Chanukah Message

Rabbi Twerski views the miracle of Chanukah in terms of the concept of Teshuva. Most commentators speak of the victory over the Greeks in battle, or the miracle of the cruse of oil lasting for an extra seven days. But few speak of Teshuva.

We must understand the backdrop to this whole conflict. The real war began when Greek culture was introduced to the Jews of Israel. There was a battle between the Chassidim, who wanted to remain firm in their commitment to Judaism, and the Hellenists, who were Jews that adopted Greek culture, and swayed away from Jewish practice.

This is what led to the rebellion of the Maccabees. Matityahu, the High Priest, began the rebellion when he killed a Hellenist, eating pork in public. This led to the famous cry of “Whoever is for Hashem, come with me.” This is an acrostic in Hebrew, spelling the word מכבי.

Rabbi Twerski was pointing that one of the great successes of the rebellion and miracle of the oil, was that many of the Hellenists did Teshuva and realized their foolishness in abandoning Judaism. The return to Hashem of a Baal Teshuva is very powerful. They are elevated to a very high level of spirituality.

This should be our Chanukah prayer, that all of the Hellenists who have distanced themselves from Judaism, should all come home, to Hashem and Kedusha.