The Chanukah miracle was the last obvious and open communication we had with Hashem
For those readers of this space who are either blessed with a good memory or save old editions, you may recall a vort I shared a number of years ago on a cryptic passage from the Rambam in Hilchos Chanukah. He writes there that ner Chanukah is a “mitzvah chavivah ad me’od,” an extraordinarily beloved mitzvah. He does not use this expression anywhere else to extol the virtues of any of our other mitzvos, whether mandated by the Torah or mid’Rabbanan, such as this one. What is so unique about it?
Perhaps the Gemara can shed some light on this. In Maseches Yoma the Gemara states that the miracle involving Esther was “the last of the [public] miracles” that Hashem orchestrated for His nation. That is followed by an obvious question —the Chanukah miracle occurred even later! To that, the Gemara clarifies that the Purim miracle was the last to be recorded in a formal book of Tanach, not the last miracle to be performed.
This means that for all intents and purposes, Chanukah was the last time Hashem manifested His love for us by manipulating the natural order of the world on our behalf. To put it differently, the Chanukah miracle was the last obvious and open communication we had with Hashem. It was a signature moment.
We all cherish our final conversations with beloved ones. Indeed, the Gemara puts a premium on parting words: “Al yiftar adam mei’chaveiro ela mitoch devar halachah” — one should not part from his friend with anything but a Torah thought, for that is how they will remember each other.
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