Today, we answer the question on everyone’s mind – can I perform a Rabbinic (not biblical) commandment in the nude? Before reading on and finding the answer, please write your own answer on a piece of paper so you can record your guess.
We ended yesterday with the realization that the primary commandment for Chanukah is to light the Menorah, not to publicize the miracle by placing the Menorah where it is visible to the public. Today, we learn why we reached that conclusion. First, we have to relight the Menorah every night, even if there was enough oil so that it could keep burning for days. Second, the first blessing we say when we light the Menorah thanks God for commanding us to light the Menorah, not publicize the miracle.
We also learn that our wives or other women can fulfill the commandment for us. This ruling surprised me. Generally, Talmudic Judaism excuses women from positive commandments (you must do something vs. prohibitions) that are required to be performed at a certain time. (I have never been clear if Talmudic Judaism allows women to perform these acts, but does not require it or if Talmudic Judaism prohibits women from performing these acts.) Lighting the Menorah at a specific time for Chanukah would be the type of obligation from which women were typically excused. However, in the case of lighting the Menorah, women are allowed to fulfill the commandment.
The commentators note that Jewish brides were forced to submit to their Greek overlords on their wedding night. The miracle freed women as much as men. Additionally, we learn of Judith in the story of Chanukah. Judith was a woman of action. She went to the camp of the Selucid general Holofernes and promises to provide information on the Jews. She gains Holofernes trust and one night feeds him lots of salty cheese. Holofernes drinks inordinate amounts of wine because of the salty meal. When he falls into a stupor, Judith cuts his head off. The Selucids, having lost their leader withdraw. To honor Judith, we allow women to light the Chanukah candles and a woman can fulfill the commandment for an absent husband.
As I mentioned earlier, the first blessing we say over the Chanukah candles thanks God for giving us the commandment to light the Chanukah candles. The Rabbis want a biblical source for this commandment, because actually the Rabbis commanded us to light the Chanukah candles. The Rabbis look to two verses: Deuteronomy 17:11(“You shall act in accordance with the instructions given you and the ruling handed down to you; you must not deviate from the verdict that they announce to you either to the right or to the left.”) and Deuteronomy 32:7 (” Remember the days of old, Consider the years of ages past; Ask your father, he will inform you, Your elders, they will tell you.”).
The Rabbis are troubled by the implications that their decrees have the same status as commandments of God. They begin to look for counter-factuals and the first one they find concerns produce from Israel from an unlearned person. We cannot trust that the unlearned person knew to make the proper tithes from the produce, so we must make it again as a Rabbinic decree. However, for some reason, we also learn that we can separate the tithes of this produce while we are naked. If we can do it naked, then we must not bless it because that would be very disrespectful. We learn that this case is unique. Most Jews knew the requirement of tithing. We are not really that concerned that they did not actually do it. Therefore, this case is a Rabbinic stringency and does not require a blessing. Other Rabbinic commandments require a blessing. I am not sure where this leaves us with the notion that Rabbinic commandments have the same status as Biblical commandments. The theological implications that the combined wisdom of sages is the same as God are staggering!
We learn that if we have two doors to our house that open onto different streets, we need to place a Menorah by each door. We do this to allay suspicions of the public that only pass one door that we may not be properly performing the commandment. The concern with the suspicions of the public leads us to consider the laws of the corner of our fields. In Leviticus 19:9-10 we learn “When you reap the harvest of your land, your shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not pick your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I the Lord am your God.” We leave the edges rather than some portion we chose so people will not suspect that we did not fulfill the commandment.
We then turn to the priorities of the poor. What should a poor person do if they cannot afford both Shabbat candles and Chanukah candles? What if the poor person cannot afford both Shabbat candles and Shabbat wine? In both cases the unfortunate poor person should prefer Shabbat candles. The poor person should prefer Chanukah candles over Shabbat wine. We learn that these were commercial societies with money economies. The Rabbis are not talking about Little House on the Prairie, where if you wanted something you made it.
We end by taking a break from our discussion of Chanukah. We will return to Chanukah tomorrow. We started Chapter 2 with a Mishnah describing the substances that we could make wicks for Shabbat lights and the substances we could use as fuel for those lights. One of the forbidden fuels was “oil that must be burned”. We conclude today by learning that we are referring to Terumah oil (i.e., it was set aside as a tithe) that has become ritually impure.