The Gemara says Chanukah was established as a festival only “the following year.” Why did the sages of that generation wait a whole year, rather than establish it at once? And how could Moshe add a day before Sinai, delaying the day all creation longed for?
In shortWhy did Chazal wait a year before establishing Chanukah?
3We know the question the raises about Chazal's teaching that at the giving of the Torah “Moshe added one day on his own.”3 All of creation was waiting for that day, so how could Moshe Rabbeinu put off the longed-for day? My holy father and teacher, zt"l, explained that the preparation for receiving the Torah was faith. Bnei Yisrael believed in Hashem and trusted in Him, as the verse says, “your following Me into the wilderness, into a land not sown.”4 Moshe Rabbeinu wanted to make them still more fit in this, and so he delayed the giving of the Torah by one day. He meant to test them in emunas chachamim, faith in the Sages. Yet no one was found who complained about it, and because they withstood this test, they were all the more worthy to receive the Torah. Those are my holy father's words.
Tiferes Shlomo, Shavuos, s.v. Yom; Shabbos 87a. Hashem had told Moshe to prepare the people “today and tomorrow” (Shemos 19:10), and Moshe added a third day of preparation. ↩
Yirmiyahu 2:2. The verse begins: “I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your bridal days.” ↩
In shortMoshe delayed Sinai a day, the Rebbe's father taught, to test faith in the Sages; accepting it uncomplaining made Bnei Yisrael worthier of the Torah.
4So it was with Chanukah. The sages of that generation did not know for which miracle to establish a festival: for the miracle of the war, the victory of the few over the many, or for the miracle of the cruse of oil. So they held back from establishing the festival until the following year, to see how the miracle's influence would endure for the generations. Bnei Yisrael did not question the Sages for holding it back a year instead of establishing it at once, and in this they withstood the test of faith in the Sages. This came about through the influence of the days of Chanukah, which bestowed on them faith in the Sages, the opposite of what the Greeks had decreed.5 Then, the following year, at that same time, when they received the holy influence of these days, they were able to know what to establish the festival for. Because they sensed the light of the lamps shining at this time, they understood that it should be established mainly for the miracle of the cruse of oil, and they established the kindling of lamps.
The Greeks' decrees aimed, in the words of Al HaNissim, “to make them forget Your Torah.” ↩
In shortThe Sages waited a year to see which miracle to mark; Bnei Yisrael trusted them, and the next year's light showed it was the oil.
5May Hashem grant that we always be privileged to have faith in the Sages, and in its merit may we be redeemed with the coming of Moshiach. Amen, may it be His will.
In shortThe Rebbe prays that we always hold fast to faith in the Sages and in its merit be redeemed with Moshiach's coming.
The maamar as a whole
The Ritva’s question opens the maamar: why was Chanukah established only the following year? The Rebbe brings the Tiferes Shlomo’s question how Moshe could add a day before the giving of the Torah, and the answer of the Rebbe’s father, R’ Yechiel Yehoshua of Biala: faith was the preparation for receiving the Torah, so Moshe tested Israel in emunas chachamim, and because no one complained they became more worthy. So too at Chanukah: the sages did not know whether to mark the victory or the cruse of oil, and waited a year to see which influence endured. Israel did not question them, a strength the days of Chanukah themselves gave, against the Greek decrees. The next year, sensing the lamps’ light at that season, they established the festival for the oil.
Takeaway
At Sinai and again at Chanukah, the leaders of Israel held back something precious, and the people accepted it without complaint. That trust was no delay of the gift; it was the very preparation that made them worthy of it. When the guidance of the Sages seems slow or puzzling, we can meet it with the same quiet faith, which the days of Chanukah still strengthen in us.
From the Torah ofRav Dovid Matisyohu Rabinowitz of Bialaרבי דוד מתתיהו רבינוביץ מביאלאProfile ›