Chanukah and the Crown of a Good Name: Actualizing Your Potential

Rabbi Zweig opens by asking what distinguished the Greek persecution from earlier attacks. The Babylonians forced Jews to perform idolatry; the Greeks demanded Jews write "I have no share in the God of Israel" on a bull's horn. He suggests a contemporary archaeological interpretation: horns were used as baby bottles, so the Greeks wanted even infants indoctrinated from birth into godlessness. But this raises the question: what was uniquely threatening about the Greek approach that differed from Nebuchadnezzar's compulsion to bow to idols? The answer lies in understanding the menorah, Chanukah (חנוכה)'s central symbol. The Mishna teaches that the Jewish people have three crowns: the crown of Torah (תורה) (represented by the Aron), the crown of Kehuna/priesthood (the golden altar where incense was offered), and the crown of Malchus/sovereignty (the table of showbread—a king's role is to feed his people, reflected in the fact that King Dovid's lineage traces to Bethlehem, "house of bread"). Yet the Mishna concludes that "the crown of a good name (Kesser Shem Tov) is greater than all of them." The Midrash identifies the menorah, whose lights form a crown, as representing this crown of a good name. But this seems to create four crowns, contradicting the Mishna's statement that there are only three.