Chanukah: Saving Others with Self-Sacrifice - Rabbi Yirmiyahu Abramov

[Music] Bruma boom Chanukah is essentially about the reestablishing of our identity we'll explain it's a great story told that it happened here in Israel that a an accountant lost his job he was fired laid off very serious he's got a family can't find a job month after month finally he sees in one of the local papers that the Jerusalem zoo is looking for someone for a special position if he goes maybe it's in the accounting department he applies for the job and he arrives there to the CEO of the zoo he walks in the guys and look at him and says okay you got the job you perfect what do you mean we haven't spoken who what's the job you don't know me said none are you absolutely perfect you see what happened the chimpanzee died and it's a big attraction in the zoo so what we've done is we've got the suit and you a perfect fit you'll masquerade you'll be in the suit and you'd clown around in the cage like a chimpanzee okay in fairness Espinosa he certainly won't be recognized so his first day on the job he goes into the cage and the kids arrive and they whooping the chimps back and they start throwing fruit and and and and bumpers and nuts and he's grabbing and diving and entertaining them he's having a ball until one kid throws the Apple and it lands in a tree now chimps climb trees but accountants ain't so good at that so he but the kids are coaxing so he starts climbing the tree as he reaches the top of the tree he reaches the Apple he slips he falls out of the tree into the neighboring cage which happens to be the cage of the lion so the lion comes bounding up at him so what does a good Jew do the last minute he starts screaming my israel hashem elokenu hashem echad the lion stops in his tracks and shouts burro shank avoid my hood and the next minute is a shot from the base if you guys don't stop yelling like in the fire us all so much for identity we're all masquerading but we're all very real if this is a profound idea with regard to Chanukah and everyone knows their Abingdon be admire at him everyone knows that the tremendous miracle of the war a handful of warriors overcame the mighty armies of Greece that's clear it's spoken about a lot but love distances there was another element of miracle the whole of amira Lowell a new had become influenced by Hellenism they were getting deeper and deeper into Greek culture and it was only this handful of get very high o of great people Matisyahu bond of it is this the small little family who managed to retain their complete integrity as Jews and they went to battle but also of destra how were they mosh spear on the rest of amuse row because once Mattie silver Bonner rallied themselves and they fought against the Greeks the rest of Claudius all joined in and fought against the very people that they were were admiring and getting influenced by their life philosophy says of Destler fantastic concept and the concept is that when this mysterious nefesh the deeper the mysterious nefesh when their self-sacrifice the deeper the self-sacrifice it goes higher and higher and higher and their self-sacrifice reached the very very top it reached the sure ish of knishmas Claudius realm all of a muse ro are all bound together in one massive neshama called the nish mask lollies roll and this handful of people with a mysterious nefesh and their passion is boho and for Tara small group of people they're mysterious nefesh was so deep it went higher and higher and the until it came to the kiss they are covered to the divine throne a maestro is part and parcel of the divine throne we make up the divine throne so they're mysterious nephesh penetrated the divine throne and in a sense this mysterious nefesh affected in a profound manner the whole of Claudius row and suddenly people started feeling different because there was now a completely new level of mysterious nefesh and it permeated throughout the entire of armies well and that's how people suddenly caught themselves or Eve a what am i admiring Greek culture what am I going into these Helenus well if they it's I mean soulless Turkish berkowitz cloudy Israel and the table's turned says Rav Destler one individual one lonely little individual who has mysterious nefesh for something it doesn't just affect his immediate circumstances it affects the entire Claudius role one person the deeper and the more profound and greater his mysterious nefesh so it affects the whole of Army's role so a little little somewhere who's most an F wish to learn something a little a rabbit and a lady somewhere who's most an F wish for the pillar of her children it's not only affecting her immediate environment and her children it's infecting the whole classroom because there's when it's deep it goes up to the Shura Sh of all and vanish Rama's and effects the whole of Kylie's room and we look around at a plaintiff nay you throw so many of them are so far there's such outrageous things happening of a simulation in to end intermarriage all over you go look into Tel Aviv Tel Aviv looks like a different city it doesn't look like this no you do sure atmosphere there how are we going to affect them how can we profoundly do something for them in our own lives if we demonstrate mysterious nefesh we will affect them the yahud can affect the rabbim in the most amazing way is the Midrash the tells of Elkanah Elkanah o'connor does great youth he detected that there's a real bad situation that had developed in um Israel the Mishkan in Shiloh was still there and I caught his ball whose presence was in the Mishkan and for some reason everybody in closer was too busy to visit the Mishkan and there the Mishkan was empty no one came and Icarus bow whose presence was there today hundreds of thousands of people come to the castle to the Kotel it's a it's the Zeta it's a Sharia that the left over and then in the Michigan was the actual divine presence the scheana was there and no one was going everyone is too busy O'Connor one day decided I'm gonna change the trend I'm gonna turn things around you one little single man how are you gonna turn around the whole of Claudius well who become completely complacent well Connor gathered his family mishpokhe toy bond of uber noise off says the midrash and he said come we going he also took his sisters and brothers a little clan of his immediate family few people a handful of people he says we gain to the Mishkan in Shiloh and they started walking this group and they started walking and as they came says the Madras they came to a town and of course I'm you solemn as me say or him so they want to invite these visitors the strange the strange group of people walking said come in this hotels with is our sannyas will will host you says no no no Barajas Merlin will sleep in the street says the Middle High star ear Marrakesh it and the whole city was talking was cooking what's going on here why is this group of people sleeping in the street and they came to me and said what are you guys doing why is sleeping in the street and on siddell Conner we're going to the Mishkan in Shilla it's barren it's empty maybe join us says the Midrash that your five families decided they'll join they'll join O'Connor and five families made the way to the Mishkan the next year Essaouira families ten families went and the third year Coakley says the Midrash Elkanah this brave courageous crazy guy he's gonna turn around the whole of armies row he's gonna change the trend is this Elkanah in your schools it was out a totally rational you you restored the glory to AM Yisrael discuss them in this was small you're gonna give birth to a child called small there's gonna light up the world smell is connect adventure errand it is in the schools of a courageous individual who said I'm gonna change the trend sometimes there are trends which are negative but you know what people say cool Omni Shoreham bye-bye it the Coulomb is a terrible yetzer Hara you look around the social pressure if it's the right thing to do get up and do it even if it's difficult and this is the story Oh Claudia Schrom I want to share with you some some incidents of mysterious nefesh in our times there was a very well-known Jew who lived in West Hempstead New York and this Jew his name was flamey goldstein Elston became a very prominent businessman he was a tremendous askin he was in charge of many many stalkers and charities he was a phenomenal person the real classic valley boss any Tyra cause Ashley me goldstein was there but there was one little quirk about salami goldstein he constantly was crashing you know what to crevices he was giving a sign he constantly used to say aye aye aye aye aye aye and no one could understand this and he was in the middle of a business meeting in a sophisticated office in Manhattan with with her whole group or other business associates and Shlomi suddenly start saying aye aye aye aye aye aye and this happened all the time no one questioned him because he was such a prominent person but it was strange it is a quirk this man that had many many times in the day one day his son Boris him got engaged see son comes to your father and his dad the first Shabbos I'm bringing my color home for Shabbos to meet the family no one knows why you keep saying aye aye aye aye but do me a favor we don't hurt to think that we're a strange family so just can you refrain for at the Shabbos it's lame his eyes missed it and he said my dear son sit down I'll tell you a story he was in a concentration camp as a young lad high-spirited group of people and they decided a few of the Hebrides aged young guys decided we've got to stay connected to rockness in some manner so we all learned myself to Baba kama at every moment will huddle together and we'll exchange ideas in Baba kama they started doing that and the Nazi guards Amash Sherman Bezique Ram saw what was happening they pounced on him and beat them mercy they were lying pools of blood and they said you you people are plotting against us we never want to see you people talking amongst yourselves okay they got up they tended to their wounds but that it's not we got a stable roof near so what are you gonna do is that okay we'll say to healing we all know a Pyrrhic each one knows the different pillock of healing by out there we'll say to heal him and these fellas walked around the camp walked at work muttering to healing to themselves again these vicious sadistic guards said they came anybody who was muttering something they beat them to a pulp you cursing us under your breath aren't you we don't worry we don't want to see once out coming out of your mouths what are they gonna do now they want to stay with roof Nia's so they devised the following week an acai and moan the not seem love to hear the Jews Zion moan we're gonna say aye aye because what does I I stand for Aleph stands for a verse a shame huge stands for yearís a shame you the second urine i stands for yee-hoo - em then again I left for the next i i i stands for a versus royal the next youth stands the Kaddish that's more do kiddush Hashem Brabham and the last one yes the UDA shall lokam imam and they all walked around the camp saying aye aye but what they were saying they was expressing the whole essence of Clara the whole essence of emunah say says my son I'm saying aye aye his son starts crying he says together because we're gonna build our home and I'm gonna introduce my colour - aye aye aye aye all the basics of Clara we're gonna build our home and mysterious nefesh I want to share with you another little incident that took place in the show there was a very famous ribbet the radish it's Arriba he was in a camp called Scarl schiesko never heard of it he was in one of these terrible death camps and in this camp that were ruthless there was not to be any semen of any sort of Yiddish kite certainly knows for him Nosa durum nothing certainly no Tilian pizzas no semblance of Yiddish kind and any semblance of Irish count was punishable by death the radish it's Arriba smuggled in a tattered volume of my sector Broca's of a Gomorrah and he managed to smuggle is in and in at night when these beaten weary Jews dragged themselves back to the camp to their banks to their wooden banks they waited for this the whole day they were exhausted out of their minds they were beaten black and blue usually but they sat down and they listened sure in Gomorrah one of the couples couples were usually Jewish traitors heard what's happening so he came with the Commandant of the camp one night and he burst into the barracks and they found the radish it's surrounded by the entire Bank by the entire group and they're sitting in their learning Gomorrah and Capo's screamed at disaster they eat lamb tomorrow at the gangster talk this Jew is all the time learning and the register said yes I am because without that there's no claudius room the Commandant is standing over there they were all expecting that's the end and the common dance is such a people no nation will ever defeat you this week's Perisher Jakov his name is changed to Israel he sorry say me Alec in Verdun because he had he was a fighter he was a struggler he got the clear of the Sarat to struggle against all sorts of forces all sorts of powers and of course Bach who said to Jakov your name would be Israel because the essence of armed Israel is courage is mysterious nefesh and that time you saw is gonna survive throughout the Duras throughout the generations but to holo and you'll always come out victorious when you battle when you struggle you'll always come out victorious so we can ask the question okay those are those days here we live in Baraka shame in luxury and comfort or disgust living in exile in usual I'm Eric reddish living and and such a rich wealthy life of Tyra we all living so where's I'm a serious nefesh what can we do for the cause because that's the essence of a muse well the essence is key Sarita we've got a struggle life mustn't be too comfortable it's the essence we grow from challenges challenges developed fine-tune our personalities so where is our struggle talking to a group of crushable ladies of course their struggles of course their battles and of course there's areas of mysterious nefesh I'm talking again in lieu of my wife I think my wife was gonna be talking about the topic of sneers it's an issue it's a Coulomb the shots are being called from Paris from the saloons of Paris the fashions from the head to the heels everyone may be covered up but if a person is calling attention to themselves with clothing from the head to the hills which causes people to look and stare it's a huge breach of sneers the essence of attracting attention to oneself with fancy from the top down to the shoes that's attractive ones that's one thing public for one's husband different thing completely in the privacy of one's home with one's husband as glorious than as beautiful as possible but to come to places group of all each ever told me look at the supposed to deal with Bali chuhwa told me that we're being moisten efficient and we're changing everything about ourselves and changing our lives and we come from this crazy world of princes and some of them say but you know walking in there from neighborhoods and a Shabbos or going to from customers sometimes there's more provocation in the is in the beaches of California it's a big mysterious nefesh every person needs to really really do our internal self set self analysis and you should know that one of the most central issues of a lack of solemn bias is caused by other people invading our space I could as bohu promises to every couple that builds their homes Vasu li mikdash the show hunty Bassam I'm joining your little family I'm moving in Vasu naming to skip shoot oh honey I could go who's living with us that brings broker what broker that brings brings broker to the home to the family to the Shalom rise to the finish of our Burnham that brings the most fantastic levels of broker but the harvest time says but there's one area if that's breached occurs both who departs this one there's a word as a time pays attention to these once in the whole of the Torah there's a lush and wysz of mayo forever I'm leaving because beau who says is the concept of air verse Dover is a concept of something which is not so new our concept of something where the home is not what it should be in terms of its nears and the dress is not it but it should be the shaft male forever I'm a boy or even boy if I could is both who exits our homes we need there enough challenges in today's day and age and society we need a Kurdish boy whose presence but he says Grover harvest over if I will perceive something immodest now what is the definition of the same modesty if there's any you know there's a chef I lucky there's a tremendous bounty of brought up flowing down to us all the time tremendous bounty of us into every family tremendously after - Maya and ruin is flowing into our lives all the time and this gives us the spiritual energy to build a beautiful Jewish home but it is the bill is the bill bull of the scenario sir Sheva if there's a confusion of these pipes of Scheffer that people are looking eyes on us or our eyes customer solemn or the eyes of men on other ladies this is a bill booth this is a bill bull of that sinner is a Scheffer and this will cause tremendous damage there's a there's a cause from a serious nefesh now carries our bias part of her duties is not just cooking dish cooking washing cleaning etc part of her duties is keeping harmony in the home keeping the home a pleasant beautiful wonderful place to be of tranquility there's too much anger there's too much tensions in our homes you know there's there custom pretty cute custom it's brought down ancient sources that when a person wants to get angry he has a special baguette a special clothes for anger so someone angers him says wait hold on hold on I want to go and put him like a pig and he goes to the cupboard puts in the bigot but this time the angers been cooled off a little bit and the iris that vastra be honest and I be she gives a fantastic mukurtu this he says a cottage borhu every time I'm Israel need forgiveness and they say you'd give emitters the thirteen uproot attributes which is a surefire formula for ask for could is both giving us forgiveness every time I miss Allah asking forgive for forgiveness Hashem goes and says bazzara cutter she puts on a pro fira he puts on some kind of a bigoted cover your hole he puts on some kind of a baguette you know what's on that bed on that bed is that you can earn is the images of all that Siddiq him and all the people who are my son fh and all the the and all liquidation the people who died in a college bar who when he perceives all of this and he puts on this big head so a big light comes out from our past from it's a dick him and the kadosh him and encourage both who can't but help himself and he forgives and that's the that's where this meaner comes from there's a very nice little min ago so that every time a person is prone to some form of anger and the focus crime rights that anger is prevalent in the home especially in pressure times area Shabbos that's when it that's when there's times of anger every time say Perry cou flam edema I told this over to someone it's a very short periods talk about Chevy Rockingham yahud someone said it should be pretty cool for You Ted now that's a very long periods about time you finish saying it but that's at these little as goalless but this is in our hands they are precious they're precious all around us the home must be a haven of peace of tranquility of Shalom of alpha alpha waves and that's really in the hands it's in the hands of the Aquarius of ice because there carries our biases the ikura bias the ether of a bias is solemn the Alpha Reyes harmony that's the issue of home I was giving you a talk yesterday on Chavez to a group of beginner ballet each other but one of the shivers they came and they were now neighbor and I gave them a talk and I was talking about the mysterious nefesh for learning this guy you're learning and i commended them he may lift your careers in America and England and South Africa and you came over here to sit and learn and it's fantastic and I was giving them a physic in this area and I said you know what a profound impact this has on Claudius Ralph and one of the guys puts up his hand as his rabbi in America I was a very accomplished student I have a couple of degrees behind my name and I come here and I can barely read what kind of impact am I making I'm sitting in a basement ish and I'm saying and that's what I'm capable of what kind of an impact am I making I told him a great miser he was a mice say there was a very great pianist the great Paderewski he was a polish pianist and he was world class and he came once to America pederast he's coming to America they took the Metropolitan Hall in New York City and tickets were going at $1,000 to hear Paderewski it was a young lady young Jewish lady young mother called Sally Goldstein and Sally she was a music lover Kelly had a five-year-old little boy called Joey and Sally says I want Joey to become a great pianist he already started learning piano so Sally bought two tickets two thousand dollars and she and little Joey in his tuxedo went off to the Metropolitan and she shined her seat she and Joey I got a seat and as she sits down she notices an old friend of her sitting just behind her so she turns down she starts chatting with her friend Joey's getting a bit Restless he goes for a walk he goes to explore and Joey walks out of the aisle and he walks down the aisle towards the front of the hall he sees the big door there Joey can't read it says no entry big letters show you what walks into the door the lights start dimming and everyone gets ready and Sally wait where's Joey but the lights are dimming unto the stage walks Joey and the audience gasps and Joey walks in there and he looks around Sally is having a complete fit at this time she can't say a thing and he sees the piano oh he says thought learning piano say he goes to the piano clambers onto the stool and he starts playing he knows twinkle twinkle little star plonk plink plonk plink plonk plink plonk and the audience is in absolute shock and at that moment the great Paderewski walks on he sees what's happening he goes over to Joey as his young man you're doing great just keep playing and Paderewski proceeds to start playing around Joey with the most magnificent harmonies and he's playing around and and he's he's harmonizing and he's a magnificent piece and he continues playing and Joey's plunked blinking away and Paderewski is playing and then the song ends he gets up takes Joey and he takes about you know the more all of the stories I said to this young man I can't even read I'm forever doesn't matter you just do your thing you do what you can do in your what you perceive is your pathetic puny little way but as you do it I could his book who's gonna come and he's gonna put his arms around you and he's gonna start playing the most magnificent music around your plonk plink plunk and we think what can I do for Clara how can I be much happier how can I influence I'm a little overwhelmed housewife I'm a little over one person what can I do don't worry just keep moving just keep doing because that's the essence of a Miyazaki's Sarita keep doing what you can do in your own way and I could both who comes and he comes and he makes the most magnificent symphony of our little plink plunk plunk ease and that's what Alice really is that's what we gotta do this was nauseam did Canas Nick all know me meet rhyme obese was not indeed Canas al it's all in the hands of the women and a chorus boy who's watching very carefully I'll tell ya great myself I heard the story from one of my fav roses his daughter is the social worker in Iraq and she told over the following she told her father might have Russa and he shared it with me firsthand his old lady told him the following story there was a family living in Miami young couple from young couple very poor but they were poor in many senses they were poor in the sense that they had no children they were married for several years and they were childless and they were trying everything and they were squandering the basics of their little meager panacea running to doctors and one day the great news she's pregnant after many years and as the doctors check her they tell her that she's got five little babies she's carrying five little girls and she gives birth to five Quinn's little girls healthy and this of course the press it's not it's not a common thing so that all the local press and Miami talk about their Miami Quinn's and okay you know when you're struggling for paranoá with one baby you gotta suddenly buy five of everything big time pernessa out of the blue a chick arrives in the mail big chick and lady writes I heard about your plight I'm a wealthy retiree and I would like to contribute every month bring up your children in the finest way I'm behind you financially wow what a windfall I don't even know she is every month the check arrives and these cute little girls grow and the family is living beautifully one day in the chick there's a little message I'm coming to your neighborhood I'd love to meet my little girls and she says is it okay if I come and visit on this particular day caused great consternation they're getting ready and she dresses up a little five cutie pies with all you know matching bows and ribbons and they all looking you know at their best and she arrives and she knocks at the door the mother opens the door and she sees the five little girls and she breaks down and she starts hugging him and as she stands up there's a portrait on the wall in front of her he looks at this portrait and she goes pale Jesus who's that and the mother of the quinces that's my mother my late mother she recently passed away the woman faints she revives and she says I want to tell you a story we were in Sobibor Ken's concentration camp terrible death camp a group of young girls we decided there were five of us from the same shtetl we decided we are going to come whatever happens we're gonna try and keep some mitzvahs Chanukah was approaching we've got a light Chanukah lift how do you like to come and collect and Sobibor it's just a world of concrete there's nothing there they figure no problem weeks we've got the tariff a little past part of our clothing will make wicks chemin will they give us margarine once every two weeks will conserve our margarine together to make one light at least maybe a few lights even but where do we find the base for the chemin in a world of concrete there's nothing else where we're going to put the chemin one of them has a brainwave says let's go it's sneak out in the middle of the night we'll go to the garbage cans outside the kitchen they throw away the rotten potatoes we'll take ourselves some rotten potatoes and we'll hollow them out and that will be the base for our menorah so the five girls sneak out and they're rummaging through the garbage can they get caught the Nazi guard catches him he writes down their numbers he says sneaking out of the barracks is death penalty tomorrow we gonna make a public hanging he's five girls that's it but they remember there's one lady in the camp slightly older than them who's a privileged lady she knows languages so the Commandant of the camp gave her a radio and her job is to listen to the news and let the commandant know what's going on in the wall so everyday she's got a certain listen to the BBC and other stations and then come and report to the Kommandant so she's going to access so the girls figured maybe she can put in a good word they come to her and they actually find it lighting candles secretly and they come to her and they big and she says girls I can't help you every time I've tried to intercede he beats me black and blue and he makes it worse for the person I'm trying to intercede for it's not worth your while sorry I can't help you little girls go back to the bank summers dawn and the little girls expecting that's it they wake up there's the appel the big assembly the whole camp is assembled there and their five gallows and these five girls in front of everybody mount the gallows but first of all the Commandant decides to give it Russia about thieving Jews and he starts raving and ranting just before he kills them at the crucial moment this young woman with the radio comes dashing across the camp and he sees her it means something so he sees her say stops she whispered something in his ear he goes pale and he says everybody back to the barracks sends them back the girls were saved she had told him that the British were approaching which wasn't true but she had told him the British were approaching and it wouldn't be good in his it's not in his favor to be having executed five young girls just before they arrive she saves these five girls that was your mother that lady was that courageous lady who saved the five of us it now becomes the turn for the mother of the Queen's to find when she revives she says now I understand the night before I gave birth my mother came to me in a dream that I never understood and all she said in Yiddish finish for fitness five four five you say five I'll give you five I cut his bow who is watching every move and he's paying off every little indication every little element of mysterious nefesh we just got to keep going we just got to keep doing we've got to keep being Meissen efficient any possible area and the payoff is coming a fairly fan fan okay [Music]