The Four Exiles is a common idea in Jewish thought. It refers to the four exiles that the Jewish people would go through subsequent to the exile in Egypt.
The Mahara”l of Prague explains why there are specifically four exiles. The Four Exiles correspond to the four directions. The directions emerge and move away from a single, centre point. The centre point is the oneness of Hashem, the Torah and the Jewish people. Like the four directions, the four Exiles represent a departure, deviation and opposition to this oneness.
The Midrash teaches that the Four Exiles are alluded to in the opening verses of the Torah;
וְהָאָרֶץ הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ וְחֹשֶךְ עַל־פְנֵי תְהוֹם וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים מְרַחֶפֶת עַל־פְנֵי הַמָיִם
And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the spirit of G-d hovered over the surface of the waters.
תהו (without form) - refers to the Babylonian exile.
בהו (void) - represents the Persian/Median exile.
חושך (darkness) - alludes to the Greek exile, and תהום (the depths) - is the exile of Edom (Rome).
The Mahra”l teaches that the Four Exiles correspond to different parts of the human psyche. The Greek exile reflects the Koach Hasichli, our intellectual capacity. The Greek empire was renowned for their intellectual greatness. They gave the world the great philosophers, mathematicians, authors and scientists.
So why do the sages liken the Greek Exile to darkness? Darkness would be a more appropriate description of the backward and brutish Babylonians or the cruel and barbaric Romans, but not the Greeks, who were a people of sophistication, wisdom and illumination.
The Chachamim were not fooled by the illumination and intellectual greatness of the Greeks. They did not see their wisdom as a source and force of light in the world. Behind the façade of sophistication lay something dark and morally corrupt.
Their wisdom lacked the central point of G-d, the source of absolute truth and unchanging morality that distinguishes between right and wrong. Without this foundation of immutable truth, sooner or later, the wisdom and illumination of Yavan would become a source of darkness, confusion and lost morally consciousness.
This is the uniqueness of Torah that the Chochma of Yavan lacked. Torah is Divine wisdom, G-d-given law and truth. In contrast to the darkness of Yavan, Torah is called Or – light.
The darkness of Yavan is alive and well today. Yavan lives on in the hallways of academia in our “top” universities. Institutions that were once held on a pedestal as beacons of light and ethics, have been revealed as cesspools of darkness, lies, warped values and antisemitic vitriol. Their deans cannot condemn calls for Jihad as genocidal and their students, supposedly the brightest minds, glorify terrorists.
And Yavan lives on in the International Criminal Court that was formed to uphold peace and justice, to prosecute crimes of genocide and war crimes. Yet this highest secular court in the world draws equivalence between the Prime Minister and Defense Minister of Israel to the terrorist leaders of Hamas. They do not see a difference between a terrorist entity that deliberately targeted civilians and the IDF who are fighting an existential war and have gone beyond what any army in history has done to minimise civilian casualties.
Yavan lives on in the halls of the United Nations, an institution revered as the champion of morality. This illustrious institution is not bothered by real atrocities being committed around the world and instead focuses on Israel as the source of all evil in the world.
In 1984, when Bibi Netanyahu served as the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, the Lubavitcher Rebbe told him “you are going to a house of lies and darkness. Remember, in a hall of darkness, if you light one small candle, its light will be seen from afar. Your mission is to light a candle for truth and for the Jewish people”. He quoted this story in the General Assembly in his speech as Prime Minister in 2011.
Like the Chashmonaim, we have to stand steadfast against the ideology of Lavan. With courage, conviction and Jewish pride, we must expose the darkness for what it is. We must take the pure oil, sealed with the seal of the Kohen Gadol that represents the incorruptible truth, holiness and Divine morality of the Torah that is sealed with Emes, the seal of Hashem. And with this oil, we light a small candle of true light.
We light our light outdoors to illuminate the dark streets of the world that perpetuate the darkness of Yavan. This small light in a place of darkness will eventually be seen by good and honest people who choose to see the truth. Like the Chanukah lights, a single small flame of truth will grow and spread, until all of the lies are exposed and the darkness is vanquished.
When this light fills the world, the spirit of G-d will hover over the water, alluding to the spirit of Moshiach and our triumph over exile. The entire world will return to the epicentre, where the oneness of Hashem will be revealed and recognised by all of the nations of the world.
