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8 Insights of Rav Kook on Chanukah By Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider
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great to see everyone this morning wish
everyone a
kanuk we're just hours
away until the very first light of khaka
so it's uh we're all excited as we're
moving into uh moving into khaka with
that what I'd like to do today is
something special in honor of Kaneka and
uh what I like to do is share teachings
from ru cuk uh and we're going to look
at eight insights eight which is an
appropriate number
we'll look at eight insights from ruk
and hopefully these will be a
inspiration and a uh and a h a nice way
to enter
khaka and I'll just point out the
following the rambam when he speaks
about the Mitzvah of lighting the ne
Road of Kaneka he writes that there's a
Mitzvah that a person has the obligation
that a person lights the candles and in
that way he presents and he shows larod
the miracle it's a way of presenting a
way of celebrating the miracle but then
he uses the term legot also what's legal
legal legal means to reveal the miracle
RAB salich pointed out based on this
rambam that ideally a person should say
something that a person should learn and
should talk about the the the miracle of
khaka the story of khaka around the
lighting of kanaka that it's not enough
just to light the manur but one should
share Torah should share insights about
khaka the story of khaka as one lights
the manur so what we're doing today
hopefully is a nice preparation some of
these ideas may be uh may be used if you
would like during the the next eight
days of kanaka to share them with others
to speak about them to share these Torah
during khaka and especially during the
lighting of of the manura okay so let's
begin and um we're looking at page one
on the
sheet ruk addresses the following in
this uh in this piece and this is found
inat found in his sidor the commentary
that he has on the sitter and in the
section of khaka the lighting and the
Mitzvah and the BR of lighting thead
Shaka and asked the following question
and that is why is it that we
sayaka you says I understand that one
would recite that or use the language of
a single
Candle on the first night of Kaneka but
we should really change that language or
that term it should beik Shaka as you're
moving to the second third fourth all
the way up to eight it's no longer a
single candle of Kaneka or single light
of Kaneka but you have many n of kanaka
so that's the that's the question that
he asks and what we're going to see here
is one of uh one of the very beautiful
insights of of cook in terms of really
what the manura represents and he says
the following what are the branches and
the Li the minora and I'll just skip
down to the third line uh in the first
paragraph that you have on the page just
a few words in he says that the lights
of the manur represent or tah or or ored
or
or or
or he says that each one of the lights
of the man when we look at the manura
what what are we to think of Sayes R
cook we are to think of all the special
qualities of Amel and we have a number
of qualities many qualities maybe even
within different camps of amrel that
they have certain Excellence or Mastery
or skill in these areas there are those
that are devoted to Torah study there
are those that are devoted to gura there
are communities that are devoted to
Simka maybe the I think of theic
community that that's an area that they
excel in there are areas or camps within
am Israel that are great ined great in
Ava but the problem is says R cook that
we see all these different communities
or maybe camps within amaso we see that
they're separate from one another and he
writes the problem is says Rook is that
we see these different communities and
the different strengths inam Isel as
being that there's a PUD that there's a
separation that there's a distance
between these different communities and
this is one of the very beautiful themes
that we have seen and that one finds in
the writings of ruk and the thought of
Rook is how is it that we bring Amel
closer together and how do we learn to
appreciate the strengths of every
community of am Isel so he says when we
first look at the manur we see that
there are all the different branches all
the different branches of Amell that we
have all these different groups in Amell
and they all seem to be you know there
there's some competition competitiveness
between the different communities
however that he says is is a mistake
that's not really accurate and let's
read on let's go to the uh towards the
Bottom now about let's go five lines up
in the middle of the line where he
writes aval so what's that yeah two four
six lines up right in the middle of line
aval AAL
redeem but this separateness and even
kind of an isol between the different
groups is not something that's going to
last
forever if you have this separation and
if you do not do not have appreciation
of all the different philosophies and
different paths within the Jewish world
if you don't see son of the the common
denominator between them and to kind of
create a Harmony then you cannot have
Holiness the essence of blessing
shalom it's the blessing of Peace that's
the greatest blessing where you have
peace peace within a family peace within
a community and peace
within and this is going to happen in
the
future when we have a uh an insight and
when we recognize that the truth is that
we're all working
together because all the different
lights of and we're referring to the
lights of mina symbolically the
different lights
in the truth is they're all one
candle therefore and here ruk is
answering the question that he began
with that we started with and that is
why do we
say therefore we do not say many
candles because what we referring to is
a great vision that we have forel the
Future Vision maybe a Messianic
Vision a future that is an elevated idea
and with the strength of
hemak we say n shh so what is rook's
answer he says something very beautiful
and that is even when we see the man and
all the different lights you know what
it's all really one light it's one light
they're all connected to one another
we're one people we're one community and
yes there are different strengths within
am Israel there are different branches
within am Israel but how do we see all
of that working together those that are
serving the Army those that are learning
Torah those that Excel inad right have
all the different communities of am
Israel but how and we must find a way to
create a Harmony to create a unity and
therefore the braa that we recite is not
neot even when we have many candles
because it's not nro it's it's not
separate even though yes there are many
branches but those are branches of one
unified hole that is the uh that is
the Insight of ruk and the way that he
interprets the braa that we make every
night so that is yes idea number one
please stem there's one stem exactly
right there's one stem that they're all
attached that they all come together
exactly that's the even though it looks
like many lights say R cook there's one
light it's one great light we're all
sharing that same that same uh the same
goal the same mission of creating a
great people okay beautiful that's idea
number one number two we're g to look at
eight ideas eight insights from rook in
the BR when we say the and when we bench
we're going to say Al
Al this evening if we have sit down to
meal ding so we're going to be adding
the Alan
many have asked the question what does
it
mean we thank God for the wars we thank
God for the battles well that's somewhat
difficult to say that we're thanking God
for mil that we thank God for war
interesting that in the in theic this is
the ashkan ver version in the sarik
version you can look at inic it does not
say Al it says Al
that's what it says
not
what's the Comfort right the comfort
that Hashem has brought us because it's
somewh problematic to say now the basic
understanding is what would you say what
do we
mean that's right thank you God for
helping us for aiding Us in the wars
that we won okay that's good
yeah
okay okay good maybe me okay good that's
an interesting idea as well it's taking
a stand that we stood up that mil so
there are different interpretations of
what that means what is the kabana what
is the intent of that so ruk speaks
about the following when it comes to mil
and there's one line that I want to read
to you from ruk he wrote a his classic
work orot and the very early part of aot
he has a section
called where he speaks about war and he
speaks about the significance and the
spiritual meaning of war and something
that we uh many have have been learning
the section over the last year last 14
15 months that people have have studied
what Ru cook has to say about war and
this is just to take one line one idea
and this will help us understand or give
us another insight into what it means
when we say h so this is the writing of
ruk from Hiser and the opening line
where it says Al on top there's a
translation
below when there's a great war that is
going on in the world that is happening
MIT K mashia with war and it sound is
like a surprising line there is an
Awakening of the strength of mhia with
war there is an Awakening to mashia now
what does he mean by that and one more
one more sentence from Rook
eight now this is a quote from
AP which means the time of zir has come
now what does it mean the time and eight
of zamir now what does the word zamir
mean so zamir means song very good zamir
means song Z ziros that we all know but
zamir has another meaning as well and
ruk is going to speak about both
meanings what's the other meaning look
at what he
writes it's a time that
we destroy or here they translate the
weeding away of tyrants zamir means that
we is is a cutting a cutting down that's
another interpretation of the word zamir
a pruning very good we use the word
pruning as well excellent zir so it's
zir that we are cutting down we are
pruning we are pruning away we are
weeding away the the tyrants of the
world that's what's happening at a time
of
war the the wicked ones are being
destroyed from the
world and the world is being perfected
the K hatur and the sound of the of
theu and we hear the sound the zir and
here that references to the song the
song of the bird of the of the dove that
is that can be heard in the land of
Israel so what is it that R cook is
referring to whenever we have a war and
we can think about possibly the war that
we're in perhaps the war that we're in
right now as well war is the worst thing
right it's the most painful it's a time
of great suffering a great of of great
heartache but it's also a time that
there's a great transformation or the
potential of great transformation and
light to enter the world that we're
getting closer says R cook to a
Messianic time with a War and why is
that because we're destroying evil from
this world we're removing danger and
dangerous people from this world and the
danger of terrorists and of countries
that are not only a danger to us but a
danger to all of humanity so it's a time
of cutting down and it's a time of zamir
as you said air also means Meo it's a
time of song It's a time of Celebration
so what is MIL and this is another way
of understanding what it means when we
thank God for mil mil means according to
ruk they were moving a step closer to
Redemption mil again with all of the
with all the pain and suffering around
mil mil is also a step forward and the
right kind of mil and this mil right our
mil that we're in right now this
destroying evil and bringing the light
of the Jewish people and goodness and
morality to the world we're moving
closer to a Messianic time so this sayuk
is how how he can interpret or would
interpret the
AL that the the and the milot and the
milot that we're that we're in in uh in
our modern time that this is a step
closer to a Messianic time okay good
that's a second idea from R cook a third
idea from R cook and and when we think
about khaka khaka is often a time that
we think about children and I know my
children are very excited about this
evening school is ending early today
throughout Israel as children are making
their way home they're excited about
lighting the manura about the gifts that
they're going to receive the khaka G so
the gamarra has a statement about the
minur and children which is interesting
this is look at what the gamarra says
this is we're on the top of the next
page this is Source number three it's a
gamarra that's found in shabas and it's
in the section that speaks about the
manur and lighting the manura and this
is daimar shabas rauna you see at the
top of the page per
shenin gimar
rauna some have again the gamar says if
you regularly light candles or the
candle and in some geara that's in
parenthesis is referring to khaka candle
if you
regularly light candles then you will be
you'll Merit to have children who are
learned
children rash says the following what is
that based on rash on the right
side what is the light referring to it's
referring to the light of mitv and Torah
and then Rashi says
mitvah shab when you light the candles
of
chabus and you light the candles of
kanaka or the Torah the light of Torah
enters that place that's what Rashi
writes so what does that mean that if
you have candles if you have the candles
of chabas if you have the candles of
Kaneka so then you have you'll be Z to
children who will be learned who will be
steeped in learning so this is what R
cook write R cook has a commentary on
the
gar and here he really picks up on this
term haril what does ril mean it's the
same word in English regular regil
consistency very good so he writes the
following this is his
interpretation a person who regularly
has candles who has
light a person who always has light in
their home so they they appre appreciate
the fact that their home is lit up with
light and you feel how difficult it is
when there's Darkness you know when the
electricity goes off or there's that
blackout and you're sitting there in the
dark and we're used to having light as
we all are so it's such a uncomfortable
experience like to be sitting there with
a candle with a flashlight and not
having not having the light that we that
we're used to that we become that that's
regular Mas below herel but a person
without that doesn't have light on a
regular
basis he doesn't really feel that it's
that uncomfortable because he doesn't
regularly have
light he sees light as something that's
just like an added bonus right not
something that you always necessarily
have he doesn't see it as something that
is necessary something that is
essential and says Rook go to the next
paragraph on the left side
Torah when we speak about light and he
interprets Hisar not really that it
doesn't mean literally the light of the
candles of manora or of the Kania or
shabas candles but whenever we speak
about light and that's what Rashi says
we're talking about the light of Torah
that is in one's home so when a person
has that light of Torah
tah a person who regularly has it a
person where that's just the very
essence of one's home like a person that
always has light in their home that they
become comfortable with that it becomes
second nature that you have light
there you feel how indispensable it is
to have that light or in this case to
have
t and the moment that you don't have
that light you feel pain right you feel
the discomfort of not having it
and the more Torah and that Torah
becomes such part and parcel of your
home and the home environment the more
that you feel that the greater love that
one has for
it that it's
essential an essential component and
says Rook the following R cook says once
a person makes that light an essential
component of your home it's not a
secondary thing that Torah is essential
indispensable to your home to the
experience of the home then it's going
to be transmitted to your children to
the Next Generation if Torah is
something that you just you know every
once in a while it's part of your life
if it's something that's just like an
added bonus Torah study and Torah so
then maybe it won't you know it's not
going to be passed on but that's the way
that he understands this just as the
light becomes indispensable you can't
imagine function without it if that's
the way that you see Torah if that's a
relationship with Torah and Torah is
something that's indispensable that is
essential to your life and to your home
your children are going to feel that
your grandchildren are going to feel
that and then that's what the gamar
means if that light is something that's
regular that's consistent that's ongoing
that's indispensable then it's going to
be passed down to your children okay
beautiful so that is a a third idea from
R cook we now go to we're doing eight in
honor of khaka we go now to the fourth
idea from R cook and this is
actually actually by a student of ruk we
mentioned his name a number of times RAB
RAB yakob he lived just a few blocks
from here in sh his b medish is here
we've quoted from his teachings and he's
interested in the following issue and
that is where is the Mitzvah of lighting
kanaka candles of lighting or the oil of
Kaneka where is the Mitzvah so the gamar
says it's
is which means that it's something
that's done in the home which is not
necessarily the case for other Mitzvah
other Mitzvah you can do wherever you
may be right putting Onin it's wherever
you are I just came back the other day
on a flight sitting in my chair on LL
putting on not easy to do that putting
on Fillin doing in that place but it's a
Mitzvah anywhere but when it comes to
khaka candles or khaka lights the minur
the kanak so it's n isubo that it's done
in the house why is it the house in
particular why was it in that place
that kazal said that's the place the
appropriate place and as we know people
are different been hug him some do it in
the window some do in the front of the
home but it's connected to the house
it's it needs to be done at the house
that's what the that's what the Ala says
that's what the gamar says so this is
what Rabbi Kap answers gives a very
beautiful
answer and he says we can read it here
this is number four the right
side it said in
name what is the man that we light or we
sometimes call the kanuk here in Israel
what do we light we're lighting a manur
or Kanya that is a symbol that reminds
us of the manur that was in the
[Music]
mdash and the purpose of theim what were
they doing what they were doing is
that everybody should feel when they're
in that place that they're lifted that
they're uplifted to feel like they're
Kim as well that we're uplifted
spiritually that every manur that that's
at the entrance of every house in the
Jewish
people wherever they
are you should look at your Min says as
if you're lighting the minur of the bet
mikdash
and everyone who's
lighting you should think of yourself
like you are a Coen these eight nights
that you acting like a
coash show and you're Lighting in
your bet mikdash that every home is a
miniature bet mikdash why is the Ala of
manur in a b because just like it was in
the beta mdash that's your bet mikdash
your miniature bet mikdash you know
there's a beautiful Rashi that speaks
about yak and RKA when they meet for the
very first time and Yak brings Rifka
into his tent so it says the following
this Rashi you may remember this Rashi
it says that he brings rivka into the
ohel of SAR IMO and I'm going to read to
you the Rashi it's the it's the source
right
below and he brought her into the tent
saho and behold she was like Sarah that
rivka when he when y married rivka he
saw in the face of RKA his mother that's
what Rashi
says she became like the image of Sarah
his mother and here Rashi says the
following during the lifetime of
Sarah that there was a lamp that was
always lit shabas shabas from week to
week and there was blessing found in the
D
the and there was a cloud that was
stationed over the
tent but once she
died they all
stopped RKA but when rivka entered the
home or the tent of y k they all
returned not sure if you remember it's a
very beautiful description of what it
was like when Rifka entered the tent or
the home of yak that all these miracles
came back the Miracles that were there
when Sarah was there and many point out
what were the three things that happened
in the house that there was a n that was
du what is that n like this B like the
bet mikdash that has the N khaka that
has the manura and you have the ISA you
have the dough what is that what is that
symbolic of the bread that was there
from week to week that's right like the
shulan in the that had the breads the
upon him in the bet mikdash and it says
that you had the Anan o and you had the
you had a cloud that was stationed over
the T what is that reminiscent
of either the or theor itself or that it
says that that was like a cloud theor
the smoke of theat that went uh that
went up from the from the
spices yes yes that's correct that's
correct but this is referring to again
one of the interpretations is the idea
that the that the home is like the bet
mikdash it's a miniature bet mikdash so
according toap the student of ruk what
is that we are doing why is the Mitzvah
in the home in particular we should
think of our home like a bet mikdash as
well a miniature a place of sanctity a
place just like the BET mdash where the
resides so too that is the Jewish home
and I'll just share one other one other
idea which is interesting just in terms
of bet mikdash and being reminiscent of
the bet mikdash so one of the minhagim
that we have and this is something that
we're all familiar with is eating a suia
suot so when I grew up I did not hear of
suot in America I grew up in Long Island
I knew about lackas right that we eat
lackas I really didn't grow up did
people grow up on having donuts and
having jelly donuts I didn't grow up
with it I'm not I came to Israel the
last you know 10 20 years so we all know
subot but I don't know it wasn't
something that I grew up with so I
always thought coming to Israel that was
kind of like something that they created
here maybe in Yuda in the shook that
somebody kind of came up with this idea
of the jelly donuts but I did some
research and where do we find it for the
very first time the mention of suan so
the rambam's father we all know the
rambam but the rambam's father mosha
benon myON so he was also a great and we
have writings from from Ron as well the
father of the rambam and in his writings
he has we have one of the writings he
says the one should be very careful to
keep up all the minhagim of the Jewish
people and I don't have this I don't
have the source in front of me or in
front of you but I just have it here he
says that we should
do that we should have the
sfot on Kana and he calls it a
Minon that this is an ancient minog so
we're talking about the rambam's father
going back 900 years and that the
rambam's father is saying make sure to
keep this minog of having suot on Kana
so we're talking about about a thousand
years it's at least the thousand year
old minog of having sufganiot and I'll
add one other thing why do they come up
with this idea of
sufganiot like where did this come from
of all things now we know that it kind
of you know represents the oil that it's
fried in oil that it soaks up the oil
and it's reminiscent of the of the oil
of n with the pan but why have all
things s like why why that you could
have pizza that has a lot of oil and and
you know that could be the Min so I
found the following I haven't really
seen this written anywhere but I can't
imagine that this that it's not part of
this you know part of the explanation
the gar says the following in this
is it says every morning that they would
clean the manur in other words you had
the light of manura that lasted all
night long the next morning they would
clean the manura there was the ashes
there was this suot from the the
lighting of the oil and the you know
what and the and the wick that was there
so it says the following I'm reading to
you just two words from the
gamar and how would they clean
it they would clean it with a spog now
what is a spog a sponge what's a
suia is a sponge that's correct a su is
a sponge it's a sponge that soaks up oil
they used a sponge every day in the
betam mikdash with the manura to prepare
every morning the lighting of manura
with a
sponge so it's not by chance that
somebody came up with the idea again
going back at least a thousand years to
the rambam's father who said that
there's a Min hug that's a old Min hug
going back hundreds of years that
somebody said you know what on Kaneka
we're we're going to light the manura
we're going to have aukia but let's also
have a sponge that looks like the sponge
that was used to clean the manura every
day to remember as a z to the manura how
they prepare the manura every morning so
that's quite amazing so when you hold
that sponge that sufia in your hand you
should have in
mind not only that this is very tasty
and delicious and that it's soaked in
oil but it is that or it's reminiscent
it's symbolic of the sponge that was
used in the beta mikdash by the Kim
every day to prepare the manura for the
lighting okay so again we have we have
the manura that's in the b in the beta
we do it in our house to remember the
BET mikdash and our home is like a beta
mikdash and the sponge that we use can
also or again the suf that we're eating
that we can think about this sponge that
was used in the BET mikdash as well
beautiful all right we go to number and
here's the
question the question is the following
yes
please ah so what I just told you I
don't have on the page I'm sorry no I
don't have the I don't have but again
the source if you want to look it up
it's
88b which has the that that's how they
uh that that's how they clean the manura
every day okay good now we go to the
fifth idea from Rook Rook about the
about kanaka so one of the interesting
questions about kanaka I'm not sure you
ever thought about this question but one
of the interesting questions that's
found the Ala is why we do not have the
Mitzvah of suda of having a meal on
khaka now we always have a suda on
chabas is an obligation to have three
meals on Yan we have obligation of meals
andur we have the obligation of suda
kanaka is very strange that we do not
have there's no obligation of a of
having a meal anybody know why not
because you're too full from the S could
be all right so let's see the way it's
it's no nobody I mean not no one there
are different interpretations RI cook
gives the following the following
interpretation why we do not have a meal
on khaka so let's begin here so this is
Source number five and here in the Torah
itself it speaks about the lighting of
the manur the beginning of
Bal B famously B is a reference Allah
the that the candles that the light not
candles but the oil are that they're lit
and that they go upward the PK
says when you light
the at the front of the
man that you have seven lights of
man as we know right our manur or kanuk
that's why they call it kanuk that it's
not the manur that we have eight for the
eight days of but the original manora
was seven right as the P says shivat you
had one in the center and you had three
on either side so what does that
represent the rebi of ruk his name was
the NV of Vin and he has a famous
commentary that make D and he writes the
following what
is what do they represent these seven
lights he says the seven lights
represent seven branches of wisdom we
have Torah wisdom but then we have
General wisdom as
well without having all the wisdom the
different wisdoms of the worldly
wisdoms T you would not be able to
understand many essential parts of
Torah it would be very difficult to
understand K things that relate to
Agriculture and mixing of different
uh you know grafting and he says KES
which is really a lot of mathematical
issues so how would we know those things
without secular knowledge right without
other
wisdom we can find a lot in the Torah
but also all the wisdom of the world is
necessary to that's what the writes in
order to understand
Torah words all of the different wisdoms
come to Enlighten us and that's what the
seven can candles represent with the
seven lights represent it represents all
different areas of now one other there
is a p that's found early on in the
Torah which I don't have in front of you
and this is the BR that Noah gives to
his
children and shame and he
says again you don't have that P in
front of you but the way that that's
interpreted
is according to that refers to Greek
wisdom that shame that it has a place in
the ohel of Shame and shame represents
the very Beginnings the very foundation
of the Jewish people meaning there is
wisdom there is Greek wisdom as well and
it has a place that it's brought into
the ohel of Shame it's brought into the
into the tent of the of the Jewish
people so to speak so here we have on
the one hand we have our Torah but we
also have the great wisdoms and insight
ites of the world and we bring some of
that in but the question is how much of
that and what do we allow in and what do
we not allow into the into our tense
into the community of Amel so here R
cook writes the following and this is
going again now we're going to address
the question why is suud why is having a
suda not part of
khaka here we go the last paragraph on
the page this is from RI cook and in his
commentary
of when it came to establishing the role
of sim of Joy
on the rabbis were very particular or
they were very limited or they wanted to
limit what we mean by Sim Joy on the
holiday of khah leot in order to
teach that we are not to bring all of
the joy and here he's referring to the
Joy or the way that the Greeks would
celebrate and not to bring that into
khaka there are certain parts that we
are to bring in from Greek culture from
secular culture but certain things that
are not that are not allowed
in and just one more line from
R in order to protect or to guard from
those who would be
mistaken to allow to take root R sh
yavan the spirit of yavan the way or the
culture of yavan of the
Greeks that's very physical be Isel into
the vineyard of Israel of the Jewish
people according to ruk why do we not
have a sud a Mitzvah sud because were we
to have a suda one might be mistaken to
think that we've taken that aspect of
Greek culture and they put great
emphasis on their meals on Hedonism on
the Aesthetics of beauty right that was
their contribution now there may be a
place for some of that but there is not
a place says R cook the idea of the
gluttony and the Hedonism that's found
in their culture to bring that into our
way of celebrating and our our Jewish
life and we want to I'll take your
question moment and we wanted to make
that distinction very clear therefore
again this is a unique and a very novel
way of interpreting why there is not a
Mitzvah of suda were we to have a suda
we would think okay that's also part of
that culture or that aspect of Greek
culture we can bring into our
celebration Sayes R cook the rabbis
kazal wanted to make it very clear
there's no place for that within Jewish
celebration within our Jewish life we
have our way of doing it but not not not
the Greek way of doing it yes
please
yes yes
we had sud on those holidays but now
when when that yes absolutely we we had
our sudo and we do that in a particular
way but when kazal wanted to establish
khaka they asked the question well if
we're going to bring in certain things
from Greek culture and it's going to
appear that we're taking some of those
aspects of Greek culture to bring it
into our kanaka celebration some would
be mistaken and say okay that that's
also something that we can adopt from
the secular world
yes yes absolutely yeah yes it's the
last it's the last holiday It's the
final holiday that is established by
kazal until modern day holidays of again
that's a whole question in terms of yat
but it's it's the last of the holidays
that are Incorporated and the question
was how to how to incorporate the
holiday what are going to what will be
the hot of the holiday what are going to
be the rituals of the holiday
say that one more
time meaning yeah in what
way okay that yeah I'm not sure how that
relates to uh not sure how this how they
how the shamai opinion relates to this
discussion I'm not sure yes
please yeah
[Music]
what yeah
R okay could
be yes
please
right you never got presents yeah very
good very good now I was thinking I was
thinking about this yes I was thinking
about the same issue and I think yeah I
think that's a that is a question
something that RI cook is is
highlighting in other words what is it
that is acceptable that we can bring in
from other cultures around us and what
are things that we that that are
unacceptable in in in a Jewish in Jewish
practice and a Jewish way of life yes
please yes you're right you are you're
absolutely right sudo are yes you're no
you're okay I no it's a good question
sud and that that is the question why
when it comes to kanaka and the question
is sud is always a way that we celebrate
it's the way we celebrate chabas the way
we celebrate a Yan it's the way we
celebrate purum why did the rabbis kazal
when it came to Kaneka did they say
we're not doing suda that there's now by
the way I will just point out the writes
that there's no Mitzvah sud the r also
by the way do you when you think of do
you think of sitting down to a suda of
having a meal no of having Kal of no we
don't do that that doesn't mean that you
can't do it so the raos Isis he writes
that if you make a suda on khaka and you
share Torah and you sing so then it
becomes a sud Mitzvah that's what he
writes in other words you can you can
make a suda and you can kind of turn it
into sud Mitzvah khaka but everyone
agrees that there's not an obligation of
suda now why why is this the only
exception the exeption to the rule that
kanaka does not have a suda this is
there there are different interpretation
but this is R Cook's idea this is R
Cook's suggestion yes
please okay okay it could be it could be
that that's uh that that's not ideal I
don't know that's that's a good
question the intrusion or that we've
adopted this idea of gift giving Which
probably is not it's probably not our
it's it's it's not
uh it
it seems that they you have you have
minhagim of just of giving GT which
seemed to be related to to T Torah and
it was a way of encouraging children to
to study or maybe to stay it's not even
clear like the whole gelt giving and it
was always gelt right it was giving
money it was it was not giftgiving it
seems that the gift giving we've adopted
from from others around us
yes have the line yes
very good Christ I think we have to very
very good
what very good so according to R cook
this is where he want he believes that
kazal the sages wanted to draw a line
wanted to draw a line that that was
something that was a major part of Greek
culture of Greek society the kind of
eating the kind of meals that they had
and we were not going to bring that into
khaka that's that's his interpretation I
think it's Unique I don't I don't it's
not the typical way of looking at it but
that's the way the ruk suggests his
suggestion why we do not have a suda on
khaka interesting
okay yes which which word oh is like the
word like a in a it mean something
that's
particular like a something that's
that's condensed
particular or condensed curtailed
limited uh c c Fe what's condensed
what's condensed is the Simka is the joy
of kanaka in other words it's it's it's
something that's particular in other
words that it's we're going to express
it in a certain way that there is Sim
we're gonna we're going to through Hal
and H that with the liting of manura
that we're going to express it that way
but it's a limited expression other
we're not going to express it in the
typical way with a suda as well it's a
more C curtailed Sim on Kan that's the
way that R has it all right let's move
on let's get to uh oh we only have 10
minutes let's get the last the let's get
the last three teachings in number six
number six um so rev
cook I think it was the year 196 1917
maybe both those years there was a
calendar that was being published here
in Israel and they asked R cook if he
would write like a little phrase or a
little motto for each month and they
produce they publish this calendar and
every month has a a little a oneliner
from R cook they put it together in a
saer called meim and it's the top of
page six this is what he wrote
1916 for the month of
klave and the question is what does he
mean by this this is what this was his
kanaka idea his khaka teaching habaki
which is a Godly or Divine
bolt that's found in the soul of
the that it was splintered into
Sparks when it comes together when it's
gathered together in one
torch it will return and be
revealed it will return and be revealed
okay not easy this is what does RI cook
mean by this what is what do he what
does he want to express so there are
different ways of interpreting this
there are a number of actually that deal
with understanding these pitam these
mots of ruk so the way that one way of
interpreting what ruk means here is the
following what who were the the Kash
were theim theim Kim are people of great
spirituality the Kim of course we think
about the Kim the bet
but they were also people who were the
theim they were the ones that went to
battle we don't always think about that
that the kohanim were the people that
also went to battle they were the ones
that were victorious over the IIM so
this is the Sparks these are the
different aspects in the light of these
individuals the Sparks mean that they
had different strengths now when we
gather them
again when we bring those strengths
together they will be revealed what is
he referring to he's referring to and
again similar to what how we started
that there are different aspects
different strengths within amrel there
are those that have great spiritual
strength those that have great physical
might and to recognize that those come
together that there's a Unity that those
merge together and when they merge
together then we have the greatness of
Amel and I was thinking about this idea
of hezer yeso there was an article was
written by raron lonstein a number of
years ago in the 70s in Tradition
magazine it was called the ideology of
hezar and in that he defends or he or he
teaches what it means to be a student of
Torah and a student of Torah is also a
student that is defending am Israel that
the these two qualities and this spirit
and these Sparks that they come together
and when they come together that's the
greatness of the Jewish people so I
think this is what one way of
interpreting what ruk is referring to
that we have in the the the that we have
the Sparks that we have these great
abilities what they bring to how they
bring it together and
says when we appreciate all of these
different talents and qualities and that
they're all holy within am Israel then
Yash then you have a uh a great
revelation of of of the power of amrel
okay good so that is that's the fusion
of the spiritual and the physical might
of Amel which of course ruk is seeing
the the potential of that coming
together as am Isel returns to the land
of Israel number seven number seven and
this the gamar says is when we had the
holiday of
Kaneka we waited entire year says the
gamar until they establish the holiday
look at the language of the gamarra this
is
so this picks it up in the gar where
they found the oil there was only enough
oil for a single
day there was a great
miracle it lasted for eight days says
the they waited a year until they
established the holiday and many of the
commentaries ask the question why did
they wait so long it's not that long but
why why didn't they establish the
holiday once they saw the miracle and
they saw the the hand of Hashem they
should have established it right away
the gamar makes this point that they
waited a whole year went by before they
established the holiday okay R cook says
the
following why do they wait a year is to
teach the following point and here we
have one line from ruk this is also
found
in because the war did not come to a
close and what what is he what does he
mean by that we'll see in a moment shall
hit that the ru that the spirit of the
Greek the Greek Spirit and the Greek
teachings is something that went on and
on even beyond the days of
KH the Jewish people are going to need
the strength of this inner oil the
purity of am Israel
that there's that there's no way that
the influence of the Greeks can touch
that
place Al kavum that it'll always be
protected this aspect of the Jewish
people what does ruk say says the
following that for other holidays we
celebrate let's
say it came to a close we got out of
Egypt the Jew the the Jewish people
survived there was The Exodus end of
story but when it comes to the story of
the Greeks and their INF influence on am
Israel that story continues on and on
now there's it's a something that is and
actually I was just I was just in
America the last 10 days and thinking
about the Greek culture and to think
about Greek influence so that's
something that and RI cook says it here
it's something that continues beyond the
Kaneka story that it's something that
Jews and the Jewish people will contend
with for a very long time and therefore
symbolically they did not make Kaneka
right away they waited because the story
of Kaneka is not over and it did not end
with the lights of the manora and it
didn't end with the battles where we
were victorious because that influence
is an influence that we are still
struggling with today and we were just
bringing that up just a few moments ago
the culture around us and many of the
what we would call Greek influences are
still very much part of western culture
and the Jew needs to hold fast to that
as R cook says so that
the that inner pure oil that needs to
offset that needs to stand firm to stand
up against that those influences
yes very good very good yeah very
nice the Miracles of those of that time
and today we need those Miracles today
and we also need as you were pointing
out very beautifully the the influence
right that impact is still something
that we that we are contending with in
our society in Western culture in
America and in and in Israel today okay
beautiful so let's go to one last
teaching the eighth teaching that we
have from ruk and here he raises the
following question now when the when the
Jews entered the betam
mikdash we know that they found the
pakan every all of the oil was destroyed
they found miraculously they found that
one jug of oil some say that that also
was a miracle that they found that jug
of oil and they lit the manura now what
manura did they light I think for many
of us we're under the impression that
they lit the manura the manura was there
they lit the beautiful golden manura but
the gamarra and other sources say the
manora was not there they destroyed
everything right they destroyed the
pakam and you think that they left the
manura that the manura was there so what
did they light so the gamar says that
they were that they actually took one
opinion is that they took the spears
that they had and they they fashioned
the manura out of the Spears and with
that that was the manura again I don't
think that's the way we usually think
about the lighting manura we think about
the beautiful manura that they lit the
manura but the gamar says that they the
manura was not present that they had to
make a manura they had to Fashion a
manura so R cook says the question that
he asks is why is it that the miracle
was only a miracle of the oil and why
didn't Hashem like provide a miracle
around the manura as well I don't know
maybe that they would find the manur
maybe a miraculous manur would appear
but the that's the question that he
asked which is interesting let's look at
the the language of Riv cook so this is
actually from a saor called schot raay
these were talks that ruuk gave at
shalis these were well-known gatherings
in his home where he had all different
people from different walks of life they
would come and sit with him at chalasis
where he would teach and this is one of
the teachings that he gave
over and he writes the
following he says you can ask the
following
question that the miracle was with the
oil but there was no Miracle around the
Min
itself that they didn't find manur where
they would have the hedra Mitzvah the
beautiful Mitzvah of lighting with
itself it says in
the that they made
theel they took the spears the spears
that they used in the war and they built
a manura they made a manur on the
spot in one opinion says that they made
a wooden manura so the gamar says that
the manura was not there that they had a
fashion manura either that are Spears or
they took some wood and they built on
the SP spot they built a manura and
that's manura that they use for that
became the miraculous you know with the
miraculous uh oil but Rook says why is
it the the miracle happened with the oil
and there's no Miracle with the manura
itself so this is the answer that he
gives a more spiritual answer we'll see
this is this really touches on one of
the one of the main teachings of ruk om
you that the very essence or the
foundation of the miracle
is to teach us the Holiness that's found
within the spirit
of and that uplifts the physical part
of and it's not contingent it doesn't
rely on the on the physical part or the
the physical
makeup and there's no way that um that
any
other culture or any other people can
blot out that special Spirit of am
Israel so ruk says the following ruk
says what does it represent it
represents the spirit of am Isel and
even though the physical makeup of am
Isel and that's the manura even though
that was not ideal that didn't have
hedor that didn't have Beauty but the
beauty itself of the very essence and
that's the oil that there was Holiness
in that now what is Ruff cook referring
to what does Ruff cook mean by that the
way that I understand Ruff cook and I
think it's it's brought here as well
that this is one of the major questions
that was being addressed at in R Cook's
life and in his lifetime and that is
that the Jews that were returning to the
land of Israel and were building this
country they were not religious Jews
many of them were anti-religious and
people were saying to R cook well how do
you see this as a as a great moment in
Jewish history when you have people that
are don't believe in Hashem that are not
keeping chabas not keeping kosher and
they're building the nation they're
building this land how do we see that as
something that's holy how do we see that
is something that is the hand of God and
R cook said okay it may be true that
they do not have Holiness even though he
also argues for their Holiness maybe it
doesn't appear that they have Holiness
but the fact that there is Holiness in
am Israel that at the core of our nation
at the and he would say at the core of
every Jew that's coming back is really a
love for the land and love for the
people that's the Holiness of the oil
that that ultimately will bring Holiness
to the to this Enterprise of building
the land of Israel uh he gave a famous
mush he said that when the when the
mishan was being built the Kesh kadash
we know the Kesh kadash who can enter
the Kesh kashim the holy of holies
there's only one person the Coen can
enter on yum Kipper at the holiest time
but when they were building the Kesh
kadash and building the mishan who was
inside The KES
kadash just what just everyone whoever
it was that was assigned to build it
whoever was there who was assigned to
building was building it they were
inside The KES kadash so he said that's
true were returning to the land they are
building this nation okay they're not
the they're not the Coen they're not the
Coen they're not the Kim but they're
building It ultimately there's going to
be Holiness that's going to be infused
it's just a matter of time and here R
cook says that's the oil the oil
represents the very essence of am Isel
the very essence of the Jew okay the
manura doesn't have that Hur that's it's
not necessary I mean that it'll it'll
come around we'll be able at this point
we take the we take the metal Spears and
we build a manura we take some wood and
we build a manura but the fact it's the
oil itself that's the very essence and
ultimately that's going to that's going
to be the defining defining feature
defining character of our nation and
it'll be Sanctified R Cooks believe that
he believe it's just a matter of time as
we come back to Israel the Jewish Nation
settle in Israel we're going to sanctify
the nation and the land of Israel yes
quickly you take a
yes
religious my brother-in-law I keep
beautiful
beautiful beautiful beautiful one more
comment and then we'll just close
yes
yes that's true very good very good good
point okay I'll just I'll just I'll end
well he doesn't
say yeah da yeah there's a minute of
having Dairy based on Yu de and that's
uh no I didn't find anything in rof cook
about that in particular now that I know
of one last comment we'll end with this
so somebody asked rev cook who is on the
highest level of the spiritual ladder
that's the question who and like you
just address the question who's on the
highest level of the spiritual ladder so
of cook says it depends on which which
direction you are moving on the ladder
you could be at a very low place on the
ladder but if you're moving upward if
you're moving upward then you're moving
in a holy D that person is very holy you
could be in a very high place place but
if you're not going upward if you're
moving down so you're not such a holy
person so it's all it's as a question
the question is just simply in which
direction are we moving are we moving
upward little by little and that he says
is what hill says about the lighting of
Thea
males that a Jew is always to move step
by step little by little that we're
moving closer and closer to Hashem to
our
vem um and with that we'll close I want
to just wish everyone a Kan everyone
should have a wonderful khaka we should
all be blessed that it should be a time
of Joy a time of sim a time of nim of
Miracles we pray that we should have
that our mil should be a mil of that
will bring us closer as ruk says closer
to Messiah and closer to a time of the
ultimate Redemption of
G
everyone e