Why are the Jews Still Here...while the Greek Empire is Gone?

In the Greek worldview, the universe is static and was always in existence; it did not have a point of origin. Aristotle held that time is infinite, as he could not conceive of it having a point of origin.

Aristotle saw man as true Existence. He posits that the human mind is Reality; whatever the mind comprehends is truth. Whatever the mind cannot comprehend, cannot and does not exist. The Greek worldview, and Western culture’s, I think, therefore I am...deifies the mind, asserting that mind perception is the only reality.

Something bigger than the human mind was incomprehensible, and therefore did not exist. This is the ultimate arrogance, whereby the human intellect has gone beyond its own limitations and has declared itself to be the arbiter of truth and justice.

According to Greek philosophy, all is predetermined, and all history is a closed system of cause and effect. There is no Planner, no plan, no destiny, and no free will. The Greeks believed the world was theirs, and that all Reality was determined by them. Moreover, they completely denied that the world was given to them.

They posited it was always there, and was not created. They denied both Creation and a Creator.

As such, Greek thought posits that no act by any human being needs to be appreciated, as it was predetermined; in fact, nothing new happens in the world. Therefore, in the world envisioned by the Greek Empire, there is no room for thankfulness, or for saying thank you; their world is one of entitlement.

The Greeks attempted to uproot the concept of gratitude from the world. They would say, “Should one thank the waters of the sea for flowing, the blue sky for brightening the day, or the rain for causing one’s crops to grow – all of which, according to the Greeks, have been pre programmed by nature? If I give you a glass of water, that was preprogrammed into the cause and effect of the universe. My molecules just happened to bump into your molecules, and my molecules and elements accidentally gave your molecules and elements a glass of water. But your molecules don't have to thank my molecules, but I did not give you the water as an act of my free will. In fact, free will does not exist. Only randomness exists.

The life of Greek thought is a life of lonely darkness, where there is no one to thank and nothing for which to be grateful. It is a life without meaning, where everyone and everything is predetermined and no one accomplishes anything out of their own free will. Life is merely a series and an accumulation of causes and effects which happen randomly, without reason. In effect, life is meaningless.

Chanukah commemorates the war between the descendants of Avraham Avinu and a major world empire, and the open miracles the Jewish people experienced therein. The miracle of the one cruse of oil that lasted for eight days revealed to civilization that there was a dimension and phenomenon that originated from a place beyond man’s comprehension. Shabbos 21b states that the Chashmona’im defeated the Greeks and established a festival of to thank and to praise —????????? ??????????.

The weak defeated the mighty, the many were delivered into the hands of the few. Those engrossed in Torah defeated the arrogant who believed that they were Reality.

The ultimate purpose of the Greek Empire’s defeat is to be able to express thanks. An act of kindness performed of a person’s own free will is not predetermined, nor was it preprogrammed in the fabric of the universe. Therefore, that act of kindness must be acknowledged with gratitude.

Lighting the Chanukah lights expresses victory over the Greek philosophy of predetermination, as every second we gaze at them we are seeing a new, and renewed flame burning new oil. The flame embodies and expresses newness and renewal, for which we are required to thank and to praise God by singing Hallel.

Although the Chanukah lights appear to be burning as one continual flame and one continuous burning, in reality the flame you are seeing at this very moment is a new flame burning new fuel. The flame you saw one second ago was a different flame, having been produced by a different drop of oil, which has now been consumed. Therefore, the Chanukah obligation to offer thanks and praise to God for His continuous, moment-by-moment renewal of the world.

The act of lighting the lights on Chanukah, and watching them burn and renew, expresses the thanks and praise that defeated the darkness of the Greeks.