Preparing the way to miracles
Today we welcome this beautiful and grand celebration: Hanukkah, "The Festival of Lights."
We're just a few hours away from the start, and I'm sure most of you already have everything ready... "Hanukkah, oil, candles, and even the Sufganiyot." But it's also very important that we be spiritually and consciously prepared. So it would be good for us to go back in history and see what happened in those days, back then.
Do you know why we celebrate with lights, especially by lighting the nine-branched candelabra?
During the time of the second Beit Ha Mikdash (Second Great Temple) the Greek emperors imposed brutal measures on the people of Israel, with the clear purpose of separating them from their Torah, prohibiting them from studying it and practicing its precepts. The pressure was terrible; they stripped them of their possessions, raped their daughters, and entered the main temple, desecrating and defiling its sanctity.
The situation for Israel was very serious... "Then the Eternal took pity on them, and saved them from the cruel hands of the Greeks"
The sons of the Hashmonaim (family of High Priests) were regularly devout and peaceful men, they became, by the work and grace of the Creator, brave heroes and defeated the most powerful Greeks, they appointed a king from among the Cohanim and thus reestablished the government in Israel.
Thus, after this episode, the Great Temple remained in the heart of Jerusalem and the people of Israel for more than 200 years.
The day they defeated and destroyed the Greeks was exactly the 25th day of the month of Kislev (present Hebrew month) this day they entered the Beit Ha Mikdash (The Great Temple) and did not find pure oil to light the candelabrum.
They only found a small, sealed jar of oil with the seal of the High Priest, enough to light the Menorah for one day.
But it was Hashem who performed the miracle!! And the oil was enough to light the Menorah for 8 days, until they made a new special oil! from the fruit of the olive tree.
The great miracle that happened then was deeply engraved in the spirit of the Jewish people.
The greatest miracle was not only that the Temple Menorah remained lit for these 8 days, but the greatest thing was that the light of the Torah and of Judaism was rekindled in the hearts of each of the Jews, thus being able to live a life of Judaism again in complete freedom, according to the will of our God.
For this reason, the Sages of that generation decreed that these 8 days beginning on the 25th of Kislev, should be designated as days of rejoicing and praise!
Every night of those 8 days, oil lamps or candles are lit to remember and highlight the miracle.
These days are called Hanukkah, which means "inauguration" because of the inauguration of the Beit Hamikdash and because on the 25th of this month they rested from their enemies.
("JANU" means "we rest", and "KA" is equivalent to 25 in Hebrew)
So, during these days, all manifestations of pain and fasting were prohibited, turning into Joy and total Rejoicing!!
Thank you, Hashem, for the miracle you performed for our ancestors! We will always continue to live and fulfill our Holy Torah!
*Hanukkah, as we mentioned, is the 25th of the month of Kislev, and this year it will begin today, Thursday, December 10th, at nightfall, we will light the first light of our Hanukkah.
We wish that this Hanukkah your lives be illuminated and filled with the Light of truth!
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