23 Nov CHANUKAH: WHERE TO PLACE THE MENORAH

The gemara
(Shabbos 21b)
tells us that the
proper place to
put the Chanukah lights is in
front of one’s
home, so that
all the passers-by will notice the
lights, and thereby the greatest possible pirsumei nisa will be achieved.
However, if it is a sha’as hasakanah,
it is sufficient to leave the menorah
inside one’s home. At one point the
gemara (ibid 22b, see also Chidushei
Sefas Emmes) clearly assumes that
if the menorah is placed inside the
home the mitzvah is not fulfilled at
all because an essential factor in the
mitzvah of ner Chanukah is the pirsumei nisa, and a private pirsum, serving only for the bnai habayis, is not
sufficient. At that point the gemara
clearly feels that the idea of placing
the menorah on one’s table b’sha’as
hasakanah is merely to have a zecher
l’mitzvas ner Chanukah, without
even partially fulfilling the mitzvah.
The Sefas Emes points out that once
the gemara reaches the conclusion
of its discussion, this assumption is
no longer necessary, and may fall
away. One may assume that lighting
in one’s home b’sha’as hasakanah is
not merely for the purpose of having
a zecher l’mitzvas ner Chanukah, but
actually represents an incomplete kiyum hamitzvah of ner Chanukah; the
pirsumie nisa for the bnai habayis
constitutes a partial kiyum hamitzvah. This is obviously the position
bnai chutz la’aretz have accepted for
the past several centuries, since we
recite all the berachos upon our lighting inside our homes; if it were only
fulfilling a zecher l’ner Chanukah, it
would probably not warrant all the
berachos.
In his collection of drashos on the
Torah the Sefas Emes has an interesting comment regarding this change
in practice with respect to the makom hadlokas haneiros. The Chanukah lights, explains the Sefas Emes,
represent the ohr haTorah. Years ago
the inside of the Jewish homes were
saturated with Jewish values,
and the placing of the menorah
outside the home, just near the
doorpost, represented the keeping of the foreign influence
of the street from penetrating
within. Nowadays, however,
as the gemara (Avoda Zara 8a)
comments, the Jews who live
in chutz la’aretz “worship avoda zara b’tahara”, and even the
insides of their homes fall prey
to many foreign influences and
elements. Today it is necessary
to light the ohr haTorah inside
to chase out the foreign notions.
One possuk in Mishlei contrasts the effectiveness of learning
Torah with that of fulfilling mitzvos,
declaring, “ki ner mitzvah v’Torah
ohr” – the illumination gained from
doing a mitzvah is compared to the
light of a small candle, while that
gained from learning Torah is likened
to the brilliance of a torch” (see Sotah
21a). A passuk in Tehillim, however,
compares even the illumination
gained from Torah learning to
the light of a candle – “ner leragli devarecha, ve’or le’nesivasi”.
The medrash (Yalkut Shimoni to
Tehillim 119, siman 478), commenting on that passuk, explains
that when one has just started to
learn Torah, he should not feel
that he is already competent
enough to develop an entire life
philosophy – his own hashkofas
olam. Only after much learning
does the power of illumination
of Torah change from a ner to
an ohr.
The gemara (Shabbos 88b,
see also Rashi ad loc.) draws a
distinction between two groups
of people who learn Torah which
it refers to as the meiyaminim
and the masmeilim. For those
who learn Torah with amal and
yegiah, learning becomes a lifepreserving drug. For those who
learn, but without such a great
commitment, and without yegiah and amal, learning will become a source of confusion, and
a drug inducing their death.
Every person is enveloped
in the choshech of our alma
d’shikra. The possuk in borchi
nafshi states, “toshes choshech
veyehi layla”, on which the gemara (Bava Metzia 83b) comments, “zeh ha’olam hazeh shedomen lelaylah.” Our chachomim
have taught us that “a small amount
of light cancels much darkness”, but
not all of the darkness. If one learns
much Torah with great yegiah, he
can dispel all of the choshech. If one
has only begun to learn Torah, and
only reached the level of ner leragli
devarecha, then he will be in a state
of ohr vechoshech mishtamshim
b’irbuvyah[1]. We sometimes hear
of Orthodox rabbis espousing antiTorah views even though these rabbis
learned in yeshivas. The mere earning of semicha from a recognized
yeshiva does not mean that a person
is qualified to pasken a shayla. If one
has ohr vechoshech mishtamshim
b’irbuvyah in his own mind, he can
never tell whether his opinion on any
halachic matter is rooted in the ohr or
in the choshech. The Shulchan Aruch
(Rema, Yoreh Deah 242:3) quotes the
statement of the Rambam, that those
students of the Torah who paskin
shaylas even though they are “lo
higiyu l’hora’ah” are “extinguishing
the illumination of the Torah.”
This statement of the Rambam
and the Shulchan Aruch was made
so many years ago when the shaylas were usually standard, straightforward ones rooted in gemara and
poskim. It is even truer today, when
Klal Yisroel is faced with new types
of shaylas, many of which have no
clear precedent in halachic literature.
These new shaylas require poskim of
great stature, who have such a broad
understanding of halacha that they
have even refined their intuitions and
instincts to think in terms of Torah.
Let us continue to light the Chanukah
menorah inside our homes to chase
out the foreign influences that have
already crept in. May we all be zoche
to harbai min ha’ohr, to succeed in
being docech all of the choshech.