Chanukah: The Secret of Us

[Music] I'd like to share with you an idea on Kaneka that I think could be eye openening and I want to begin with a quote and it's a pretty famous quote but it's very timely in 1897 Mark Twain wrote of the Jews if the statistics are right the Jews constitute but 1% of the the human race it suggests a nebulous dim puff of Stardust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way properly the Jew ought hardly to be heard of but he is heard of he has always been heard of he is as prominent on the planet as any other people he has made a marvelous fight in this world in all the ages and he has done it with his hands tied behind his back the Egyptian the Babylonian and the Persian Rose filled the planet with sound and Splendor and Faded to dream stuff and passed away the Greek and the Romans followed and made a vast noise and they're gone and other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time but it burned out and they sit in Twilight now or have vanished the Jew saw them all beat them all and is now what he always was exhibiting no decadence no infirmities of age no weakening of his Parts no slowing of his energies no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind all things are mortal but the Jew all other forces pass but he remains what is the secret of his immortality asks Mark Twain arguably America's greatest writer in 1897 what is the secret of his immortality what's the answer to this question what is the grown-up adult answer to this age-old question how is it that the Jews are still here how is it that over the last 5,000 years there have been close to 5 to 6,000 different types of religions and ethnicities and nationalities and out of all of those 5,000 religions only one has managed to survive close to 4,000 years continuously longer than the Hindus longer than the Buddhists longer than the Hans Chinese and that is the Jewish people what is their secret and this despite suffering pums and murders and centuries and centuries and centuries of evil and torture and Terror there have been more Jews murdered in the last only 150 years than almost every other religion combined what is the Jewish people secret they they say a funny joke about an evil King who once declared new evil decrees on his on the Jews of his Empire and he gathered all the Jews into the Town Square and he's reading off the new decree these evil horrible torturous decrees that would befall the Jewish people and there are women crying and there are people fainting and the men are covering the ears of the kids but there's one guy in the back who just cannot stop laughing he's laughing hysterically and eventually the king gets so bothered by it that he calls out this old guy in the back he says yo guy in the back why are you why are you laughing and the guy in the back turns to the king and he says you think you're the first person to have started up with the Jews you're wrong there had been many before you there was a guy his name was parro you know what he did he tried wiping out of the Jews from the face of the Earth you know what happened to him he's gone and we're still here you know what we did to him we turned him into matah there was a guy his name was hummon he wanted to destroy all of us you know where he is gone you know what we did to him we turned him into humash there was a guy his name is antias he tried wiping us off the planet you know where he is he's gone you know what we did to him we turn turned them into latas so the old man turned to the king and said I sit here and watch you say these new decrees and I cannot help myself but think when you're gone and we're still here what food will we one day make you into but what what is our secret how are we so sure I believe the answer is Kaneka I believe the answer to the secret of the immortality of the longevity of the Jew Jewish people is embedded in Kaneka you see khaka has a very fundamental question to it we are taught that the yam toim the holidays of the Jewish year are essentially a ladder it begins with P the Jewish people are born the Genesis of the Jewish people on we get the Torah it's like our or Bas Mitzvah the Y is sort of the Preparatory stage before our wedding which is on sukus which we celebrate with tremendous Sim we're getting married so to speak to Hashem and it culminates with shines which is referred to as the room the tremendous intimacy the closeness the day of ultimate togetherness with Hashem and it comes with unparalleled happiness the obvious question is the the next yive in the latter is Kaneka but how could you possibly follow up which is the day of the like how could you possibly follow up a wedding day it's the happiest day of your life is it not I believe the answer to this question is the answer to khaka it's the secret to Kana and in turn it's the secret to the Jewish people's survival throughout thousands of years of essentially nothing but pain and torture but let me begin with the story several years ago I was in downtown Cincinnati with a group of friends of mine and we're walking down the street and we see at the street corner there's like this priest who's standing on a chair and he's preaching he's got a couple people around him and he looks and he sees a group of Jews walking towards him and he licks his lips and he turns to us and he says Jews get over here so we walk over and he right away he says Jews you know you're wrong why do you why do you guys even try so I turn to him and I say we're not wrong and he says okay I see how this is going to be tell me and and there's like a group of people that's starting to gather around this this spiritual boxing match you know Ali Frasier he says what does the word elohai mean so I said it means god he said okay what does the word Elohim mean I said also God he says no Elohim is plural it's multiple gods you see there's God and then there's his son yoska and The Crowd Goes ooh ah down goes Frasier so I look at him and I say are you claiming to know Hebrew do you have any idea what you're talking about what does the word toos mean what is the word vi what does the word mean what is the word what are you even talking about and The Crowd Goes oo ah so this priest sort of orients himself and he throws a Hail Mary a last ditch effort and he says okay if you Jews think you're the chosen people why is it that so many bad things happen to you and The Crowd Goes ooh ah so I turn to them all and I say gather around folks gather around they got breaking news for you all we are not the chosen people and The Crowd Goes and there's that guy in the back he goes Larry get back here there's he just said the Jews are not the chosen people Larry come over here I turn to them and I say 4,000 years ago in a world run a muck of murder and theft and idolatry and adultery and darkness there was one guy who chose light there was one guy who chose godliness there was one guy who held the torch of Hope and honesty and integrity and morality for all to see and he chose God and therefore God chose him and true there have been many times throughout history where the Jewish people have failed to choose God what we've been here long before Christians and we'll be here long after Christians because in a world where people choose lust and power and Prestige and honor we forever choose God and therefore he forever chooses us and I walked away you see when Hashem came to Abraham's tent and knocked on his door and said hello my name is God nice to meet you he said to abam I see that you're holding up the torch of morality I see that you're holding up my banner in this world I want to make a deal with you you promise me that you and your children will forever hold my torch high in this world forever be the flag bearers of Hashem of godliness in this world and I in turn will make you indestructible I will bless you I will bless those who bless you I will curse those who curse you I will make you indestructible and this deal this bris this Covenant that took place with Abraham has been our secret throughout history it's been our formula for Success we choose Hashem he chooses us we don't choose Hashem we get left to the wolves of the world this has been a theme throughout our history when we choose Hashem he miraculously chooses us when we don't we fly off the map we're sitting in MIT it's been 210 years of nothing but torture and pain our children have literally been sliced and their blood was drained and they were thrown into the N River what does the PK say in the the were groaning under the bondage and they cried out they finally dve into listened to them suddenly he remembered the Covenant he made with suddenly you remembered it's been 210 years where were you Hashem you know what Hashem says where were you why didn't you step up to the plate and Doin why didn't you choose me why didn't you choose light when we chose Hashem he chose us because that's our secret we choose Hashem we fill the world with light he chooses us no matter how big the en Enemy No matter how sophisticated no much no matter how much of the world they've conquered we walk out of Egypt I should say we limp out of Egypt we're in the middle of a midmar and what happens to us we get attacked by the amim a brutal vicious huge Nation comes and attacks us inexperienced Fighters hobbling Jews who have just broken out of 210 Years of Slavery what does the Torah say whenever mosha lifted up his hand signifying to the Jewish people to look up to Hashem and choose Hashem we were victorious but when his hands got tired and he had to put them down and we didn't look up and we we thought we could beat the the amim ourselves we lost the war because when we choose Hashem he chooses us when we don't we are left to the Wolves of the world because that's our secret that's our formula that's the Mantra in which we walk down the road of Life the b gets destroyed we narrow we we we get thrown and expelled all over the world murders pums torture the Jewish people should have been finished Jewish history should have been over with but it wasn't you want to know why because we didn't stop choosing Hashem the P that perhaps encapsulates that moment more than any other is there we were sitting on the Rivers of Babylon and we were weeping over the destruction of the bikash but then the P say something strange we took we took our Harps and we hung them up on the on the tree that was nearby these people narrowly escaped the destruction of yush they literally swam through rivers of blood in order to get out why did they have their harps on them why did they have their flutes on them a couple months ago I had a fire in my apartment it was Friday night and I woke up and I hear an alarm and I go to my dining room and I see a fire and it's not the havdala candle hits a little napkin kind of fire it's like the entire room is on fire and I have a whopping 3 seconds to get out and I grab my kid and I run out I'm not searching for my tuba I'm not schlepping my drum set all over the place why do these people have their harps on them the answer is that's our secret the answer is the was destroyed because we were unenthusiastically serving Hashem we weren't really interested we were citizens of the world first and Jews later we were Greeks first and Jews second we were polish Men First and Jews second we were Germans first and Je second we were Americans first and Je second we didn't really care you better believe the way we're going to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off is with our hearts with our music with our energy with our enthusiastic with zest because that's the only way we serve Hashem we choose him with Glee we choose him with music we choose him with energy and then he chooses us and then came the Greeks and the Greeks posed the greatest and most intense threat to our national National survival than any other enemy we experienced up until that point because almost every other enemy that wanted to wipe out the Jewish people after they failed to do so entirely there was no threat that the Jewish people were going to go join their society because their society was horrible and barbaric when we limped away from the amalin no one was enticed by the amalaki culture when the Babylonians and the Egyptians and the ptin started up with us we weren't exactly in throngs going to join their society but the Greeks offered something different at first they didn't offer violence they offered theology philosophy int sophisticated intellectual Pursuits Arts science things that spoke to Jews intense rational thinking logic reasoning you know the things that Jews eat for breakfast and we began dropping like flies first it was 1% 5% 10% 15% 30% 40% 60% 80% of us gone subsumed but there was a small number that didn't give up and although the Greeks dominated and almost conquered the entire world world and virtually nobody put up a serious fight because why would you the Greek society the Greek culture was fantastic it was Hightech it was sophisticated it was great it ushered in science and philosophy and libraries and art and gymnasiums why wouldn't you get subsumed by them adopt their culture it's fantastic it's the best the world has ever seen in fact it's the very Foundation of our Western world why wouldn't you get subsumed and the Greeks looked at that 10% of the Jewish people and scratched their head what is wrong with them why aren't they getting subsumed like the rest of the world why are they putting up a fight and it bothered them and they began to focus their attention on us and they began declaring laws that forced us to drop our Jewish ways laws such as any Jewish girl that get that gets married has to have intimacy the night of her marriage with a Greek officer or how about the rule that you weren't allowed to have a front door of your house guaranteeing that the custom and the societal the the street smarts the classiness the art the science of the street would flood the Jewish homes you cannot have a front door Jewish history should have been finished the Jewish people should have been over with but it wasn't you want to know why because there was a group of people got up on a chair and and said meem Li Jewish brothers and sisters the only way for Jewish survival is to choose Hashem if we choose Hashem we strengthen the Covenant he made with abrau and he'll choose us if we don't we're lost forever that's our secret sukus is a wedding with Hashem if you ever go to a wedding you see that the and kala the bride and groom are very happy but there's a degree of edginess and anxiety underneath that happiness because who's to say that the marriage is going to last in America there's like a 54% chance that it won't last you barely even know the person you're marrying but if you go to a 50th wedding anniversary and you look in the eyes of the bride and the groom the husband and wife you see nothing but complete unadulterated love and happiness why because this is a couple that's been through it all together this is a couple that went through years and years and years and Decades of togetherness of choosing each other they were there together when they walked into their new apartment and it was smelly and there were rats but they were filled with happiness and then came the news that she couldn't have a baby and it was painful it was painful and they went to doctors and he slept and he was there with her and he cried on her shoulder and she cried on his shoulder and they were there together and finally the news that they were pregnant together and it was unbelievable happiness and they were there dancing together for the whole night long they couldn't stop dancing and then he got fired from his job and the months and months of looking for a job and their bank account getting less and less and less and the happiness of the day that he finally got a job and he comes home from work on the first day and there she is standing on the lawn with a sign and balloons and she's waving and then the news that he has cancer and she brings him every day for treatments and she's sitting by his bedside unflinching unwavering dedication they're there together the day they marry off their first child together they're there in life together a anniversary is the celebration of a million moments that two people chose each other that is Kaneka Kaneka is the celebration of the million ion times that the Jewish people chose Hashem and therefore he in turn chose us it's the yump it's the holiday of celebrating the Jewish people's ability to choose Hashem when it's not fun when it's scary when there's a million other options when it's violent when it's painful when I have a headache when I spilled coffee on my shirt and nevertheless I chose hasem there are 354 days of the of the Jewish year out of those 354 days 172 of them are days of significance aabas a fast day something going on of those 172 days where something's going on 127 of those days are between pesak and sukus in the spring and the summer in the fall and winter virtually nothing going on yet there is kanah why so you're going to say well that's when it fell out yeah but why did Hashem arrange that the Kaneka story fell out in the dead of the winter the answer is because that's precisely the point Hashem wants us to dance when it's not sim and cry when it's not Tish and pour out our heart when it's not yam Kipper precisely The Darkest Day of the Jewish year is the day where Kaneka must be it's the day where Hashem wants us to rise up and show us our courage our loyalty our pride to be a Jew the Jewish year gets less the the sun goes down and becomes less and less throughout the winter you know the exact time where it starts getting higher again oh Kaneka because that's precisely the point the Jewish people are the only people on Earth that start their day at sunet when does shambas start Friday night when does pesak start the night when does sh start at night when does khaka start at night we're the only people on Earth that begins their day at night because that's precisely the point our ability to bring light in the darkness our ability to see godliness in the darkness our day starts when the night falls life didn't get much better after Kaneka and 135 CE Romans massacred 580,000 Jews and then came the Crusades in 1095 and then came Spain in 1492 with almost unparalleled dedication to uproot Judaism the Spanish Inquisition should have wiped the Jewish people off the map Jewish history should have been over with but it wasn't you want to know why because we didn't stop choosing Hashem August 2nd 1492 the abarbanel the leader of Spanish jury at the time is sitting in the office the throne room of Ferdinand and Isabella who just declared that every last Jewish person in the entire Spanish Kingdom which was essentially running the world at the time will be murdered or be exiled and the abarbanel is pleading with them and the abarbanel who basically rign and the finances of the entire kingdom was very well-liked by Ferdinand and Isabella so much so that they offered to let him stay they said you my friend could stay we'll even keep a minion of people here so that you can stay but everyone else has got to be put to death or kicked out and the abarbanell turns to them and he says if my people go I go and the abarbanell who left billions upon billions of dollarss in Spain walked outside to the streets of Spain and he sees the Jewish people depressed anxious fearful shaking they're dragging the three possessions they're taking along and the abano runs to a local Tavern he barges through the door he runs to the back of the tavern and he takes the last five coins that he has in his possession and he goes over to the band that was playing in the back of the tavern and he gives each one of the band members a coin and he says come with me and they bring and he they go with him to the edge of the City the gates of the city and he says sit right here and start playing music and on August 2nd 1492 which was Tish this band starts playing music and the a barbino gets up on a chair and he says holy brothers and sisters I am well aware that it's Tish today I am well aware that it's user to listen to music on Tish but listen up the Jewish people survive because of one reason and one reason only it's because we choose Hashem we are about to be kicked out of Spain we are about to be spread across who knows where the World Europe remember enthusiastically choose Hashem because that's the only way and in one of the most surreal moments in Jewish history the abarbanel anti of got a group of people to dance his way out of Spain because that is our only way our only way forward is the enthusiastic choosing of Hashem and therefore he chooses us and then Kiki in 1648 and Bohemia in 1744 and in Austria in 1843 and in 1915 the Russian army killed 100,000 Jews and in 1917 Ukrainian peasants killed 200,000 Jews and in 1918 and 1919 120,000 Jews were killed in over 500 pums 500 pums and then came the Holocaust 6 million Jews 6 million Jews we we we use that number like a statistic 6 million lives were snuffed out Jewish history should have been over with the Jewish people should have been finished but it wasn't you want to know why because we didn't stop choosing Hashem on that fateful day when aitz was finally liberated and the Russian army came came and announced freedom to all the prisoners in aitz shocked they couldn't believe what they were hearing and the Russian army began clearing out the camp and skeletons of men were being carried to trucks and buses to take them to freedom but there was one man who just sat there one prisoner was frozen he didn't move he was transfixed 1 Hour 2 hours 3 hours go by and eventually he's the last prisoner left in aitz and the soldier calls out to him and he says listen we're leaving it's now or never so this man gets up from his Barrack and he limps his way to the gates of aitz and right as he gets to the gates he stops and he looks up to heaven and he says Father in Heaven Father in Heaven never in my life did I have as close of a relationship to you as I did here every second of my day I cried for you I dreamed for you I hoped for you I daved for you I sang to you I pleaded for you every morsel of bread I ate I thought of you every every drop of water I drank I listen to you I prayed to you I cried to you promise me Hashem promise me look down from your heavenly Throne we were crushed we were tortured we were burnt we were murdered yet we didn't stop choosing you we called out your name we sing your song now it's your turn to choose us and he stepped through the gates to freedom because that's our secret we choose Hashem he chooses us on May 15th 1948 exactly one day after the state of Israel was declared we get attacked from all our neighbors Egypt Jordan Iraq Lebanon Syria all with one purpose to wipe out the state of Israel and to murder every single Jew alive Jewish history should have been over the Jewish people at least in the state of Israel should have been finished but it wasn't you want to know why because we didn't stop choosing Hashem on May 29th of that year just a couple days later Harold Livingston who was a [Music] 20 year old was approached by his friend Leon Franco who told him listen the Egyptian Army is 20 mi out of Tel Aviv if we if you don't get up on in your plane right now and drop a bomb on them it's over so Harold Livingston gets up in his plane which was an old German plane that they [Music] found and he says shayel and he drops a bomb on the Egyptian Army and a nothing short of a miracle the Jewish people are saved the war is won and in a later interview Harold was asked what was going through his head when he was flying that plane and he said that he looked up to the sky and he said Master of the Universe I'm not alone flying This Plane this plane is flying on the wings of six million Souls 6 million Nas 6 million lives 6 million people who all chose you Hashem now it's time for you to choose us because that's our secret because aru was told by hasem you choose me I will make you indestructible it's a guarantee you can bet your bottom dollar you choose me I choose you that's our secret that's what we celebrate on Kaneka the ability to choose Hashem and his miraculous salvation that he will give our response to war isn't political prowess it's not military might it's choosing Hashem a war breaks out in Gaza our knee-jerk reaction should and must be how can I strengthen my choosing of Hashem we say something very odd in Alan we thank Hashem for the we thank for the Miracles and the salvation and the strength that he displayed for us and we also thank Hashem for the war itself now why would we thank Hashem for the war itself Would we not have been better off without a war the answer is says theam Cipher on page 193 in his drous is precisely the war is what propels us and kicks Us in the pants to choose Hashem which in turn propels him to choose us us sometimes when we are lacad isical in our choosing of Hashem he brings about a war which is in nuclear option it's a last ditch effort by Hashem to inspire us to choose him which is going to guarantee that he chooses us because that's the formula he propels us to choose him so he could choose us because there's no other way that's the formula that was the promise that was the Covenant that was the bris Alam is thanking Hashem for the war because it inspired us to choose you which guaranteed that you chose us the question is how how do we muster up the strength the inner Courage the fortitude to choose Hashem when it's so easy not to so here's an idea if we were to recognize the spiritual power that we have inside of us and the spiritual Dynamite that comes out of us when we choose Hashem it becomes all the more easy to do so when we recognize that I have a spiritual rocket ship inside of me and if I choose Hashem in a moment where I don't want to a hostage could get out of Gaza or a tidal wave is prevented or a miscarriage is prevented suddenly you better believe I'm choosing Hashem R arama Who was the chief Rabbi of a place in Spain called terragona in the 1400s was once approached by his talmidim his community and it was in the height of the Spanish Inquisition and they came to him and they said listen we are out this is too hard for us we're not asking you we're telling you we're leaving we're becoming Christians but we have one question for you when we become Christians does that mean we are no longer Jews do are we still going to have to are we still going to get punished for eating pork and not shaking the Lula and eating KET on PES or if we leave we leave essentially what they were asking was is Judaism an intellectually based religion in which if you subscribe intellectually then you're part of that religion but if you don't subscribe intellectually you're not part of that religion religion as is the case with almost every other religion in which if you intellectually subscribe then you're part of it and if you don't and you go through some sprinkling of water then you get out of it or is there something more to Judaism and he looked at them and he said sorry folks you can run but you cannot hide you are always a Jew so they turned to him and they said why is that fair because our great-grandparents chose Judaism on top of a mount mountain somewhere so therefore we have to deal with this he turned to them and he said you're making a mistake you guys your souls were also on top of that mountain on Mount Si and you also chose Judaism so they looked at him and he said okay but how was that fair what is my soul which sitting next to Moshe and yahushua and cve great people the greatest people of all time how does my soul have the right to accept Judaism for me what does my soul know about Spain in 1444 what does my soul know about Austria in 1666 or Berlin in 1933 or America in 2023 what does my soul know about any of that how does it have the right to to choose how does it have the right to agree to a deal to abide by a certain set of laws that will affect me 4,000 years later so Rama turned to them and said you're making a mistake when your soul was at Hari and it said nishma it agreed to the Torah it knew exactly everything that would happen in your life it knew all your struggles it knew all your anxieties it knew that you would come from a divorced home it knew that you wouldn't have the upbringing that you thought would be ideal it knew the school you would go to it knew about the abusive sister it knew about everything it knew about Spain and 1444 and in Austria in 1666 and in Berlin in 1937 and in America in 2023 and I knew about the smartphones I knew about the Billboards and I knew about your struggles and your issues and your self-doubts and knew about everything in a p nevertheless it said nishma and right at that moment when it said that you were injected with a soul that was tailor made to your life it was a curated Soul perfect for you for your existence for your child childhood for your parents for your environment for your setting and backdrop and scenario it was a soul given the exact amount of Holiness necessary to choose Hashem the exact amount of kadua necessary to be a spiritual rocket ship that could unleash spirituality in any moment of its life which could save the entire Jewish people every single person in this world by definition contains a soul that is immense unfathomable Holiness inside of it which the entire Jewish people needs hugely consequential Souls rests in the bodies of every single Jew on Earth and when we recognize that and we realize that how could I not choose Hashem everywhere always in every scenario because that's the seel of kanah the darkest moment of the year is when I'm going to choose Hashem I want to end with a quote from Adolf Hitler this is found in Hitler's apocalypse which is a book about Hitler quote if only one country for whatever reason tolerates a Jewish Family in it that family will become the germ Center for fresh sedition if one little Jewish boy survives even without any education even without any synagogue and no Hebrew school Judaism will still be there for it is in his soul the Jewish Spirit has been around from the moment these people were formed and there is no Jew not a single one who does not personify it Adolf Hitler when we choose Hashem a sign F filling our homes with light we in turn make our little teeny tiny NE indestructible we choose Hashem he chooses us we light a candle in the darkness we choose Hashem when we don't want to we make our people indestructible and that is the secret to khaka