5786/2025
Avodah Zarah 8a records:
“Rav Chanan Bar Ravah says: When are these pagan festivals celebrated? Kalenda is celebrated during the eight days after the winter solstice, and Saturnalia is celebrated during the eight days before the winter solstice.
With regard to the dates of these festivals, the Sages taught: When Adam the first man saw that the day was progressively diminishing, as the days become shorter from the autumnal equinox until the winter solstice, he did not yet know that this is a normal phenomenon, and therefore he said: Woe is me; perhaps because I sinned the world is becoming dark around me and will ultimately return to the primordial state of chaos and disorder. And this is the death that was sentenced upon me from Heaven, as it is written: “And to dust shall you return” (Genesis 3:19). He arose and spent eight days in fasting and in prayer.
Once he saw that the season of Tevet, i.e., the winter solstice, had arrived, and saw that the day was progressively lengthening after the solstice, he said: Clearly, the days become shorter and then longer, and this is the order of the world. He went and observed a festival for eight days. Upon the next year, he observed both these eight days on which he had fasted on the previous year, and these eight days of his celebration, as days of festivities. He, Adam, established these festivals for the sake of Heaven, but they, the gentiles of later generations, established them for the sake of idol worship.
The Sages taught: On the day that Adam the first man was created, when the sun set upon him he said: Woe is me, as because I sinned, the world is becoming dark around me, and the world will return to the primordial state of chaos and disorder. And this is the death that was sentenced upon me from Heaven. He spent all night fasting and crying, and Eve was crying opposite him. Once dawn broke, he said: Evidently, the sun sets and night arrives, and this is the order of the world. He arose and sacrificed a bull whose horns preceded its hoofs in the order that they were created, as it is stated: “And it shall please the Lord better than a bullock that has horns and hoofs” (Psalms 69:32). This verse is referring to the one particular bull whose horns preceded its hoofs”.
Light after Dark
We can glean manifold lessons from this Gemara. First, Hashem embeds great light emerging after a period of great darkness into the very fabric of Creation. Rav Nachman of Breslov famously teaches that where there is darkness, light will inevitably arise.
Rav Asher Weiss stated publicly after the viciously evil Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, that something great will inevitably emerge. He noted that the Mishnah and Gemara emerged in the wake of Churban.
After the immense havoc wrought by the Spanish Inquisition came the Shulchan Aruch's composition and the emergence of the Chachamei HaKabbalah. After the Shoah came the restoration of Jewish sovereignty over part of Eretz Yisrael for the first time in nearly two thousand years. Rav Asher Weiss predicted that following this pattern, a similar great result would arise in the wake of October 7.
However, the emergence of light after dark not only depends on Hashem. The responsibility to bring it about devolves us as well.
Avodah Zarah’s Origin
Another point is that our Gemara supports the Rambam's account of Avodah Zarah's development (Hilchot Avodah Zarah Perek 1). Originally, all humanity served Hashem until it deviated and descended into Avodah Zarah.
Binyamin notes that our story teaches us to uphold tradition and reject the false notion that we can improve our Mesorah. Avodah Zarah's originators thought they had devised a better way to serve Hashem, but this led to awful results.
The Gemara presents the origin of the Roman pagan holidays of Calanda and Saturnalia, observed at the winter solstice. The subsequent, semi-Pagan holidays celebrated at these times emerge from these two ancient pagan holidays. This is an example of what Rashi to BeMidbar (13:27) teaches: a lie that does not begin with a bit of truth does not last.
The Pagan and semi-Pagan winter solstice observances stem from a legitimate beginning - Adam HaRishon's eight-day celebration of light after steadily increasing darkness - but severely deviate from the truth.
Chanukah
Yisrael notes the obvious parallel to Chanukah with its eight-day celebration of light after a period of great darkness, observed near the winter solstice. Yet, the parallel goes unstated. This omission might be explained by the fact that it would degrade Chanukah by noting its similarity to a holiday that descended into the abyss of Idolatry. Perhaps the unstated parallel points to Chanukah redirecting mankind to Hashem’s light.
Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik points to Shabbat 21b, referring to the Chanukah lighting time, which lasts until the Tirmodai leave the market. Rashi explains that Tirmodai are non-Jews who sold firewood at the end of the day. Thus, the Chanukah lights are directed at all of humanity to serve Hashem, as did our common ancestor, Adam HaRishon.
Conclusion
Atarah wonders what would have happened if Adam had not fasted, cried, and prayed so that the world would not be destroyed. Did Adam HaRishon err in his assumption that his sin caused the world to end, or did his Teshuvah reverse Hashem’s decree? Adam remarking that the cycle of light and dark is the “Minhago Shel Olam” indicates that he made a mistake at first. However, Hillel suggests that just as the Midrash (BeReishit Rabbah 3:7) records that Hashem destroyed prior worlds, perhaps Hashem intended to destroy this world were it not for Adam HaRishon’s Teshuvah and Tefillah.
Binyamin adds that we find in numerous Torah sources that Hashem empowers us to change the world’s course, most prominently with Yehoshua prolonging the day with his proclamation of “Shemesh BeGivon Dom VeYarei’ach Be’emek Ayalon,” “may the sun remain still above Givon and the moon above the Ayalon Valley” (Yehoshua 10:12). Such is the power of earnest fasting, Teshuvah, and Tefilah.