Tevet ... It's Still Chanukah

We often overlook the fact that while most of the days of Chanukah are in the
month of Kislev, the final two days fall in the month of Tevet. Chanukah is the
only holiday that spans two months. The tradition of Beit Hillel, which we follow,
says that on each night of Chanukah we increase the number of flames. This
means that the brightest nights come in the month of Tevet.

Chanukah is primarily a holiday of sight. We are supposed to look at the
flames and meditate upon them ( a flame, in Hebrew, Shalhevet, Shin-Lamed Heh-Beit-Tav, has three components, an inner, middle and outer flame, each one of a different color and each having a designated Hebrew name. A remarkable teaching from Rav Ginsburgh is that the three names for the different flames, which are Esh, Alef-Shin, Nogah, Nun-Gimel-Heh, and Chashmal, Chet-Shin-Mem-Lamed added together equal 737, the numerical value of Shalhevet). Unlike candles lit for Shabbat, the Chanukah lights are not to be used for any utilitarian purpose. The lights are only for a spiritual purpose.

The Letter Ayin and the Spiritual Message of Chanukah

Moving from sight( seeing the flames) to inner-sight (the spiritual awakening) is connected with the letter for the month of Tevet. The month of Tevet is created through the letter AYIN, which literally means "Eye." We are taught that the eye refers as well to G-d's Eye(s), that G-d's Divine Providence extends to every detail of existence. We need to challenge ourselves as to our faith in Divine Providence. Had we lived in the time of the Chanukah, would we have marveled at the miracle of the Macabees? Would we have experienced the oil burning for eight days as a miracle or would we have rationalized it in some way?

The gematria, the numerical equivalent, of AYIN is 70 and connects to both
Chanukah and the month of Tevet. As we know, the fundamental conflict that
Chanukah addresses was between the wisdom of the Greek culture --- aesthetics,
nature, fate --- and the wisdom of Torah and Judaism --- G-d, spirituality,
morality. The Chanukah revolt began in the Hebrew year 3621 or 140 B.C.E.
However, this was not the first clash between the Greeks and the Jews. In
3515, or 246 B.C.E., nearly 100 years earlier, a quieter "battle" was engaged in. This
battle was over the sanctity of the written Torah scroll itself, and while no
blood was shed, the losses were great.

The "Translation of the 70"

At the beginning of the period of the Second Beit Hamikdash, the Jewish people
were under Persian rule, After the Persians, the Jews were under subjugation
to Greece. One of Greek kings, Ptolemy of Egypt, forced the Jewish Sages
of the Sanhedrin, to translate the Torah into Greek (the Sages of the
Sanhedrin are called the "eyes" of the community). The Talmud relates: "King
Ptolemy gathered 72 Elders. He placed them in 72 chambers; each of them
in a separate one, without revealing to them why they were summoned. He
entered each one's room and said: 'Write for me the Torah of Moshe, your
teacher.' G-d put it in the heart of each one to translate identically as all
the others did" (Tractate Megilah 9A). It was an awesome act
of G-d's Providence that all the translations emerged identically; even the
Greeks were amazed. How could it possibly be that 72 sages, completely
isolated from each other would come up with the exact same translation? This could not be chance!

The 8th of Tevet - The Translation is Concluded

The day the translation concluded was the 8th of Tevet. Even though it
created heightened awareness of G-d, the day the translation was completed is considered tragic and is observed by some as a personal fast day.

In Megilat Ta'anit, the Sages describe the event : "On the 8th of Tevet, the
Torah was rendered into Greek, during the days of King Ptolemy, and darkness
descended upon the world for three days." Why? The translation is devoid of
the true substance of Torah; and yet those who now "saw" the translation
imagined that they then knew Torah. The Sages likened this to a lion captured and
imprisoned. Before his imprisonment, all feared him and fled from his
presence. Then, all came to gaze at him and said, 'Where is this one's
strength?' The Sages also likened the event to the day when the Golden Calf
was made -- it had no reality, yet people regarded it as if it did. So, too, the Greek
translation, which has no substance [The Book of Our Heritage - Eliyahu
Kitov].

What's Tragic With Translations?

At first glance, forgetting the fact that the translation project was coerced,
it seems like it could have been a great idea to translate the Torah. Translations allow access to the Torah! Then what is the tragedy?

In a sense, we have been answering this question with our ongoing presentations of the tradition that the Hebrew letters and therefore language, are Divine. If Hebrew was "just another language" there would be far less concern about translations. Hebrew though is not just Greek to us. The Hebrew letters were created "black fire on white fire" and as the Menorah in the Temple was designed with 22 decorative cups, the 22 letters of the alef-beit, are also vessels for spiritual light.

What the Greeks created with a translation was a literal, linear, and perhaps even literary
masterpiece that masked the light contained in the Hebrew letter forms.

To give an example, Lev Lawrence commented last week, that in Hebrew, the word for Greece is Yavan (Yud-Vav-final Nun). Each of these letters is linear and the word Yavan itself, graphically, stands like the Greek columns that characterized their architecture and their military formations. It also characterizes their world view; natural, rational, and cause and effect without including a place for the Divine in the natural "order".

One hundred years later, the battle between the Greeks and the Jewish people
resumes. This time Divine Providence allows a small band of guerrilla
fighters to emerge victorious over the massive Greek army. This time the
spiritual light is not hidden, but rather revealed when the oil miraculously
lasts for all eight days of the Temple's rededication. The Menorah, with its 22 decorative cups, is ablaze with white fire. The lion is free.

Questions for this month

How are you challenged by "Greek" thinking today? Is the battle over?

How do you see the letter AYIN and the concepts connected with it (70, eyes, Divine
Providence, or other) helping us to hold onto what our eyes beheld during the eight nights of Chanukah?

We didn't mention that in this week's Torah portion that the number 70 is significant as the count of Ya'acov's family that enters Egypt. Your thoughts on the meaning of this number are welcome as wellas any comments on the questions for this month.