According to a well-known tradition concerning the events leading up to the great Chanukah miracles, Antiochus and his cohorts banned performance of many mitzvos including Shabbos, Rosh Chodesh, and b'ris mila. Why were these specific mitzvos banned? In general, what was the source of the Greeks' obsession to eradicate any vestige of the Jewish religion and not satisfying themselves with subjugation of the Jewish people as other conquering nations would?
Rav Chaim Yaakov Goldwicht zt"l, the founding Rosh HaYeshiva of Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh, presents a profound analysis of this battle which has enormous implications as to how we view Torah study and Torah scholars.[1] I present his ideas here in my own style with some additions. On a simple plane, studying Torah and performing its mitzvos are our mission in life, and through these activities, we are rewarded with eternal life. But this certainly does not present the complete picture; Torah is both transformative and elevating. The human being, seemingly just a higher animal life form, by studying Torah becomes uniquely elevated, is endowed with the light of Torah penetrating into his G-dly soul, and elevates his physical aspect as well; in a word, the created becomes much more similar to the Creator. Even though no created being can come close to Hashem's perfection, the more Torah they absorb, the more G-d-like they become.[2] How is this G-dliness created through connection to Torah manifested?
A well-founded idea concerning the Greek attitude toward existence and their antagonism toward Judaism states that the Greeks viewed wisdom, beauty, and all of life's endeavors as ends in and of themselves.[3] The body was inherently beautiful and certainly could not be improved, hence the Greek obsession with drawing, sculpting and parading the human form. The celestial bodies represented perfect spheres incapable of being affected by any Higher Being. Wisdom was to be valued for its edification value not because of its power of elevation. There was no hypocrisy in a wise scholar living a morally reprehensible life. Judaism, by stark contrast, views all of life's activities including wisdom as necessarily transformative; else, they are being misused. Rav Goldwicht would often quote the Talmudic dictum (B'rachos 17a in the name of Rava), "tachlis chachma, teshuva uma'asim tovim - the goal of all wisdom is repentance and good deeds".
The Midrash (B'reishis Rabba 2:5) comments that the Greeks told the B'nei Yisrael to "write on the horn of an ox (shor) that we have no share in the G-d of Israel."[4] Rav Goldwicht questioned the curious formulation of this demand. Shouldn't they have demanded that the Jews write "that there is no G-d of Israel!" The phrase "That they have no share in the G-d of Israel" implies that there is a "G-d of Israel", but that the Jewish people have no share in Him. But this is exactly what the Greeks represented. Belief in a G-d is acceptable. That human beings have the ability to transform through connecting to the Divine wisdom was not acceptable to them. The Midrash precedes this statement with the fact the Greeks wished to "darken the eyes of Israel". This is a reference to the chachmei haTorah who are referred to as the "einei ha'eidah - the eyes of Israel" (Shlach 15:24). It is they who epitomize the transformative power of Torah, and it was toward them that the main thrust of the Greeks' spiritual attack was directed.
This concept is expressed fully by precisely the mitzvos the Greeks tried to eliminate. The b'ris mila represents the ability of man to partner with his Creator in perfecting the human personality. In a famous conversation (Tanchuma Tazria 5), the Roman general Turnus Rufus challenged R' Akiva with the question of whether Divine actions or human actions were better. R' Akiva responded: "human actions!" Turnus Rufus, expressing surprise at his answer, immediately challenged him: "Why do you circumcise yourselves?" Meaning, why do you attempt to improve upon the creation? R' Akiva, properly prepared, commented, "I anticipated your question and I already answered you!" R' Akiva requested that wheat and bread be brought. He then exacted an admission form the general that indeed man's actions were a significant improvement on the original Divine creation. As to the general's question "If G-d desires that man be circumcised why does He not create him that way?", R' Akiva answered that G-d wishes that man be purified through the mitzvos. R' Akiva's answer contains a profound lesson: man can and indeed is charged by his Creator to elevate and transform himself. He is not fixed in a set of base, animalistic desires and drives which Fate has prescribed to him; this, of course, is contrary to the worldview to which the Roman general, steeped in Greek culture, subscribed. Because of the worldview of the Greeks, as expressed by Turnus Rufus, they battled against the concept of mila.
Rosh Chodesh represents a unique mitzvah wherein human beings literally affect the spiritual cosmos. In a well-known distinction in the liturgy, whereas the Shabbos prayers end with "m'kadeish haShabbos - [Hashem] sanctifies the Sabbath", the Yom Tov prayers end with "m'kadeish Yisrael v'haZ'manim - [Hashem] sanctifies Israel and the [holiday] times". G-d sanctifies Israel; it is they who sanctify the holidays. Through the process of accepting witnesses who sighted the new moon, the Beis Din determines whether to declare Rosh Chodesh on the 30th or 31st day of the previous month. The Talmud (Rosh HaShana 25a) teaches a remarkable halacha: If Beis Din accidentally or even willfully declares Rosh Chodesh on the wrong day, their pronouncement remains halachically binding.[5] How does a mere mortal have the ability to modify which day on which to celebrate a holiday? What is the secret of "flesh and blood" having such transformative power to bindingly declare a holiday, with all of its intense spiritual significance, on the wrong day? How do they suddenly make that the right day? This is a direct result of their elevating themselves through the kedushas haTorah. Through that they partner with Hashem in transforming the nature of time![6] This is the essence of the Torah Sheb'al Peh, the part of Torah which is not Divinely fixed, but depends on the input of man, using the Divinely given principles to determine the halachic reality. Rosh Chodesh represents an extreme of this concept wherein the Torah sages have total control of the halachic reality. This concept was totally foreign to the Greek way of thinking; they therefore tried to obliterate it from the world scene to allow their own worldview to dominate.
Ultimately, due to Divine salvation granted the Chasmona'im who battled to preserve the eternity of Torah, the Torah worldview was victorious. It is for this reason, explains Rav Goldwicht, that the Gemara (Shabbos 23a), concerning the lighting of the Chanukah menorah, asks how we can say "v'tzivanu - and He commanded us" in the blessing when the mitzvah is Rabbinically ordained; "heichan tzivanu - what is the Biblical source of this commandment?" To this question, the Gemara answers, "Lo tasur mikol davar 'asher yagidu l'cha yamin us'mol" (Devarim 17:11). Why doesn't the Gemara ask the same question concerning other mitzvos d'Rabbanan? Our Sages are trying to teach us this important lesson of Chanukah: the unique ability of chachmei haTorah to even create Rabbinic laws that are as binding as Torah laws!
Sifrei Chassidus[7] stress the elevating nature of the holiday of Chanukah and especially the lighting of the menorah. Its illumination contains within it an element of the "or haganuz", the supernal light created at the beginning of time, hidden away by G-d as reward for the righteous in the future. This hidden light, teaches the Ba'al Shem Tov and others, was hidden in the Torah. Through its study, the Jew becomes attached to sparks of this eternal, elevating light. The Chanukah lights, parallel to the light of the menorah in the Mikdash, represent the light of Torah. The victory of the Chashmona'im over the Y'vanim was not just a physical victory; it was a spiritual one indicating that the Torah view of mankind - one in which G-d's wisdom is given to man to study and practice and elevate himself to literally partner with G-d in affecting the world - was the correct and eternal one.
We are fortunate to live in an era where so many thousands are returning to a Torah lifestyle, an era in which so many tens of thousands are intensely studying Torah in one venue or another and partaking of its great light, perhaps unique in numbers in comparison to many previous generations. But at the helm of the Jewish people, as they always should be, are the chachmei haTorah, the Torah giants, who do not just establish set times for the study of Torah, but are so connected to its wisdom that it transforms them and elevates them, enabling them to partner with Hashem in guiding the Jewish people and ultimately transforming the entire world.
[1] I was privileged to hear the core of these ideas when I studied at Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh. They were subsequently printed with additions in 'Asufas Ma'arachos : Vol. 2 Chanukka & Purim.
[2] Compare the Midrash (VaYikra Rabba 24:9) on K'doshim Tih'yu - "'You should be holy!' I might think you should be as [holy as] I am; therefore, the verse states 'for I [G-d] am holy!', 'My sanctity is above yours'." As every student of Talmud knows, a hava 'amina is a seriously entertained possibility. The very initial thought of being exactly as holy as G-d, even though ultimately rejected, demonstrates the enormously elevating power of Torah.
[3] See Wisdom for a Purpose for a fuller exploration of this idea.
[4] See Wisdom for a Purpose for an exploration of the imagery of the ox.
[5] This was the halacha R' Akiva taught the senior R' Yehoshua who was troubled by being forced to comply with Rabban Gamliel's declaration of Rosh Chodesh Tishrei (Rosh HaShana) which R. Yehoshua thought was erroneous.
[6] Of course this ability is not designed to be abused and wantonly misused for invalid reasons. This is an often misunderstood point concerning Rabbinic authority in general. Granted that the Torah bestows certain powers, within limits, to the sages of each generation, but they are charged by G-d to utilize this authority with great sagacity, motivated by much yiras shamayim and loyalty to the Torah system and not personal agenda. (See the introduction of the Ig'ros Moshe for more on this point.)
[7] See for example B'nei Yissaschar (Kisleiv Ma'amar Beis).