Our Sages teach us that the Hellenists instructed the Jewish people to "write on the horn of an ox that you have no portion in the God of Israel." The Maharal explained that they were expressing opposition to the notion that God loved the Jewish Nationfor who they were and for no other reason. The Hellenists argued that the fact that the Jewish Nation had worshiped the Golden Calf demonstrated that they had no intrinsic connection to Hashem and Hashem would therefore only love them if He had reason to. In order to articulate the rejection of any special relationship with God they demanded the Jews write on the horn of an ox that they had no portion in the God of Israel.
The victory over the Hellenists expressed the concept that the love is not logic-based but is an essential love. The connection is not predicated on the behavior of the Jewish People, and is not broken by sin. The light that shines every year on Chanukah awakens us to focus anew on the essential connection we have with our Creator and to empower us to feel this connection. Rather than thinking that it is our deeds that foster the connection (which can result in feeling that we deserve credit for the connection if we perceive our deeds as good, or feel that the situation is hopeless if we feel our actions don't pass muster) but to realize that the connection is predicated in unconditional love and to connect to Hashem with that understanding. Any good points a person may have pale in comparison to the essential connection.
This is why Chassidic works speak of the concept that even people who are distant from Torah observance can transcend their usual selves during Chanukah. Because when one comes with the approach of his essential Jewishness everyone is the same. ועמך כולם צדיקים
In Kabbalistic terms the attitude of connecting oneself completely to Hashem is called הוד, Hod.
There are two ways of giving oneself over in a relationship. The first would be called חכמה (Chochma, literally wisdom). This indicates one who gives himself over entirely to the other. Similar to what is expressed in שמע (Shema) in which we express a total nullification of self (ego) before Hashem. (חכמה= כח מה). The giving over of self expressed by Hod does not connote a complete nullification of ones ego. Rather it is that even when feeling a sense of self one is prepared to give himself over totally to the relationship with God.
The victory over the Hellenists expressed the concept that the love is not logic-based but is an essential love. The connection is not predicated on the behavior of the Jewish People, and is not broken by sin. The light that shines every year on Chanukah awakens us to focus anew on the essential connection we have with our Creator and to empower us to feel this connection. Rather than thinking that it is our deeds that foster the connection (which can result in feeling that we deserve credit for the connection if we perceive our deeds as good, or feel that the situation is hopeless if we feel our actions don't pass muster) but to realize that the connection is predicated in unconditional love and to connect to Hashem with that understanding. Any good points a person may have pale in comparison to the essential connection.This is why Chassidic works speak of the concept that even people who are distant from Torah observance can transcend their usual selves during Chanukah. Because when one comes with the approach of his essential Jewishness everyone is the same. ועמך כולם צדיקים
In Kabbalistic terms the attitude of connecting oneself completely to Hashem is called הוד, Hod.
There are two ways of giving oneself over in a relationship. The first would be called חכמה (Chochma, literally wisdom). This indicates one who gives himself over entirely to the other. Similar to what is expressed in שמע (Shema) in which we express a total nullification of self (ego) before Hashem. (חכמה= כח מה). The giving over of self expressed by Hod does not connote a complete nullification of ones ego. Rather it is that even when feeling a sense of self one is prepared to give himself over totally to the relationship with God.
No comments:
Post a Comment