Page Six

THE JEWISH NEWS

Friday, December 24, 1943

Quips and Quirks

for

Hanukah

MI/

By SIDNEY B. HOENIG

INTRODUCTION:

Jews always have had a 'gift for
escaping the mental torture of per-
secution through imaginative and
speculative sorties into the lore and
history of the past, seeking even in
Holy Writ for hidden symbols. If
Israel was the chosen of nations,
possessed of a divine mandate, then
somehow the shadow of coming events
must be lurking in every page, nay in
every letter, of sacred writing.

Thus the medieval Jews amused
themselves with anagram and word
play and mystical interpretation of
numbers and of letters; and with
riddles and conundrums — all with
that pinch of levity that made them
true for the moment, but yet, as in
any old man's tale, never to be ac-
cepted as "really true."

A Riddle with
A Fourfold
Answer

THE MAN-OF-OLD asked
the Child-of-Today:
"Why did the first Hanukah fall on
the twenty-fifth day of the month
Kislev?"
The Child-of-Today made reply:
"Because Judah the Maccabee drove
Antiochus from Jerusalem and rededi-
cated the Temple, and the oil intended
for one day burned for eight."
The Man-of-Old smiled and said:
"But why did all this happen on
that particular day? You know, his-
tory has a way of repeating itself. Per-
haps the victory and the dedication
fell on the anniversary of a past event.
Let us see."
Whereupon man and child traveled
back until they found themselves at
the beginning of time in the Garden
of Eden. And lo and behold, they
came upon an answer to part of the
riddle! And the man set it down to be
told again and again on Hanukah to
the little ones of Israel as The Legend

of the Winter Solstice:

I

The Garden of Eden was flooded
with sunshine. The trees grew and
flourished. The birds sang. The flow-
ers budded and bloomed, and the
heart of Man was glad. At length there
came a day when Adam paid heed to
the whispers of Eve. He ate of the for-
hidden fruit. And Man and Woman
were driven from the Garden to eat
bread in the sweat of their brow.

During the day the sun warmed the
earth. When the coolness of evening
came and the clay's task was ended,
Adam and Eve sat quietly in the shade
to eat of the bread of their toil.

Suddenly Adam noticed that the sun
set earlier. Darkness followed quickly.
Nights became longer, days shorter.

Was this some new punishment?
Alarmed, the Man and Woman fasted
and prayed. A week passed—the sun
withdrew yet earlier. Adam and Eve
became terrified. Was darkness to
creep farther and farther upon earth
and devour all living?

Lo, a miracle! On the morrow the
sun tarried longer, and on the morrow,
and on the morrow after. Days grew
steadily longer, nights shorter.

Then Adam laughed aloud at his
fears. - And he and Eve feasted and
made merry. They kindled fires of
thanksgiving. For they knew that all
was as it had been, and would ever be
—that the lights in the heaven were
fixed in their courses for signs, and for
seasons, for days and for years, and
that while the earth remained, seed
time and harvest, cold and heat, sum-
mer and winter, and day and night
would not cease.

Now the day that Adam celebrated
by kindling fires of thanksgiving fell
in mid-winter when the sun, they tell
us, reaches a point farthest from the
middle of the earth and appears to
pause and then returns on its course.

And this day is the twenty-fifth of
the month Kislev. It is the Winter
Solstice.

the Feast of Antiochus into the glad-
ness of the Feast of Lights."

II
"This is only the first portion of our
answer," said the Man-of-Old.. "Let us
move forward through the years." So
they fared forth and joined their peo-
ple in the wilderness on the trek from
Egyptian darkness into the light of
freedom.

The Child-of-Today asks, "Is there
any new portion for our own time?
Has the twenty-fifth of Kislev ever
given occasion for a new dedication?"

And they beheld the children - of
Israel assembled, awed and expectant.
For all the work of the tabernacle was
finished. And Bezalel and the wise-
hearted men who had wrought with
him brought the tabernacle unto
Moses, and all its furniture; the ark of
the testimony, and the ark cover; the
table, all the vessels thereof, and the
showbread; the pure candlestick, the
lamps thereof, even the lamps to be
set in order, and all the vessels there-
of, and the oil for the light—

And it was the twenty-fifth day of
the month Kislev.

III
So, with two portions of the answer
to their riddle, the questing
pair traveled farther, for-
ward through the years to a
second redemption, the ..de-
liverance from the night of
exile in Babylon. And the
people were gathered before
Nehemiah and the priests.
Upon the restored altar they
put the slime that had re-
mained in the pit. In it, sev-
enty years before, the priests
had hidden the sacred oil
from the invader, and the
earth of the pit had pre-
served this oil against what
time the altar would be re-
stored.

The Man-of-Old said, "History does
not explain everything. It was on the
twenty-fifth day of the month Kislev
in our time—we call it the tenth of
December of the year 1918 — that a
British general, by the name of Al-
lenby, led the victorious forces of the
Allied armies into the city of Jerusa-
lem and delivered it."

MYSTIC LETTERS
The Man-of-Old asked the Child-of-
Today:
"Why was Judah called Maccabee?"
"Because," said the Child-of-Today,
"Judah used as his battle cry:

,tz Who is

M i

;Iv= Like

K amoka

B aelim

I hvh (Adonai)

,

Thee
tr,51tz , Among
their god
/, 0 Lord!

IV

"Now," said the Man-of-Old, "let us
seek in the time of the Maccabees for
the final portion of our answer. Is it
not possible that there was some event
on the twenty-fifth day of Kislev from
which Judah and his soldiers drew the
renewed courage that brought the
small band to victory, and the Temple
to its former state?"

And so they took up their quest, and
found the people of Judiea in great
distress. For the Syrian tyrant had de-
clai ed a special feast, and had com-
manded that all the inhabitants of the
land worship on the altars which he
had set up in the holy places. The
faithful among the Jews were tortured
because they would not forsake the
faith of their fathers.

And the king commanded that this
day be called the Feast of Antiochus.,

And it was the twenty-fifth day of
the month Kislev.

And so it was that when the Child-
of-Today had the four portions of the
answer to his question, he found that
the enigma was solved.

"You see," said the Man - of - Old,
"History does not explain everything.
The day when the sun gave promise
of renewed life to the sleeping earth,
the Tabernacle was dedicated by
Moses; and that also was a Hanukah—
a day of dedication. Centuries later,
on that day, a redeemed people re-
turned from Babylonia, behind a mir-
acle of sacred oil upon the restored
altar. That likewise was a Hanukah—a
day of dedication.

"It was that day which the Macca-
beans chose to rededicate_ the defiled
altar, and so to. turn the mourning of

Hann

1311

"They rested".

The Man-of-Old exclaimed, "Good!
I can think of the next—

twenty-five

Rah r;

(In Hebrew every letter has a nu-
merical value).

The child was gleeful—"They rested
from battle on the twenty-fifth (of
Kislev)."

MYSTIC NUMBERS

"Let us see," said the Man-of-Old,
"whether we can find any forecast of
Hanukah in the early stories through
the numerical value of the Hebrew
letters."

The Child-of-Today replied in glee,
"Let us go back again to the beginning
of time. Is there any reference to
Hanukah in the story of creation?"

The Man-of-Old smiled and sadi:
"In the account of creation are the
words Yehi Or, 'Let there be light!'

Y

H
y

(Yod) equals la
(He) equals 5
(Yod) equals 10

YHY (yehi) equals 25

The sum of the Hebrew
letters in Yehi, 'Let there be,'
is 25. Thus the sentenceYehi
Or means 425 light.' This we
can interpret to mean on the
25th day of the month there
is to be light."

"When you are older," said
the Man-of-Old, "and read
the Gemara, a part of the
Talmud, you will discover
that the thirty - six candles
used during the whole eight
days of Hanukah equal the
number of treatises in the
Gemara. ,

Suddenly the sun, which
was hidden behind the
clouds, burst forth in all its
majesty. Its rays beat down
Upon the altar and lo, the
residue of the oil burst into
flame. Priests and people
marveled at this . wondrous
sight, and Nehemiah decreed
that henceforth a period of
prayer and feasting and re-
joicing should be held
throughout all the genera-
tions of Israel on the anni-
versary of the days on which
the altar and the rebuilt
temple had been dedicated.

And this day was the
twenty - fifth day of Kislev.

it?" The Child - of - Today was sorely
puzzled. At last he said, "I can think
of one word—

"And so we have the lights
of Hanukah foreshadowed in
the Bible and hinted at by
the Talmud."

The Shamthash-Candle

"Is there any hidden sign
about the Shammash-Candle,
the one that lights the oth-
ers?" asked the Child-of-To-
day.

TYPICAL HANUKAH HOME CEREMONY

The first letters of the Hebrew
words spell mkbi or Maccabee."

"I know another answer," said the
Man-of-Old. "Let us take the final
consonants of the words-

Abraha M CrriZti
Isaa
K
Jaco
B Zipv4

priv

Thus the names of the three patriarchs
yield the main consonants of the He-
brew word Makkeb meaning Hammer,
as some say Judah was called.

a

The Child-of-Today countered with
question to the Man-of-Old:

"Can you make an anagram from
the name of Judah's family the Has-
moneans?"

"I think I can," said the Man-of-
Old.

H Hodesh—the New Moon,
to signify the Jewish Cal-
endar.

nztv s

Sabbath—the day of hal-
lowed rest.

M Mo'adim—Festivals.

N Nebuah—Prophecy.

A

tptt,ri 11r1 4 Y

Abot—The Tradition of
the Patriarchs.

Yihud—Monotheism.

These are the principles for which
the Maccabees fought."

"I think I can find you
one," said the Man-of-Old,
"take a pencil and figure it
out. When Jacob met Esau, the Bible
tells us 'The sun shone for him'
Va-yizrah 1 0
(rztntvn 15 ri-M1)
hashemesh (Gen. 32.32). The Hebrew
Lo (for him) consists of the letters

Lamed

Vav

equals 30

1 equals 6

The sum of these is thirty-six. Now,
if instead of ha-shemesh, the sun, we
put ha-shammash, (Shemesh and
Shammash look alike in the consonan-
tal Hebrew text.) We can read it, 'The
shammash shone for thirty-six com-
rades.' "

"I prefer the explanation," said the
Child, "which tells us that since we
are forbidden to use any of the candles
for any other purpose than to have
them shed light for our feast, we must
take an extra one to kindle them and
to protect them."

Hanukah Games

Games have been a characteristic
feature of Hanukah. Even games of
chance, usually frowned upon, were
permitted, provided, of course, that
they did not degenerate into gambling.
Chess, dominoes and riddles (ketowes)
which depended upon numerical
values of words were encouraged.

The most popular children's game,
however, was with the Top (Drehdel-
Trendle, Galgelon.) A square top is
used. On each side is inscribed one of
the four Hebrew letters:

Nun, Gimel, He, Shin.

"Have you any way of playing with
the word
rvri Hanukah?" asked

the Man-of-Old. "Do you think you
could make two Hebrew words out of

These are regarded as the initial let-
ters of the sentence Nes Gadol Hayah
Sham. It means:
(Continued on Page 7)_