As Chanukah is around the corner, it seems an auspicious time to return to Maharal’s classic Ner Mitzvah, as it concerns Chanukah but chiefly as it analyzes the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel. These dreams can be found in the second and the seventh chapters of The Book of Daniel.
The fourth, most terrible, beast Nebuchadnezzar envisions is generally associated with the kingdom of Edom and, thus, the descendants of Esav, who figures prominently in our parsha this week. In the dream of Daniel, the beast has teeth of iron, but in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, the statue has feet of iron. So iron is a persistent theme for this fourth empire – associated with Edom, Rome, and by extension, Esav, their progenitor. A fascinating detail, which not surprisingly is usually lost on gentile exegetes, is how the beast that was Rome can be the same beast that must be overcome at the end of days before the King of Israel can regain his sovereignty. This oversight is unsurprising, in part because most of the gentiles who are interested enough in the Book of Daniel to study it carefully still worship the god of Rome, so they tend to misidentify their proper place in this narrative.
But for us, the Children of Israel, the destruction of the Second Beit HaMikdash at the hands of Rome is still a raw memory, and we are still enduring the long exile that began on that day. For us, the empire of Rome has persisted for two thousand years, and we are eagerly awaiting the day of its upheaval which Daniel prophesied thousands of years ago.
Maharal explains that the kingdom of Edom is associated with iron because iron is used to destroy all other materials when it is turned into tools and machines. The iron doesn’t only trample or destroy – it cuts and grinds until the substance has been reduced and transformed beyond recognition. Thus, for example, Maharal explains that the first and the fourth empires had different motivations for destroying the Beit HaMikdash: The Babylonians did it because they wished to conquer and subjugate Israel, while the Romans were driven by a desire first and foremost to destroy and obliterate.
Maharal also explains that the first three kingdoms are all absorbed into the fourth and lost therein, such that each, in its time, stands on its own, with its own attributes, while the fourth kingdom embodies all those which preceded it in addition to its own qualities. This is also attributable to the character and the will of Rome which seeks to totalize its rule and bring everything else under its control or else destroy it. The fourth kingdom rules not only by brute force, which of necessity it brings to bear with the iron of its teeth and its war machine, but it also uses the iron of the scalpel and the machine to outsmart and compel everyone who would oppose it. From the perspective of Nebuchadnezzar, the triumph of these iron feet is truly complete, and none can oppose it until a stone comes from outside his perspective to bring about its undoing.
In Daniel’s dream, it is much more explicit that a human king will arise to defeat all the great beasts of history. This, of course, is what we celebrate on Chanukah – not only the victory over Hellenism and over the erosion of Torah observance or commitment to mitzvot, but also our victory over those who seek our destruction. Whether it is Babylon, Persia, Greece, or Rome, all our enemies are doomed ultimately to the same fate. The four empires will all fall and the light of the Menorah will fill the world at last.