Are they elevated or lowered in the sanctuary?
Hello Rabbi,
Beit Hillel’s excuse regarding Hanankeh candles is this: They are raised in the sanctuary and not lowered.
But this is exactly what happens with the fruit of the holiday, the holy offering.
How was his excuse received? What is considered more sacred than sacrifices? How can one argue that this is exactly what happens in the Temple?
I didn’t think about it until now, because I took his assumption for granted, but in practice, God Himself is indeed teaching us about the fruits of the holiday that are taken away in the Holy Land.
Am I missing something?
Very good question.
I assume that the rule of raising the sacred is the general starting point based on a general understanding. Sometimes there is a situation in which one does take it down, but any such exception needs a justification. In the case of the holiday fruit, the Torah probably has a justification for why one takes it down (I don’t know what it is. It’s a matter of reading), but this is the exception. In order to apply this to the Hanukkah candles, one needs a specific explanation as to why one should also make an exception there, or why it is similar to the holiday fruit in some sense. As long as there is no such explanation, the rule of raising the sacred remains as the default. In short, my argument is that there is no need to resort to justification for raising the sacred in the Hanukkah candle. There needs to be justification for why one should not resort to it, and as long as there is no such justification, then there is also an exception there.
This is related to a discussion I once had here on the question of whether every verse teaches the opposite of what it says. See column 411.
Rashi there writes that those who are in the holy place learn from verses on offerings. This does not change the principle of the answer, but perhaps it is no longer relevant to the discussion of a verse that teaches the opposite. And the Maharash there makes it difficult to the contrary, how the House of Shammai, who certainly agree with the principle of those who are in the holy place, learned here from the exception. And his answer is probably that each side is inclined to follow its own understanding of why Hanukkah is more appropriate.
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