Chanukah: Finale of the Yamim Nora’im | Kislev תשנ"ב
Early Torah sources say that Chanukah is the finale and climax of the Yamim Nora’im we experienced a couple months ago. It says in Likutei Maharil that Chanukah is the finalization of the seal on the judgment of Yom Kippur.
And R. Tzvi Elimelech said that in heaven, from Rosh Chodesh Elul until Chanukah, there is a shining image similar to a hand outstretched to receive those returnees who, for some reason, were pushed away from returning to Hashem during Aseres Yemei Teshuvah. Their teshuvah is accepted until Chanukah, and this continues until the very last day of Chanukah, called Zos Chanukah. There is an allusion to this in the following verse: בזאת יכופר עון יעקב – In this (Zos) the sin of Yaakov will be atoned.
This alludes to the final day of Chanukah, on which we read the Torah portion of וזאת חנוכת המזבח. Until then is the final atonement of the sin of “Yaakov,” of the Jewish people.
And it is written in Sefer Bnei Yisas’char that the rabbis of former generations were wont to say that on Chanukah we can arouse Heaven to grant children to the childless, like on Rosh Hashanah, when Sarah Imeinu and Channah were granted children. This segulah applies mainly on the last day of Chanukah, called Zos Chanukah. Nevertheless, there is an allusion that it applies all of Chanukah, because the gematriya of מתתיהו is the same as that of ראש השנה.
From all the foregoing we see that Chanukah is the final conclusion of Yamim Nora’im.
This could be explained as follows. Yamim Nora’im were days of great light and kedushah for every Jew. Already in Elul we started gathering in shul while it was still nighttime to pour out our prayers and pleas to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. This naturally brings a deep feeling of kedushah to everyone’s heart.
Then came Rosh Hashanah when we blew the shofar, which rips open the closure of the heart. It intensified on Yom Kippur, when even those who are very distant draw close and attach themselves to kedushah. And it was immediately followed by the days of joy on Sukkos.
These were the Yamim Nora’im.
Although we all awakened to teshuvah and kedushah on these special days, there is still room for the Satan to voice an objection. Indeed, when days of light and great awe arrive, a Jew’s heart is electrified and wakes up due to the powerful kedushah imbued in the time. But when these special days are gone, and simple days come, what are we like then? What is a Jew like when he goes back to his work and his routine, and he mixes with all sorts of people? Does the flame of kedushah still burn within him?
This is the role of the days of Chanukah. They are ordinary weekdays on which we may perform all kinds of melachah. People go to work as usual. And the darkness of Greece, the prostration to nature and its material forces, still darkens our lives. Wherever we go in the world we encounter abuse and ridicule for everything spiritual and holy. Honor and fame is accorded to science, technology and those who possess great wealth.
Even then, a Jew kindles his light, and places it prominently at the entrance to his home, publicly demonstrating his contempt for false secular splendor. He is declaring: There is no light other than Torah! There is no beauty other than kedushah! There is no value other than mitzvos!
A Jew takes this truth with him into his daily life, in the office, in the shop, wherever he may be with ordinary, this-worldly people. He stops in the middle of an important meeting to daven minchah. Between clients he takes advantage of the time to learn his daily shiur.
This is the completion and climax of Yamim Nora’im. This shows that the kedushah of those days penetrated deep into our hearts, that it became part of our very essence. Then nothing in the world can extinguish the flame of kedushah that burns within us.
