The Altar of the Menorah

Tonight is Erev Channukah. Ask anyone knowledgeable and they will tell you that Channukah is about the miracle of the oil when the Temple was rededicated by the Maccabees. During this holiday we light candles, make latkes and sufaganiot (sort of like donuts) because they are made with oil and talk about the miracle. But have you ever noticed that the song we sing, Maoz Tzur, while lighting the channukah menorah says nothing about this? It begins “O mighty stronghold of my salvation, to praise You is a delight. Restore my House of Prayer and there we will bring a thanksgiving offering. When You will have prepared the slaughter for the blaspheming foe,” But then in the last line we sing “ Az Eg-mor B’shir Miz-mor Cha-nu-kat Ha-miz-bay-ach”, “Then I shall complete with a song of hymn the dedication of the Altar.” This song is about the altar, the mizbayach, not the menorah! Additionally, during the week of Channukah the daily readings are all about the dedication of the Mishkan (tabernacle) and the altar by Moshe and the leaders of the tribes. So what is going on?

The book of the Maccabees tells us the story of Channukah; how the Syrian king Antiochus IV sought to eradicate Judaism. It says that on the 15th of the month of Kislev he setup up an idol in the Temple, but he waited until the 25th of Kislev to make his pagan sacrifices and defile the altar. The Maccabbes also waited until the 25th of Kislev to rededicate the altar. It says

…they took uncut stones, according to the law, and built a new altar like the former one. They also repaired the sanctuary and the interior of the temple and consecrated the courts. They made new sacred vessels and brought the lampstand, the altar of incense, and the table into the temple. Then they burned incense on the altar and lighted the lamps on the lampstand, and these illuminated the temple. They also put loaves on the table and hung up the curtains. Thus they finished all the work they had undertaken. They rose early on the morning of the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, that is, the month of Kislev, in the year one hundred and forty-eight, and offered sacrifice according to the law on the new altar for burnt offerings that they had made.

Why wait until the 25th? One could see that they wanted to rededicate the altar on the anniversary of its defilement in order to reverse it. But then why did Antiochus select that specific date?

There is indeed a reason. The book of Leviticus tells us that they dedicated the Mishkan during an eight-day commemoration. The book of Chronicles tells us that King Solomon did likewise with the First Temple and that is was also in conjunction with the Feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles).  Rabbi Channina, a prominent rabbi in the Talmud said that the Mishkan was completed on the 25th of Kislev. Additionally, we read in the book of Haggai that he announced on the 24th of Kislev that the sacrifices were about to recommence. It is clear that the 25th of Kislev was well known and that Antiochus sought this specific date as a way of increasing the severity of his defilement. It was as if he was saying, “This is my temple now. ”

The Book of Maccabees also tells us that they could not celebrate the feast of Sukkot during the war so they rededicated the Temple for eight days and also celebrated Sukkot just like King Solomon did. In a letter to another Jewish community, it says

“Since we shall be celebrating the purification of the temple on the twenty-fifth day of the month Kislev, we thought it right to inform you, that you too may celebrate the feast of Booths and of the fire that appeared when Nehemiah, the rebuilder of the temple and the altar, offered sacrifices.”

Notice here that the connection to Sukkot is explicitly mentioned. But what is this about the fire and Nehemiah? Remember that the fire was kept lit continuously on the altar. The text tells us that there was a tradition that some of the priests hid fire from the altar in a cistern before the Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, so that the fire could be restored someday. When Nehemiah led the rebuilding of the Temple, he asked the descendants of the priests where the fire was hidden. They did not know what he was talking about; knowledge had been lost during the exile. So they went looking for it and found the cistern. But the fire was out and the only thing left was a thick oily residue (like naptha). Nehemiah put this oily residue on the sacrifice and when the sun came out the altar burst into flames. Thus the continuity of the fire on the altar was maintained.

(Another significant thing to recall is that the Menorah in the Temple was not lit with candles but with oil, hence the legend of the miracle of the oil.)

One theory as to why they moved the emphasis away from the altar and to the menorah is this exact connection. The Maccabbes wanted people to celebrate Channukah in their homes and sacrifices can only be performed in the Temple, so they moved it to the lighting of lights. According to this theory, then, these lights point to the altar not the menorah! Our Channukah menorahs point to the oil placed on the altar!

This approach is significant for us as Messianic Jews. Tonight is not only Erev Channukah, but also the beginning of the celebration of Yeshua’s birth by our brothers and sisters in the churches. When we light the menorah, we often talk about us being a light to the world and of how Yeshua is the Light of Torah. He himself said in John 10 that he was the light of the world while attending the festivities of Channukah. But he is also the sacrifice upon the altar! Just as Antiochus tried to destroy the Temple, the Adversary tried to destroy Yeshua, but ultimately failed through the resurrection power of the Ruach Hakodesh. His incarnation, celebrated at Christmas, is indelibly linked to his death. Someone recently asked me why the church that we rent from has a cross and a manger on the stage. I told them that I think it is to express this idea. Yeshua’s life of total Channukah, dedication to his Father, leads to his death and resurrection.

As we light our menorahs this coming week we are connecting not only to the Maccabees, but also to Nehemiah, Solomon, and to the original dedication of the Tabernacle by Moses. We also can think about how we are tasked to bring the light of Torah to the world in our daily lives. We can think of Yeshua being that light. But now we can also reflect upon this connection to his death! The lighting of our menorahs links to and commemorates his sacrifice on the “altar” of the cross.

May we ponder these things in the coming week.

May we give thanks to the One who continues to save us in myriads of ways; especially through the Great Salvation He wrought through His son.

May we rededicate ourselves to His Torah and seek to be not only a light to the world, but also, as Rav Shaul said, be living sacrifices on our own altars.

Shabbat Shalom, Chag Channukah Semeach, and Chag Molad Semeach!

The Tzohar

Our Besorah reading this week tells of how the star led the magi to visit the infant messiah. We have often discussed the connections between Yeshua and Isaac. Both were only sons, both we sacrificed, both were the embodiment of Israel; the One-Man-Israel. So it is not surprising that we can find a connection between the star at Yeshua's birth and Isaac's birth. There is a legend that says on the day of Isaac's birth the sun shone with a splendor that had not been seen since the sin of Adam and Eve and will only be seen again in Olam Ha-Ba (The World To Come).

This is a reference to the legend of the Tzohar, which is based on the first chapter of Genesis. It notices in the text that God created light before He created the sun and the stars. So what is this light? The legend says that it was the radiance of Hashem's glory that permeated the universe. It was the Supernal Light, the Tzohar (which just means radiance or brilliance). When the first people sinned, God hid this light and reserved it for the end of time. But He took some of the light and put it in a stone. The angel Raziel gave this stone to Adam as a remembrance of what they had lost. This stone was passed down through the generations to Noah, where it appears in the actual Genesis text. God commands Noah to build a tzohar for the ark. It says "tzohar ta'aseh la-tayvah", build a light for the ark. What does this mean? Usually it gets translated as "roof" or "window", which lets light into the ark. But it doesn't say window, it says light. So the legend says that Noah hung the Tzohar Stone from the roof and it provided light.

After the flood the stone was handed down through the line of Shem until it was given to Jacob, with which he had his vision of the heavenly ladder. Jacob gave it to Joseph. The light of the stone protected him from the snakes and scorpions in the pit where his brothers threw him and it was with this stone that he was able to interpret dreams while in prison. The legend continues that it was buried with Joseph, but Moses took his coffin with them in the Exodus and he removed the stone from the coffin and hung it up in the Mishkan (tabernacle). Thus the Ner Tamid (eternal light) that is in every synagogue not only represents the menorah but also is a reference to this legend.

Other legends say that Hashem's supernal light was hidden in the Torah itself and when we study it we let loose some of its rays. This is very similar to the kabbalistic notion of the kelipot where we release divine sparks of light when we do good deeds.

There are several texts in the Besorah that allow us to say midrashically that Yeshua is the Tzohar! In Hebrews 1:3 it says "The Son is the radiance of [God's] glory and the representation of His essence." In the first chapter of John it says "In him was life, and the life was the light of humanity, and the light shines on in the darkness, but the darkness has not mastered it." Yeshua later said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Yeshua is the Tzohar! He is the radiance of the Father, he is the Living Torah, which is infused with the Father's light, he is the Ner Tamid. We see this at the very end of Revelation where it says, "[Jerusalem] does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamp is its lamp."

But there is more!

Yeshua said that we are the light of the world. In Mattityahu 5:14 he says, "You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."

Just as Yeshua is the living embodiment of the Torah, we are the living embodiment of the Risen Messiah here on earth. We are the Tzohar. Each of us carries a bit of his light within us. And it is through our actions in study, prayer, and good deeds that we expose that light to this dark world.

May our light indeed shine. May we move with that purpose in mind in all that we do.

May we reflect the light of Yeshua, just as he reflects the light of Hashem.

May we be the Tzohar that shows the way to Yeshua's home.

And may we look forward to that Day when Hashem's Supernal Light again infuses all of Creation!

The Harsh Decree- Yom Kippur

There is a piyut (liturgical poem) recited on both Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur that we do not recite as it is in the Mussaf, which we do not do. Mussaf is an additional service after Shacharit (morning prayers) on Shabbat and holy days. The reason that we pray three times a day is because these are the times that the sacrifices were offered in the Temple. Mussaf coincides with the additional sacrifices made on Shabbat and on holy days.

This piyut is called Un-ta-neh To-kef, which means “Let us voice the power (of this day’s sanctity)”. It consists of several dramatic vignettes. The first depicts a heavenly court with God sitting on His seat of judgment. The Book of Deeds is opened, a shofar (ram’s horn) sounds out, and angels tremble. The second describes what is at stake; who will live, who will die, prosper, suffer, fall, and rise. The third brings us to a happy conclusion. It says “But repentance, prayer, and charity cancel the harsh decree”.

This poem was long believed to be written by Rabbi Amnon of Mainz in the 11th century. He died a martyr rather than giving in to forced conversion to Christianity. But this poem was discovered in the Cairo Geniza and was almost certainly composed in Israel during the  6th or 7th centuries, possibly Yannai, a great composer of liturgical poems.

 Many are shocked and troubled by the theology of this piyut; that we might be spared with repentance, prayer, and acts of charity. We all know or have read about very pious people who have died horrible deaths, suffered great illness, lost loved ones. The Ramban, who lived in the 12th century, took issue with it. So have many other prominent rabbis over the centuries. Repentance, Prayer, and Charity are not magical talismans that prevent catastrophes. This is the aversion that the rabbis had to Tashlich. We cannot throw sins away in the form of bread.

Modern Machzorim attempt to solve this by “translating” the issue away. Some say “Cancel the harshness of the decree” or “Have the power to transform the harshness of the decree” rather than just plain cancel.

The problem is that “Ma-a-vi-rin” does indeed mean cancel. It comes from the root word AVAR, that means to pass. This word is used consistently throughout the Talmud with the meaning of “remove”. It rules that hard labor should be removed from a scholar, Jewelry should be removed from a woman accused of adultery, and we are permitted to remove crumbs from the table on Shabbat. It never means “mitigate” or “soften”.

This same word is used in the prayer Avinu Malkaynu. We say “Our Father, Our King, wipe away and remove our transgressions and sins from Your sight.” This is a form of the same root word, AVAR, ve-ha-a-vayr. It means remove not reduce.

So what should we do with this poem? I think that we should go with the modern translations that understand that it was written in an earlier time where things were viewed differently. We cannot avert evil in our lives, but we can mitigate the harshness of it. We will all suffer illness, disasters, war, loss of loved ones and jobs. And many of us have, ergo the healing service that we held last week. But we can reduce the harshness of it thru a life of prayer, repentance, and charity.

This is exactly what Yeshua taught! In his sermon on the mountain he told us to seek forgiveness and to forgive others; this is repentance. He told us not to worry about what we will eat, drink, or wear. We should instead ask for them with confidence. This is prayer. He told us to not store up wealth where moth, rust, thieves can destroy but to store our treasures in heaven. This is charity.
He concluded, “But seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” A life lived like this sets our attention of Hashem, not our troubles. When troubles come, we are less afflicted because we have built up an “immunity”.

Novelist Nassim Nicholas Taleb once wrote that the world consists of three types of things; fragile, robust, and anti-fragile. Things that are fragile, break with shock or force. Robust things withstand damage. But anti-Fragile emerge even stronger when attacked. Muscles are anti-fragile. If you stress them they breakdown but then grow and become stronger.

Through repentance, prayer, and charity we can become anti-fragile. We can become stronger from life’s challenges. Through repentance we can grow from our mistakes, and learn grace for others. Through prayer we learn self-reflection, self-awareness, and reliance upon Hashem. Through charity we learn to let go.

We are all going to experience troubles, but we can be anti-fragile. We have all known people who have let setbacks destroy them. They have let anger at an injustice done to them fester for decades. They let these troubles damage their relationships with those around them. All of us here today are facing many different challenges too. It is up to us how well we weather them. Our lives are too precious to squander. We will miss out on the joys that Hashem has for us. We will miss out on being a source of joy and blessing to others.

At our healing service last week, Zora mentioned a woman at her mother’s nursing home that radiated joy despite her physical immobility. This is a woman who has learned to be anti-fragile. Not surprisingly she discovered that the woman led a bible study at the home. Most likely she learned to be anti-fragile through a long life of repentance, prayer, and charity.

The word Ivrim (Hebrew) comes from that same root word, AVAR, which means “To pass over”. May we truly be Ivrim, able to let the harshness of life “pass over” us.

May we not be devastated by loss, illness, and setbacks.

May we live a life of Repentance, Prayer, and Charity.

May we seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness.

For then we will truly be anti-fragile and able to avert the harshness of the evil decree!

Gut Yontif and G’mar Chatima Tov- May you be inscribed in the Book of Life.

The Mikveh of the High Holy Days

Every year as we approach the High Holy Days I always wonder what something new I can say about them. In the past I have already talked about the Akedah, Jonah, the meaning of the New Year and such. This is especially important this year as, for the first time, I am essentially kicking off this whole special season by delivering the Erev Rosh Hashanah D’var Torah tonight. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do.

Then I started thinking about our recent Tevilah service and its connection to the High Holy Days. Our liturgy includes the Penitential Service from Yom Kippur because Tevilah is an act of Teshuvah. The Penitential Service also expresses our repentance in corporate terms, as the four fine young men being immersed were not just doing it on their own, but were joining with us at CZA, Israel, and the Church in its ongoing life of repentance. The vows that they took were also expressed in communal terms.

The liturgy of the High Holy Days also is expressed in this way. It is not just a time of personal teshuvah, but corporate teshuvah. We, as Jews, are always individuals embedded in a larger covenant community that has responsibility to God, for one another, and for the whole world.

At our Tevilah service I talked about Yeshua’s own immersion. His act had both a priestly and a prophetic function.

It was priestly in that in his immersion he was radically identifying with his people in their sinfulness. He was immersed on their behalf, leading the vanguard of those turning to Hashem. His act of solidarity called them to their need to repent, be cleansed, and be freed from exile.

It was a prophetic act in that his immersion pointed forward to his ultimate “immersion” of death on a cross. Referring to this in Luke he says, "I have an immersion with which to be immersed, and what stress I am under until it is completed!" It also points forward to that ultimate “immersion” of the Great Redemption at the end of time.

These two acts, both priestly and prophetic, are exactly what we do during these High Holy Days. This season is not just about us and our Teshuvah, but we act as priests. We confess and seek forgiveness on behalf of those within our community that are not yet willing to do so. This is a season of contrition, introspection, and prayer for ourselves, Israel, the church, and the world. Our observance also takes on a prophetic tone as we are always looking forward to That Great Day of Atonement.

This season is also like tevilah in that just as we enter the waters unclean and emerge reborn, so too we enter this season carrying our stains from the year and emerge from Yom Kippur cleansed and reborn. 

I was recently asked what the liturgy meant to me. My response was that my experience of the liturgy very often feels like I am easing into a soothing hot tub. Like a hot tub, I just can just feel the cares of the day and week melt away as I enter into prayer. Sometimes I don’t want to do it. I am worked up about something and resist the idea. But then I do and it just soothes my soul!

Reflecting on this for the High Holy Days, I decided that perhaps a better metaphor than a hot tub is a mikveh. The liturgy is soothing but also it is cleansing. It reminds us of what is important and reconnects us to Hashem. The cleansing waters of the liturgy removes the spiritual dirt in my life. If this is true of weekday and Shabbat prayer, how much more so these special Ten Days of Awe!
In these next ten days, let us ease ourselves into the Mikveh of the High Holy Days. Where we not only focus on our own repentance but that of others as well. Let us keep in mind that this is a priestly act on behalf of a broken and sin-filled Israel, church, and world. We can use these days to radically express our solidarity with our fellows, even if they are unwilling, and call upon Hashem on their behalf.

Let us also keep in mind that this is a prophetic act, where we point the world forward to that day when God will be One and His Name One; and every knew bow to Yeshua His Mashiach. When all Israel and the world will bow and recognize the sovereignty of God and repent.

May the soothing waters of the liturgy wash over us as we ease into these Yamim Noraim, Days of Awe.

May we let the shofar blasts wash over us tomorrow, in a mikveh of sound.

May we steep ourselves in the warm waters of Hashem’s forgiveness.

May the Mikveh of the High Holy Days cleanse us from all spiritual dirt.

Gut Yontif / Shanah Tova / A gut yahr- May you have a good year

Ketivah VaChatimah Tovah- A good inscription and sealing in the Book of Life