{"id":56919,"date":"2024-12-12T18:55:15","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T18:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/?p=56919"},"modified":"2025-12-22T23:31:45","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T23:31:45","slug":"rav-kook-on-chanukahs-universalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/rav-kook-on-chanukahs-universalism\/","title":{"rendered":"Rav Kook on Chanukah&#8217;s Universalism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/category\/chanukah\/\">Chanukah<\/a> shiur delivered 10 Kislev, 5785 \/ December 11, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Key Takeaways<\/h3>\n<h2><b>The Debate<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The famous argument between Beit Shammai (lighting 8 to 1) and Beit Hillel (1 to 8).<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>The Metaphor<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beit Shammai\u2019s logic parallels the sacrificial bulls of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/category\/sukkot\/\">Sukkot<\/a> (which decrease in number), representing the 70 nations of the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Rav Kook\u2019s Insight<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The &#8220;decreasing&#8221; light of Beit Shammai actually represents the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">unification<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of humanity. As we move toward a messianic era, the distinct nations merge into a singular recognition of One God.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Location of the Mitzvah<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lighting &#8220;outside&#8221; (the original law) vs. &#8220;inside&#8221; (due to danger) reflects the tension between keeping Torah internal vs. acting as a &#8220;light unto the nations.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chanukah shiur delivered 10 Kislev, 5785 \/ December 11, 2024 Key Takeaways The Debate The famous argument between Beit Shammai (lighting 8 to 1) and Beit Hillel (1 to 8). The Metaphor Beit Shammai\u2019s logic parallels the sacrificial bulls of Sukkot (which decrease in number), representing the 70 nations of the world. Rav Kook\u2019s Insight [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133037,"featured_media":56921,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[344],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chanukah","post_format-post-format-video"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rav Kook on Chanukah&#039;s Universalism - Jewish Holidays<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The classic debate between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel over Chanukah lights reflects two visions of history. Beit Shammai\u2019s decreasing lights, linked to the bulls of Sukkot and the 70 nations, symbolize humanity\u2019s gradual unification toward recognition of One God, as explained by Rav Kook. The mitzvah\u2019s placement\u2014outside or inside\u2014mirrors the tension between preserving Torah internally and shining its light outward to the world.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/outorah.org\/p\/211114\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rav Kook on Chanukah&#039;s Universalism - Jewish Holidays\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The classic debate between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel over Chanukah lights reflects two visions of history. Beit Shammai\u2019s decreasing lights, linked to the bulls of Sukkot and the 70 nations, symbolize humanity\u2019s gradual unification toward recognition of One God, as explained by Rav Kook. The mitzvah\u2019s placement\u2014outside or inside\u2014mirrors the tension between preserving Torah internally and shining its light outward to the world.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/outorah.org\/p\/211114\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jewish Holidays\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OrthodoxUnion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-12T18:55:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-22T23:31:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/galaxy-11098_1920.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/rav-kook-on-chanukahs-universalism\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/outorah.org\/p\/211114\",\"name\":\"Rav Kook on Chanukah's Universalism - Jewish Holidays\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/outorah.org\/p\/211114#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/outorah.org\/p\/211114#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/galaxy-11098_1920.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-12T18:55:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-22T23:31:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/df38aa2a419eedef56bb134534c5a566\"},\"description\":\"The classic debate between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel over Chanukah lights reflects two visions of history. 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