THE ART OF APPRECIATING THE DETOURS
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THE ART OF APPRECIATING THE DETOURS
We say in Al Hanissim, words that I never understood until this year.ואחר כן באו בניך לדביר ביתך And afterward Your children entered the sanctuary of Your House. The Holy of Holies is called Devir (literally, “place of speech”), for the Speech of G-d emanated from above the cover of the Aron Hakodesh, between the two cherubim. ובבוא משה אל אהל מועד לדבר אתו וישמע את הקול מדבר אליו מעל הכפורת אשר על ארון העדות מבין שני הכרובים And when Moshe entered the Tent of Meeting to speak with Him, he heard the Voice speaking to him from above the cover that was upon the Ark of Testimony, from between the two cherubim” (Bamidbar 7:89).
The Al Hanissim mentions first their entry into the Devir, for it is the most sacred place in the world, and the service there once a year was the most important service of the year. We ask three times daily והשב את העבודה לדביר ביתך: “Restore the service to the sanctuary of Your House”, referring specifically to the service of the Holy of Holies.
Then we say in Al Hanissim, ופינו את היכלך. And they cleansed Your Temple from the idols and abominations that were there. The Heichal is the chamber containing the Table in the north, the Menorah in the south, and the Golden Mizbeach (Altar) before them to the east.
Why does it not say that they cleansed the Dvir, the Holy of Holies? Why did they only have to cleanse the Heichal, the Holies?
The Maharal explained (Shabbat 21b) that the Greeks had only taken control over the Heichal, as the Talmud specifically states: שכשנכנסו יוונים להיכל טמאו כל השמנים שבהיכל “When the Greeks entered the Heichal.” The Heichal has a gematria of 65, while Yavan equals 66, hinting that their control was only over the Heichal. But into the Holy of Holies they did not enter, they did not defile it. It need not be cleansed. All the flasks of oil in the Heichal were impure. The flask of oil they found, was found in the Holy of Holies, sealed with the seal of the High Priest, who alone enters the Holy of Holies. It was the only flask that remained hidden from them and beyond their reach.
וטהרו את מקדשך – And they purified Your Mikdash from the impurity that was in it. Here the term refers to the entire Beit Hamikdash, everything beyond the Heichal.
והדליקו נרות בחצרות קדשך – And they kindled the Menorah lights in the courtyards of Your holiness . This terminology raises a question: the Menorah’s proper place is in the Heichal, inside the Temple building itself, not in the courtyards. Why then does it say they kindled lights in the courtyards of Your holiness?
The Chatam Sofer explained (Drash 67) that the Heichal was filled with abominations and required time to be cleared and purified. Therefore, they brought the Menorah out to the Azarah, the Temple courtyard, and there they kindled the lights for eight days, which is halachically permissible. Through this, the miracle was publicized to all Israel. If they had kindled the Menorah in its proper place, within the Heichal, only the Kohanim would have witnessed the miracle, since only they are permitted to enter the Heichal Sanctuary. The rest of the people would not have witnessed the miracle! For this very reason, our Rabbis instituted for all generations that Chanukah lights be kindled at doorways and in courtyards, just as in the time of the miracle, where the Menorah was placed on the outside of the Beit Hamikdash. This explains why this is the only mitzvah that the obligation is not on the person but נר איש וביתו, it is a Mitzvah on the household! And just like the miracle then was noticeable to the multitudes, so to, the Mitzvah of Menorah is to publicize the miracle to the multitudes!
Our Rabbis tell us that the lighting of the Menorah that we light at our homes, is just like the High Priest lighting in the Bet Hamikdash! Now I understand why! Because the lighting of the Menorah on Chanuka was not in its place, inside the Beit Hamikdash’s Heichal. So when we light in our homes, even thought we are not lighting in the Bet Hamikdash, but since during the original chanukah the lighting was not done in its place, so too for all generations, at this time of year, lighting the Menorah at home, is the same as lighting it in the Bet Hamikdash! (The Menorah in the Bet Hamikdash did not need to be lit by a Kohen.) This is why, on Assarah Betevet fast after Hannukah, we are judged to see if that year we will merit the Third Temple to be built. G-d wants to see how we light the Menorah, how much we care to serve Him, and bring Him into our homes. (Hatam Sofer)
It is so interesting! Precisely from the circumstance in which the Menorah could not be lit in its natural place, the Chanukah mitzvah for all generations was born. One of the reasons why we consider it a miracle of 8 days, even though the first night was seemingly not a miracle, was the fact that they lit it in the courtyard, where there was a lot of wind, and the oil should not even lasted for one night! Miracles happen in the detours of life, when things are not the way we plan. This temporary workaround became the permanent mitzvah, for all generations. The Rabbis didn’t say: “Well, that was just an emergency measure, now let’s go back to the proper way. After the first night, let us put the Menorah back inside, now the we cleaned it all out! ” No. They said: “This is better. Keep the miracle light at the threshold, out in the Hatzer. Keep it visible. Keep it public.”
Miracles usually don’t happen in the Palace. Miracles of Yosef start in the Pit, from the Dungeon, where he interprets dreams on a detour to his destination. The miracle of Hanuka didn’t come from the Heichal, from the Holies, it came from the courtyard, the threshold, the public space, the place where the “unqualified” masses could witness it. And it was all for the reason, for it to turn into the holiday we have.
What if I told you, that your next level of success isn’t going to come from where you think it should. It’s going to come from the contaminated, public, “wrong” place you’ve been avoiding.
- Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia are broke designers in San Francisco. Rent is due. They can’t pay it. A design conference is coming to town and hotels are sold out. So they inflate three air mattresses in their living room and create a website: “Air Bed & Breakfast.” They charge $80 a night. They make breakfast. They have three guests. That’s it. That’s the billion-dollar idea of AirBNB: “We’re so broke we’ll rent our floor.”
- Michael Dell is a pre-med freshman at UT Austin. He’s supposed to be studying biology. Instead, he’s buying IBM PC parts, assembling computers under his desk in Room 2713, and selling them directly to students for cheaper than retail. His parents visit and discover his dorm room is a computer factory. They’re furious. He’s supposed to be a doctor. He drops out. First-year revenue from his dorm room operation: $80,000/month. That is how Dell Computers was born.
- Jeff Bezos quits his Wall Street job to sell books online. (Everyone thinks he’s insane.) He moves to Seattle, works out of his garage, and builds a website on a desk made from a door and 4×4 lumber. When orders come in, a bell rings. He and his wife MacKenzie pack the books themselves and drive them to the post office in their Chevy Blazer. No warehouse. No staff. Just a garage, a door-desk, and a bell. First year revenue: $511,000, all packed by hand in a suburban garage. Now worth $2 trillion.
Sometimes, miracles happen from garages. From detours. From backyards. Miracles can even come from the most impure situations.
