Chanukah: An Inevitable Philosophical Conflict
In Pachad Yitzchak Chanukah (4:6), Rav Hutner zt"l places special emphasis on the intellectual conflict between Greece and Israel as the essence of the Chanukah saga.
He explains that The Maharal teaches that the essence of the Greek opposition to Israel was intellectual (see Ner Mitzvah of the Maharal). There was an intense commitment by the Greeks to intellectual inquiry and an effort to understand the natural world. However, Greek philosophy and thought was dominated by their fixation on nature where human choice plays no role. This intellectual fixation made it impossible for the Greeks to comprehend or appreciate the Jews' Torah which is totalIy rooted in the spiritual world created by G-d and sustained through human choice. This is the source of the opposition of the Greeks to the G-d of Israel and this is why the Greek/Israel conflict was inevitable.
While both Israel and the Greeks were highly intellectual, the Greeks viewed all reality through the lens of the physical world where compulsion rules. The Greeks and the Jews therefore had a totally divergent understanding of the function of the intellect as the definer of reality. To the Jew, the primary function of the intellect is to comprehend the will of the Creator as expressed through the Torah. The point of potential partnership between Israel and the Greeks might have derived from the fact that both the laws of nature and the laws of the Torah are expressions of the will of the One G-d. What did take place was enunciated by the Prophet Hoseah, "the paths Of G-d are truth and both the sinner and the tzaddik tread this path, unquestionably the sinner will stumble and fail" (4:10). The Greek pursuit of science and philosophy implanted in their consciousness an awareness of the supreme value of cause and effect. [Through their study of nature and the constellations, the Greeks saw the world mechanical and automatic. They then extended the rules of nature to all aspects of life so that Greek wisdom and intellect inexorably led to the development of a philosophy, which despite its veneer of rationalism, drove the Greeks to misunderstand and oppose Jewish enlightenment and intellectualism. Ed.]
This chasm is what caused the "darkening of the eyes of the Jewish people."
On the other hand, since the profound objection of Israel to the Greek worldview is founded in the commonality of interest in intellectual pursuits, the Jewish People considers itself obligated to acknowledge the beauty of this aspect of its enemy's culture. Indeed the Jewish People rewards this Greek attribute of intellectualism bountifully. Even though no other language can be used in writing a sanctified Torah scroll, it may be written in Greek. This is the recognition of the beautiful side of Yefes by the denizens of the tents of Shem.
This fact, that the opposition of Greece to Israel is an intellectual one, incorporates the duality of the attitude of the Jews toward Greece: on one hand we view Greece as "darkness over the face of the abyss" and on the other hand as "the beauty of Yefes".
He explains that The Maharal teaches that the essence of the Greek opposition to Israel was intellectual (see Ner Mitzvah of the Maharal). There was an intense commitment by the Greeks to intellectual inquiry and an effort to understand the natural world. However, Greek philosophy and thought was dominated by their fixation on nature where human choice plays no role. This intellectual fixation made it impossible for the Greeks to comprehend or appreciate the Jews' Torah which is totalIy rooted in the spiritual world created by G-d and sustained through human choice. This is the source of the opposition of the Greeks to the G-d of Israel and this is why the Greek/Israel conflict was inevitable.
While both Israel and the Greeks were highly intellectual, the Greeks viewed all reality through the lens of the physical world where compulsion rules. The Greeks and the Jews therefore had a totally divergent understanding of the function of the intellect as the definer of reality. To the Jew, the primary function of the intellect is to comprehend the will of the Creator as expressed through the Torah. The point of potential partnership between Israel and the Greeks might have derived from the fact that both the laws of nature and the laws of the Torah are expressions of the will of the One G-d. What did take place was enunciated by the Prophet Hoseah, "the paths Of G-d are truth and both the sinner and the tzaddik tread this path, unquestionably the sinner will stumble and fail" (4:10). The Greek pursuit of science and philosophy implanted in their consciousness an awareness of the supreme value of cause and effect. [Through their study of nature and the constellations, the Greeks saw the world mechanical and automatic. They then extended the rules of nature to all aspects of life so that Greek wisdom and intellect inexorably led to the development of a philosophy, which despite its veneer of rationalism, drove the Greeks to misunderstand and oppose Jewish enlightenment and intellectualism. Ed.]
This chasm is what caused the "darkening of the eyes of the Jewish people."
On the other hand, since the profound objection of Israel to the Greek worldview is founded in the commonality of interest in intellectual pursuits, the Jewish People considers itself obligated to acknowledge the beauty of this aspect of its enemy's culture. Indeed the Jewish People rewards this Greek attribute of intellectualism bountifully. Even though no other language can be used in writing a sanctified Torah scroll, it may be written in Greek. This is the recognition of the beautiful side of Yefes by the denizens of the tents of Shem.
This fact, that the opposition of Greece to Israel is an intellectual one, incorporates the duality of the attitude of the Jews toward Greece: on one hand we view Greece as "darkness over the face of the abyss" and on the other hand as "the beauty of Yefes".
Hidden Lights: Chanukah and the Jewish/Greek Conflict
Rabbi Pichos Stolper
Rabbi Pichos Stolper
My mother had a baby boy
He's very cute and small
But even though I loved him so,
I wasn't glad at all...
Why was this boy sad, if his mother had a baby boy?
Read about the Chanukah-era Greek decrees here.
He's very cute and small
But even though I loved him so,
I wasn't glad at all...
Why was this boy sad, if his mother had a baby boy?
Read about the Chanukah-era Greek decrees here.