Smoke Screen, Part 3 

Chanukah – the Real Story 

“Abba, come see the beautiful picture we made in kindergarten,” our child will say to us and wave one of those drawings of the pious Chashmona’im with peot (sidelocks) and long beards facing vulgar-looking non-Jews. We will smile and reply, “Very nice,” and tell him the story of Chanukah near the Chanukah candles, as they cast their warm light. 

But we must tell the story of Chanukah to ourselves as well. And when we tell it to ourselves, we should devote time to thinking what the reality was really like then. It’s very convenient for us to think that the Mityavnim (Hellenized Jews) looked like those vulgar gentiles after they changed their way of life completely, and after they changed their names and their clothing. But this is really not so. The Mityavnim looked just like us. They kept their peot and their beards and attended the synagogue and remained in their communities – but inside they were rotten, completely immersed in Greek culture.  

It is not at all certain that they even felt that they were wicked. They thought that they were kosher Jews, and had just “added to their lives” a bit more “harmless content”… “There is much wisdom and beauty in Greek culture”, they thought, mistakenly. “What’s wrong with it? Why shouldn’t we adopt part of it? After all, it says “May G-d enlarge Yefet (the forefather of the Greeks – Yavan), and let him dwell in the tents of Shem,”¹ doesn’t it?” 

True, one cannot depict to the children a complex reality in which the resha’im (wicked people) walk around with peot and beards, but we are not children; we know that the yetzer hara (evil inclination) exists everywhere, even in the study hall, and even in Charedi communities. And if we don’t understand well the danger and the disease that attacked the Jewish people back then and what it looked like exactly, we will not know how to identify it in our own days, and we won’t know whose side we’re on, and we won’t know how to protect ourselves!  

The Few Tzaddikim Facing All the Evil 

In the previous two essays we wrote at length how screens and various devices can be found in the home of Gd-fearing, observant Jews. This is a huge victory of the yetzer hara: It has managed to cause people to forget the Torah, and that is, practically speaking, Hellenism itself, and even much worse than that. 

We wrote that if even if you think you can’t disconnect yourself from the technological gadgets, at least recognize the truth. As a first stage, admit to the truth and understand and define to yourself: “This is bad, this is the opposite of Torah, and Hashem will help me and guide me in detaching myself from this evil thing, but I am not going to declare that this impure thing is pure, and I will not pervert the truth: Evil is evil!” 

And indeed, the small screen has taken over our lives forcibly, and all those who are attached and glued to this device – it is the center of their lives, the essence of life to them, and they depend on it in so many ways – but the dependence is mainly psychological. It has been instilled in us so strongly that not only is it considered permissible, but it is a real mitzvah. Jews who are subjugated to this device not only don’t understand how bad and damaging it is but are also completely attached to it and cannot tear themselves away from it.  

In this essay, erev Chanukah, in which a small amount of light was enough to chase away much darkness, and the few vanquished the many against all chances, we wish to speak, with Hashem’s help, about the solution, about “how to get ourselves out of this”. We will try to present the readers with the way that we, as small and weak as we are, will be able to stand up to an empire of money and psychological bondage whose entire goal is to enslave us.  

An Essential, Stable, Long-term Solution 

To know what the solution is, we must understand why it is so hard for those who are enslaved to the small and poisonous screen to detach themselves from it, even though they understand the depth and the extent of its dangers.  

The reason is that these small and satanic gadgets keep their owners so busy and fill their lives with fake “living”, to the point that they feel unbearable emptiness without it. No one can do without his source of vitality, whatever gives him the feeling that he is alive. 

The same way someone who is addicted to sweets – even though he understands that it’s bad for his health and he knows that he must lessen his sugar consumption – as long as he receives this sense of vitality from the fake sweetness, he will not be able to overcome his yetzer, and certainly won’t be able to make a long-term change. 

And therefore, even those who want to wean themselves from the screens and indeed strengthen themselves and take some steps towards detaching themselves, go back to them after a while. This behavior is the same way most of those who go on diets return very quickly to their original weight, and the same way most of those who stop smoking go back to it, unfortunately. 

So, what is the solution that can bring about real change? 

The only solution is to create an alternative source of vitality – a real life! Without a real life, we will never be able to pull ourselves away from the smartphone’s fake vitality. 

The way of the Ba’al Shem Tov Hakadosh was not to fight evil, but to do good and then the evil will go away on its own, as the Chassidic sayings put it: “Darkness is not chased away with sticks” So how is it chased away? “A small amount of light is enough to chase away much darkness.”² 

And so, you don’t have to fight the gadget head-on, because such a battle is doomed to fail. True, you must at the first stage lessen your use of it and limit it, and block it with an effective filter, and find kosher solutions for your various needs.  

But your main task is to create a real life for yourself! 

Adding Light – Adding Life 

And that is the idea of the holy festival of Chanukah: instead of fighting the darkness of Greek culture, we just light one little candle! 

If we add some small bit of vitality to our lives, we will be able, with Hashem’s help, to detach ourselves from these powerful gadgets. Life in this world is a search for this feeling that we are, indeed, living. All desires are a search for this feeling. And because we don’t know where to find true vitality, we make many mistakes and escape into all our addictions.  

But we, the holy Jewish People, do not need to search for our sense of life anywhere. Our true vitality is right under our noses. “This word is very close to you. It is in your mouth and in your heart for you to keep it.”³ 

Judaism is not just a collection of laws but rather the source of vitality, the source of life! And this means that we receive our sense of being alive only from Hashem, only from the Torah and straight emuna (faith). This, and only this, is the true solution: deep, true, inner, pure vitality. 

Emuna gives a sense of vitality, as it says: “The righteous man lives on by his faith”!⁴

Prayer gives a sense of vitality, as Rabbi Nachman says: “For the main part of vitality one receives from tefillah as is written, ‘a prayer to the G-d of my life’.”⁵ A true connection with Hashem yitbarach gives life, because “A king’s bright face signals life”⁶. 

Torah gives a sense of vitality, because it is “our life and the length of our days”⁷ and “They are a source of life for him who has discovered them”⁸. Daat and true wisdom give vitality because “wisdom brings life to those who master it”⁹ and “a fount of life is intelligence to the one who has it”.¹⁰

Teshuva (repentance) and true love of Hashem give a sense of vitality: “Hashem, your G-d, will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love Hashem your G-d with all your heart, with all your soul that you may live”!¹¹ 

Humility and fear of G-d give life: “The result of humility is fear of Hashem – wealth, honor, and life itself.”¹² And “Fear of Hashem is the fount of life.”¹³ Tzaddikim give life: “The wise man’s teaching is a fount of life”¹⁴. Spiritual wishes and yearnings give life! The joy of mitzvahs gives life. Tzedakah and chessed and doing things for the benefit of the Jewish people and of others gives vitality: “He that pursues righteousness and kindness finds life, virtue, and honor”,¹⁵ and “In the way of righteousness is life.”¹⁶ 

The festival of Chanukah is a symbol and a good example. One little candle, one little flame is enough – its light already increases and chases away endless amounts of evil and darkness. Go and look and find your own small spiritual vitality, learn a bit more about emuna, do a bit more hitbodedut, connect more to the Torah. And if you will just want to be saved from your subjugation to the screen, you’ll see that this little light will give you a sense of being alive and a sense of inner strength. It will grow and grow until you will become disgusted by the false vitality, and you will be able to be completely clean from the biggest yetzer hara of our generation! 

Editor’s Notes 

¹ Bereishit (Genesis) 9:27 

² This widely known saying in Jewish tradition is often attributed to the Chofetz Chaim (Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan). The exact quote is: “Darkness is not chased away with sticks, not even with cannons. One simply lights a small candle, and the darkness flees before it.” 

³ Devarim (Deuteronomy) 30:14 

⁴ Habakkuk 2:4 

⁵ Likutei Moharan 9:1 

⁶ Mishlei (Proverbs) 16:15 

⁷ Found in the blessing immediately preceding Kriyat Shema in the Maariv prayer. 

⁸ Mishlei 4:22 

⁹ Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) 7:12 

¹⁰ Mishlei 16:22 

¹¹ Devarim 30:6 

¹² Mishlei 22:4 

¹³ Mishlei 14:27 

¹⁴ Mishlei 13:14 

¹⁵ Mishlei 21:21 

¹⁶ Mishlei 12:28