform these meals into
uniquely lacks an established fes- from the ability to enjoy the tangible holy feasts, while others emphasized
tive meal. The three major holidays pleasures of existence. To celebrate the the unique opportunity to initiate a
– Pesach, Sukkot, and Shavuot – all physical salvation, the Sages decreed spiritual experience.
include joyful feasts based on the a physical, festive celebration to go
requirement of rejoicing on these with the spiritual actions we perform This position highlights an important
days. Many commentators believe that to give thanks and praise to G-d. On message of the holiday. Following the
Rosh Hashanah, despite being a Day Chanukah, however, the Greeks did Maccabbean victory, the Jews needed
of Judgment, still has a requirement not aim to physically destroy us but to to recognize that the glorious military
to rejoice with festive meals, even compel us to give up our spiritual her- victory came from the hand of G-d.
if it remains appropriate to temper itage and become Hellenized. As such, To this end, the Maharal of Prague
the scope of luxurious foods. While this is a holiday of spiritual salvation asserted, G-d created (and the Sages
one cannot eat on Yom Kippur, many for which no festive meals, a mark of emphasized) the miracle of the oil so
deemed the preparatory meal before- physical redemption, are required. that the people should recognize that
hand as a festive meal in celebration Others have alternatively suggested both of these wondrous miracles – the
of the holiday and the atonement it that a joyful celebration was inappro- war victory and the oil lasting eight
promises. priate for Chanukah since, in contrast days – came from Him. As such, one
of the themes of this holiday is the
As such, it remains unsurprising that to Purim, the Jews suffered heavy sanctification of the mundane via the
the Sages included a celebratory feast casualties during these hostilities. recognition of G-d’s Omnipresence
amongst the requirements for Purim. and His ability to affect the world,
Yet the Talmud makes no explicit A middle-ground position adopted by whether on the battlefield or in the
mention of a similar declaration some Ashkenazic scholars, including Temple.
regarding Chanukah, the other holi- Rabbi Moshe Isserles (Rema), asserted
day created by the Sages. (The custom that there is a “small mitzvah” of fes- Chanukah feasts allow us to mani-
to commemorate the oil miracle by tive meals on these days, because the fest our appreciation of this lesson.
consuming oily foods emerged much holiday marks the rededication of the Every time we eat, we have the ability
later and remains optional.) Temple altar. The Rema further adds, to transform this normal meal into
“We are accustomed to singing songs a seudat mitzvah through songs of
According to Rambam and others, of happiness and praise at these meals, praise and thanks. Just as the Jews of
Chanukah does contain an element of and thereby they become seudot mitz- old understood their physical accom-
simcha which is fulfilled through a fes- vah (authorized celebrations).” In plishments as Divine intervention, so
tive meal. Rabbi Shlomo Luria forcefully other words, the possibility of seudot too can we turn our holiday parties
endorsed this position, arguing that a mitzvah exists on this holiday, yet they into religious events. Festive meals
joyful thanksgiving celebration properly can only take place through human might not be obligatory, but the ability
publicizes the miracle. However, many initiative. When these meals include to create a seudat mitzvah reflects the
authorities, including Rabbi Yosef Karo, praises of G-d that clearly manifest opportunity of internalizing this cen-
contend that there is no mitzvah of the religious significance of the day, tral lesson of Chanukah.
eating on Chanukah. They note that in they become mitzvot. Without these
the Talmudic passage which delineates spiritual ingredients, they are just a Adapted from Rabbi Brody’s “A Guide to the
the essence of the holiday, the Sages only regular meal. Complex: Contemporary Halakhic Debates”
assert that this is a day of hallel ve-ho- (Maggid, 2014).
da’a, praise and thanks, and never men- As Prof. Meir Rafeld has documented, Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Brody is an author,
tion the obligation to have a festive meal. many Chassidic rebbes emphasized teacher and law fellow

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