At the heart of the Chanukah story is the Beis Hamikdash. It was here that the persecution of the Jews began under the rule of Antiochus, who ordered that the Beis Hamikdash be desecrated and converted into a place of pagan worship. Mattisyahu, son of Yochanan the Kohen Gadol, fled to the countryside, where he became the father of the Jewish resistance. His sons and followers, the Maccabees, fought bravely against all odds and were aided by Divine Providence to eventually return to Yerushalayim and bring the Beis Hamikdash back to Jewish hands. It is their miraculous victories and efforts to restore the sacrificial service to its earlier glory that we commemorate on the holiday of Chanukah. Let’s explore the connection between the physical structure of the Second Beis Hamikdash and some of the core elements of the Chanukah story.
The Cheil and the Soreg
Standing at a distance of 10 amos outside the walls of the Azarah (Main Courtyard) on all four
sides was a low wall, half an amah
high (about 9 inches). This wall, as well as the area between it and the Azarah walls, was referred to as the Cheil.
A wooden latticework fence, ten handbreadths high (about 30 inches), was built
atop this wall and was called the Soreg.
The purpose of both the wall and
the fence was to mark the point beyond which no one contaminated with corpse-tumah,
nor any non-Jew, could pass. Archaeologists have discovered a marker stone from
the Cheil with an inscription (written in Greek) that reads, “Any
foreigner who passes beyond the wall and fence surrounding the Beis Hamikdash has
only himself to blame for the fact that his death will follow.”
When the Syrian-Greeks occupied
the Beis Hamikdash during the years leading up to the Chanukah miracle, they
made 13 breaches in the Soreg fence to demonstrate their disdain at
having been barred from entering. After the Maccabees regained control of the Beis
Hamikdash they repaired these breaches, and the Sages instituted that anyone
who passes by one of the repaired breaches must bow down to give thanks to God
for destroying the foreign regime and abolishing their evil decrees.
Al Hanissim is a prayer of
thanksgiving recited during the holiday that gives a brief synopsis of all the
historical events of the Chanukah story. One of the lines reads, “They breached
the walls of my Tower,” a reference to the enemies of the Jews breaching the Soreg
fence that surrounded the Beis Hamikdash. While the heathen marauders were bent
upon breaking down the dividing lines between all nations of the world, our
Sages underscored the importance of preserving our Jewish identity by
specifically choosing to include the breaching of the Soreg in our
liturgy.
The chasidic masters are quoted as
saying that this incident served as the precedent for eating latkes on Chanukah. To commemorate
the repairs made to the Soreg, the Jewish people of later generations contrived
a dish – the potato pancake – that resembled a patch (like a patch used to repair
a garment). This Chanukah staple was originally called a latteh, which
is Yiddish for patch, and over
time this became latke.
One of the most widely known
miracles of the Chanukah story is finding the flask of pure olive oil after all
the other containers of oil had been contaminated by the Syrian-Greeks. From
the description of the Beis Hamikdash given in Tractate Middos we learn
that the main storage area for oil was the Chamber of the Oils located in the
southwest corner of the Ezras Nashim
(Women’s Courtyard). Certainly, all the containers in this chamber would have
been defiled, and it is more likely that the flask was found somewhere else,
but where?
The Gemara states (Shabbos 21b):
“When the Greeks entered the Heichal
(Sanctuary), they defiled all the oil
in the Heichal.” From here we learn
that oil was stored in the Heichal building
as well. According to some opinions, there was a room in the Heichal building, possibly one of the 38
tau’im, storage rooms (see Middos 4:3) or some sort of niche in the
wall that was closed off by a door and sealed with the seal of the Kohen Gadol.
(See Siddur of Rokeach, Chanukah; Orchos Chaim, Hil. Chanukah 1; Kol Bo 44.)
This area had somehow escaped the notice of the Syrian-Greeks, and when it was
later opened by the Jews, it was found to contain a single flask of olive oil. According
to this view, it was not the flask itself that was sealed by the Kohen Gadol
but, rather, the location in which it was found.
For more information about
Chanukah and the Beis Hamikdash please visit BeisHamikdashTopics.com or email
the author at yoavelan@
