Torah
The Message of the Candles
By: Rabbi Jonathan Duker
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The Chanukah story is not the only narrative in the Talmud that tells of miraculous candle burning In Massechet Taanit we find:
Once on Friday evening Hanina ben Dosa noticed that his daughter was sad. He said to her, “My daughter, why are you sad?”
She replied. “My can of oil got mixed up with my can of vinegar, and I lit the Shabbat candles with vinegar”.
He said to her, “My daughter, why should this trouble you? He who has commanded that oil should burn will also command the vinegar to burn”.
The lights continued to burn throughout the entire day, and they used them for Havdala as well.
The parallels between this story and the Chanuka story are clear. Both involve candles that miraculously burned well past their natural time. The Chanuka oil was enough to last one day, yet it burnt for eight. Vinegar should not burn at all, yet it burned for about twenty four hours. But while the Chanuka miracle was to avoid the Temple Menorah being lit with ritually impure oil, the miracle of Hanina ben Dosa’s daughter was to prevent a girl from being embarrassed.
It is possible that Chazal wished to tell both stories to emphasize different aspects If we only had the Chanuka story, one can come away with the impression that only mitzvoth bein adam l’makom (ritual observances) merit Divine intervention. The narrative of Hanina ben Dosa’s daughter comes to reaffirm the equal importance of ben adam l’chaveiro (interpersonal relations). Being sensitive to the feelings of others is of no less importance to Hashem as the service in His Temple.
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| Uploaded: | Friday, December 11, 2015 |