These
days, when I mention Rock of Ages, someone might think I’m referring to the hit
Broadway musical or Hollywood film by the same name. But long before the entertainment industry
got its hands on a time-honored metaphor for God, Rock of Ages sat quietly on
the page of the siddur containing the Hanukkah blessings. It began the famous hymn Ma’oz Tzur
yeshu’ati—
Rock
of Ages, let our song praise Your saving power
You
amid the raging throng were our sheltering tower.
Furious
they assailed us, but Your help availed us.
And
Your word broke their sword when our own strength failed us.
If
only God’s words continued to break the actions of the enemies these days, we
would all be a lot safer and happier. No
matter—Hanukah begins this week, the first candle to be lit Tuesday evening,
and we’ll all be singing Ma’oz Tzur, Rock of Ages, the way it was meant to be
sung.
Hanukkah,
as the rabbis continue to remind us, is a minor holiday, but there is nothing
minor about a prayer asking God to take care of those in this world who are
intent on harming innocents. Unlike the
Maccabees, who took fate into their own hands, smashing the enemy themselves,
we ask God to keep us from war and violence, and if there is a power beyond the
sword that can spare us all, it would be the word of God.
One
of the rules of the lit menorah is to not interfere in anyway with the burning
of the candles. We are not to interrupt
the flame or even use the flame to our advantage. That’s a wide swath of no-nos, encompassing
anything from using the lit candles to roast hot dogs to even reading by the
menorah’s light. Hanerot hallalu kodesh
heim—these candles are holy, and as holy, we dare not touch them or use them in
anyway except to publicize the miracle of Hanukkah.
Holiness
demands caution and reverence. We do
not, for example, touch Torah parchment directly, or walk on Jerusalem’s Temple
mount in that area where the Temple once stood, or take change for ourselves
out of the Tzdakah box. That which is
holy is sometimes marked as such by becoming unusable, untouchable? Why? That’s
a really good question for which, I am sure, multiple answers exist, though I
will be so bold as to venture only one possible answer.
Humans
are, by nature, inquisitive, curious, and… invasive. It is how we learn about the world and how we
interact with it. But when we establish
a realm of holiness, a realm left untouched and undisturbed, it serves as a
reminder that we are guests in a universe created by a power greater than ourselves,
and faith in that power energizes and humbles, at one and the same time. Maoz Tzur, the Rock of Ages has lived for
eons before us and will continue to live for eons after us. Ultimately, the criminals die, as do we all,
but the spirit of God endures, so too the spirit of justice and compassion, the
spirit of honesty and love. Hanukkah is
only a minor holiday, but it offers us some major philosophical latkas to munch
on, the whole year through. Bon
appetite!
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