There
is a great Talmid Chacham who is well-known by name, but not as well-known in
terms of who he was. His name is Onkelos. Onkelos is well-known because his
Amaraic commentary/translation of the Torah is found in almost every chumash in
the world. What is less well-known is how Onkelos came to be Onkelos.
Onkelos
lived just after the destruction of the second BHMK, around 100 C.E. He was a member of the Roman royal family.
His mother was the sister of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. Over time, Onkelos
became interested in Judaism and eventually converted. The Gemara in
Avoda Zara tells the story about what happened after Onkelos converted.
At a certain point,
Hadrian, the emperor, found out that his nephew had accepted the Jewish
religion and had become one of its foremost Jewish scholars. The emperor was furious,
and he sent a company of soldiers to arrest Onkelos and to bring him in chains
to Rome. When the Roman soldiers arrived, Onkelos greeted them warmly and spoke
with them about religion. His thoughtful ideas impressed the soldiers so much
that the soldiers threw themselves at his feet and begged him to convert them
to the Jewish religion, as he had done himself.
When Hadrian heard what
had happened with the first group of soldiers, he sent another company of brave
warriors with instructions to bring Onkelos in chains. This time, though, he
gave orders not to have any discussions with Onkelos. Onkelos again warmly
received the royal messengers. “I know that the Emperor forbade you to
have any discussions with me. You must obey the royal command; I will therefore
ask you only one question: you know very well what goes on in the Roman,
imperial Court. The common soldier carries the torch for the officer; the
officer carries it for the captain; the captain for the general and the general
for the Emperor. Tell me, for whom does the Emperor carry the torch?”
“The emperor is not
serve anyone,” they answered him. “He is the highest authority in the
country!”
“Take a look,”
Onkelos answered them. “The G-d of Israel,
the Creator of heaven and earth, who delivered the Jews from Egypt, the G‑d
over everything, in spite of His greatness, still deemed it fit to lighten the
way for His servants, the Jews, with a pillar of fire for forty years!” This
dvar Torah made a great impression on the soldiers, and they immediately gave
up their mission and even became students of Onkelos.
One more time Hadrian
sent a company of troops with high officers at the head, with the express
orders not to say one word to Onkelos and not to answer any questions, but to
arrest him immediately. The messengers arrived and started to carry out the
emperor’s orders without delay. They led him out of his house. At the door,
Onkelos stopped and kissed the Mezuzah with
simcha and with pride.
The messengers stared at
him in wonder and could not restrain themselves from asking him: “What
does that thing on the door symbolize, and why are you so happy?! We are taking you out in chains to Rome!” Onkelos
responded: “A king sits in his palace and has guards around him to protect him
from danger. But the Jewish King, HKBH, allows His servants to sit quietly at
home and He protects THEM from outside. That is the Mezuzah on our
door!” These royal messengers, too, fell under the influence of Onkelos’s
words, and it did not take long before they also became his faithful disciples.
Eventually, Hadrian realized his efforts were useless and left Onkelos alone.
Rav Eliyahu Shlesinger,
in his sefer Eile Hem Moadai, points out that Onkelos offered two examples to
the soldiers – the mezuzah and the flame of a fire. Why did he use these
specific examples?
He answers as follows: Both
fire and a mezuzah are a dramatic, public display of our Jewishness. We light
our Chanukah candles in our windows and out our doors for all who pass by to
see. Similarly, our mezuzah is placed in the doorway. In fact, that’s why we
call the parchment with writing on it “mezuzah”, which is really
just the word for “doorway”. Because the mezuzah sits at the point where we
cross over from our private home to our public lives. When you place a Menorah
in your window and a mezuzah on your doorpost you are declaring to the world
that in this home there is not only a Jew, but a Jew who is proud of his or her
heritage. A Jew who is a Jew not only inside our home, but also as we leave it
and head out into the world.
But how did Onkelos have
such a profound impact on these soldiers by speaking with them about these two
mitzvos? Why was it so powerful? He
didn’t say very much! Rav Eliakim Koenigsberg, a Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University
explains that really the idea of lighting the Menorah is not about displays of
our Judaism out in Town Hall or at the Garden State Plaza. Yes, the Lubavitcher
Rebbe felt very strongly about these public displays, and they are beautiful. However,
the real mitzvah of neiros chanukah is what the halacha calls “Ner Ish
U’Beiso”. It’s about lighting in our home. Just as the mezuzah stands at the
entrance to our homes on the right side of the doorway, the chanukah menorah is
meant to be placed on the entrance to our home on the left. The ner chanukah is
fundamentally a home-based mitzvah.
But if the goal of ner
chanukah is Pirsumei Nisa, about getting the word out about the miracle,
shouldn’t the real mitzvah be about billboards and advertisements about the
neis chanukah!? Why is the mitzvah done in our home?
The answer is that we
will never have an impact on anyone else by trying to convince them, by
preaching. The way the world learns about HKBH and His Torah is through the
actions of those who live a LIFE of Torah. As the gemara in Yuma 86 teaches:
When there is a Jewish person who lives a life according to halacha, and acts
kindly with others, does business honestly. When someone is a proud Jew in
their personal life and carries that pride and menschlichkeit into their PUBLIC
life. What do people say? “Ashrei Aviv Shelamdo Torah! How lucky is his or her
parents that taught this person Torah. How beautiful Torah and Mitzvos are!”
The way we light up the
world is not by our public displays alone. It starts by building ourselves in
our own homes. Because if we light our personal ner chanukah, in our home and in
our souls, if we are ON FIRE about our Yiddishkeit, living it with PRIDE, and if
it is reflective in our conduct with others, then we don’t have to CONVINCE
them of anything. They will see for themselves what a beautiful life we live.
Onkelos did not convince those soldiers of anything because of his nice divrei
Torah. They saw how proud and positive he felt about the life he was living.
This made a greater impact than any dvar Torah they could possibly have heard.
And if this is true with
the world outside our home, how true it is for those who live with us inside
our homes. If we live a life proud of our Judaism BOTH inside and outside our
homes, when our children see the consistency of our commitment to who we are wherever
we are, that we’re not embarrassed to wear our Judaism on our sleave, they,
too, will hopefully learn to carry that pride with them wherever life will take
them.
The mitzvah of Ner
Chanukah provides us with a remarkable opportunity: To show just how proud we
are to be committed Jews, both inside and outside our homes. And in doing so, to
provide a model of Jewish pride to the next generation.