Transcript
Auto-generated transcript. Not time-synced to the video.
[music]
The miracle of Kaneka.
No pure oil for the manora. And then
they found one little container with the
seal of the high priest and had pure oil
to put into the manora. One night's
worth and it lasted for eight nights.
What would have happened if they had
found no pure oil at all?
The answer is they would have used
impure oil because that is permissible
in the communal service in the temple.
So finding the pure oil was not a matter
of lighting the manora or not lighting
it. It was lighting it in the best
possible way versus lighting it in a way
that's kosher
but deficient.
And why was that miracle done? Because
it was a response to the gesture of the
kohanim, the priests
who started a war to recover the temple
from the kashmanoim, from the Greeks who
had defiled it. Were they required to
start a war to save the temple to risk
their lives? No, they were not. But they
couldn't tolerate
the disgrace of the temple being used
for vile purposes and they started a war
which they had no hope of winning but
they could not tolerate the disgrace.
So, Hashem, so to speak, said, "You went
be above and beyond what you're really
required to do [music] in order to
respond to the disgrace. I will go above
and beyond what you need for the mitzvah
of the manora to give it to you be to be
done in the best possible [music] way."
This is a symbol for all of us. As we go
through life, there are challenges
and of course, one has to pick one's
battles.
And sometimes it's appropriate
to step back to avoid or even to escape.
But sometimes even though it's
permissible to escape, the situation
calls forth the re response. I can't
continue to live if I escape from
[music] this responsibility.
And when you do that, you do something
that you will remember for the rest of
your lives. I remember when the
beginning of the Second World War to
fight the Nazis,
my father told me that people
volunteered for the army who weren't
eligible for the army. They were too
old. They had many children. They said,
"We can't sit on the sidelines and not
fight the Nazis."
There are two million men in the army
and this one will be 2 million in one,
but I can't sit on the sideline and not
[music] fight.
This is a decision that can be faithful
for [music] a person's future. It's a
decision that has to be made with
appropriate consultation of those who
can weigh the alternatives and weigh the
outcome. But there is room in life,
there's a place in life for the sense
that even though I could avoid it, this
battle has to be fought. I think
everyone that goes through these kinds
of challenges, [music] one has to know
that the spirit of Kaneka will carry a
person when the choice is made
responsibly and he faces this challenge
which he's going to give his utmost to
overcome.
It's something which will build his
character, will build his family, will
build his community and will bring
presence into the world. [snorts]
>> [music]
