Dear Friend,
Remember learning as a kid how bats are blind, and how they fly around using an amazing anatomical radar mechanism built into their heads? The truth is, of course, that bats see well enough, and that their echolocation system (which actually works more like sonar than radar) is an extra ability they’re blessed with.
But imagine you still believed that. And imagine a bat lecturing a rabbit on the superiority of radar over eyesight as a navigational system. His lecture is so logical, complex and eloquent that the bat almost convinces the poor rabbit to close his eyes and give up seeing altogether. But as the rabbit walks to the radar store to purchase a system for himself, the simple truth hits him: “Wait a minute. The bat is really convincing. But gosh, things are so lovely and so real in the sunlight!”
This is just a little fable to keep in mind this Chanukah, when we celebrate the Maccabees’ victory over the Greek regime that wanted to impose its worldview on the Jews of ancient Israel. Whenever you hear the word “Greek,” please think of the bat. Think of how colorless, cold and crepuscular the world would be without the light of the Torah.
Michael Chighel,
on behalf of the Chabad.org Editorial Team.
