8 Insights of Rav Kook on Chanukah By Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider

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