Chanukah Miscellany

(1) O Fortress, Rock of my salvation, unto thee it is becoming to give praise:

(2) let my house of prayer be restored, and I will there offer thee thanksgivings

(3) when thou shalt have prepared a slaughter of the blaspheming foe,

(4) I will complete with song and psalm the dedication of the altar.

(6) Full sated was my soul with ills, my strength was spent with sorrow;

(7) they embittered my life by hardship during my subjection to the dominion of Egypt,^*The kingdom of the heifer," see Jeremiah 46:20.

(8) but God with his great power brought forth the chosen race,

(9) while the host of Pharaoh and all his seed sank like a stone into the deep.

(11) To his holy oracle he brought me, yet there also I found no peace,

(12) for the oppressor came and led me captive, because I had served strange gods:

(13) I had to quaff the wine of bewilderment; well nigh had I perished,

(14) when Babylon's end drew near; through Zerubbabel I was saved after seventy years.

(16) The Agagite (Haman), the son of Hammedatha, sought to cut down the lofty fir tree (Mordecai)^*See Talmud Babli, Tr. Megillah, 10b.;

(17) but his design became a snare to himself, and his pride was brought to an end.

(18) The head of the Benjamite thou didst exalt, but the enemy's name thou Midst blot out:

(19) the many sons he had gotten thou didst hang upon the gallows.

(21) The Grecians were gathered against me in the days of the Hasmoneans;

(22) they broke down the walls of my towers, and defiled all the oils;

(23) but from one of the last remaining flasks a miracle was wrought for thy beloved^*Likened to a lily in Song of Solomon 2:2.,

(24) and their men of understanding appointed these eight days for song and praises.

25] Make bare Thy holy arm, and bring near the final salvation:
26] Take vengeance for Thy servants from the wicked nation,
27] For the time has been prolonged, and there is no end to the evil days.
28] Thrust away Admon in the shadow of Tzalmon. Raise up seven shepherds.

All creation is like a rotating wheel, revolving and oscillating. At one time, something can be on top-a head-with another on the bottom-a foot. Then the situation is reversed. Head becomes foot, and foot becomes head. A man changes to an angel, and an angel becomes a man. Our Sages teach us that angels were cast down from Heaven, entered into physical bodies, and were subject to all worldly lusts. Other angels were sent on missions to our world and clothed themselves in physical bodies. We also find cases where human beings literally became angels. For the world is like a rotating wheel. It spins like a dreidel, with all things emanating from one root. We find the foot of one is also higher than the head of another. In the spiritual worlds, the lowest level of an upper world is higher than the highest level of a lower one. Still, everything revolves in cycles. This is why we play with a dreidel on Chanukah. Chanukah is an aspect of the Holy Temple. The primary concept of the Temple is the revolving wheel. The Temple represented "the superior below and the inferior above” (Pesachim 50a; Bava Batra 10b). God lowered His Presence into the Temple-this corresponds to “the superior below”. The form of the Temple was engraved on high-this corresponds to “the inferior above.” The Temple is therefore like a dreidel, a rotating wheel, where everything revolves and is transformed.

The many meals which we add on [these days] are voluntary meals, since [the Sages] did not establish them as [days of] feasting and joy. Rem"a: But some say that there is somewhat of a mitzvah in adding meals, because during those days was the Dedication of the Altar (Abraham Kara of Prague). It is the custom to recite hymns and songs of praise during the feasts added on them, and then they are mitzvah meals (Book of Customs). Some say that cheese should be eaten during Hanukkah, because a miracle was done though milk which Yehudit fed the enemy. (Kol Bo and Nissim of Gerona).

Women are obligated to light Hanukkah candles, for they too were included in the miracle. This means that the enemies came to destroy everyone, men, women, and children, and there are those who say that the great miracle occurred through a woman. Her name was Judith, as the story goes, and she was the daughter of Yochanan, the high priest. She was extremely beautiful, and the Greek king wanted her to lay with him. She fed him a dish of cheese to make him thirsty, so that he would drink a great deal and became drunk, and recline and fall asleep. And it happened just that way, and once he was asleep, she took his sword and cut off his head. She brought his head to Jerusalem, and when the armies saw that their leader had been killed, they fled. For this reason, we have the custom of eating a cheese dish on Hanukkah.