Menachem Mendel » Hanukkah http://menachemmendel.net/blog Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:59:12 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Interview with Israel Knohl on Miracles in the Bible http://menachemmendel.net/blog/2011/12/27/interview-with-israel-knohl-on-miracles-in-the-bible/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=interview-with-israel-knohl-on-miracles-in-the-bible http://menachemmendel.net/blog/2011/12/27/interview-with-israel-knohl-on-miracles-in-the-bible/#comments Tue, 27 Dec 2011 17:37:49 +0000 Menachem Mendel http://menachemmendel.net/blog/?p=5111

Prof. Israel Knohl was interviewed by Dov Elbaum on his program Sod ha-Luaḥ ha-Ivri. The entire program can be found here. The interview is in Hebrew, but here is a summary of Knohl’s ideas.

Knohl tries to minimize the importance of miracles in Judaism and the Bible, intentionally using the post-Biblical phrase “עולם כמנהגו נוהג”, the world pursues its own course. He contrasts two different covenants in the Bible, the revelation at Mt. Sinai that was filled with miracles, and the one found in Joshua 24, one that was not accentuated by miracles.

Knohl calls for a minimizing of the role that the miracle of the oil should play in our understanding of Hanukkah, and calls for a greater bond with the real life actions of the Maccabees, identifying with their “of this world” lives. He sees a danger in the overuse of miracles in Jewish belief and the attribution of this or that action to God. See this recent post by Jeffrey Woolf on the need to rethink what was the most important miracle of Hanukkah.

Anyone familiar with the philosophies of David Hartman and Yeshayahu Leibowitz can see their influence on Knohl. I remember once hearing David Hartman saying that maybe the most important thing that the rabbis of the Talmud did was to move our relationship with God beyond the “God loves me, God loves me not” attitude found in some parts of the Bible. I emphasize some, because Knohl also spoke about the multi-vocality of the Biblical canon.

Knohl relates the following story about Yeshayahu Leibowitz. After the Yom Kippur War, a soldier can to him and said that it was a miracle that he was alive. God saved him from the burning tank while all of his fellow soldiers died. Leibowitz responded and said that he should also thank God that the other soldiers are dead. If it’s a miracle that you’re alive, it’s a miracle that they’re dead.

Knohl doesn’t deny that this approach to Judaism has deep roots in the Bible and post-Biblical Judaism, it’s just that he can’t belief such things.

]]> http://menachemmendel.net/blog/2011/12/27/interview-with-israel-knohl-on-miracles-in-the-bible/feed/ 0 The Ben-Yehudah Family and Hanukkah http://menachemmendel.net/blog/2011/12/22/the-ben-yehudah-family-and-hanukkah/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-ben-yehudah-family-and-hanukkah http://menachemmendel.net/blog/2011/12/22/the-ben-yehudah-family-and-hanukkah/#comments Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:12:06 +0000 Menachem Mendel http://menachemmendel.net/blog/?p=5077 Today is Eliezer Ben-Yehudah’s yarzheit. Ben-Yehudah died on 26 Kislev 5683/December 16, 1922. Not only did Ben-Yehudah die during Ḥanukkah, but his wife Hemda Ben-Yehudah invented the word חנוכייה. Here is a previous post that I wrote on the origins of the word חנוכייה.

]]> http://menachemmendel.net/blog/2011/12/22/the-ben-yehudah-family-and-hanukkah/feed/ 0 Hanukkah Liturgy http://menachemmendel.net/blog/2011/12/22/hanukkah-liturgy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hanukkah-liturgy http://menachemmendel.net/blog/2011/12/22/hanukkah-liturgy/#comments Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:00:45 +0000 Menachem Mendel http://menachemmendel.net/blog/?p=5074 There are two interesting posts about Hanukkah-related liturgical issues. The first is by Ophir Münz-Manor of the Talmud Blog and is on Hanukkah and Piyyut. The second is in the Musaf Shabbat of Makor Rishon and is by Akiba Zimmerman. Zimmerman writes (Hebrew) about the irony that Hanukkah, the holiday that celebrates the battle against assimilation, actually has so much non-Jewish influence on its musical traditions. The best example is Maoz Tzur. See here for a discussion in English about the origins of its well-known tune.

]]> http://menachemmendel.net/blog/2011/12/22/hanukkah-liturgy/feed/ 0 The Maccabeats in the Cyber-Responsa Literature http://menachemmendel.net/blog/2010/12/10/the-maccabeats-in-the-cyber-responsa-literature/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-maccabeats-in-the-cyber-responsa-literature http://menachemmendel.net/blog/2010/12/10/the-maccabeats-in-the-cyber-responsa-literature/#comments Fri, 10 Dec 2010 13:29:02 +0000 Menachem Mendel http://menachemmendel.net/blog/?p=3650 The phenomenon of responsa on the Internet is a fascinating area of study, and it is not surprising that the first mention of the Maccabeats in the responsa literature was in a cyber-responsa. The following is from Kipa.

תוכן השאלה
שלום הרב!
סרטון שרץ ברשת (וזכה למלא צפיות):

זאת חבורה של אמריקאים עם כיפות ששרים על חנוכה. אני מתלהבת מזה אבל מרגישה שזה הפוך מחנוכה! מיתיונים? אולי. מה שהכי צורם זה שהם אומרים נס גדול היה שם..

השאלה שלי היא אם הם מתיונים באמת. ואם זה טוב לי לראות את זה.

ועוד סרטון להמחשה:

שרי

תוכן התשובה
שלום

יש לנו הלכה בעולם, והיא המגדירה מה ראוי ומה לא, ולא התחושות שלנו.
השירים הללו בעלי משמעות חיובית, צנועים, ואין סיבה לא לראות אותם, לא הלכתית ולא רעיונית.
זה נכון שבימינו כל יהודי צריך להשתדל לגור בארץ ישראל ולעזור במאבק על אחיזתנו בה, וזה נכון שראוי מאד לדבר עברית ככל הניתן ולא שפה אחרת.
אך המציאות היא שיש יהודים יקרים רבים הגרים באמריקה, ולחלקם יש תרבות יהודית בריאה, אהבת תורה ויראת השם, ואם הם שרים על חנוכה, אין סיבה להמנע מלראות את זה, ואדרבה יש בזה חן וחיוך. כפי שעל יהודי הגולה להשתפר בקישור לארץ ד´, גם עלינו להשתפר בדברים אחרים.

יחד עם זה, אם את חשה שצפיה בזה גוררת אותך לתרבות של חו”ל במקום התרבות הישראלית והיהודית, אזי לא כדאי לצפות בזה.

יש להתחזק בשמירת הלשון, ולא לכנות יהודים יראי ד´ בשם ´מתיוונים´.

כל טוב

התשובה התקבלה מהרב ברוך אפרתי
בתאריך ב טבת תשע”א

Translation:

Question:

Greetings to the Rabbi! There is a clip that has gone viral on the Internet and has gotten many views: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSJCSR4MuhU&feature=fvw

This is a group of Americans with kippot that sing about Ḥanukkah. I am like it a lot, but feel that this is the opposite of Ḥanukkah! Hellenizers? Maybe. What bothers me most is that they say “a great miracle was there.”

My question is “Are they really Hellenizers? Is this good to watch it?”

Here is another video for example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJuzgKVUVDc.

Shari

Answer:

Shalom.

We have the halakhah and it defines what is proper and what isn’t, and not our feelings. These songs have a positive meaning, are modest, and there is no reason not to see them, not halakhically and not ideologically. It is true that in our days every Jews needs to try to live in the Land of Israel and to help in the struggle over our possession of it, and it is true that it is very desirable to speak Hebrew as much as possible and not another language. But the reality is that there are many precious Jews who live in America, and some of them have a healthy Jewish culture, love Torah and fear God, and if they sing about Ḥanukkah, there is no reason to refrain from seeing it. On the contrary, it is cute and fun. Just as every Jew who lives in the diaspora must improve their connection to God, we must also improve ourselves in other areas.

In addition to this, if you feel that viewing this causes you to become closer to the culture outside of Israel instead of Israeli and Jewish culture, then it isn’t worthwhile to view this.

One should be careful about the way that they speak, and not call God-fearing Jews “Hellenizers.”

All the best.

This responsum was received from Rabbi Baruch Efrati
on 2 Tevet 5771

]]> http://menachemmendel.net/blog/2010/12/10/the-maccabeats-in-the-cyber-responsa-literature/feed/ 0 Moshe Benovitz on the History of Hanukkah http://menachemmendel.net/blog/2010/12/01/moshe-benovitz-on-the-history-of-hanukkah/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=moshe-benovitz-on-the-history-of-hanukkah http://menachemmendel.net/blog/2010/12/01/moshe-benovitz-on-the-history-of-hanukkah/#comments Wed, 01 Dec 2010 19:55:22 +0000 Menachem Mendel http://menachemmendel.net/blog/?p=3594 See here for a nice discussion by Moshe Benovitz on the origin and history of Hanukkah. Happy Hannukah to all.

]]> http://menachemmendel.net/blog/2010/12/01/moshe-benovitz-on-the-history-of-hanukkah/feed/ 2 The Origins of the Word Hanukkiyah http://menachemmendel.net/blog/2009/12/17/the-origins-of-the-word-hanukkiyah/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-origins-of-the-word-hanukkiyah http://menachemmendel.net/blog/2009/12/17/the-origins-of-the-word-hanukkiyah/#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:00:43 +0000 Menachem Mendel http://menachemmendel.net/blog/?p=2101 If one were to conduct any type of search for the word חנוכייה, Hanukkiyah, in Hebrew literature before the 20th century they would most likely come up empty. The word simply does not exist in Biblical, Talmudic, nor Medieval Hebrew literature. In the Temple there was the מנורה, and when describing what one lights during Hanukkah the words usually used are נר/ות חנוכה, מנורת חנוכה. The word חנוכייה was “invented” by Hemda Ben-Yehudah, Eliezer Ben-Yehudah’s wife, and first appeared in the Hebrew newspaper Ha-Tzvi in 1897. The story doesn’t end there. Apparently the word חנוכייה actually comes from Ladino and was used by Portuegese Jews, with one theory hypothesizing that Hemda Ben-Yehudah may have heard it from Ladino-speaking Jews.

The word חנוכייה is similar in construction to the word for tomato, עגבנייה, which was invented by R. Yehiel Michal Pines in 1886. Eliezer Ben-Yehudah opposed Pines’s word, and preferred בנדורה which was based upon the Arabic word for tomato.

Sources: Two interviews on Israel Radio during the past few days. One with Shalom Sabar and the other with someone else whose name escapes me.

]]> http://menachemmendel.net/blog/2009/12/17/the-origins-of-the-word-hanukkiyah/feed/ 7 Elisha and Hanukkah http://menachemmendel.net/blog/2009/12/11/elisha-and-hanukkah/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=elisha-and-hanukkah http://menachemmendel.net/blog/2009/12/11/elisha-and-hanukkah/#comments Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:22:45 +0000 Menachem Mendel http://menachemmendel.net/blog/?p=2083 Martin Cohen explains here how the story of the Hanukkah “miracle oil” may be a midrash on the story of Elisha and the flask of oil in 2 Kings 9.

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