Shabbat Shalom, beloved.
Today is a very special day. It's Shabbat. But it's also Rosh Chodesh — the new moon — and Hanukkah. All three combined make this a day of immense light. It reminds us of Israel's calling to be a light unto the nations, and our power to overcome the forces of darkness.
One such force of darkness that we overcame was Antiochus. While he hated all of the mitzvahs — G-d's commands — there were three he especially targeted. The Shabbat. Rosh Chodesh. Brit Milah. He outlawed them and went to extreme lengths to bring them to an end.
To be clear, Antiochus did not only hate these three. Every part of a Judean, G-d-centered life was under attack — Torah study, Sabbath, circumcision, calendar, covenant identity, all of it. But Israel's teachers focused on Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh, and Brit Milah because these three bear public witness to covenant identity. They are not private beliefs. They are lived signs.
The Three Mitzvahs Under Attack
Shabbat
The Greeks understood having festivals to gods. But every week having to pause their own desires — not being able to work or do their own pleasure — that was too much. Sabbath was too much of a burden. Shabbat observance testifies that there is a Creator, the one true Elohim who created heaven and earth and rested on the seventh day. The better our Shabbat observance, the better we bear witness to that fact.
Today: moved to Sunday. Redefined as mere rest and personal pleasure.Rosh Chodesh
The Greeks tracked the stars and cycles. They had calendars and were serious about sacred time. What they couldn't stand was that man could interfere with the cosmos. In Torah, the new month is declared by witnesses and sanctified by a court. The very act of proclaiming the new moon was offensive to them. Rosh Chodesh testifies that Israel has a relationship with the Creator and takes active part in His work. This is why Psalm 82 calls the judges Elohim.
Today: dismissed as rabbinic. Labeled legalism. The authority of Israel to sanctify time is rejected.Brit Milah
The Greeks loved the aesthetics of the human body — even worshipped it. Their statues are meticulous: every muscle and tendon. Circumcision says the body is incomplete as created and needs to be improved upon. It is a testament to G-d's eternal covenant, written in our flesh, and it is how we continue to pass that covenant on generationally.
Today: said to profit nothing. Reduced to a medical procedure. The covenant it carries is declared dead.These three commands are not outlawed anymore. Just redefined. By redefining their value and reducing their weightiness, it becomes much easier to take them lightly — and eventually they are forgotten. And the covenant they bear witness to is forgotten as well.
And today all three are standing in front of us again.
Shabbat. Rosh Chodesh. Hanukkah. Rest. Sanctified time. Dedication.
This is not just a rare calendar overlap. It is a reminder. What Antiochus tried to erase, we are being invited to recover.
The teachers of Israel focused on these three because they bear witness to the covenant and lead to living a dedicated life. Torah study is great, but if we don't implement it, what value is there? Eating kosher is great. But lots of people follow strict diets for all kinds of reasons. Tzitzit are great — but lots of people wear all kinds of things. Beliefs, if never put into action, are essentially meaningless.
These three — Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh, Brit Milah — are the secret to the Jewish people's survival to this day. From the time of the Maccabees, from King David, from Joshua, even from Egypt until now. They are among the first commandments given to Israel as a nation, before Sinai:
What Does Dedication Look Like?
And this is where Mikeitz speaks directly to Hanukkah.
Joseph is in exile. He is surrounded by Egypt, dressed in Egyptian clothing, standing before Pharaoh, working inside a foreign empire. But Joseph does not become Egyptian in his soul. He serves. He labors. He interprets. He governs. But his avodah still belongs to G-d.
That is a dedicated life in exile. Not hiding from the world. Not becoming the world. Serving faithfully in the place G-d has put you, while refusing to forget who you belong to.
Hanukkah — dedication — comes at the darkest time of the year to remind us to live a dedicated life. Eight days, and eight represents going beyond nature. It is the day on which a boy is circumcised. When you circumcise a child, you are dedicating that child to the service of the G-d of Abraham.
We are called to live a dedicated life.
The word avodah appears in the ten commandments: "Do not avodah other gods" — usually translated as "do not worship other gods." But worship is only a small fraction of what avodah means.
Avodah means service, labor, work, allegiance. Where you put your time and energy, and why you put it there. It is used for agriculture, slavery, Temple service, allegiance to a master, and service to G-d.
Let my people go, so that they may avodah me.
Exodus 9:1
Six days you shall avodah AND do all of your work.
Exodus 20:9
And now, Israel, what does Adonai your Elohim require of you, but to fear Adonai your Elohim, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to avodah Adonai your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of Adonai and His statutes which I command you today for your good.
Deuteronomy 10:12–13
Avodah is giving a lot of time and energy to one particular purpose. A dedication is choosing that purpose. A dedicated life is a life of avodah.
But many people live lives dedicated to the wrong things — dedicated to themselves, their job, their family, their pleasure, their addiction, their hobbies. Everyone lives a life of avodah.
The question is not whether we serve. The question is what we serve.
Will You Show Up?
You are scheduled — every week — to have a meal with the King of the universe. An opportunity to invite Him into your house.
Will you show up late, still in dirty work clothes? Will you throw plates toward the table, hunt down the children, rush through the meal, talk about mundane things, and then run off to your own pleasure?
Or will you prepare?
Work done. Food ready. Table set. Children bathed. Hearts settled. A home made ready to welcome the King.
That is Hanukkah ha-bayit. A dedicated home.
Living a life in covenant isn't something we can fit into spare time. A neglected relationship isn't a relationship. It takes time to build a relationship, and it takes time to build a dedicated life.
First we have to decide if we want what G-d wants.
If we do, we need to go back to His word — the Torah — and learn it. Listening to what G-d says, not forcing our doctrines and dogmas into it. We need to learn from those who have been living a dedicated life for generations. We need to learn how and why they came to the conclusions they did.
Hanukkah is a feast of dedication. It comes in the darkest time of the year. That is when light shines brightest. That is when a small, faithful flame changes everything. That is when we serve as a light unto the nations.
A dedicated home. A dedicated life. Hanukkah ha-bayit.
So choose your avodah.
Choose what your life is for. Choose what your home is for. Choose what your time is for. Choose what your body is for. Choose what your children are being formed into.
The world is dark. That is not new.
But Hanukkah comes in the dark to remind us that a small, faithful flame still matters. Dedicate the home. Dedicate the time. Dedicate the body. Dedicate the life.
Be the light Israel was called to be.
Kol Tuv — Matti Kahana