“all of the soul from the House of Yaakov who came down to Egypt were 70.” (Bereshis 46:27)

Rashi comments that when this week’s parsha counts Yaakov’s offspring, it mentions there were 70 nefesh (soul) and states the word “soul” in the singular. But, when counting six souls for Esav, it uses the word “soul” in the plural. The reason for the difference is because 70 offspring of Yaakov all worshipped one G-d while Esav’s offspring worshiped many gods.

Last Friday night, I was staring at the Chanuka candles and an amazing thought came to me which I would like to share. To understand it, I must begin with two quick laws about the candles. First, each candle is only allowed to have one wick. If there are two wicks for one candle then it is considered a torch and it does not even count as one light. Second, all of the candles being used for the mitzvah must be at the same height. The Shamash is higher, but that is not being used for the mitzvah.

Chanuka is a time when we defeated the Greeks. One of the most famous things about the Greeks is the Olympics. Although I have mentioned lessons we can learn from the Olympics, there is one very bad message that the Olympics send. That message is that there is only one winner. Thousands of people compete but only one individual or one team wins each event.

The Olympic symbol is a Torch. On Chanuka, we are not allowed to light our candles with more than one wick because it will make a torch. Of course the reason for this law is not related to the Olympics, but I think we can metaphorically relate them. On Chanuka, we are being reminded not to behave like the Greeks. We do not have Olympics — it is not a Jewish concept to only have one winner.

The way our candles are supposed to be placed is in a single line with all candles at the same height. This is because all candles are equal. It has become a modern custom that the candles are colorful. I think this teaches us an important lesson. Each candle symbolizes a Jewish person. Each of us may look different but we are all the same height. We are all equally important, even if each of us are a different color.

Here is the lesson: nowadays, we compete in everything. There is only one top student in class. There is only one employee of the quarter. There is only one team that wins the Super Bowl. In everything in life, there is only one winner. The message this sends is that there are losers and unfortunately many people feel they are the losers. They look at others around them who are “the best” and feel depressed. They do not feel important.

This is a Greek concept and not a Jewish idea. In Judaism, we believe we all are important. Each of us have a special talent (and yes every single person does have a special talent) that we can use to contribute to betterment of the world. One person is wealthy. One is wise. One is good in sports. One is good in math. One is a great custodian. One is great at cutting lawns. We all have talents that we can use to make this world better.

Esav’s children all worshipped different gods. Only one god could be the best, so therefore the word “soul” is written in the plural. There was no unity because everyone was fighting to be the best.

Yaakov’s children all worshipped the same G-d, but they were not the same as each other. Each one had a different talent, but they were not in competition. They were just a different colored candle at an equal height.

I think this might be the lesson of Chanuka…

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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