BLOG, SPIRITUAL INSPIRATION
The Spiritual Meaning of Hanukkah

DECEMBER 08, 2018


This year I celebrate my third Hannukah. If you have followed me for a while, you know that I love to comprehend and integrate the spiritual meanings of the Jewish holidays. I strongly believe that God gave us the Jewish Holidays for a special reason. Not only to remember the miracles of our long and intense history, but also to realize something about ourselves connected to the specific holiday in a spiritual aspect. I believe that there is always a deeper meaning than what we might see on the surface and if we open ourselves for a deep spiritual connection to the ritual of the holiday we can achieve spiritual growth.

Hanukkah is the festival of lights. By celebrating Hanukkah we remember the miracle of the menorah and its light. And we remember the miraculous victory of the Jews over the Greeks and with that, the liberation of the Jewish temple.

But what is the spiritual meaning behind these historical events of Hannukah?

We commonly think of the war of Hanukkah as being between the Maccabees (Jewish priests) and the Greeks. However, most of the battle was between the Maccabees and the “Mityavnim” (lit. the Jews who became Greek by leaving Judaism and went into paganism). So it was rather a war between pure authentic Jews and Jews who left their Jewish believe, their God and their culture.

The Maccabean war against the Hellenistic culture , was an ultimate spiritual war against a way of life that puts "material" before everything else, it valued beauty and not sanctity, the body and not the soul.

To differ from other rulers, the Greeks did not want to destroy or enslave us physically, but they wanted to do so spiritually by advocating their stance that "men is the center of life". they did not spill the oils in the temple... they defiled them. In Hebrew, "oil" has the same letters of "soul" (Neshama). שמן, נשמה
They were interested in defiling our souls, 

Hannukah celebrates the triumph of faith and courage, when a band of Israelites stood up for their right to be Jewish. Hashem had the Maccabees win and regain the Temple, which is not just a building, but the place that connects Jews to Hashem. Hashem gave the Jewish people their power back and showed them that authentic Jews merit the Temple.

The conquering of the Temple enabled the Jews to light the lights of the menorah again. The light of the menorah shines light into the world. Just as Jews do.

In today's darkness, we realize this war is not over. So we light a candle. And another one, and so on until the 8th day. We grow the light a bit more every day and we learn that a little light can eliminate a lot of darkness. The Hellenistic culture brought to expression as a virtue, all of the lowest part of the human being: violence, anger, jealousy, competitiveness, rudeness, blatant sexuality etc. We acknowledge to have all of these within us in a way or another, however on Channukah we pray and intent on lighting a candle in the lowest places of our lives, and not give up the fight as eventually, like the Maccabees, we will come out as winners.

We remember that the Jewish people are supposed to be authentic and shine their light. Our inner light must shine against the darkness of evil and indifference and must kindle the spirits of our fellow humans.

Why commit to anything? We live 70-80 years, in a life full of suffering anyway, why not make the most out of it? These are doubts pagan winds tried to blow over our Torah and traditions for years... but Judaism, the Torah says otherwise. The Torah says this world has a sense, our life has a meaning, and the creator that created all of us, has a very accurate plan for all of us.. from this point we start a journey trying to understand this world's role, our role as people in this world, and our role as individuals in our life and own circumstances. 

One of the prohibitions that Greek law inflicted on the Jews was on Brit-mila. Jews were forbidden from fulfilling this mitzvah. The Greeks believed man was created perfect, "as is". Hence, all of his flaws can be justified. In Judaism we believe that we are partners in the creation, and by doing Brit-mila and other mitzvot, we can elevate G-d's creation as he wants us, and in order to do so- to be partners in G-d's creation, we need to keep lighting up dark places in ourselves and our surroundings. 

I think we all now have a better understanding of the importance of Channukah, and a reminder that in Judaism, we dont do things just to memorize or symbolize past history, every holiday, every Shabbat or Yom-tov has a lesson our soul needs to learn and a training our mind needs to go trough. 

Another name of Channuka is "chag ha urim", the light festival! so let's make sure we light the place up ;)

Happy Channukah! Chag Channukah Sameach!

May every Hannukah candle ignite the flame in our souls, the spark that can not be extinguished that will burn, not only for eight days, but for eternity. May we remember all the big and small miracles of our lives and recognize that they all came from Hashem.

By Ilana Schiffner

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About Me

Welcome to "Jewishbychoice"! 
I am Ilana! 
​German, 28 years old, converted to Orthodox Judaism, currently living in Israel. Fascinated by Torah, Spirituality and Jewish values.
​Today I share my experiences on my blog and assist people in their conversion process. I teach weekly Judaism classes and offer professional conversion coaching.

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