A Hanukah Message in Pork

2 Tevet 5776
Zot Hanukah!

Ton of pork lands in street on way to sausage factory



An unusual sight greeted drivers and passersby on Lehi Street in Rishon LeZion on Monday morning, as 25 pig carcasses lay strewn on the road. Nearly a ton of pork products were spilt onto the road after the truck, which was transporting the meat from a slaughterhouse in the north to a local market, experienced a malfunction.

The city's veterinary support teams were dispatched to the scene, and began collecting the pork products from the road, later sending them to be destroyed. The products which remained on the truck were inspected by city health officials. An initial examination revealed that the truck's rear door swung open while in transit, leading the carcasses to fall out. The cause of the malfunction was apparently a broken door joint.

Roma (18) who was at the scene said, "At 8:30 AM I saw the pigs in the road. At first I thought it was on purpose as part of some animal rights activism, because it was organized across the length of the road. It was a weird sight. People were walking by, everyone was in shock. It's not something you see every day."

This is clearly Divine Providence, so you have to ask yourself why? Some thoughts...

First of all, it can't be a coincidence that it was "25" - a number clearly associated with Hanukah which begins on the 25th of Kislev. (See more here.)

Also, today, the 8th Candle of Hanukah, is called "Zot Hanukah". It's the essence of Hanukah - "8" being the level above nature - the level of the supernatural. This is the level every Jew is called to attain. The gentiles have seven laws because they cannot aspire to any level above the "7". The gentiles can eat pig. The Jew can't. A pig carcas is an instant reminder of the difference between the Jew and the gentile - something the average Jew today very much tends to forget.

It was a pig that Mattityahu was commanded to sacrifice on the altar. Yishmael, as bad as he is, won't have anything to do with pig, but for Eisav, it's the meat of choice for celebrating his UNholy days, one of which is just around the corner.

In his book about Hanukah - "The Mitzvah Candle" - the Maharal of Prague wrote that four animals exhibit only one of the two signs required to be kosher. Three exhibit the inner sign of chewing the cud, but do not have cloven hoofs. The pig, on the other hand, exhibits the outer sign of a cloven hoof, but it does not bring up cud. This is inferior to the other three since this external sign alone indicates superficiality - the outer form without the inner substance. It represents the fourth and final empire which followed the Greeks.

Please add your own thoughts to the comments below.