Hanukkah, the festival of lights! Who would have thought, a turning point in the history of our people... This was neither the first nor the last time that the people of Israel, finding themselves in serious trouble and apparently with no way out, were saved and returned, once again, to achieving their glory and its splendor.
It is unnecessary to cite other examples throughout our history; just remember the conditions our people were in, some 60 years ago, and see where we are today. This is why we must always remember that, despite all the suffering and calamities that may befall us, the rule is one: never despair! A king once asked his personal advisor to bring him something that would prevent him from being proud in a moment of success and, on the other hand, from falling into despair in a moment of difficulty and unhappiness. The wise man brought the king a ring on which the following words were engraved: "This too shall pass...". When the king was successful and success seemed to follow him everywhere, the king contained his enthusiasm and pride, thinking that this too would not last forever. Likewise, when he experienced difficulty or distress, he would remember the words on the ring and think "this will soon pass." Thus, he found the strength to face life's difficulties and continue his valuable work.
An example from the Talmud to illustrate how trust in Divine Goodness can save a person is the story of King Chizkiahu. The king had become ill and the prophet Yeshaiahu, by Divine order, went to visit him. (It is a great mitzvah to visit the sick).
"How is your Majesty feeling?" asked the prophet.
"Not well," replied the king, "I am getting weaker every day and the doctors cannot find a cure for my illness."
“I have come to bring you a Divine Message,” said Yeshaiahu. "Make your will for your death is near. Not only will you die in this world, but you will have no part in the World to Come."
"What did I do to be punished so severely?" asked the king.
"You are undoubtedly considered a Righteous One, but the Almighty is stricter with the Righteous, punishing them for small faults. In your case, you are being punished for not having married and fulfilling the mitzvah of procreating. "
"But, thanks to Divine inspiration, I saw that my children would be wicked and I preferred to die without children rather than have children who would act against G-d's will."
"But you are not authorized to interfere with Divine plans," said Yeshaiahu. "We, human beings, must fulfill our obligation and G-d will do what He deems necessary."
The king, repentant and with tears in his eyes, then asked the prophet for his daughter in marriage. Who knows, by combining the merits of the two, the Divine Decree could be changed. But the prophet refused, as the decree had already been granted and there was no way to change the situation.
The king then asked the prophet to finish his prophecy and leave. He had remembered what King David had taught: even with a sharp sword against his neck, a person should never lose hope in the Mercy of the Almighty.
King Chizkiahu turned his face to the wall, and began to pray with all fervor, thus managing to abolish the decree and make G‑d grant him another fifteen years of life.
Just as hope and faith can perform miracles, despair makes man commit the greatest sins. Because when someone, in a moment of difficulty, falls into despair, they become extremely vulnerable, both emotionally, morally and spiritually. Only if he remembers that there is hope and that the Merciful Gd, with His infinite kindness, can change the most rigorous decrees, can man attract to himself a new vitality and spiritual strength that help him overcome all obstacles.
The book Sichot Mussar, analyzing how hope can save man while despair can lead to the abyss, explains that there is a basic difference between the sin of idolatry and the others.
Our sages say that the Torah was not given to angels, but to men, fallible beings. This means that any man, even a Just One, can make mistakes. But the sin of idolatry is different, since according to our sages it is impossible for a Jew to practice idolatry "from one day to the next".
The Talmud says (Shabbat 105: 2): "Such is the path of evil instinct, first it convinces a person to make a certain mistake; the next day, another, until it ends up convincing him to believe in the power of idolatry." This is because when it comes to idolatry, the process of spiritual decay is slow, not immediate.
However, when the people of Israel committed the sin of the golden calf, things were surprisingly different.
The Almighty said to Moses: "...They (the people of Israel) quickly turned away from the path that I taught them and made a statue of a calf in gold...".
G-d is referring to the people who received the Torah on Mount Sinai and personally witnessed G-d's Revelation - something unique in the history of humanity. How could they fall so spiritually, to the point of worshiping a statue? And so quickly? The Talmud responds by stating that desperation led them to worship the golden calf.
The Talmud (Sha-bat 89:1) explains that at the time that Moses Rabe-nu ascended Mount Sinai to receive the Tablets of the Law, he communicated to the people of Israel that at the end of forty days, at noon, he would be return. When noon arrived and Moses was delayed in returning, Satan caused a darkness and a dense fog of confusion and doubt in the world.
"Where is Moses?" Satan asked the people of Israel.
"He went up to the mountain to receive the Tablets of the Law", replied the people.
"But it is past the appointed time, and Moses has not yet returned; without a doubt, he must have passed away and will never return," said Satan.
And as if to prove the veracity of his words, he made the people visualize an image in which the angels carried the lifeless Moses. Upon seeing this, the people of Israel fell into despair. The man who had freed them from slavery in Egypt and through whom G‑d had performed so many miracles and wonders was no longer among them. What would become of them and their children from then on? Who would guide them through the arduous desert? Who would lead the people to the Promised Land? Behold, they had just seen the angels carrying Moses, dead. After all, what would be the fate of the people from then on? Desperate and shaken by the supposed disappearance of their leader, the greatest among the prophets, frightened by the darkness that hung over the world at that time, the people of Israel became vulnerable.
Only in desperate situations like this can Satan attack and overthrow a person in an "unconventional" way. At similar times, the "evil instinct" that exists in every man no longer needs to instigate him to commit negative acts in the eyes of G-d. There is no longer any need to suggest that man follow paths that take him away from G-d, until he reaches the point of being able to convince him to worship idols. In situations of despair, the person becomes so vulnerable that they quickly decline to the lowest spiritual levels, until they reach idolatry.
This principle of how destructive despair can be is found again and again in our books. Look at this second example:
The Torah, in Genesis chapter 4, reports the conversation between Cain and his brother Abel. The Targum Yonatan Ben-Uziel explains that Cain's intention was to say that "there is no judgment or judge, there is no world to come, nor reward and punishment..." This is quite difficult to understand, because until then Cain was a man of great faith and worshiped G-d.
According to Nachmanides, Cain had managed to understand the deep secret of sacrifices and decided, of his own free will, to make an offering to G-d. How could this man suddenly deny the principles of faith?
In reality, all of this happened shortly after G‑d accepted Abel's sacrifice and rejected Cain's offering. When the Almighty rejected Cain's sacrifice, Cain fell into total despair.
Desperation affects in such a way that it can drive the highest among men to the lowest levels, even to the point of denying their own faith.
In general, our history and particularly the celebration of Chanukah, remind us that at the end of every tunnel, even the darkest, there is always a light shining.
