Hanukka and the Land 1

Following are comments of Rabbi Moshe Avigdor Amiel (1882–1946), chief rabbi of Tel Aviv from 1936 until his death.

Ḥanukka is the lone Jewish holiday which commemorates events which took place within the Holy Land (until the addition of Yom haAtzmaut and Yom Yerushalayim, which Rabbi Amiel did not live to see]. Pesaḥ, which commemorates the exodus from Egypt and Shavuot, the time of Israel’s receiving Torah, both celebrate significant events on Israel’s journey to its Land, but nonetheless, the venues of those events were outside the Land. Ḥanukka, therefore, from beginning to end, is the holiday of Eretz Yisrael.

The celebration of Ḥanukka involves light because the only true light for the nation of Israel issues from its Land. The lights of Ḥanukka remind us that we were not always relegated to wandering throughout the lands of the world, but had our own Land, as other nations do, a Land though small in quantity, vast in quality. The Ḥanukka lights bring the atmosphere and spirit of the Land to Jews throughout the four corners of the earth, as it were, showing them the clear blue skies of the Holy Land. When Jews throughout the world light Ḥanukka candles, in a sense the atmosphere of the Land reaches all the lands of Israel’s dispersion and re-establishes the indelible bond between the nation and its homeland. The Ḥanukka candles warm the hearts of the Israelites, enlightening and shining from within the Jewish soul, carrying a reminder of the blessings of Zion, of the pure oil of the Holy of Holies, of the eternal light which will never be extinguished.