Timeless TorahDays of Eight
Chanukah, the Festival of Lights has come…and now it is almost gone. What have we gleaned from this holiday? What have we added to our understanding that was lacking a mere eight days ago? Maybe we should examine the eight day number itself to arrive at the crux of the battle between the Hellenists and those who remained faithful to the heritage of their people.
What is Chanukah? The Sages learned that on the 25th day of Kislev the days of Chanukah are eight. That strange sounding phrase is from the Talmud (Shabbos) and later echoed in the lyrics of Maoz Tzur (a classic Chanukah song), as in “Men of Understanding… Days of Eight.”
The Sfas Emes points out that by saying “the days of Chanukah are eight” means much more than some subtle poetic nuance, as there is a world of difference between saying, “eight days” and “days of eight.” One tells us of the number, the mere quantity of the days while the other tells us about the quality of these days of Chanukah. What does that mean and hoe relevant is it to us?
The Greek civilization presented a competitive culture, which sought to substitute and supplant Jewish life. They offered intellectual rigor, spirited sports, as well as the catharsis of theatre and art. Many in the Jewish nation were allured to this lifestyle which at first seemed benign and friendly. Only later did it prove to be a poisonous and deadly weltenschaung. / While the Greeks were genuinely interested in categorizing and artistically mapping the mathematical beauty and truth of the universe, their vision of reality was by definition limited to the distorted lens of the fleshy human eye and its empirical methodologies.
According to them, the world was a seven-day production. Since we humans operate within that framework creates a natural boundary for even the most perfect description of reality. Everything experienced must be enveloped within that arena of our existence. Therefore the logical limits of Greek thought and life were by definition within the reach of “seven”.
The Jew however could not be tethered to that myopic view. His universe was considerably larger. From the moment a Jewish child experienced the covenant of circumcision on the eighth day oh his young life, he knew (without even understanding how he knew) that life was not an act of nature, but a miracle from on High.
The Hebrew word for eight is Shemonah. When shuffled as an anagram it spells out the word Neshamah (Soul), and also Mishnah (the building block of the Oral Torah). A little more delicate maneuvering and you have the word Hashemen (oil), the stuff of the Chanukah miracle and the centerpiece of the celebration.
The Festival of Lights was all about two opposing philosophies: Seven vs. eight or Nature vs, the miraculous. To help us gain insight into the limitations of a nature-based outlook, let’s analyze the Hebrew word for nature which is Teva. Teva has two connotations. First, it implies drowning or sinking, because we are sunken into and swallowed up by this physical world. It also is related to the word matbeah, referring to a coin that has an image impressed upon it. Similarly the natural world impresses; so much so that our senses are so stimulated that any inkling of anything beyond is naturally overwhelmed. The Hebrew word for “The Natural World”, HaTeva, has the same numerical value for the Holy Name - Elokim. This means that our definition of nature is actually “repeating miracles.” If something happens predictably we call it natural. When it happens once, we call it a miracle. We are alerted, jolted to a super state of awareness, a higher consciousness of reality.
Now the idea of the oil, of eight, of soul, of the Oral Torah, rises and rides high above and beyond the confines of mere nature. Eight encompasses the sphere of seven enriching and extending it. When penetrated it anoints even natural life with a tinge of the miraculous. Now we come to the crunch, really. The Talmud tells us, “If we are not prophets ourselves, we are at least the children of prophets.” Seeming simple activities and customs done by so many holy Jews over so many thousands of years must be packed with profundity, even if we don’t perceive it at first. I’m talking about latkes.
I think only now can we understand latkes - potato pancakes. No joke! When that potato mix is cooked in oil to be joyfully ingested, we are not engaged in a mere Epicurean exercise. It is rather an expression of how the concept of eight, manifest on Chanukah, can be made to saturate and enrich the ordinary and natural dimensions of our lives. It’s the Oral Torah’s authentic recipe of how to mix the oil, to engage the eternal soul, breathing ultimate meaning into every molecule of life. If that lowly potato can be so educated and so dedicated then there is hope for us also to gain much more than just mass quantities of calories, enjoying quality time during these days of eight.
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