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Mindflex- Chanukah, The Candle Inside You- Rabbi Shlomo Buxbaum
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Transcript
Auto-generated transcript. Not time-synced to the video.
Maryland and I'm very excited to be here
tonight sharing with you Torah Kaneka is
next week it's an exciting time of year
during a very unusual time in our lives
an unusual time in history and uh we
need to use this time to strengthen
ourselves together to make this Kaneka
unusually amazing thank you so much
project Inspire amazing amazing work
that you're doing with all of the
programs the Mind flex and the Shabbat
show and just pumping out inspiration
after inspiration to keep us all on our
toes to keep us all focused and that
brings us really to the topic of tonight
the the the topic the title of tonight
is the Kaneka candle inside of you how
to illuminate your soul during a
spiritual blackout a spiritual blackout
is a time when you might feel low you
might feel disconnected you might feel
like the Glory Days of your Judaism are
behind you you just want to get it back
or maybe you feel you thought that life
would have already propelled you to the
next level in your spiritual journey and
it's just not happening the way that you
thought that it would pan out the way
you'd like it to you're not alone that's
the name of the game that's what we go
through as Jews that's what we go
through as spiritual Seekers finally
someone out there who says oh yeah
spirituality constant trajectory upwards
I'm always climbing that L obviously we
know there's no such thing it's not true
it can't be spirituality growth in our
Judaism growth to AEM to become more
Godly is a roller coaster ride it has
its highs and it has its lows and our
job is to always be developing ourselves
more and more in a way that we have the
tools to
navigate through those pitfalls through
those struggles and that's what we're
gonna be talking about tonight and how
that connects to Kaneka because it does
and in fact that is the story of Kaneka
that is the message of Kaneka let's do
this there's a great Rabbi who was known
as the H kodesh the PS in the rebi was
the rabbi of the Warsaw
Ghetto he was killed during that time
and uh he wrote many very very
passionate very powerful books one of
them is one city right in front of me
it's
called you're probably seeing it in
reverse but um it's a book about exactly
what uh we introduced just a moment ago
and that is this journey this journey to
live a life of feeling spiritual feeling
awake feeling inspired what we're all
looking for what keeps us
going and he introduces in his book
these three terms three different ways
that he describes how people are feeling
in terms of their relationship with
their spiritual selves and again we
don't know each other that well yet um
and I don't know the different levels of
Hebrew of our audience out there so I I
I'll just assume that we have all sorts
of wonderful people out there but these
three Hebrew words and if you're
familiar with them if not don't worry
I'm going to translate it and explain it
but the three words the three different
levels of connection that he speaks
about the first word is
we'll translate it in a moment the
second one is
hit sounds a lot like the first one it's
a little different the third one
is I'm sure many of you out there are
familiar with these words at least the
third
one is literally translated it's about
inspiring oneself it's about being
inspired I'm inspired by something
something awakens my
attention the next one is hit the hit
the root of it is regish regish means
emotion something a little deeper I'm
emotionally connected to
something the root of that is it's a
fire it's a flame let me explain these
three levels and I'm going to share with
you a personal story something a bit
embarrassing but we've been friends now
for at least five minutes so I'm sure
that I could open up and share with you
somewhat of an embarrassing story a
couple of years ago more than a couple
years ago probably close to 10 years ago
my wife and I our family we moved into
our first private home we were living in
an apartment up until then we were in
Israel we moved to America we had a home
beautiful and um there was a fireplace
in our
home and we were very excited to light
the fireplace and have a cozy evening
sitting the family sitting around the
fireplace maybe roast some
marshmallows and um I had never lit up a
fireplace it was just something new to
me you know I was actually you know I
used to in in the day you know in my my
younger days I actually did go camping a
lot but I was the guy who who played the
guitar so because of that the rule was
the guy with the guitar didn't have to
do any of the actual work I would just
be there string the guitar and then put
up the tent you know someone else has
got to do it like the fire someone else
has to do it so it wasn't much of an out
stman so it came to having to uh light
this fireplace and the previous owner of
the house had had left in the garage
some like these mini logs for the
fireplace so I figured okay looks like
firewood to me you just you put it in
the fireplace and then you know you
light it up simple as that right so
you're laughing
already so I tried lighting the firewood
and of course as you can imagine I'm
sitting there I'm putting the flame on
and you know as they say this n it's not
going nothing's happening it's not
starting up you know you know that right
I didn't know that at the time soone
thinking back what can I do and you know
my wife is ready looking she's like I
don't think that's going to work you
know why don't we just go to the store
and we can get they have these easy
light things you just put the match to
it and it lights up and I'm like no no
no I'm GNA do it right I've been C I've
gone capping many times and I remember
that they used to put toilet paper right
you've been you you've seen that in
these these um when they make the
bonfires so they wrap it in toilet paper
I'm like okay bring the toilet paper we
had some newspapers in the house some
pudding in the fireplace some newspaper
and some some toilet paper and trying to
light it and for the moment it actually
looked like it was starting to light
because you know toilet paper and all
these things they are flammable and they
do light for just a couple of moments
but of course they burn and within a
couple of minutes we have just you know
hashes of newspaper and toilet paper and
they're like floating all around the
house and I'm like kids quick you know
catch the toilet paper before it lights
the house on fire in the meantime my
wife had you know kind of snuck out and
went down the block and she got some of
these easy easy like things and after a
while you know Cole had quit held up the
white flag and we lit these very
flammable uh fireplace logs and you know
as you can imagine these things right
there they're beautiful you put a little
fire to it and then boom you have this
beautiful
fireplace and I learned a wonderful
lesson and it helped me understand a
little bit more of what this the holy
rebi the ish Kesh was speaking
about when a person is connecting to the
spirituality on the level
of
inspiration we often become very
dependent on the motivational
speech the rabbi
sermon on the new music on something
outside something external someone else
is going to excite me someone else is
going to inspire me people the self-help
movement the personal development
self-help the influencer motivational
speaker even in the the around the globe
right the Tony Robins movement is
massive massive people look because
people want to feel inspired and at the
moment when you have the fiery Rabbi
telling you that story and you're crying
because the story is so beautiful or you
have the the motivational speaker the
influencer the Tony Robbins and they're
yelling at you that you could be better
and think more positive so you're
feeling at that moment you're feeling so
awake you're feeling so inspired at that
moment you can conquer the
world like the nudnick buck bound who's
trying to light the fire who thinks that
it's lighting up just because there's a
flame right there but that's only
because the candle is up right there
it's it's the candle is there so it
looks like it's on
fire that it goes away the moment that
the candle goes away the fire goes away
suddenly it's not there anymore the fire
is not there what
happened I was standing at the codel
last week not I wasn't actually but
theoretically you're standing get the
cotel you just want to change the world
and change your life and a week later
it's
gone it's yum
Kipper and this is going to be your year
and a week later it's
gone Rabbi sermon the Tony Robins
seminar
conference whoever it might be and then
it's
gone because it's just like the the
fellow holding the candle up then once
the candle goes away the flame is
gone hit alut is wonderful but if it
doesn't hit alut is when I'm becoming
inspired from something outside of me
but it can only last a certain amount
can't last
forever we need to develop the next step
the next level of the is KES and that's
called
hit hit is when the pilot light is on
hitra is when there's an inner yearning
when there's an inner emotion when
instead of looking outside I'm looking
inward I'm saying what do I really feel
what's that voice inside of me what's it
saying what's it what does it speak to
me how does it guide
me when I'm awake inside sh in the song
of song says sh I'm sleeping but my
heart is awake we want our hearts to be
awake and even then sometimes it doesn't
necessarily feel explosive it's
difficult I feel like I sh I might feel
like I'm sleeping but my heart is awake
and I want to feel it a little bit more
it will come that's the next step that's
h means it's a flame fire feeling it I'm
excited but it's an but but it's a flame
it's like the easy light in my fireplace
it's the flame that comes about it's an
authentic flame it's a flame that didn't
come from something outside of myself
but it came from my inner yearning my
inner work I worked so hard I pushed I
pushed far and farther and farther and
now H I am on fire and it's my own fire
it's not an externally ignited fire it's
ignited from inside from my
heart we
know that the light of the Kan
man is supposed to represent that inner
fire many symbolisms Kaneka is wonderful
in terms of if you're like symbolisms
the symbolism of mitzvot and how they
correspond to other things if you like
the numbers game this equals this kanuka
is your holiday there's so much there
and one of the beautiful most beautiful
ideas in Kaneka is that if you look at
the kanah candle itself which is a
composite it needs three ingredients you
have the oil you have the wick and you
have the little flame and I'm sure that
you've heard this before and if not I'm
happy to be the one to share with you
that the the flame itself is In N with
the letter N the wick is called it with
the letter P and the oil is Shem with
the letter shin and if you take that if
you take those three What's called the
rash if you take the first letter
of and it spells nees which is our life
force which is our soul so when we look
at the candles the candles themselves
are supposed to that inner life force
the candle the flame that's inside of us
the pilot light being turned on every
single night a little bit
more another beautiful symbolism that
perhaps you've heard is that kanah is
eight days and we know in Jewish
mysticism and cabala and the deeper
sources they speak about seven being
completion of the natural order
completion of the physical world and how
so many things revolve around seven
seven days of the week the seven comp
the seven colors of the rainbow the
seven musical notes and it goes on and
on and on and in Judaism holidays are
seven days there so much in terms of
seven represents
completeness kan's eight days and E is
transcendent eight is metaphysical eight
is infinity eight is the the the days of
when when a child is a circumcision to
show that this is our contribution about
how we're going to break through the
physical chains how we're going to break
beyond our physical capacity our
capacity as human beings and we are
going to become in this lifetime even
bigger even greater and every single
night the lighting of the candles one
night and two nights and three nights up
to eight shows that we're growing we're
lighting that
fire there's so many symbolisms within
the story of
Kaneka another beautiful one if you look
at the the the the kanah which is kanah
is on the 25th day of the Jewish month
of
K and if you look at the 25th word in
the Torah the 25th word of the Torah is
is light a hint to the light of Kaneka
and we know what is that light it was
the first day God said let there be
light and there was light and the
commentary say that this wasn't a
physical light this wasn't a natural
light this wasn't a light bulb a
fluorescent light bulb even the sun of
the moon this light was called the oras
the hidden light this term Enlightenment
that so many religions throw around each
one with their own language what is
Enlightenment Enlightenment is trying to
tap into the spiritual light the light
the hidden light of creation that orag
is the light of the first day of
creation hinted to in the 25th word in
the Torah so once again the light of the
Kaneka manora the beautiful candles of
the khanek manur are meant to be that
light inside of
us what does the kanah story teach me as
to how to do it
and what I want to speak about in our
time together tonight is to try to look
back a little bit at the Kana story
itself and see how the story can provide
us guidance for where we are today where
the world is today what does the kanuka
story the story itself what does it
symbolize how can we take that story and
cut it and past it to our lives because
we know we know that every single
holiday is not
all about this story in history that
happened 2,000
1,000 however long ago it happened the
the the holiday is meant to be the story
of today my story our story and the
historical aspect of it the
commemorative aspect of it is meant to
give us a window how can we relive that
story how can we make that story our
story so the kanuka story we know we
teach it to all of our kids we know the
wonderful story of the oil the that the
T teaches us the oil last was only
supposed to last for one day and it
lasted for eight days we know about the
story we know about the makab and how
they won this war they were a small Army
against the big
army but the kanah story is a little bit
bigger than that all of these stories
really focus on the moment that Kaneka
became
Kaneka but what we have to look at to
fully understand Kana story is the
moment in time that Kana entered into
the universe because the story is more
than what happened it's when it happened
every single holiday you know we don't
just make holidays for miracles we don't
just make holidays for miracles we have
had so many miracles that have happened
to us throughout our history and if if
if we made a a holiday for every single
one we would all be very very very much
stuffing our faces all the time and it
would not be help because we do not
always eat as healthy as we should
during these
holidays we can't have a holiday every
single time this a
miracle the holidays that we have
commemorate Miracles that happened at
very specific points of transition in
the history of the world and the history
of the Jewish
people the miracle itself was God's way
of saying we're undergoing a change now
next phase we're moving moving on the
way that you live the way that you
practice the way that things were up
until now they're going to change in
every single holiday that commemorates
something but obviously we know how
Passover we went from being a non-
nation just as people swallowed up in
Egypt to being the Jewish Nation that's
an easy one to see we know that shab
went from not having the Torah to having
the
Torah comes in very
strategically in history right between
the first and the second temples
transition
and the story of khek itself represents
a massive transition in how ju practiced
what
yous used as a way to connect to god
let's take a look at that a little bit
closer if we want to
understand
what a moment in history
represents and we
look at who are we look at the enemy we
look at who we at war against and the
contrast there's going to be a contrast
being brought out between us and between
them there is a powerful concept that's
found many many times in Jewish mystical
texts that's called
Z means this opposite this
and that means that when there is an
energy that has entered into the world a
shefa something is coming from God a
Godly energy that can be taken and that
can be used for Holiness or it can be
used for impurity or at the very or you
know even just mundane it's mundane use
or even worse it can be used for
impurity so when there's great potential
when there's potential when there's an
Awakening in mankind when we see a new
any new movement and if you even look
today at any of the movements there's so
many movements that are out there you
don't have to look you know more than
just the last half a year and all of the
movements that are shaking up the world
as we know it our country as we know
it and we see that every single movement
has in it its holy aspects and every
single movement has within it its impure
aspects and so much that falls in that
gray space in between
so let's look at the Greeks and let's
look at what they represented and let's
try to find a little bit of a Common
Thread and maybe those who are part of
the Mind fletz program last night
touched on this and maybe we can go a
little bit
deeper because we'll see something
absolutely incredible absolutely
incredible and that is that there was a
movement happening within the World At
Large being affected by the Greeks and a
movement happening within the Jewish
world and that they're somewhat parallel
except one on the side of Holiness and
the other on the side of the more
mundane we know historically that the
Greeks made massive contributions to
society contributions in their
philosophy in government in democracy in
The Sciences in the Arts architecture
sculpture you're into wisdom you're very
cultured very smart and so much of the
cultured world that we know today is
inspired by Greece and who can say that
in our own lives we're not affected by a
world that is the outgrowth of what
Greece introduced to the world right if
if and most of the of the entertainment
most of the beautiful things are
somewhat will connect back to that they
made a massive impact on the world and
really did create a much more improved
much more civilized
World in many ways
and one of the things that the Greeks
were emphasizing was the power the
emphasis the focus on the human being
and the focus on what we can
become that our creativity can create
art that our minds can create new
governments new systems new math new
science the fact that the human being is
amazing is incredible on the Physical
Realm they were very big into to their
bodies and their athleticism to show
that every single part of us our
creativity our intellect and even our
bodies are something that're
beautiful which is one of the reasons
why we see in many of the Jewish texts
they say that we're not meant to push
away Greece but we're meant to utilize
what they introduced to the world and
use it for
Holiness but we also have to look at
what was going on in the Jewish world
and again the kanuka story which
happened 2 Century BCE was a response to
something that was going on for almost
two centuries before that the Kaneka
story didn't happen in above it didn't
happen in you know three days the khah
story was an outgrowth of a
hellenization that was going on for a
much longer time but how what was
causing it what what started
it and the rabbis teach us that there
was a massive shift in how we operated
as Jews that happened just as Alexander
the great was conquering massive areas
of land and changing over his section of
the world it was also a massive change
happening in Judaism and what was that
it was the end of the era of
Prophecy Mali the last prophet with his
death prophecy was
gone and up until then from the really
the beginning when Judaism first began
at Mount Si with the great prophet Moser
raenu Moses
all the time when the Jewish people were
in Israel the first temple we were very
much dependent on those prophets
prophets to guide
us and the deeper commentaries explain
that even if you weren't the prophet the
fact that you lived during the era of
Prophecy meant that your spiritual
connection was somehow being plugged
into that prophecy somehow their
spiritual Wi-Fi that they brought down
with their prophecy everybody was
plugged in everybody felt it to the
point that this is what the this is what
many of the of the of the commentaries
Jewish tradition teaches that even when
they studi Torah even when they studied
Torah it was an aspect it was a level of
Prophecy Mali
dies prophecy
leaves at that point the Jewish people
need to readjust you need to redefine
find themselves who are we
now something amazing happens if you
take a look at all of the books that we
have of the oral Torah and you know
Torah Al the oral Torah is something
that is as old as as any part of Torah
it comes right down at at Mount Si
together with everything else so the
oral Torah was there it was part of
Jewish life from the beginning but
yet that point in time when the prophecy
is finished when the era of Prophecy is
finished something happens with the oral
Torah suddenly it starts becoming alive
in a whole new way the T says that at
that point in time and really you can
track it with the names beginning with
the the the names of of all of the
rabbis in the Mish were more or less
around the spirit and again we're
talking about a couple of centuries here
and I'm not going to get into the dates
because I'll because I'll lose you and
I'll lose me but the overall time this
this second temple period was a time
when
suddenly with prophecy gone the
conversations that are happening
suddenly the the Tom says suddenly
there's new debates
happening and while that might seem
scary because suddenly we have all of
this different conversation and yet it
seems very Dynamic but I'm saying one
thing and you're saying something else
and how could they both be right and
then the tal says something absolutely
wonderful many many
times it is possible that we could be
having a conversation I could be saying
yes you could be saying no I could be
saying pink you could be saying blue and
yet a both your words both my
words these are the words of God what
does that mean God this is this rabbi's
opinion how could it be the word of God
he's arguing with another Rabbi who's
saying something else to says
no their old tradition works this is a
gift this is a gift to the Jewish people
to say you're part of this process
you're part of the development you have
the tools you have the groundwork you
have the written Torah you have the
tradition up until this point you have
the mechanisms that you need to go and
study now go and make it something
absolutely amazing build on it build on
it
because these are the words of God you
know there's a fascinating fascinating
line that says that when you're quoting
someone when you're saying over a Torah
an idea within Torah that you heard from
somebody else you should quote it in
their
name and there's a fascinating
explanation to that that when we say
something we're quoting a piece of Tom
or or you know this this wonderful safer
and I say the the H coder said this RAB
AA said this this person said this their
actual names become part of the
statement of Torah they themselves have
become the channel by which this Torah
enters into the
world it's the word of God the word of
God is now being manifested through
them through their own opinions which
came through the
study of the written Torah that is a
fascinating idea to the point that we
believe that in every single word of
Torah that we learn whether it's the
talud whether we're learning the
commentaries there is an aspect of the
word of God in there even though if you
would have asked the person saying it
you like hey are you a prophet like no
prophecy's gone I'm pretty sure that I
came up with that but it's the word of
God somehow or another within this oral
Torah within this Jewish tradition we
somehow say that my own Insight my own
perspective can be fused together with
the word of God a fascinating
idea you know Moshe Moses in his final
song to God
Inu so he says his word should be like
rain and his saying should be like
do the commentaries say that rain is
compared to the written
Torah and do is compared to the oral
Torah because rain is always raining
down I I feel like I'm out of control
right I'm sitting there I'm walking
seems like a nice day and then suddenly
it starts raining I don't have my
umbrella right it seems like I'm being
poured upon something coming on me I'm
out of
control yet do you never get stuck in a
do storm right seems to come from below
it just seems to be there where did it
come from it just seems to
materialize and you know when you have
this Insight when you're studying Torah
and you have a question and you're
thinking about it and you're racking
your brains and you sleep on it and you
you you walk around the block and you
pce back and forth and you bothered by
it and suddenly it came to me light bulb
aha
moment what is that what is that did
that come from me did that come from God
was that a prophecy I don't know I don't
know that's the power of the oral
Torah let's compare once again the world
of
Greece and what's going on within the
Jewish people at that
time is it energy flowing into the world
in the world of Greece that means that
suddenly they're seeing the power of the
human being wow look at the human being
look at his how big his muscles could
become look how smart he can be look how
he can come up with math look how we
could come with science look how we
could create that sculpture how we could
create that art how we could create that
music wow that human
being and in the Jewish world they're
saying the same thing wow look at that
human being look how we can come up with
that Torah Insight was that a prophecy I
don't know I don't think so but yet it
seems like it's the word of God it seems
so true it seems so
powerful it's the same movement
happening except in one place it's
happening for the monan in the other
place it's happening for
Holiness there's this amazing line from
believe it or not it's it's quoted many
times in the world of Art and in the
world of creativity and that it's a line
from Socrates who Liv at at that time
and Socrates I'm going to read this for
you because I I wouldn't be able to
remember it on our own but what Socrates
says is this thing about poetry and he
says if man comes to the door of poetry
Untouched by The Madness of the
Gods sounds very Greek right believing
that technique alone will make him a
good poet he and his sane compositions
will never reach perfection
but are utterly eclipsed by the
performance of The Inspired mad what is
he talking about why do I love this
quote I love this
quote sacares is saying
is the artist the poet and we hear
sometimes even when we hear artists
songwriters when they speak and they
speak about that creative thing it came
through me came through me right the
song came to me even in the world of art
they seeming to sense that something
just happened that was bigger than me it
was outside of
me that language that they're speaking
about in that world of Art in that World
of Science in that world of medicine the
Jewish people are making that same trans
transition except they're talking about
in the world of Torah it came to me this
Insight came to me I don't think it was
a prophecy but I'm not sure that it came
from me either this is something
something so wonderful so
true but it's coming from inside here
it's not coming from there it's not
raining down on me it's like th it's
coming from inside raising itself
up the story of
Kaneka represents the
transition from the world of
Prophecy the world of having to look
outside of myself to the the world of
Torah the world of the oral Torah which
is about looking inside and trying to
find the renewal inside of them we
opened up and we said that thees says
that in our journey we need to move
beyond always looking to be inspired by
the external flame and we need to
develop a hit an inner emotion so that
we can build out of that H fiery flame
that H that fiery Flame is the flame of
the
manora and that's why we make sure that
on the very first night we're lighting
one and then two and then three because
it's just a pilot light but if we're
consistent about it and we continue it's
growing and it's growing and it's
growing how does that look in our life
and how does that look in our life today
the past eight
months for everyone and every individual
at his own and her own
stage there comes that point that we
need to make this transition from
stopping to look outwards and starting
to look
inwards in the last eight months many
Jews have had to learn how to do
everything over again but we thought we
had prayer down for those of you right
who go to go to a minion go to sh part
of the synagogue or you don't go but
everything is sort of in a system right
yeah I go here I pray here I do it this
time and then I go to this class and
this is my Rabbi and I go to this share
and and and this is the that I do and
this is the kindness and I go to this
wedding and I go to that sh and I and I
help this one and everything was very
said and then boom suddenly you have to
relearn everything you learn how to pray
again you learn how to study Torah again
learn how to be kind in a different way
we have to learn how to be a a a a
spouse again how to be a parent again
how to be a child again in this in this
whole new
environment and so many people over the
last eight months have said this is
exactly what I needed I needed this I
needed this change because Judaism
became so
rot I just that there was no pilot life
there was nothing inside it was just
okay you know what's the rabbi going to
speak about what's the minion going to
be like everything is just relying on
everybody else
and suddenly people were home and they
had to open the sitter the prayer book
and they had to say without the minion
without the synagogue people sitting in
their at their Passover seders without
the big
family looking at the ha or looking at
their whatever they're learning without
sitting with a whole group of people and
asking themselves what does it mean to
me what are the prayers mean to me what
does passover mean to me what does suot
mean to me and people learned how to
pray again in a whole new
way they learn to look into a sitter and
say okay you know what I can go at my
own pace now not in a rush I'm not going
anywhere so let me pull out let me take
a note of that hey you know what I've
been saying that line for 37 years of my
life and I never realized how beautiful
it is and I'm not going to rush it today
because I got all the time in the world
I'm just going to stop I'm to think
about it I'm going to let it sit in my
head I remember being in
Yeshiva and I remember the first time
coming up with a novel idea A New
Concept because we're studying the Torah
studying the tal gamar and we find this
contradiction and I'm thinking about it
and suddenly a new idea comes and it's
so
exciting it doesn't have to end in Yesa
every single time we sit down at our
Shabbat table and we share V Tor is it
just one that we pulled off the shelf
some you know an English book that gave
us some sort of Cann
VOR we creative about it we think about
something fresh something that speaks to
us the freshness that beauty and
something else Another Blessing of the
last eight months Another Blessing of
this time of Co was that suddenly all of
the greatest teachers all the stuff is
online and maybe boxed into only
learning specific only studying specific
things because that's what we had
available and now everything is
available every single Rabbi went on
zoom and literally made their stuff
available for the world I not just RAB I
teacher all types of
teachers the the the opening the worlds
of availability in terms of
study and now is just a wonderful time
to say what what am I missing in my
Jewish knowledge what I want to learn
more
about how can access it now that there's
so much information
available it was all about looking
inside and saying okay where do I go
from here because we can't always look
outside we need to be able to find it
within ourselves how can we use our own
creativity our own
style what's unique about my Shabbat
table where does it have my flare my
Jewish Home my study my prayer where
does it have my own uniqueness my own
unique touch
was the blessing of what this time
brought and in many ways Kana challenges
us to do that to look
in just end just for the last couple of
minutes with with some more
symbolism over the course of
Kaneka one one candle on the first night
two on the next night three on the next
night if we add it all together so we
get 36
likes and the commentaries have said
that the 36 lights correspond to the 36
hours that Adam and Eve were in the
Garden of Eden from the time that they
were created until through that very
first Shabbat when they were allowed to
stay 36 hours in total and for those 36
hours they had this brilliant brilliant
connection to God absolutely revealed
their eating from the Tree of knowledge
put them in a state of lower
Consciousness but until they left the
Garden of Eden they was still there just
sitting there Sun panning in this Godly
beautiful hidden light that we spoke
about then they
left and what happened to that light it
became an orag gunas became a hidden
light a hidden light means it's still
there they just had to go and find it
commentary say that light is referred to
36 different times throughout the Torah
almost as if it's hidden in all of these
different places these 36 hidden
lights and in our life it's like that
also we're always looking for those
little man lights we're always looking
for those little opportunities those
little things that tell us a little bit
more about what inspires
us and when Adam and Eve when they fall
from this high level God God asks them a
question in one word AA where are you
and we know that that very word AA has
numerical value
36 that's God's way of saying I know you
don't feel me now in this full high
definition right you don't feel me in
this powerful way but don't think that
I'm gone AA you just have to find
yourself AO where are you if you find
yourself if you find what inspires you
and you build on that then you will find
those 36 candles you will find your way
back to that hidden
light in the Kaneka story just because
prophecy turns off doesn't mean that the
Jewish people can't remain connected
they just have to find it within
ourselves and when we are not finding
inspiration from outside it just means
that God is saying I need to pull back
has is saying I need to pull back a
little bit now because you're becoming
too independent on inspiration coming
from
outside it's time for you to find
yourself it's time for you to become
it's time for you to be
creative it's time for you to create use
your mind use your emotions use whatever
you can and add your own
flare and if it doesn't feel like it's
working the process of looking inwards
the process of hit is very different
it's not like H it's not like standing
at the cotel with live music in the
background and being suddenly awake it's
not like having an influencer yell at
you or your or or or or the motivational
speaker or the rabbi give you that
powerful thing where you just go out and
say I'm going to change the world
because we know that that only lasts
only so long long it's a process of one
light and then two lights and then three
lights the very famous story is a very
famous story and we're going to end with
this compound interest the miracle of
compound interest so this anecdotal
story is the father is on his death bed
and he and he offers as an inheritance
to two of his children he says you have
a choice I can give you a million bucks
right now or if you want I can give you
one penny for the next 30 days every
single day that penny is going to be
doubled and one son's like a penny that
sounds like so little who would want
that this is some sort of scam give me
the million bucks I'll take it walk away
the other son says my father must have
something up the sleeve I'm G to take
the
penny and the next day that penny is two
pennies and then it's four and then it's
eight it's too late at night for me to
do all the math but one thing that I can
tell you is that at the end of the month
the two Sons to meet one another and the
guy who took the million dollars has got
a million bucks and the guy who took the
penny has got well over that the number
and again you'll do the math on your own
but his number is crushing the other one
millions and millions because that
little Penny doubled every single
day when we're finding our own path we
try this we try
that it doesn't it it it doesn't always
feel like there's going to be a big
explosion
today what is the consistency of saying
I can be a little bit better today and I
can be a little bit better than that
tomorrow and I can grow a little bit
more I'm going to be consistent about it
in these small tweaks and it's like
watching a clock where you can never
really see it moving but then you look
back and you're like
wow spirituality is about the long game
it's about the long game it's not just
about always feeling amazing it's about
saying I'm going to stick to this
program and I'm going to always reach
down deeper and deeper and deeper and
make today just a little bit better make
that one flame into two and then into
three and we're going to Compound on
that spirituality until I'm a full
manora until I'm up to that 8 night that
number of transcendence until the hidden
light light of Enlightenment is pulsing
through me until I can look back at my
life or look back at this large section
of my life and say this is what I became
through my hard work through my
toil and then Kana which comes at the
darkest time of the year but it comes at
that transitional
moment because shortly after Kaneka then
suddenly the days get longer the tree
becomes Tu Bish and the trees start
blowing again they start blossoming
again that point that transition in my
life of always having to rely on that
external inspiration and looking inwards
and turning it into a full flame a full
he one that I could look back on and
feel fully inspired and full of joy
thank you all so much for joining I hope
this was meaningful I hope that it added
to your kanuka let's connect somehow it
was unusual meeting you through this
medium but um easy to find online via
the social medias as well and uh hope
that this is just the beginning of a
wonderful wonderful Journey may we all
be zoha may we all Merit