How Chanuka affects us today

We spoke about what Chanukah means to us today, and how would our lives have been different without Chanukah.

Without Purim we would have been long gone, killed by Haman and his chevra. But Chanukah seems different. The epoch of the chashmonoim, up until roman rule, lasted for 103 years. (The Rambam stating that Malchus returned to Israel for over two hundred years was probably counting in the years when the “king” we had was little more than a roman pawn, such as Aristobulus and the latter Yannai.) Our historians say that the period of peace after getting rid of the hellenizers lasted all of thirty years, (R’ Yitzchak Isaac Halevi) and it is doubtful how productive can thirty years be towards turning around a nation. (Y’mei Bayis Sheni, from the Da’as Sofrim) We are in golus now around two thousand years. Without Chanukah we would have been in golus for two thousand one hundred and three. What difference is that to us today?

The chinuch in mitzvah ??”? expresses that not only was Yaakov called “Yisrael”, so was Avraham and so was Yitzchak. And the reason is that “Yisrael” means we are able to overcome the forces of nature, and even of the stars and heavenly angels. This is something all the Avos had, and we do too. We are not necessarily contingent on what the prognosis of “Teva” is, whether in the form of a doctor, political professor or anyone else. We are above it.

Although students of Jewish history will readily attest that Jewish history indeed makes no sense, we are constantly challenged by  the “facts” as they stare us in the face read us our future. Our senses attempt to prove to us that nature is king, and we too must conform to it. No law other than it is admitted. The yetzer harah too has his interest in us believing that things work out according to natural law and not according to our merits or the lack thereof, for then we need not better our ways. It is then of paramount importance for us to keep before our eyes this fact; we live and die by hashgachah pratis. Chanukah is a reminder to this. Besides the help and kindness and heavenly intervention in those days of old, we keep perspective, realizing who is truly running our lives today. This is a dividend we gain even today every Chanukah.