Seeing Beyond the Physical with the Chanukah Lights

Here is a guest post from Rivky, one of my young seminary students whom I have the honor to teach every Wednesday in Netanya.

Happy Chanukah! And may we be blessed to create a society where all 18 year olds are as deeply and profoundly spiritual to be able to share words of wisdom like these..

There are two levels of human vision (R. Leibel Eiger, Lev Hashamayim). The first is when one’s eyes are open they can see whatever is physically in front of them. The second level of sight is a spiritual vision which can only be seen when one’s eyes are closed. This level of vision is beyond the physical realm, it is a yearning. Whereas one would think that only the heart yearns, we say in our Shabbat prayers, “בכל עין לך תצפה” (with every eye we will gaze expectantly toward You).

Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach explains that generally to see something in front of you, your eyes must be open. But to look forward to something, to anticipate or to foresee they have to be closed. That way, what we “see” transcends the limitations that our physical eyes. We are able to see whatever our mind and soul permit. Just as Albert Einstein says, “knowledge is limited, but imagination encircles the world.”

There is one holiday on the Hebrew calendar where God shows us all the things that we have been yearning. This happens through the medium of the burning light. Whereas the sun and moon are a functional source of light to show us what is already in existence, the flames of the menorah are constantly pointing upward. “נר ה נשמת אדם” -The flame of G-d is the soul of man. Reflecting on the flames of Chanukah allows us to look deeper into ourselves and see what our soul is really yearning for and where it wants to be.

One of the poignant parts of Chanukah for me is the focus on the spiritual essence and strength of a Jew as opposed to the physical might of the Maccabees. Interestingly, Rav Moshe Weinberger explains that Chanukah is the Holiday of our Matriarch Leah.

On the surface, this doesn’t seem fitting. When Leah is spoken of in the Torah she is described as the unloved wife of Jacob. She was originally destined to marry Esav and we are told her eyes were רכות (soft) from crying so much over the thought of having to marry Jacob’s evil brother. On the other hand, Rachel is described as the exact opposite – when she walked into a room, her beauty was the first striking thing about her.

From this we can learn a very important lesson: When we cry, our eyes our closed. Leah’s eyes were closed when she was crying because she was using her second level of sight to envision a better future for herself. She dreamed of marrying a Torah scholar and being able to completely change around the seemingly awful life that her father Lavan had initially set out for her.

Using our basic level of sight, Leah’s beauty may have been nothing compared to her sister Rachel. However, Leah’s true beauty lay within the flames of her soul- behind closed eyes.

And this is what the flames of Chanukah are meant to evoke in us – the ability to look more deeply, and beyond the surface level… to look deeper into ourselves and into our souls to discover our true spiritual yearning.