The sixth candle of Hanukkah invariably coincides with Rosh Chodesh (The start of the new Hebrrwe month) Tevet. It will still be Rosh Chodesh for the seventh candle as well, if Kislev has 30 days (which it does in about 73% of years); but if Kislev has only 29 days (as it does this year 5781), then only the sixth candle coincides with Rosh Chodesh Tevet.
This year, the month of Tevet begins on Tuesday night, as we light the sixth candle. On Wednesday morning we will read from two Torah-scrolls: three men are called up to read the standard Rosh Chodesh reading (Numbers 28:1-15), then a fourth is called up for the Hanukkah reading from the second Torah-scroll (Numbers 7:42-47). And after the Torah-readings for Rosh Chodesh and Hanukkah, we will then say the Musaf (the Additional Service) for Rosh Chodesh.
Now the liturgy for Rosh Chodesh Tevet is unusual; and here, I focus specifically on Hallel, Psalms 113-118, King David’s ecstatic celebration of our relationship with G-d, which we recite on the Festivals and on Rosh Chodesh immediately after the Amidah of the Morning Service.
We recite the complete Hallel on the first day of Pesach (in the Diaspora, on the first two days), on Shavuot (in the Diaspora both days), on the seven days of Sukkot and on Sh’mini Atzeret for a total of eight days (in the Diaspora nine days), and onall eight days of Hanukkah.
On the final six days of Pesach and on most days of Rosh Chodesh, we recite an abbreviated version of Hallel (“Half-Hallel”), in which we omit the first 11 verses of Psalm 115 and the first 11 verses of Psalm 116.
It is Rosh Chodesh that interests us here. Because though we recite the abbreviated version of Hallel on most days of Rosh Chodesh, there are two exceptions.
-The first exception is Rosh Chodesh Tishrei, which is of course Rosh Hashanah. On Rosh Hashanah we do not say Hallel at all: “Is it possible, while the King sits on the Throne of Judgement, with the Books of Life and the Books of Death open before Him, for Israel to sing songs before Him?!” (Rosh Hashanah 32b, Arachin 10b).
-The second exception is Rosh Chodesh Tevet on which, since it falls during Hanukkah, we say complete Hallel.
I suggest that these two exceptions are connected. On Rosh Chodesh Tishrei (i.e. Rosh Hashanah) we did not recite Hallel at all, so there was a Hallel missing from the Rosh Chodesh days.
And we make up for this missing Rosh Chodesh Hallel during Hanukkah, when we recite the complete Hallel (not just the Half-Hallel) on Rosh Chodesh Tevet.
And this sheds new light on the connection between Rosh Hashanah and Hanukkah.
The Talmud records the teaching of Rabbi Yochanan, transmitted via Rabbi Kruspedai:
“Three Books are opened on Rosh Hashanah: One of the completely wicked, one of the completely righteous, and one of the intermediate. The completely righteous are written and sealed immediately for life; the completely wicked are written and sealed immediately for death; and the intermediate remain suspended from Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur. If they are vindicated in judgement they are then written for life, if they are not vindicated in judgement, they are written for death” (Rosh Hashanah 16b).
Nevertheless, according to Kabbalah, even Yom Kippur is not the final judgement:
“If his repentance vindicates him but it is not absolutely complete, then his judgement is suspended until the final day of the Gathering, which is the eighth day of the Festival [i.e. Sh’mini Atzeret]” (Zohar, Volume 1, Vayechi 220a).
So the judgment which begins on Rosh Hashanah is finally sealed only on Sh’mini Atzeret.
But the Hassidic masters of more recent generations teach that G-d’s mercy delays final judgment even more, until Hanukkah.
There is a clear logic in this: the eight days of Hanukkah parallel the eight days of Sukkot/Sh’mini Atzeret, so if G-d delays His final judgement to Sh’mini Atzeret, then He can also delay it to its equivalent, the eighth day of Hanukkah.
To make this idea particularly vivid, let us attempt to picture Rosh Hashanah in the year 3596 (165 B.C.E.):
The Maccabean Revolt has already been raging for two-and-a-half years. The Maccabean forces have won impressive victories over the occupying Seleucid Empire in Wadi Haramieh, near Shiloh, approximately 30 km (18 miles) due north of Jerusalem; in Beit Horon, 15 km (9 miles) north-west of Jerusalem; and in Emmaus, 24 km (15 miles) west and slightly north of Jerusalem.
They have also defeated Seleucid forces in countless hit-and-run guerrilla raids.
And now, as the new year 3596 dawns, they are beginning to close in on Jerusalem, still under complete Seleucid domination.
On Rosh Hashanah itself, they no doubt pray fervently for continued victories and ultimate success in their War of Independence. Hiding in caves in the Judean mountains, living as fugitives in their own country, they are already planning to attack Jerusalem quite soon.
Many – too many – of their comrades have already been killed in combat. No one knows who will be the next to fall. They believe that this day, Rosh Hashanah 3596, G-d judges and decrees who will live and who will die over the coming year, who at the end of his natural life and who before his natural time, who by water and who by fire, who by sword and who by wild beast, who will be at peace and who will be persecuted, who will be humiliated and who will be exalted.
Rosh Hashanah comes and goes, Yom Kippur comes and goes, Sukkot and Sh’mini Atzeret come and go…and the battles continue, the vicious Seleucid persecution continues, no one knows from one day to the next, from one hour to the next, who will live and who will die…
And then, at last, they join battle in Jerusalem. The horses trample, the swords clash, the arrows fly – and on the 25th of Kislev, almost three months after Rosh Hashanah, they capture the Holy Temple!
Only now, as they march triumphantly into the newly-liberated Holy Temple, can they look back to last Rosh Hashanah with retrospective confidence: G-d had, indeed, decreed them victory this year! The sins of the nation can now be atoned for properly, for the first time in three years they can bring sacrifices.
Hanukkah has indeed become the final stage of forgiveness, the odyssey of repentance which began with Rosh Hashanah.
The Sages of the generation decree that every year henceforth, we will commemorate the Maccabean victory for eight days, beginning on the 25th of Kislev, singing the complete Hallel every day for eight days.
This will inevitably include Rosh Chodesh Tevet, whether one day or two.
The Hallel which has been missing, lacking from our liturgy since Rosh Hashanah, is now compensated for on Rosh Chodesh Tevet, the Rosh Chodesh which coincides with Hanukkah.
Hanukkah sameach and chodesh tov!