KLM: Chanukah: How to Create 8 Days of Wow with Rabbi Asher Baruch Wegbreit

your Museum [Music] father okay so yeah want to do it for the Elias nashama of Reuben benbora Mr Daniel Lyons father who is just nifter so um that's will dedicate the share for that and let's begin learning about Hanukkah I should say preparing for Hanukkah foreign I just learned recently from a friend of mine who's uh Works in Hollywood the concept of a backstory um it probably sounds simple to you it means as follows he said every story has a back story and that means that there is a story that led up to the events that your um learning about in the given thing you're focused so there's a backstory that tells what led up to where you come in right so with Hanukkah Hanukkah has a backstory and and let me explain why that's important to understand if you relate to the Hanukkah story as it's presented we seem like victims victims of the ivanim of the Greeks victims of the hellness we seem like oh it was terrible they oppressed us and and that's certainly true they did indeed oppress us but it seems like what were these victims so it's so important when you look at things from a Torah perspective to realize we're never victims okay Hashem never puts us in a situation where at the hands of somebody for no reason so the back story about Hanukkah is we kind of got ourselves into a bit of a mess and then the Greeks the ivanim came in and shook us up under shem's orders and then we have the Miracles such an important backstory because we have to understand what caused um that terrible oppression and many of you may not know it was 52 years a decree against Shabbos a decree against a decree against learning Torah right not to mention what happened to the base of migration 52 years okay what was the cause of it the the commentator that famously addresses this is the bach the box says that we uh the kohenim were Mitch Rochelle they were lacks in their avoda in the basement and I think there was an overall laxity uh amongst the Jewish people and there's even an indication that gamara Silka says that uh one of the mishmars of the coinim showed up late one thing to be late for work late for Yeshiva those are you know terrible but late to the base of migdash and that was the problem then now the hashmonayim as we know they responded with tremendous mysterious nephesh to recover the Voda and that did it so I'm telling you this back story so that we will approach Hanukkah in a way that will not just celebrate and thank a shame which is icker very essential not only that but I want us to rectify uh to work on rectification too and that's what we're why what we're going to do is called the eight day challenge we're gonna be sending out some uh some exercises and tools but I'm going to give an overview tonight of the whole eight day battle against road if you think about it in other words in some level on their level there was a mechanical expression of a votus Hashem back then so that's why cabana misses during Hanukkah is a major can be a major T-Bone right and it will obviously help us connect so that's the overview and the other there's another reason why Hanukkah if you will is the time to go to wage war against mechanical Road Behavior because it's a big challenge let's just take Purim okay Purim you have the Mitzvahs and the Gillen and this and that it's basically it's one day so you have the excitement you have this built-in excitement of the request mcgilling drinking and the suda it's one day right or let's say Okay pass off in the blue Florence two nights right two Hanukkah you're doing the same thing for eight days we're going to be reciting Hollow eight days lighting candles eight days we're gonna be reciting out alanisan my figures in Shimona esri around 26 times so here's where we have to face the the the the foe of rote where a repeated um Behavior tends to make a person less connected and we want to be more connected all right that's the backdrop this is the time to rise to the occasion and invest in the experience rather than depend on the experience okay with that I'm going to present you an overview of how we're going to approach Hanukkah uh not uh I thank God I had uh I believe some Seattle shmaya to come up with a acronym that's eight letters it's eight letters and what are the eight letters they spell Hanukkah so let me show you this I'm going to show you the uh Hanukkah challenge the eight activities that we're gonna really try our best to rise forth with sharing screen how we looking Rabbi Michael uh okay it's getting there yep we're up excellent okay these are eight strategies against wrote all right uh and let's just uh I'm just gonna I'm gonna go through brief a brief um discussion of each one uh but here's the overview okay you see it spells Hanukkah I mean Brooklyn eight letters and eight activities candle Reflections that's the first one um how Kevin is for hollow alanisim and Shimona s-ray new hidushim on Hanukkah utilizing Hanukkah sudos kavana for Hanukkah songs alanisim and benching notice allenism and shmoneysim and benching and finally Hoda on Hanukkah if we make some Headway in any and especially all of these it will be an amazing Hanukkah and we will really uh um do the do the service the avoda with the opposite of laxity all right let's begin so we're going to first talk about Hanukkah Reflections and this is uh an experience that some of us have done together for um several years and I found it just a big big game changer and that is and here here's the theme you might want to note this when the more you reflect the more you connect that's the theme of really it's a major theme with cabana Mitzvahs the KLM all right the more you reflect the more you connect now uh people who lived in the America there was it was actually a radio show and then it became a TV show it was in the 50s it was called you were there and what they did is they went back in time to some famous uh I I actually for research I I saw the one about the Declaration of Independence they took you back there you see Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson and you were there okay this is the way to approaches Hanukkah you you've got to go there you have to be there let's take a look all right strategy number one put yourself in the base of migdash and reflect on all the nation that happened okay and where you see in the in the purple bubble is the Cabana for the midst of it but first let's discuss this strategy okay the um what you have to do is imagine that you're part of the hashmonahim you go you break back into the vase of migdash and you know this is one thing the famous thing Miracle number one is if you read the if you see the gamara uh in Shabbos about Hanukkah they made impure all of the oils except one right the facts that the fact that the yvonneem didn't find this one flask was already a miracle so what you have to imagine is imagining going into the base of migdush and into the area where the menorah is or where they keep in the storehouse of the oils you see everything's a mess and then you see what's wait wait a minute what is that and the Seal's not broken right so you be there you should be there go there right and then the second night the second imagine the fact that you know they Fair okay well at least we got one night of pure oil now I have to use Imperials it keeps burning how long day three they see it burned an entire other day open miracle and you go through till each night you know the reason we say Hollow um every single day of Hanukkah one of the main explanations is because there was a new Miracle every day okay so candle Reflections that's strategy number one so that we can battle against Roe each day Place yourself there what's the miracle uh what's the Mitzvah to have in mind there's a mitza and you know something that um someone pointed out to me is with KLM we're not just reminding you to have the Mind Mitzvahs that you do all the time we do that so you connect more right but also we're Illuminating misses that many people may not be aware of and that's because even though there are 613 General categories of Misses there's really more in the Torah many commentators discuss this so that's my introduction at the uh to this Mitzvah at the end of the first paragraph of Elena right you should know today and bring to your heart that Hashem is God in the heavens above the earth below there's not another robbeno Yona says that means that how do you how do you know and take the heart you reflect on the wonders of the world and and say that's amazing right so the nice Hanukkah is definitely a fulfillment of the Mitzvah to reflect and know the wonders of Hashem so have in mind while you do these candle Reflections that you're fulfilling that Mitzvah okay let's see now we have let's go to the next one all in the scene into Fila oh uh oh no give me a second there it's out of order apologies okay alanisi minshmana s-ray so let me begin first by the Mitzvah here the Mitzvah is something that you mentioned uh every day everyone mentions this every day there's an among the misses that have fruits now that mean you will experience some blessing in your life right some providential blessing and it still won't take away from your reward in the world to come what Mr to Fila now one explanation of you and the classic is that while you're dobbying you are um intensely reflecting on what you're saying so that's a Mitzvah being to peel but even the preparatory step according to Rabbi Miller and others is the midst of Ian tefila and that is to study the to study the prayer text when you do that you're you're going to connect more and you're going to fulfill the midst of Ian to Fila and obviously it's a way to um remember 26 times you're going to be reciting this so you need to input new insights into alanising I'll provide one for you tonight um if if you send me a message I I do have a collection of insights into all of these scene and by the way there's the safer uh sip date and friedlander on the holidays he he has an entire explanation okay here's here's one right we mentioned that there were 52 years of decrease against us and suddenly right uh there's the defeat the military Victory the feet of the Abundant and this open miracle was there an you know Emporium there was a national Chula movement so okay Hashem makes a Nace for a national Trooper Movement we have Freelander points up there is a bit how many Hashem 12 13 people did chuva right and yet Hashem made an even greater Miracle the important we made an open miracles so that what does that explain uh Rafa methyl robbing when we recite an allenism on your tremendous Mercy that is merciful to do such miracles for a few people who really brought their game back up okay so uh we just did the Mitzvah of all these theme of of Ian tefila right so again have that in mind whenever you reflect on you can also just read the text and think about the text but the point is that's uh how you do it oh by the way the it was in order okay I I jumped to a here CH Paolo cavanos okay so um the word Hollow to most people is translated praise and they're partially correct but it's a special type of praise the word hallel from Miller also points this at is from the word Yale Yale means wild means wildly enthusiastic right so your approach to the hollow the right the strategy against rope because we're going to be reciting uh Hollow eight plus uh right yeah eight I think we're eight right yeah eight times right so approach it with excitement and as we said before there were eight separate Miracles that's why we recite Hollow eight times the entire ha that's okay okay so number one is excitement again take your reflection you did in the lighting at night and in chakras in the morning when you say hello Infuse that say I can't believe it it went another day okay so that's the overall approach but then also there is another so that's what we'll call the Cabana Saleh putting your heart into because Hollow if we say recite Hollow when Hashem did something amazing so we we should have the hollow is a praise about something amazing so be amazed and excited when you're excited that's one but also another way to acquire more uh mitzvos and be more connected to what you're doing is in the second to hilum and Hollow but says Israel I mean it's Ryan right so here's another illumination of another missa that it's important to know with uh when we with krishma let's just take in Krishna you have an obligation twice uh A Day to Remember You see us and it's Ryan that's an obligation but you'd see a Smith's Ryan and Shabbos when you remember that at another time you're also fulfilling exactly it's yes and it's Ryan for example everybody have in mind right now Hashem took the water and turned into blood it wasn't red water it was blood a complete flip of the chemical composition right we just fulfilled exactly it's here and it's Ryan so in a second to heal him that says this real name it's Ryan have in mind the Mr devices to remember you'd see us in a train I could go on further there are many miracles alluded to in that to him each one is a mitzvah for remembering hashem's Miracles okay we've covered c h a on Nissan new insights on Hanukkah all right so again we said that Hanukkah presents a particular challenge to to maintain the enthusiasm the whole time because you're doing the same thing eight days the the the best without question the best way to keep and uh to keep an excitement about Hanukkah is learn a new insight into Hanukkah each day you know with uh with the filtered internet even there is so much Torah available these days thank God so everybody just what you need to do as it says here in strategy four make a commitment believe Netter that you're going to learn a new insight into Hanukkah each day it can just be one little insight but a new one each day so so you've accumulated new things because Torah Torah is something that's by definition knew it says that you know why don't we get kind of um let's say you know familiarity uh dwindles enthusiasm right why is that because in truth there's nothing new Under the Sun the Torah was created before the sun says the gomoran Shabbos and that means as as Remy green pointed out insights of Torah are coming not from like they're coming from out of this world out of the universe and entering in so make that commitment eight little insights one a day Okay so we've covered and all right utilizing Hanukkah sudos this is about the the food right uh reflect don't just gobble in other words what why do we eat uh uh donuts and latkes because they contain oil right that's why we eat them so as we said reflect and connect right why you're gonna eat it and enjoy it you might as well eternalize the eating process okay and here's another myths that you can fulfill um the rom-bomb says that when you reflect on the wonders of Hashem it's a fulfillment of obvious Hashem because it creates a sense of Ava right so while you're reflecting when you're eating the oily stuff you should um have in mind the midst of avocation for the Wonders and miracles that he does for us okay Cabana for Hanukkah songs this is a similar concept right look at the strategy when singing most sore or other Hanukkah songs think of what the words are guiding us to you know they want us to be thankful for this salvation you know the in in Mosasaur for example it discusses how Shem saved us from its Ryan and from of course from in uh the Abundant and Purim it goes through all these incredible uh miraculous things and also when we say Allah all the all of a sudden just put some I just put a little thought into what you're being grateful for and again have in mind it's the same as with the eating have in mind opposition for his wonders and you have the joy of singing to uh enhance it to do with the simcha Allen magnesium and benching I want to mention one of my favorites uh stories of all time and that is this Rabbi has a nice big Shabbos table and it's right before benching so he feels important to make a quick announcement he says by the way when you're benching uh don't forget to thank Hashem so we know that most people that hear that they chuckle a wife because they know you can bench and not be feeling a gratitude towards Hashem you can forget to thank Hashem you could even focus and on the meaning of the words of the benching which is is something it's great but but you could still not feel that gratitude right so um let's let's take advantage of Hanukkah being the holiday of Hoda yonto of gratitude and therefore in the alanising let's train ourselves in the all Nissim and and when you recite on these him in benching feel gratitude and even more you'll be we'll see in one second you're expressing gratitude okay now we come to the final H okay of Hanukkah and for this I'm just going to give a quick introduction uh a wonderful way to frame Hanukkah is that it's a workshop on Hoda right you hear this it's a workshop on a uh on the media of gratitude we can be we should be from the beginning of Hanukkah at the end of Hanukkah we should have risen levels and levels in the in the characteristic of gratitude the meat of gratitude and there's three levels to gratitude if we if we think about it this is very very um you know when you have a Clarity of what's involved in the Mitzvah you can obviously do it better so level one of gratitude is a feeling you feel gratitude that's that's important very important level two on the ladder of gratitude is to express that appreciation you felt in your heart to the one who provided you with the good and even higher level is to give back to the other to reciprocate you know let's say you know your wife prepares some food for you so you can feel well this is so nice she takes the time to do this and does this for me but then there's a different thing they say thank you so much it is beautiful and then even better to buy them flowers right so ready Hanukkah is eight days of training training on all three letters of the ladder of gratitude okay so let's discuss this ready eating when you're eating the uh oily Foods feel gratitude and again if we approach this with Consciousness and awareness you're going to cultivate this critical media of of a karasatov on a whole other level so number one is when you eat and say besides the fact that you're reflecting on the Miracles um realize every time I eat and actually think about what Hashem did with oil and milk right and you feel gratitude you're developing that media okay next that's level one level two is expressing your appreciation where do we do that in the all the knees and prayers in the 26 alanisians not to mention when you're banishing right and how well Howell is an expression uh an intense expression of appreciation right so you see that level two of the ladder of gratitude development it's right there for us and finally and this is quite beautiful we can actually if you will give back we can give back to Hashem on Hanukkah that how do you do that well wouldn't you agree with me that if you help a person accomplish their mission or their purpose if you contribute to their accomplishing their most important goal certainly that's giving giving back what's hashem's primary goal well it says in parque obos Hashem created the world only to reveal his glory to mankind obviously for us obviously so mankind will make a relationship but let's go back to it it's to reveal his kubode his glory when you light the candles what mirror what what myths for you doing Pierre Sumi Nisa you're publicizing hashem's glory to the world you're giving to Hashem by helping him if you will achieve his purpose it's just amazing what Hanukkah offers us and you see here this is the Mitzvah remembering hashem's kindness a corner of Baner Yona thanking Hashem for his kindness to us is a misadarisa okay this is the uh I I I'll just give you recommendations one is we'll post this and you can print it out and you have this map and um if you're on uh WhatsApp or LinkedIn we're going to be posting uh some short videos and some some little posts to help uh remind us to make sure that we Infuse this holiday with miraculous levels of appreciation going against nature and staying enthusiastic okay thank you everybody thank you very much for continuing the uh keeping it going uh even whilst you're away and I really appreciate that I've been waiting foreign I was a bit disappointed that um your accent didn't change I don't know I don't really understand why you're in London I don't know why you're still speaking like him like an American but um I guess uh you have some time to catch up 200 and something years it hasn't been enough uh and anyway I just want to do a bit of a musical interload eight days a week so I couldn't resist okay that's fantastic eight days a week uh on that note I remember an acting teacher of mine you know in the theater in Broadway there's eight shows and what the acting teacher says is you know it's uh matinee on Wednesday uh and uh on Saturday uh and uh so there's eight shows and he says look you know when you're performing the same show eight days a week he says you know you can't phone it in and I remember he like bang the thing he says he says you gotta create it every darn time you know meaning no phoning in and so you know that's a real challenge when you know it's the same and you know the the the good actors uh they have all different ways to create it every time and I was just thinking in terms of you know the um when when the first thing when the first uh the Sea of of the Hanukkah and lighting the candles and really putting yourself in there I think one of the actors tricks that can be helpful is a substitution you know you were talking about how they would feel they you know they found this you know this this this this package of oil right so we all have moments where we're kind of desperate for something you know just think about your traveling and you're just super hungry and your headaches coming on and you know you have a thought you're on a train or something and you say maybe did I did I did I leave something in my bag wait wait wait I think I I think I had a chocolate bar from like two days ago and you open your back and boom there's a chocolate bar how would you feel at that moment beautiful oh my god oh and like like your life is saved or you ran out of money and you're like stranded and you and you then just think after checking all your pockets wait wait a minute I got I I left twenty dollars in the bottom of my brief boom you find that twenty dollars it's like somebody gave you a million dollars at that moment so if you just think like in your own life that substitution and that's What actors do all the time they they they they they you know they're saying something completely different but they're thinking about a personal experience to generate the emotion that goes with that experience that's so fantastic well please everybody take note what an enhancement you know I was speaking to someone who's a holly a different guy from Hollywood a a director and he was talking about how you know he wasn't a fan of um going over your script and saying your script because he's saying that people can sense you're just repeating the same thing so I said wait a minute but actors have to do that so you know what he said to me says that's why they get paid so much foreign [Music]