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When was the Mitzvah of Candle Lighting Declared? by Nathaniel Helfgot
Posted By Nathaniel Helfgot On December 11, 2009 @ 12:57 am In Halakha,Holidays,New Posts | 4 Comments
When was the Mitzvah of Hadlakot Nerot Declared?
By Nathaniel Helfgot
R. Isaac Judah Trunk of Kutno (1879-1939),1 [1] in his work Hasdei Avot #17,2 [2] proffers a fascinating theory in relation to the genesis of the lighting of Chanukah candles. He begins by noting that in the famous Talmudic discussion about the origin of Chanukah the section concludes with the statement that the next year they established it as a holiday “with Hallel and Thanksgiving” without any mention of the institution of the lighting of candles in each and every home. (This is also the case in the text of the Al Hanisim that only mentions the relighting of the Menorah in the Temple courtyard and not the lighting in every home).
To resolve this problem (and the problematic language of Maimonides in Hilkhot Hanukkah) he suggests:
“Since it is explained in the derasha of Hazal cited by Ramban (Bamidbar 8:12) that the mitzvah of lighting Hanukkah candles is an extension of the mitzvah of the lighting of the Menorah in the Temple, that through the lighting of Hanukkah candles, the lighting in the Temple is continued eternally, it is not far from (reason) to conclude that in truth, as long as the Temple stood, Hazal did not institute the mitzvah of lighting the Hanukkah candles, for at that time the Menorah in the Temple was still functioning…and only once the Temple was destroyed were Hazal concerned that the miracle might be forgotten for the lights of the Temple Menorah had been extinguished. Therefore, Hazal instituted the mitzvah of lighting on the doorsteps as a continuation of the mitzvah to light in the Temple”
This insight is suggested as well by the late Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, R. Bezalel Zolti, in his Mishnat Yaavetz #73, and by the Rav, as recorded in Hararei Kedem Vol. 1: 173.3 [3]
This novel, some might say radical, suggestion yields an interesting view of the neirot Hannukah. In contrast to other rabbinic practices that are termed zeikher le-mikdash, no such terminology is used in the halakhic literature to describe the lighting of the candles. In short, in this conception, the candles are not a zeikher, but actually a continuation of the original mitzvah. In this reading it emerges that the home, the house itself, becomes the mikdash in an intense fashion with the menorah perched in its outer “chamber”. We usually think of the synagogue as serving in the role of mikdash me’at, but in this reading the home itself has taken on that role.
Secondarily, this insight dovetails nicely with the well-attested theme in Polish Hasidic literature (Sefat Emet, Rav Tzadok, etc…) that highlights Hannukah as the holiday of Torah she-ba’al peh par excellence. Not only does this holiday emerge after the close of prophecy and the writings of scripture, but it developed its own scaffolding process of rabbinic stages on top of rabbinic stages. It is a holiday in which the rabbinic voice is both the foundational as well as the secondary level of the entire enterprise.
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4 Comments To "When was the Mitzvah of Candle Lighting Declared? by Nathaniel Helfgot"
#1 Comment By Big Maybe On December 11, 2009 @ 7:27 am
Baal HaMaor Shabbos (21:) states that Chanuka lighting is zecher to menorah in mikdash.
I was unable to find Hasdei Avot in HebrewBook’s copy of Yeshuot Yisrael so perhaps he handles this and others.
#2 Comment By lawrence kaplan On December 11, 2009 @ 9:49 am
Rabbi Helfgot: I wonder whether the parenthetical comment in the Rambam, Sefer ha-Mitzvot, Shoresh 1, may indicate otherwise. There he writes: “But that it was related to Moshe on Sinai that he should command us that after we have lost our sovereignty [aharit mamlakhteu: this is a difficult phrase, and I am not sure what it means: L.K.] and it will occur to us with the Greeks thus and thus, that we will be obligated to light Hanukah candles, I do not think there is anyone who would imagine this to be the case.”
#3 Comment By Drew Kaplan On December 14, 2009 @ 9:18 pm
The problem with that is that the academies of Hillel and Shammai, which existed before the Temple’s destruction, already discussed lighting.
#4 Comment By Jonny On December 18, 2009 @ 3:13 am
Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel existed before, during and after the Churban (ex: R’ Yochanan ben Zakkai was from Beit Hillel). Maybe the reason why THEY were discussing the mitzvah of hadlakat neirot was because THEY were the ones who instituted it.
Another proof to this theory can be deduced from the following passage in Josephus’ Book of Antiquities (VII:7):
“And from that time to this we celebrate this festival and call it ‘Lights’. I suppose the reason was because this liberty beyond our hopes appeared to us, and that thence was the name given to that festival.”
If the mitzvah to light Chanukah candles was only introduced after the Churban, we can understand why Josephus (writing shortly after the Churban) didn’t know why Chanukah was called the Festival of Lights – because lighting candles was a relatively new concept, at least in the form of a mitzvah mi’de’rabanan (See R’ Yoel Bein-Nun and R’ Menachem Leibtag’s articles on the history of Chanukah and the nes pach ha-shemen story).