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As your family gathers to light the Chanukah candles, let each night be inspired by the words of Rabbi Sacks

NIGHT 5 NIGHT 6 NIGHT 8
Chanukah in The First Clash The Light

Our Time of Civilizations Another Light
NIGHT 7
ack in 1991, I lit Chanukah candles ne of the key phrases of our time here’s a fascinating argument in
Bwith Mikhail Gorbachev, who had, Ois the clash of civilizations. And The Third Tthe Talmud. Can you take one Cha-
until earlier that year, been President Chanukah is about one of the first Miracle nukah light to light another? Usually,
of the Soviet Union. For 70 years, the great clashes of civilization, between of course, we take an extra light, the
practice of Judaism had been effec- the Greeks and Jews of antiquity, e all know the miracles of Cha- shamash, and use it to light all the
tively banned in communist Russia. Athens and Jerusalem. Wnukah, the military victory of candles. But suppose we don’t have
It was one of the two great assaults the Maccabees against the Greeks, one. Can we light the first candle and
on our people and faith in the 20th The ancient Greeks produced one of and the miracle of the oil that should then use it to light the others?
the most remarkable civilizations of
century. The Germans sought to kill all time: philosophers like Plato and have lasted one day but stayed burn- Two great sages of the third century,
Jews; the Russians tried to kill Juda- ing for eight. But there was a third
ism. Under Stalin the assault became Aristotle, historians like Herodotus miracle not many people know about. Rav and Shmuel, disagreed. Rav said
brutal. Then in 1967, after Israel’s and Thucydides, dramatists like Soph- It took place several centuries later. no. Shmuel said yes. Normally we
victory in the Six-Day War, many ocles and Aeschylus. They produced have a rule that when Rav and Shmuel
disagree, the law follows Rav. There
art and architecture of a beauty that
Soviet Jews sought to leave Russia has never been surpassed. Yet in the After the destruction of the Second are only three exceptions and this is
and go to Israel. Not only was per- Temple, many Rabbis were convinced
mission refused, but often the Jews second century before the common that Chanukah should be abolished. one.
concerned lost their jobs and were era, they were defeated by the group After all, it celebrated the rededica- Why did Rav say you may not take one
imprisoned. Around the world Jews of Jewish fighters known as the Mac- tion of the Temple. And the Temple Chanukah candle to light the others?
cabees, and from then on Greece as a
campaigned for the prisoners, Refuse- world power went into rapid decline, was no more. It had been destroyed
niks they were called, to be released by the Romans under Titus. Without Because, says the Talmud, you dimin-
and allowed to leave. Eventually, while the tiny Jewish people survived a Temple, what was there left to ish the first candle. Inevitably you spill
Mikhail Gorbachev realized that the every exile and persecution and are celebrate? some of the wax or the oil. And Rav
whole Soviet system was unworkable. still alive and well today. The Talmud tells us that in at least says: don’t do anything that would
Communism had brought not free- What was the difference? The Greeks, one town, Lod, Chanukah was abol- diminish the light of the first.
dom and equality, but repression, a who did not believe in a single, loving ished. Yet eventually the other view But Shmuel disagrees, and the law
police state, and a new hierarchy of G-d, gave the world the concept of prevailed, which is why we celebrate follows Shmuel. Why?
power. In the end, it collapsed, and tragedy. We strive, we struggle, at Chanukah to this day.
Jews regained the freedom to practice times we achieve greatness, but life The best way of answering that is to
Judaism and to go to Israel. has no ultimate purpose. The universe Why? Because though the Temple think of two Jews: both religious, both
neither knows nor cares that we are was destroyed, Jewish hope was committed, both living Jewish lives.
That day in 1991 after we had lit not destroyed. We may have lost the One says: I must not get involved with
candles together, Mr. Gorbachev here. building but we still had the story, and Jews who are less religious than me,
asked me, through his interpreter, Ancient Israel gave the world the idea the memory, and the light. And what because if I do, my own standards
what we had just done. I told him of hope. We are here because G-d cre- had happened once in the days of will fall. I’ll keep less. My light will be
that 22 centuries ago in Israel after ated us in love, and through love, we the Maccabees could happen again. diminished. That’s the view of Rav.
the public practice of Judaism had discover the meaning and purpose of And it was those words, od lo avdah
been banned, Jews fought for and life. Tragic cultures eventually disin- tikvateinu, “our hope is not destroyed,” The other says no. When I use the
won their freedom, and these lights tegrate and die. Lacking any sense of that became part of the Hatikvah, that flame of my faith to light a candle in
were the symbol of that victory. And I ultimate meaning, they lose the moral inspired Jews to return to Israel and someone else’s life, my Jewishness
continued: 70 years ago Jews suffered beliefs and habits on which continuity rebuild their ancient state. So as you is not diminished. It grows because
the same loss of freedom in Russia, depends. They sacrifice happiness for light the Chanukah candles, remem- there is now more Jewish light in
and you have now helped them to pleasure. They sell the future for the ber this. The Jewish people kept the world. When it comes to spiritual
regain it. So you have become part present. They lose the passion and hope alive, and hope kept the Jewish goods as opposed to material goods,
of the Chanukah story. And as the energy that brought them greatness people alive. We are the voice of hope the more I share, the more I have. If I
interpreter translated those words in the first place. That’s what hap- in the conversation of humankind. share my knowledge, or faith, or love
into Russian, Mikhail Gorbachev pened to Ancient Greece. with others, I won’t have less; I may
blushed. The Chanukah story still even have more. That’s the view of
lives, still inspires, telling not just us Judaism and its culture of hope sur- Shmuel, and that is how the law was
but the world that though tyranny vived, and the Chanukah lights are the eventually decided.
exists, freedom, with G-d’s help, will symbol of that survival, of Judaism’s So share your Judaism with others.
always win the final battle. refusal to jettison its values for the Take the flame of your faith and help
glamour and prestige of secular cul-
ture, then or now. A candle of hope set other souls on fire.
may seem a small thing, but on it,
the very survival of a civilization may
depend.