Which Light Will Prevail?

For many centuries man’s sight was limited. Daylight may have allowed his curious eyes the liberty of roaming at will, but come night and man’s vision was enveloped by the darkness. Candles, oil and wood fires were the only means of dispersing the opaque blackness. These, however, were costly, hazardous, unsteady and short-lived. In those days, wax meant wealth, and adequate light was a luxury reserved for the privileged.

Only recently with the invention of the light bulb did man transform this bleak situation. His blindness was now banished by powerful and enduring bulbs. Indeed, artificial light has become so economically feasible that even the poorest can afford to squander it.

The genie of the lamp now unleashed has wrought tremendous change - for the good and perhaps the bad. Modern man is under constant distraction. Endless illumination has given him the opportunity to become intensely aware of exploring his ever expanding universe, but it has also been accompanied by being oblivious to the cosmos within.

Early humans, the man in the dark if you will, was sheltered from a great, many diversions. True, absence of technological illumination was a handicap, but it offered other rewards. Deprived of the ability to view the world without, man had the incentive to focus his attention on the world within. In the unlit hours he had nothing else to do but think, and so he contemplated and developed his own unique personality. Do not imagine this person’s life as one condemned to endure the pain of loneliness, but rather one blessed with the rich pleasure of solitude.

If one looks deeply enough inside he will discover a light of another kind, the soul of man. As the wise King Solomon writes, “The candle of the L-rd is the soul of man, exploring all the inner chambers.”

All of this relates back to Chanukah which is introduced in the Bible as the battle between the two philosophies of Noah’s children. Yefes, the father of the Greeks was endowed with an extraordinary talent for the visual arts. Shem, the father of the Hebrews, was allotted his share among those who “dwell in the tents” of study and prayer.  The contours, shapes and geometric angles of things fascinated the Greeks. Especially dear to them was the beauty found within architecture and the human form.

There was a time when it seemed as if the Greek conquerors were going to be victorious. It was no accident that when the Macabbees entered the Temple they fashioned a new Menorah out of plain iron rods rather than the artistically ornate, gold candelabra.

But why was the Menorah singled out as the refutation of the ideology which adores the external?  In Temple times people did not waste light. A fire with no function was promptly extinguished and fuel was carefully hoarded. If the flames of the Menorah burned constantly, it must have been that this was not a light to shed external illumination, but rather to symbolize the inner lights.

This holiday don’t allow the neon lights of Madison Avenue and the discos to blind us to the inner glow of our souls.