Chanukah and Chinuch: The Power of the Beginning

this Torah class is brought to you by Torah anytime.com okay good morning everyone to Nationwide I hope everyone's doing well this is our last Monday she before so that will be the subject of today's she uh khaka and um a topic that relates to khaka as well as to to um our daily and our lives in general we're going to discuss today probably the second most well-known question about khaka aside from the question of the B of why kanaka's 8 days there's another very famous question which is most uh connected and attributed to the but this question is asked by as well in and the original source of this question is namely we know that runs the world in a certain way that he allows the world to be disguised through a method called even though certainly is the force of all phenomenon nevertheless Hashem prefers to allow the world to uh run prefers to allow things to function in their regular nature and not to change nature unless there's a absolute necessity so the Jewish people are running away from the Egyptians and the Egyptians are on one side and the yam is on the other side so what could they do uh they have no choice but Hashem has to Hashem has no choice he has to split the sea however in in general the prefers to allow the world world to run its regular course he doesn't like to reveal himself obviously and therefore Miracles are only performed if they're absolutely necessary so ask Thea we know that when they search for oil they only found enough oil to last for one day and miraculously lasts for eight days why did Hashem have to make that miracle that the oil lasts for eight days so just use T oil so you say t oil you're not how to use T oil yeah yeah you can when the majority of the Jewish people are T we say t is permitted when the majority of theor is T so you say okay it's permitted but maybe it's better to do itar says it would only be a to do it if is means that when the majority of the is T the iser of Tuma is pushed off so if it's pushed off it's still there it's just pushed away it's better to do but we say if is then we should apply um we should we should have used T oil it's not even a hi to use tar oil so why would the ranam have to make a miracle and uh allow the oil to last for8 days when we have this principle and the says it's not even a hi to use the oilar another question so that's a question of another very important and I know this has been bothering you for a long time you probably have not got in sleep because of this discrepancy in the in when it talks about the carb that was brought upon the inauguration of the Mish the says it says and in when it's speaks about the daily bringing of the carbon it says why does it and in it says asks none other than the bris in stel that is the second question and Ruger and Rabel they both offer the following to answer the question of the this would also be an answer to's discrepancy from and it would give us a new understanding in a few other areas of the T in when brought so a fire came down and it consumed their and they passed away now their bodies are laying there dead in the mishan andu calls M and drags them out and M takes them out asks to in the what do we need Mish for why didn't elazar and isar just go in and carry out the bodies that is the question of tus says tus quoting the the you know why didn't go in because they're and they can't go in to a mess of course they can't go in they're from here we see cannot be from here we see from this story we see there's a why do I need to learn from the fact that didn't go into I don't need to learn it from a story it's a furthermore what do you mean they can't go in because they're they're is allowed to beame to the seven closest relatives says this is what the means you know what it means from here we see we have are allowed to be to the what the means from here we see that on the day of the inauguration of they have a of that's what the means not that we learn from here from here we learn that on the day of their inauguration the can't beame because this is a special day this is their this is furthermore quotes the that on the tells them do not let your hair grow long that even though are not are not warned about letting their hair grow long for their seven relatives however on the day of their inauguration it's different and they cannot let their hair grow long so from here we see a very important principle that even though there may be certain leniencies that it's permitted to rely on for instance a is allowed to be mat to the sh in fact K may be commanded to be matame to the sh nevertheless on the day of their inauguration the beginning they they have a special status and therefore they can't rely on any leniencies let me show you another example of this the B is went into is after wandering 40 years in the midbar they went in the day after p and they wanted to eat the new grain but they couldn't eat the new grain because you now to eat the kadash the new grain until you're M with the carbon so the gar asks what do you what are you the carbon from from from the grain that grew in your land the problem is this grain did not grow in the land of the Jewish people because it was uh the land of the cananim so this grain grew in someone else's land so the G asks in from where did the Jewish people from where were they M the carbon thean what do you mean from where were they M the carbonare maybe they were M the carbon from the green of the of the andu because that's also considered I'll give you an example you know it says that wanted to go into is why not to eat the fruits but to be asks what do you mean why didn't the say wanted to go into says and other say this as well already by living in the area of the so the already fulfilled he wanted to go into so from here we see that the area Jordan is considered so as what's the from where did K get grain the they got it from Maybe area Ru says thean yes in fact grain that grows in the area ofu is considered growing in is but it's considered growing in Earth is and the first carbon that brought when they entered is it's not M that they relied on this leniency of utilizing grain That Grew they they probably did it in the most ideal fashion and they use grain of proper so here again we see that the first time that something is performed and it needs to be done right without any leniencies that's why elazar and isar did not want to be M be even though normally a could be to a relative because that was the day of their inauguration that is why the Jewish people when they entered Isel would not be mock of the carbon from the grain that because that is a so we brought a few examples namely the carbonel Engel one of the alltime great minds now they're um republishing many of the works of Angel they published Al and my friend in Man Redman has a that is uh publishing many of the works of Y Angel he published the he published he published he's working on um a parish of of angel on his his famous chuva on shita and if anybody wants to get involved in helping out with the sparm ofel um should contact him he brings another RI an amazing RI from aashi inim the r Angel says very interestingly that the first carbon K that was ever brought was called the K of and therefore all future carban are given that name name why soash says look at number seven so again we see explains the reason why the first time something is performed it has to be done on a higher level is because the first time something is performed it's the root of everything everything that comes later is based on the original Act is is based and on the beginning and therefore all are called because that was the first K ever brought and again we see that the beginning of something is uh is considered the most important time and the root of everything likewise um a similar analogy the the Grizz the B says we could draw and extend and extrapolate to the carbon T what's if on any given day they forgot to bring the carbon T can they bring the carbon yes it's not um it's not the carbon is not however the first time the carbonit is brok you first have to be of the and then the if you weren of the then you cannot be says if you didn't if you were of the don't be of the but that is only says that's only if the was not inaugurated but was inaugurated you could offer it in the evening so from here again we see a similar concept that while on an ordinary day you could be mock of the carbon toet him any way you want if you don't have the you could still be but the first day you have to make sure that it's done in the prescribed method and you cannot cut any corners and you cannot do it under any mitigating circumstances and therefore says granted if the majority of the Jewish people are T they could have lit the Mano with t oil however in the times of Kaneka the M was defiled in fact the reason why it's called the says because they had a the was defiled and in the times of Kaneka they were reug dura the the mikdash and therefore the lighting of the Mana was sort of the very first lighting of the new Z in the B mikash so while ordinarily they could have lit the man with t oil but not in the times of Kana not when they were theik and when they were noting mikdash that was a beginning and the beginning is the root of all further Services of and therefore they had to light the and even though and even though regularly it's not even a to do it but the is different the same way could not be the same way when entered they could not bring the first carbon from the grain of the same way all future are called because the beginning is the whole future of something so in the times of Kaneka they cannot light with t oil by the way I once heard from um Weinfeld Rin flush on Avenue L East 22 that this could be a explanation for the gar says Milla that lived a very long life and went over to him and he said why do you live so long so they didn't know who RAB AA was they thought he was some you know nudnik who's coming over to a big Rabbi and saying why you live so long so they uh they wanted to smack RAB AKA so the policemen of the exilar they chased RAB AKA SOA ran up a date pom and he wanted RAB wanted to show himself that he is not an that he's a so he called down from the top of the tree if it says K why does it say I mean is that really the best way that Raba could show he's a what was R uh demonstrating with this question if it says why say and RAB Weinfeld suggested rabo was ask and pointing out this the of the of why in it says and in it just says and that's how showed himself as a so bottom line is we've given five examples of in the beginning of something you got to do it right and you can't cut corners and you can't um try to look for leniencies number one the miracle of Kaneka why was Kaneka necessary it was necessary because it was the beginning and the beginnings have to be donear number two why couldn't elazar and because it was the of their um selves as number three why couldn't clo bring the carbon from the produce of avard the reason is because um they were uh the reason is because that was the first inaugural offering of the um carbon and it had to be done correctly that is why number four says all carbon are named after the first carbon and that is why the first time regarding the carbon of the of it says so this seems to be a very well documented concept in LD that Beginnings the start has to be done in the proper way without relying on any leniencies however it comes with Frank and Frank sort of dismisses this concept and he argues that there is no source that beginnings and have to be any better and not rely on kulas um than any other time and Frank mes on by the way mes was put together by Frank's son-in-law renen is the father of the C current rash ofen and I had this I was learning to hear a from who by the way was um on the bezden together with Rebel Yash and he brings a question that a god asked him that why don't we bring so some say oh we don't bring because we're all so some say what do you mean we're all so we should bring car so this God said but if you're going to start bringing carbon that's the of the inauguration of the and you can't rely on that's what this God wanted to say meaning many challenged we should start bringing because so this wanted to say that to bring carbon we'd be inaugurating the service of the and we cannot do that because you can't use in the beginning says Frank this is incorrect you are allowed to used T in Beginnings the entire she of a the national she at 11:40 the whole Y is wrong and not that it's a waste of time that you came definitely it was worthwhile that you were here for the first 20 minutes he just dismisses everything we just learned today based on two sources number oneus what is the gar says that that there is an opinion cannot drink wine because mikdash will be built any second and if you're a you might have to do the A and you won't be able to do the a because you're drunk you know someone who's inebriated can't do the Ava that's what the gar brings an opinion K do we have any Kim over here on the zoom any Zoom Kim Michael Cohen whoa what a surprise that's by the way that's a convenient last name to have if you're a Cen pz oh right pitz is a Cen so there's an opinion in the gamar we don't hold this way but r p you know are you for this not that you never drink wine we learned that inan that right we hold your L but there is a de broad andus that we don't drink wine don't drink wine as so what even if the C he's drunk he wouldn't have been able to do the anyway why because his says so would not have been an impediment therefore should not drink wine because of the basement was built they would have been able to now they can't do i t would have precluded them no t would not have been not have precluded them that means holds would have been invoked despite the fact that if we would have reinstated carbon that would have been the of the so we see not like everything we said today because the gar says shouldn't drink wine because if they drink wine they won't be able to bring but they couldn't bring anyway because they're so we see would have applied even to so how could say that we needed the miracle because we would not have relied on tus would have relied on Tom so why couldn't they rely on Tom in the times of Kana in other words how could we tell a you're not to drink wine say I'm allowed to drink wine because I can't do the anyway now says he could have why what do you mean says we don't apply to sole has just dismissed our whole she it's a problem so I would answer as follows very simply doesn't mean you're not allowed to be rely on leniencies the first time you do a Mitzvah you're allowed to it's just better not to like the r says the says it's not that CL the first time their of the carbon would bring from the grain of the ran doesn't say it's a the ran says it's not probable that they would rely on such AA so it's not that it's user to it could be angle is not saying it's user to it just better not to but you can if you're up up the you know with your back against the wall you could rely on Tom and since you could rely on it we tell Kim listen Kim don't drink wine cuz B will be built any second and the B built any second you could have been even though you're T because we have we would have no alternative and we would have allowed you to be if not for the fact that you're drunk but we see we use yeah you know if we have no alternative we we use it but it would still have been necessary for to make a miracle because it's always preferable to do itar that's what I would have said to let's say defend Andel from P's question brings another question from look at number 14 ta says that the on the uh day thatu died on the day they passed away the saw was burnt the saw was burnt why was the the saw burnt because it was t as to okay the saw was T but so why couldn't they be the asks what do you mean but we don't apply to the first inaugural offering and this was the very first of ever so how could say so we see from here the leniency of applies even the first time again I would say yes we see it applies but it's always better not to have to use it but to still has a right to ask that why would they burn it since there's no alternative in that case they should have been M it okay so the bottom line is there seems to be Aus about this concept Angel Ander say the first time you do something you never rely on leniencies not even Tom or at least it's better not to Frank um challenges this concept but the subject that um I want to just expand upon is this idea that the very first time you do something you need to do it right you can't rely on leniencies so I want to share with you aishna the M says says one who learns as a child what is it similar to to Ink written on new new paper someone who learns as an old in his old age what is he similar to Ink written on erase paper ink written on fresh paper it lasts ink written on Old Paper it smudges so the S the has a few amazing questions here number one what is going on over here does anybody know how many times is ALU cited inish the answer is never except for Here We Don't Call Him Alisha Aya we call him Alisha did C A and he went off and he had uh certain uh misgivings abouta and he became the gar says an and we don't say his name we say even when R learned from him Hashem wasn't happy at first Hashem would not say over from R because he was learning from a until he was defended he only took the inner shell and he threw away the kipa so why we quoting say or the say nobody like rebi often codifies in in mishas he just brings a an opinion and he doesn't say who it's from and furthermore in we have the exact same statement from so we have many possibilities here but none of them should be quoting Alish we never nowhere in ch is his name mentioned so either say made yell without the or like or and the samur says an amazing approach what did Alisha do wrong the gamar brings various um critiques of aluya either he had um that he brought with him or he sang zani different things that Al did wrong ultimately he wasab and he was but famously brings that said in it says the end is better than the beginning that means the end is better finishing the is better than starting the M you know sticking it out to the end of the sh is better than just starting the sh it's better to finish something than just to start it and when when heard that he told May no that's not what Raba learned Raba learned a different shot in that P based on a story that happened to me and The Story Goes that a by the way a little trivia question who is Alisha B Aya's father right trick question avya when abuya made a bris for his kid and he called all the and he put them in a special house and re Rua were sitting and learning and their learning was so intense the fire came down in Shay and surrounded them and Aya said what's going on you're trying to burn down the whole party and they said no we became so immersed in our learning our learning became came so joyous so said this is the this is theis of T that my son should be a great Torah scholar like razar and RAB Yeshua and because his aspirations for his son were shal that he didn't want to have a he didn't aspire to have a to bring honor to but rather for his own and therefore since Alisha from his very beginning from his origin from his BR the kav for him were therefore he there was like a root of poison in his origin and it flourish to develop into what became known as a and therefore a says something is only good in the end if it was good in the beginning something will only be good in the end if it was good in the beginning but if there was some seed of poison of improper motive if there was a in the it will produce flowers of in other words Alisha not only taught that for something to develop properly it has to be good in the beginning but he literally was the living embodiment that something will only turn out good if it's started off pure and the SBA asks wait a second what's wrong with what Aya did Aya wanted to have a son who a okay so his motive wasn't pure but every Jewish parent today should wish that their son be a so that fire could come down on them we should learn and we should doer always would say were on such one of my favorite stories is Miller was once saying and after he finished he turned to the guy next to him and he said to him thank you for the so the guy said what are you talking about you said the not me Miller said no but thank you for being there because I benched better because you were watching me so if Miller had the Godless to admit that we serve hasem sh we all do it we all know it you have to be a God to recognize it so what's wrong with what abuya did the answer is says you're right learning shma is a very great level but it's not LMA and if it's not LMA the tell is protects from the only can offer such protection now since this was the very origin of Alisha's life for him to develop without being subject to the the instigation of the his father had to ensure that his aspiration for him was completely and because it wasn't he did not offer his son the protection of and therefore Alisha was now subject to theim and the the bottom line is Alisha didn't just teach that you need to start things off pure for it to end off good he was the living embodiment of this teaching and therefore says even though in throughout CH we won't dare say the name ala because that's not a name that we say but when it comes to this specific teaching that in order for Torah to be preserved on the heart and the mind on the soul of a Jew you need to have started to learn young in other words the teaching of it's not enough just to say it it's not enough to quote we need to cite the living embodiment of this teaching namely Al was the personification of this ideal and therefore Sam says this is the one exception to the rule that we cite the name Alish and this is what happened in the time of kanaa was inauguration of the M by the way you know we have this uh custom the custom is that we take these round items and even though they're loaded with sugar and with oil and they to anyone who ingests them but what what could we do is we are Mo to eat jelly donuts despite all the health hazards they provide but like all Jewish practices we risk Our Lives to perform them so my father told me a very important rule about them okay whether you like that that rule or not you know I'll let you decide by the way what's the reason for the Min says says because onah the M was inaugurated so since the M was inaugurated so if we would merely wash and bench there's no for the establishment for the rebuilding of the M but now that we eat jelly donut now we can make an and we we could be for the restoration of the says that's why it's called that they inaugurated the so since was inauguration therefore we cannot rely on leniencies now I just want to share with you how this ideal is relevant to every day of our life every day we get up in the morning and we wash until and the Raja says why do we wash until in the morning we're not eating bread because we're like who inaugurate their service of hem by the washing of their hands from the k that means that if when we wake up in the morning we're inaugurating our we want to start off the day in the right way because we don't want to rely on any leniencies we don't want to rely on any K because whatever we do during the day will be latent in the beginning and therefore thees tells us that when a person gets out of bed in the morning don't get involved in anything don't speak to anybody when you get out of bed don't say hey why you leave the window open last night don't talk to anybody you wash your hands your first thought should be about a thank you Hashem that you brought me back for another round thank you Hashem that I have a floor to stand on I have four walls think about because the the beginning of the day will set the tone for the entire day the don't speak about any from the time you get up until your first words are until your the he brings that a person can sort of use as a barometer what their spiritual level is on by determining what's my first thought in the morning is my first thought in the morning oh no that guy who have Tinus on or how am I going to invest uh my assets so if the first thing that pops into a person's mind is his business so that is telling about a person's uh identity however one should train themsel that their first thought should be about how am I going to serve today how am I going to be grateful toes today and when one is able to develop that their first thoughts in the morning are gratitud that also so that is a a mark of identity of who a person is I saw in the saer pis he says the first thing you look at in the morning should be the mza you want to offer your first thought your first words to your first glance to in a number of his far in the a not to be confused with the in as well as in he quotes on thees sanctify for me all your Beginnings one should sanctify all his Beginnings you wake up in the morning the first thought should be thank you Hashem I'm back here in this world not everybody wakes up in the morning thank you Hashem for another opportunity thank you I have clothing awaiting me thank you hasem I remember how to get dressed in the morning some people don't remember how to do it thank you hasm I remember how to get to sh there people they get up and they get lost because they don't know where they're going they don't remember where to go the first thought the first glance the first activity the first conversation kades one should dedicate that the beginning of says to dedicate the very Beginnings to furthermore the writes in the he writes a schoola okay so for all you schoola lovers out there check out this one he says this one is tried and tested it's D Mana that when a person gets up in the morning and he's mael the Yoke of T genuinely Bel sh and he makes up in his mind he's not going to pay attention to anything that pulls him away from Hashem then they will remove all impediments and he will be mat that day in to in accordance commensurate with the power and the strength of one's as first thing in the morning to that extent one will be successful in his T it's all dependent on that original cabala in the morning and therefore I heard of a beautiful cabala one should make in the morning I heard this from Pinas Freedman the Pinas he told this to me personally that if one is mael not to look at their phone in the morning not not mess not text not email not phone call not WhatsApp whatever Farid modes of communication you use not until after the then it's a you'll see good things on your phone but the point is you want to dedicate some people maybe they have a medical emergency speak to your personal it's a very good practice to dedicate the very beginning of the day only and in that way the rest of the day will be a day of kadus a day of t a day of tahara many years ago I think this goes back about 20 years ago in by the I heard AO from ringer rash the Mary Yesa son-in-law RBA something he heard from that the G says in when a kid knows how to speak the father teaches and the gar says very harsh words if somebody does not capitalize on those moments then it's dangerous and the the kazal speak very harshly not capitalizing on the the beginnings of a child's development and I remember of eringer said froma the point of this gamar is not to make somebody feel guilty if they didn't take advantage of it but the gamarra is uncovering and revealing to us the great power of the beginning that everything that will ultimately develop is latent in it of a person's Origins will set the tone for the rest of their life and of course everyone has free choice and there have been many very great people that maybe they didn't start off on the right foot and they became balet Chua and sikim however you want to give yourself the best opportunity and you want to put yourself on the best track and by starting things off in the right way without relying on leniencies that's why some it's so important not to make any compromises in the of one's children and grandchildren because that sets the tones for their whole life that will determine the the rest of their existence and that's the LI of that says we could have used T oil and but that was theuk that was the inauguration and the beginnings have to be done in the proper way in the proper mode without relying on leniencies without relying on Kos and if we take advantage that our then we okay thank everybody for listening um appreciate everybody joining if anybody wants to get um this sh is written up in our humble safer it's called the light and the Splendor published by Art scroll it's available 20% off on the art scroll site and thanks everyone for joining next Monday we will uh reconvene Monday same time 11:40 have a good week and thank you so we having next week right yeah if anybody wants to join uh Monday Tuesday Wednesday 5:30 10 minutes year um also this even evening in Flatbush Ben Joseph at 8:30 there's a she on if anybody is in Flatbush okay everyone you've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by Torah anytime.com