From the Cyber Torah Archives

Chag Urim Samech l'kulom - Happy Hanukkah to Everyone

Interpretation plays a huge role in any tradition. Any book, however complex or simple, requires explanation to be understood. Nothing exists in a vacuum. As a result, the authority to interpret carries a lot of weight. In the American legal tradition, the right of Judges to interpret law and the Constitution means that they have the ability to significantly affect people's lives. Often those interpretations are clear and people agree with a Judge; often such interpretations are more vague and reasonable people differ.

This issue exists in Judaism in a big way. The Bible was written over two thousand years ago; some parts over three thousand years ago. It is a complex text that requires an interpretative tradition to make heads or tails of it. As a result, what troubles people the most about Jewish practice are those practices that the Rabbis interpret based on Biblical text, particularly interpretation on which reasonable people could differ.

One example of this problem occurs at Hanukkah. The Talmud in the second chapter of Shabbat asks: What blessing do we say at Hanukkah when we light the candles? We should say "Barukh Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melekh Asher Kidushenu Bmitzvotav Vitzevanu Ladlik Ner Shel Hanukkah." Blessed are You, Lord Our God, King of the Universe, Who makes us holy through Your Commandments, and commands us to light the Hanukkah candles. This "long" form of the Blesssing - in which we praise God for commanding us to do some act - is said over actions explicitly commanded by the Torah. That is, we say this blessing when we put on a Tallit which the book of Numbers commands us to wear. We say a blessing for sitting in a Sukkah which the Bible explicitly commands us to do.

The Talmud then asks: from where do we receive this commandment to light the Hanukkah candles? In other words: how can we say "Who commanded us to light" if the Bible never even mentions Hanukkah? After all, the events of Hanukkah occured hundreds of years after the Bible is written. This long form of the blessing is reserved for mitzvot commanded by the Torah. Since the events of the holiday occurred centuries after the Bible was written, how can we say that we are commanded from the Torah to light Hanukkah candles? The Talmud answers by saying that the Bible itself understands the need for an interpretative tradition. Yes, the Torah forms the central canon of our tradition, but the Torah itself has room for change and interpretation. One such verse says, "If you do not know, ask your parent, and they will tell you, ask an elder, and he will inform you." In other words: to understand practice, Halakhah L'Masseh, you must go to a live person. Ask someone from the older generation, or consult with a Rabbi. Realize that books require human interpreters to be living documents.

Yet interpretation, the need for a living tradition to accompany a written book, is only part of the story. After all, the living tradition that fleshes out details might be restricted to the words of the Bible. For an interpretative tradition to add something means that tradition has the ability to innovate and to consider that innovation as an integral part of the Torah. Hanukkah may have occurred generations after the Torah was written, but the Sages of that time took it upon themselves to establish a holiday with a similarly Biblical status like Purim or the Three Festivals.

It is as if they are saying to us: had the Torah been written after these events, the festival of Hanukkah would have been included. It belongs in our tradition, and there we have the right to include it because the Torah itself teaches "consult with an elder, and he will tell you."

Judaism has managed to survive many attempts to wipe us out, including that story commemorated by Hanukkah. Each attempt has fails because we have a living tradition that can react to new circumstance, that can change because flexibility is an integral part of our practice. To again use the American legal parallel, the right to make amendments is contained within the Constitution itself. The Rabbis use that authority to make Judaism and the Mitzvot an ever more accessible path to God. God has given us commandments that help make us holy. Included in those commandments is the obligation to remain relevant by responding to new circumstance.

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Hanukkah