Q&A: The Essence of Hanukkah
The Essence of Hanukkah
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I heard a lecture by the Rabbi on the nature of commandments, where the Rabbi brought a distinction (if I remember correctly, from Rabbi Shimon Shkop) regarding the reason for the distinction between Torah-level and rabbinic obligations in a case of doubt and an unintentional transgression. The Rabbi cited the Netivot as saying that one does not need to repent for an unintentional rabbinic transgression. The distinction, in brief, is that for Torah-level commandments the commandment is divided into two parts: command and essence. Therefore, in a case of doubt or an unintentional act, there is no command, but there is still an essence. So in a case of doubt one must be stringent because of the essence, and in the case of an unintentional act there is a need for repentance, unlike with rabbinic commandments. I wanted to know what should be said about rabbinic commandments that do have an essence, such as Hanukkah, whose reason is as a commemoration of the miracle, and likewise the reading of the Megillah and the four cups on the night of the Seder. After all, they too have an essence and are not merely a technical safeguard. And the proof that this is called an essence is from eating matzah, and also the Paschal offering and sitting in the sukkah, since they too are only a commemoration.
Answer
First, it is possible that according to this reasoning, in these commandments a case of doubt would indeed be treated stringently. But beyond that, every rabbinic enactment or decree has some reason; otherwise they would not have enacted it. In that sense, every Jewish law has an essence. The question is not whether there is a goal or purpose, but what the definition of the halakhic obligation is. Is the halakhic obligation the striving toward the essence, or is the striving toward the essence only the rationale of the verse, while the halakhic obligation is the act itself (or the obedience)? For this reason I wrote that according to Maimonides, even a law given to Moses at Sinai has no essence (and therefore in a case of doubt one rules leniently), even though it certainly did not come as a safeguard or decree. Its halakhic definition is obedience, not essence.