If you go out of your homes to shop, to stroll, to even get a breath of fresh air, unless you are living in Bnei Brak or Yerushalayim, you can’t help but notice that the secular world has entered into the “Holiday Season”. L’havdil, we too will be celebrating Chanuka next week and there is a joyous anticipation of gifts, delicious food, and family get-togethers. As with everything else we do, as Jews we take the mundane and raise it up to a level of Kedusha - holiness. In this week’s Parsha, Vayishlach, Yaakov prays to Hashem to help him in his battle against his brother, Esav. Why did Yaakov not just say help save me from my brother? Why not just say from Esav? Why both? The meforshim say that often we have to be just as careful with those that appear to be our friends, who come in peace, but nevertheless want to influence us in negative ways. Sometimes it is easier to recognize our enemies (the Esav’s) but in either case we need G-d’s divine intervention to help us in our spiritual as well as physical battle.
Earlier this week, my son Dovi, who is finishing up his last year at college, asked me to edit a paper he was writing. I thought that given the topic, it couldn't be for one of his engineering courses so I asked what he needed it for. The campus Rabbi had asked him to write something for the College Bulletin being published for Chanuka. I thought that the article was so good that I asked if I could use it as well. Of course, being his mother (and editor) he couldn’t refuse - so I am sharing it with you along with his caveat
Dov Brand wrote : Chanukah: Reading from Right to Left
This D’var Torah is based on a shiur given by R’ Moshe Weinberger as well as based on other Torah sources. Any errors can be attributed to my original thought. The Shiur can be found here:https://www.yutorah.org/sidebar/lecture.cfm/940935/rabbi-moshe-weinberger/oros-hakodesh-12-torah-written-from-right-to-left/
On Chanukah we commemorate the reinauguration of the Second Temple after the victory of the Maccabees over the Greeks. However, when celebrating a military victory, one generally does not simply celebrate the triumph, rather one celebrates what they have gained through the conquest. For example, on the Fourth of July, Americans not only celebrate winning the Revolutionary War, but also celebrate the freedom and independence that they have won from the British. One may claim that on Chanukah we are celebrating the independence that we gained from the Greeks so many years ago. However, that no longer seems to be relevant. There have been numerous conquests of Jerusalem since the events of Chanukah, yet we continuously celebrated Chanukah regardless of whether or not we have maintained our independence. So, what did we gain from the Maccabean War that we continue to celebrate to this day?
To answer this question, we must understand the context of the Maccabean War and the significance of the Greek Empire and its culture. Prior to the existence of the Greek Empire, the culture war that the Jewish People were fighting was their moral, monotheistic culture against the surrounding cultures of paganism, barbarism, and gluttony. However, once the Greek Empire emerged and developed their own culture and philosophy, the battle changed. It was no longer a black and white battle of good against evil. Greek philosophy brought with it many great things. It is the foundation of society today. All of our academic achievements as a society in fields such as science, literature, or philosophy could only come about due to the existence of Greek culture. However along with the positive features of Greek culture came many negative aspects such polytheism and hedonism. The Greeks worshipped beauty and humanity to the extent that they turned their gods into nothing more than ideal humans. While Greek culture had many virtues, it was drawing Jews away from the Temple and into the stadiums and theaters. Jews began abandoning their culture completely to partake in Greek culture instead. When the Maccabees were victorious, they were able to claim all of the positive aspects of Greek culture and integrate it into Judaism.
The difference between Jewish culture and Greek culture can be compared to the difference between the right-brain and the left-brain. The left-brain is said to be the hemisphere which controls analytical thought. It is responsible for making all of the queries which bring about the scientific advances of today. It is the part of the brain which picks apart minutiae and questions everything. The right-brain, on the other hand, is the part of the brain which is responsible for intuition and holistic thought. It is the part of the brain that is responsible for taking details and painting a bigger picture. In Judaism these two hemispheres correspond to Chochmah, knowledge and Binah, understanding. The difference between Greece and Judea can be broken down into the difference in the directions in which each reads and writes.
The Greeks were one of the first dominant cultures to write from left to right, while Jewish writing has always been from right to left. On a deeper level this signifies the direction in which each culture thinks. Greek culture praises analytical thinking. It believes that if something cannot be reached through human reasoning, it must not be true. Based on human thought, the Greeks reach conclusions about the world, its origin, and its purpose. Greek thought begins in the left brain and ends in the right brain, and so they read from left to right. Jewish thought does the opposite. Judaism teaches that we have received certain truths at Sinai that we could otherwise not reach using purely human faculties. We begin with a holistic view of the world and its purpose and then proceed to question everything from there. And so, we read from right to left, as our overarching purpose is what defines the questions that we ask, the answers that we reach, and the ways in which we live our lives.
Greek thought has brought much good into the world, from science to philosophy and beyond. It has even enhanced Judaism itself. Much of the structure and style of the Mishna and Gemara, as well as the learning styles of later great Torah academies all have their roots in the Greek analytical process. On Chanukah we make sure to light our candles in the most beautiful way possible,[1] to show that we have incorporated the value of beauty which we received from the Greeks. However, we have taken the value of beauty and elevated it to a higher purpose, to the purpose of serving G-d. What we are celebrating on Chanukah, and what the Maccabees, the B’nei Binah (Sons of Binah/Understanding),[2] fought for, is the understanding that it is our belief in G-d that is the impetus for everything we do, from advancing society in STEM and the arts, to the way in which we learn Torah and treat each other. By incorporating the good that Greek culture provides into our Judaism, we can propel the world into a greater moral and material state.
[1] The standard has become that households light according to what the Talmud calls mehadrin min hamehadrin, the most beautiful way possible, which is a category that is not applied to any other mitzvah
[2] As referred to in Maoz Tzur, the song which is traditionally sung after lighting the Chanukah candles
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Have a Shabbat Shalom
Rochelle Brand, Ed.D
Head of School
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