Q&A: Do We Ascend in Holiness or Descend?
Do We Ascend in Holiness or Descend?
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Beit Hillel’s explanation regarding the Hanukkah candles is: we ascend in holiness and do not descend.
But that is exactly what happens with the festival bulls: we descend in holiness.
How was his explanation accepted? What is considered holier than sacrifices? How can he make that argument if that is exactly what happens in the Temple?
I hadn’t thought about this until now, because I had accepted his assumption as self-evident, but in practice the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself teaches us from the festival bulls that we do descend in holiness.
Am I missing something?
Answer
A very good question.
I assume that the rule of ascending in holiness is the general starting point, grounded in a broad underlying logic. Sometimes there is nevertheless a situation in which we do descend, but every such exception requires justification. In the case of the festival bulls, the Torah apparently has a reason why we descend there (I do not know what it is; that is a matter of the verse’s rationale), but that is the exception. To apply this to the Hanukkah candles, one would need a specific explanation of why there too we should depart from the rule, or why it is similar to the festival bulls in some sense. As long as there is no such explanation, the rule that we ascend in holiness remains in force as the default.
In short, my claim is that there is no need to look for reasons why one should ascend in holiness with the Hanukkah candle. What requires reasons is why one should not apply that rule, and as long as there is no such reason, then there too we ascend in holiness.
This connects to a discussion I once held here about whether every verse teaches the opposite of what is written in it. See Column 411.
Rashi there writes that the rule of ascending in holiness is learned from verses in tractate Menachot. That does not change the main point of the answer, but then it perhaps no longer connects to the discussion about a verse that teaches the opposite. And the Maharsha there asks the reverse question: how Beit Shammai, who certainly agree with the principle of ascending in holiness, learned here from the exception. And his answer is apparently that each side follows its own reasoning as to why Hanukkah is more fitting.