I've always had problems with remembering names. Even names of some of my closest friends. In fact, I have a photo of my wife next to my bed with her name on it, so every morning I can remind myself what her first name is. She was getting tired me referring to her as "Mrs. Winner." Let me give you all a piece of marital advice. Don't go around calling your wife "Mrs. Winner." All the more so if her last name isn't "Winner."
Anyhow…
I have three daughters. For whatever reason, lately, I've been confusing my middle one a lot, calling the younger (and more annoying) daughter, my middle daughter's name. It's been getting really bad. Like, old age is setting in or something.
At one point, I sat down with her and said, "Listen, you're the middle daughter. That means we don't love you as much as the other two. The older is more mature and helps out a lot more, and the younger one is cute (when she wants to be) and you? Well, you just get lost in everything, and that's why I'm getting all confused.
It'll be fun to see what their future therapists will say about me.
(And yes, I really did say that to her.)
However, two days later, she walks in and says, "Don't worry, it's not just you. My teacher called two other girls today, by my name!"
Poor kid. Nobody loves her.
For those who took my advice last week and listened to the podcast, you can skip reading this. I have nothing new to add. For those who didn't, shame on you! As a reward, I will attempt to pass on to you an interesting lesson that was given over in the podcast.
As Chanukkah is about to begin, it would behoove us to understand exactly what Greece was about. Of the four exiles that we have gone through, the Greek exile as referred as "Darkness." This is a bit shocking, considering all the knowledge and wisdom that came through Greece and has lasted until today. Darkness wouldn't exactly be the phrase I would choose to describe the Greek exile. The Roman one, I certainly understand, but Greece? Let's give them some credit, no?
Rav Aubrey Hersh brought an interesting insight into this. Darkness works in two ways. When a room is dark, the darker it is, the more powerful is a single flame. It stands out more, it's details are more vivid, it lights up the room more. That's when darkness is in the background, if you will. But, when darkness overcomes everything, when it's no longer in the background, but rather is a mass in and of itself, it suffocates everything that gets in its way. It destroys all light.
Originally, Greece got along with Israel. They sought knowledge, we had knowledge. Things worked hand in hand. There was no confrontation, just different goals with similar routes. However, after a while, Greece started demanding that it's "our way or no way." Anything that goes against our belief, must be snuffed out.
And where did they hit us the most? Shabbos, bris milah, and, as discussed last week, Rosh Chodesh, the Jewish calendar.
Why in the world would Greece care about these three things? If we had some public worship that offended them, okay, we can understand that, but these are private matters that have no affect on the Greek way of life. If they wouldn't be looking for them, they wouldn't even notice them.
Fast forward a few centuries. Our friends, The Church. For centuries, they did anything and everything they could to convert us. To them, the ultimate was to convert a Jew. Not to kill him, but to convert him. And those who did convert? There were plenty of Church spies that went around to make sure they were acting as good Christians and not doing any mitzvos privately in their own home.
Why does the Church care about what Jews do? All the more so, their own converts? As Rav Hersh pointed out, they believe the bad Christians go to hell. If so, so what if somebody is secretly reverting to Judaism? G-d knows about it and will surely send them to hell. Why do you care more about the Jewish convert than the naturally-born Christian?
Let's move forward a couple more centuries--our friends, the Universities and the social elite. They have done everything they can to snuff out anything that goes against their belief system. You're Jewish and believe in the Jewish State? Clearly you support genocide! You believe a boy is a boy and a girl is a girl? Clearly you are full of hate. You believe that everybody should be treated as equals without respect to skin color? You're racist! And we're not talking about simple name calling. We're talking about people losing their jobs or friends or family over such things.
The Torah, in this world is light. As mentioned last week, it IS reality. When Hashem says "this is good," that means it's good. When Hashem says "this is evil," that means it's evil. THAT is reality.
When other forms of wisdoms come into this world, like science, medicine, and technology, they are not light, per se, because they can be used for good or evil, but they can still be used in conjunction with the Torah and with them, the light of Torah can spread more.
Yet, there is this other aspect of darkness. It's not about science, medicine, technology, or the truth. It's the opposite, it's pure falseness. It doesn't work together to advance anything, it works to snuff out all aspects of truth.
And it's desire to do so is so strong that it must seek it out even in the private lives of everyday people. That is why the Greeks went after three things that are personal and had no affect on them. That is why the Church has always gone to convert and spy on their converts. That is why in today's world, if you don't believe and say the right things, your life will be ruined.
Because this form of darkness hates truth and will do everything to destroy it
When we light the menorah on Chanukkah, we're not lighting against science, medicine, and technology, things that the Greeks helped build, we're lighting against the dense darkness of falseness that is attempting to snuff out the light of truth.
I wish you all a meaningful Chanukkah!