Machshava:

Chanukah 

Collections: Rabbi Weinberger: Chanuka

Description

The galus of Yavan (Greece) takes the menucha (stability) out of life like the kidnapping of Dina took menucha away from Yaakov. We can light the Chanukah neiros (candles) until the time when the Tarmudim, who would seek to intermarry with Jewish girls, leave the shuk at night. The Chanukah lights have the power to burn away the connection between a Jew and non-Jew. The Chanukah uprising began when the Chashmonaim refused to allow Jewish girls to be defiled. Anything non-Jewish that infiltrates into the life of a Jew is an aspect of intermarriage. The galus of Yavan happened and still happens in Eretz Yisraoel. Yaakov established the Shabbos techum (boundaries), beyond which a Jew is not permitted to stray.