A weekly feature of Torah Tidbits to help clarify practical and conceptual aspects of the Jewish Calendar, thereby better fulfilling the mitzva of HaChodesh HaZeh Lachem... This probably belongs in next week’sTT, but since this issue has so much Chanuka material, we’ll include this here too, and have something else to share next week. The connection between Chanuka and the Mishkan is much stronger that just linking the Dedication of the Tribal Leaders, known as CHANUKAT HAMIZBEI’ACH, with the rededication of the Beit HaMikdash in the time of the Chashmona’im. Maybe that would be sufficient to give us the Chanuka Torah reading, but there is a much more significant connection. According to Tradition, the building of the Mishkan and its furnishings was completed on the 25th of Kislev (does the date ring a bell?). Dedication of the Mishkan should have been on that date. It was postponed for over three months and took place on Rosh Chodesh Nisan and for the following eleven days. But 25 Kislev was yet to be honored. It took 1173 years, but Chanuka finally took place on the 25th of Kislev. [The
Parshat Vayishlach Homepage]
|
