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Modern Masters: Chanukah: Yosef and the Burning Bush By Rabbi Sam Shor
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Auto-generated transcript. Not time-synced to the video.
okay good morning everybody how we doing
so we all know that Kana every year
occurs corresponding to the
parot that tells the story of ysep atad
and his and his brothers that very
challenging story that we're in the
midst of right now and what I want to do
this morning is kind of take a deep dive
and explore the significance the
connection the parallels to be drawn
between the story of Yosef and his
brothers and the story and the an of and
believe it or not I think we're going to
see some surprising connections some
surprising parallels and things we never
thought of before please God so we're g
to begin we all know the story of khaka
as it appears in the gamar in chabas we
don't have to learn this gamar inside
but we all know the story of khaka in
its Essence the story of a supernatural
flame right this Cruise of oil that
should have burn burned for one day ends
up burning for eight days and we
celebrate for eight days and it's
basically the commemoration of a super
natural flame so where else in the anals
this by the way this is not connected to
yose at least not yet where else in the
animals of Jewish scholarship in
literature do we have the story of a
supernatural
Flame the burning it's in the title
right the burning bush so take a look
this is gimble on our sheets
right so Moshe as we know the story he's
already left he's already left MIT he's
already left the Palace of parro and
he's gone and he's married into the
family of yro the Coen of mijjan he
marries jro's daughter and he's out one
day becomes a shepherd and he's out one
day he's shepherding the flocks of his
father-in-law and he comes upon the
mountain of
[Music]
and Mos sees the most incredible thing
the angel an angel of God Appears before
him in in in a fiery flame within the
thorn bush and he sees that the thorn
bush is completely a flame but it's not
being consumed okay
says this is impossible what I'm seeing
says it's it doesn't make any sense what
I'm saying how could it be that this
storm Bush which is combustible material
is completely surrounded by a flame and
it's not being consumed and that's the
same question that we could ask about
the N how could it be that the Shem
which is combustible material that
should have burned up after one day
continues to last and burn for eight
days so both of these stories you're
dealing with a supernatural
flame where where's what this is
the
the in the gamar and shabas that we skip
that's the
first no the the the story of KHAK does
not appear in Dak okay it's not in the
that's a whole that's a whole different
sheer in terms of why the story wasn't
canonized there's there are many
theories in terms of why that's not for
today but the the as we've talked about
numerous times over the past few weeks
first time you're joining us we we've
explored that the story of khaka appears
as basically a Ted footnote okay within
the discussion of what materials were
allowed to light to use to light shabas
candles and Shabbat in the midst of that
discussion we the questions asked do the
same apply to the the Kana candle are we
are we allowed to use the same materials
to like KH candles as we are for shabas
candles and then we get into the
discussion what is Kana and that's where
we're introduced to the story of khaka
okay so again just to the couch the
introduction once again we have the
story of Kaneka story of a supernatural
flame oil that should have burnt out
that keeps that's not consumed we have
the story of the SN the burning bush
Okay where mhu comes Upon This Storm
Bush that is combustible material once
again that should have been completely
consumed and for whatever reason it is
miraculously not being consumed okay
we're going to come back to the burning
bush in a few moments okay we'll come
back to this now I want to take a look
at the gamar shabas the continuation
discussion of the laws of okay this is
hey on our
sheets said
the taught in the name
of candle that's placed higher than 20
amot 20 hand breaths in the air okay is
considered P you're you're not allowed
to place your Kaneka candles too high in
the air and we're not GNA get to the
implications well what if I live in a
high-rise building or All Those
Questions that's not for today because
that's not the important part at least
for our discussion today
okay again now we're introduced to the
same sh of Scholars that
this said
the said in the name of another another
teaching
okay what is the meaning of
our where we know where's that P
from the story of
right he says since the p already told
us that the boore was Rake that the pit
was empty shouldn't we then already know
that that means that there's no water
there why does the verse have to tell
us rather it comes to teach us
what there's no water in the pit
okay there was no water but everyone
knows this because Rashi points his gar
right okay but there was no water in the
pit the pit was devoid of water but what
was in the pit snakes and scorpions okay
so is there I want to ask a question the
gamarra introduced us to two teachings
one is about the placement of raot we
shouldn't place them too high too high
too in the air and the other is a story
about Yos in the pit and seemingly the
connection between these two stories
seems to be what that they were taught
in the name of the same three teachers
right
rahana
okay and
RI both of these teachings are are top
of the sa three teachers and reiterate
the S teachers but I want to ask another
question might there be a deeper
connection between these two ideas other
than the fact that what that they were
taught by the same three people now a
face value our human intellect would say
oh it must be teaching us what that if
we place our candles too high then maybe
we won't be able to see them clearly and
therefore we can understand the PK about
Yosef that when they came the brothers
came to see this pit when Ruan suggests
let's throw in the pit it's empty Ruan
at first glance sees there's no water in
the pit but he must have thought the pit
was truly empty and he couldn't really
see
because it was too deep a pit so you
might think therefore that the
connection between these two ideas is
that if it something is placed at too
far a distance you can't see clearly but
as hopefully we're going to learn
together in a few moments there's
actually a much deeper connection
between these two teachings and a much
more fundamental and important
connection between these two ideas okay
let's go a little further okay just to
review just so everyone understands the
context of this P the G Mar's if you
turn your page over number
seven this is when the brothers when y
comes to the brothers and they strip him
of his
coat and they took it the cat from him
and they threw it and they threw him in
the
pit and the pit was empty had no water
so that's the PK that the gamar is
speaking about and we all know that P so
what else is significant about the
wording of this pu that the boar was
Rake the B was
empty there was no water in it t already
the P already tells us it was empty so
why do we have to say there was no water
so we know what the gamar tells us we
just learned the gamar that there was
devoid of water but there were still
scorpions but why does given to the word
water why does it AP conclude the word
water if we're already told it's empty
why do we have to say there was no water
in it so the garus is going to give us a
clue okay this is text number nine on
our
sheets
so asked why is Torah likened to
water so this a famous right everyone
knows that Torah is likened to water why
must thing is because water is what
sustains us right so without you can't
live without water
listen speak your water
okay ah so now listen to
this anyone who's thirsty should go and
drink the from the water okay
just as water flows from a higher realm
meaning in the it starts in the
Mountains and flows down into the
valley listen this beautiful idea okay
Torah can only be fulfilled by someone
who's what humble and that's why Torah
is likened to water water begins its
source up in the heavens but it flows
down up in the you up in the mountains
but it flows down into the valley right
so too Torah begins up in the heavens
okay but in order to be fulfilled it has
to be come down to to Earth and in order
for us to fulfill and receive the Torah
we have to be in a space of what
humility and not Hess for us to truly
fulfill Torah and fulfill the torah's
precepts we have to be in the mindset of
humility not htin okay and then just one
last
PK one last PK that I want to want to
want to look at that we're all familiar
with K Mitzvah Torah that a Mitzvah is
called a n a candle and Torah is called
light and what I want to do now is now
here from the masters of Jewish thought
who are going to weave together many of
these ideas that we just kind of touched
on very quickly and they're going to
weave together for us and paint a
picture for us
of the parallels and connections to be
drawn the deeper parallels and
connections to be drawn between the
story of Yosef the story of the burning
bush and the story of KHAK so bear with
me as we begin to weave this tapestry
together we're goingon to start on your
sheets
with text number seven RAB gal yes RAB
gadala is the first of the Modern
Masters we're gonna hear from this
morning RAB Galore was the great Riva of
yeshivas Tas in Brooklyn New York
Williamsburg and
uh died I believe in
1979 his safer the far of his teachings
are called orid yahu and this is a short
snippet from the or yahu on khaka that
we're gonna learn together um now and it
says the
following the P that we just learned
together from mishle that a Mitzvah is
called a candle and the Torah is called
light all the mitv in the Torah could be
described as what categorized as being a
a
candle because a candle is the vessel
through which what we're able to accept
and bring light into the world words if
we don't have
a a a source of fuel to light then we
won't be able to see light right that's
you have to light a candle they see the
light and therefore the MIT become the
CLE become the vessel through which a
Jewish person is able to receive the
light of Torah and bring the light of
Torah into the world through through the
MIT we do we are able to bring light
into our own lives and into the world
around us
okay because the Elevate the individual
spiritually if that's true about every
single mitvah then certainly even more
so it's true about what the Mitzvah of
of the N of the candle of
khah because the Mitzvah itself is what
the candle
so if if that imagery of every single
Mitzvah is a n is a CLE to bring light
into the world then that is even more
powerful says we're talking about khah
because khah the Mitzvah itself is
specifically through the N through this
vehicle of lighting candles
okay and therefore the light of the
Mitzvah itself is the light of Torah
when you put out fill in you know you
might not be aware of it you're
metaphysically bringing light into the
world but when you light KHAK candles
you are aware of it why because you see
the light
okay even though regarding all the
Mitzvah the P tells us that a Mitzvah is
called a n a candle and the Torah is
called
light but is unique amongst all the
other mitz
why because the light of the Mitzvah
itself is that light of
Torah the light of Torah is enclo within
the
Mitzvah this is the unique aspect of the
KH
lights that's why the so
beloved
why because it refers and reminds us of
the light of Torah what were the Kash
trying to do when they restored and they
rose up against the mighty Greek Empire
they weren't they become the leaders but
they weren't interested in taking the
malus for themselves why did they rise
up because they wanted to restore the
light of Torah and kadus to the world
and that's what Kaneka is all about okay
we're going to come back to this idea in
a moment hopefully if I do my job right
we'll weave this all together and it'll
all become a clear picture now we're g
to talk about yosf again we're gonna
hear from our second modern Master
that's Rabbi doink there's a very very
thin on on the on the Su of on the
various um topics that related to kanaka
called and it was written by this Rabbi
doink um I never heard of the safer
until I discovered it about 30 years ago
it's not a very well-known safer I found
it like a used farm store in about 30
years ago but it's a beautiful safer on
the various topics Rel to khah and can
and believe it or not he's gonna talk
about our our gamar which joins the
story of Kana and placing our kanot to
the story of Yos going into the pit so
look look what Rabbi Fink says in text
number eight on our sheets
but when the were victorious and they
overcame the darkness of the of
Greece what did they do they restored
the light of
Torah they learned and taught Torah why
in order to cling
to and not God forbid for their own egos
in accomplishments and
success that's why Hashem gave them the
miracle of the lights of the manora of
that Miracle Oil
davka because that Miracle of the sh and
allowing them to
rekin that what reiterates the idea of
the importance of bringing the of torent
to the world because it wasn't just
about overcoming the Greeks and throwing
them out what was the cavana in throwing
out the
Greeks was to restore the kadus and
light of teror into the world okay so
that's the first
part listen to this idea and he alludes
in the first piece that they weren't
interested in in taking the malus out of
their own ego and their own status and
stature but rather they desire to
restore the light of Torah and to bring
kadha back to the world he says the
whole idea of khah is about humility and
not
hardess listen to this he says and
that's how we can understand the story
of Yosef that why ruen suggests to throw
Yosef into the pit even though the pit
has snakes and scorpions there
why that since y had learned Torah which
is liken to
water he would be protected from the
Scorpions and SS listen to this
incredible idea who was y why did why
the brothers resent Yosef because he was
a
17-year-old kid and a little bit
conceited because his his father seemed
to favor him so the brothers were
jealous of him so Ruan realizes when the
brothers are about to kill him he comes
to this pit Sayes doink and he sees a
pit that has no water in it okay meaning
the pit is devoid of of what's water
devoid of Torah ysf has Torah which
hopefully will protect him from from the
animals he's going to face in this pit
except what is yose's challenge
he's about a little bit of a Bala he has
a little bit of an ego problem and
therefore in order for ysf to make
Manifest this what we just learned a few
moments ago in order for Yosi to make
manifest the Torah that he's learned he
needs to what first experience being
humbled and therefore says R ruen
suggests let's put Yosef in the pit
he'll go into the pit he'll be humbled
he'll be protected from whatever other s
in that pit why because he has the Shir
of the light of Torah which will F which
will truly be manifest because he's now
in this space of
humility Torah cannot truly be fulfilled
unless a person is what in a space of
humility and this is why the the is you
can't place
more than 20
why if the if the manur is meant to
remind us that just like the Kash when
they restored the light of of the manora
they saw this opportunity of restoring
Torah and Holiness in the world not
because they wanted to advance
themselves and out of their out of their
own ego but solely out of the desire of
bringing kadua into our lives so they
were humble even though even though they
seemingly were taking the malus they
didn't do it with with an ulterior
motive they did it solely from a space
of humility and a desire to restore
kadus and the light of Torah in the
world so too when we like that kukia
that manur that's the reminder of that
whole story it has to be placed in a
place that's not too lofty but a place
that's in a humble easily visible space
and therefore say do the connection
between these two stories that our gamar
makes is not simply they're both
analyzed by the same three teachers and
not simply that that it's beyond 20 Amos
it's difficult to see no it's meant to
teach us this incredible message that
just as yadik had to be humbled in order
to become who he was meant to be in
order to take all that he had learned
from yakob ainu and and and become the
great leader that he was destined to be
he had to first become humbled in order
for that Torah to become manifest for
that wisdom to become
manifest so too when we light our kanaka
candles we're reminded that if we want
to restore the light of Torah in this
world we want to live up to what it
means to to do these throughout these
eight days as mha wolson that we learned
about over the past couple weeks mha
wolson taught us that the word kanuka is
comprised of the word the letters and
Cain for eight days every single one of
us becomes a Cain throughout the entire
week of eight days of khah every single
one of us are like those when we light
our candles we're restoring the light of
Kad Holiness into the world and in order
to do that we have to do it from a place
of humility not
a space of H okay so that's a beautiful
idea and believe believe it or not this
is all gonna come back to now the
burning bush as well so turn your pages
over we're not gonna do this whole sham
mmu we're gonna do parts of it so we're
GNA Jump Around in it okay the shame ism
is Rabbi Shmo Borstein of the second
rebi of sakach he is the the son of the
AER okay RAB a Bor the first Rabbi of
Sak we're just going to learn we'll
learn a few segments from this longer
I'm gonna jump around it starts with by
quoting the on our
that right that this SN was completely
surrounded by fire engulfed in flame but
it wasn't being
consumed wow the med says that the
reason why hasem appears to mosha in
this way of a bush being completely
surrounded by Flames a little humble
thorn bush being completely surrounded
by Flame but not being consumed that
this is a Mas for the Jewish
people that just as the thorn bush is
the humblest of the trees on on earth
right it's a little thorn bush Okay so
too the Jewish people had to experience
going down to MIT to become
humbled they had to become what humbled
in their own
eyes because they were humbled and
humbled even though they were sadly
influenc many of them were sadly
influenced by being that generation of
MIT of being surrounded by all the tum
of MIM they were worthy of being
redeemed says the the the sh because
they remained humble they were humble
they remained humble and think about
this because we're gonna jump ahead but
who was the goel who was the one who
redeems the Jewish people who does
Hashem sent to redem the Jewish people
mosu what the torahs about
mosu M he's the a men upon Earth so's
jum down a few
lines he was both humble as well as
patient when appears to him and gives
him what does what you talking me okay
who am I to go before parro he's a great
king even though he grew up in parro's
home but for the past number of years
he's been what I'm a simple Shepherd who
am I to go before
parro so Hashem of course answers him
what it's dka because he is so humble
that Hashem is sending him to be to be
the Redeemer that he merits to be the
Redeemer not only that says the shame is
just to jump ahead to the end where does
Hashem appear to him to give him Theus
on which according to Med was also the
humblest of mountains the smallest the
most it wasn't a a massive high peak it
was a simple humble mountain and
therefore says the Sham ismu in this
beautiful
piece that the entire experience of
moshu being the go okay and he being the
one that's worthy to redeem the Jewish
people people and how hasem reveals
himself to to mos in the okay it's on
the humblest spot okay with the humblest
little Thor Bush to the humblest man on
Earth to redeem the the people that had
been humbled and therefore says the sh
is what necessitates G what facilitates
Yeshua to come into the world for arm
Israel this idea of humility
of okay now the
Shalom SLB who we've heard from many
many times as well the the great 20th
century he died in 19 in 1999 I so he's
really a pretty contemporary Master he
in text number 10 we're just gonna learn
a short STI from
thebi he takes this idea of the
representation of the SN of the burning
bush being somehow rep representative or
compar comparable to the Jewish people
he takes it in a slightly different
direction and look at his beautiful
words he says there's another idea that
can be learned from the introduction
that hasem makes to mosu as he sends him
on his way as he introduces him to his
important that he's going to fulfill to
redeem the Jewish people from
Egypt again he says the SN is
representative but not just the SN that
it's a humble thorn bush but the fact
that it's surrounded by flames and is
not being
consumed because the Jewish people are
like the SN surrounded by the impurity
and hatred of Egypt she
which is the source of all Purity in the
world despite this what the mean the
proverbial the Jewish people were not
consumed their sanctity our sanctity the
sanctity of the Jewish people is not
consumed by the Flames of impurity that
surround us or the Flames of hatred that
might go us what a beautiful message
that the gives us and by the way now
let's go full circle and come all the
way back to khaka and this is an idea
that we've shared in the past few weeks
as well but this really brings it all
together this is the beautiful idea from
R cook Rook if you turn your pages
sideways you see this idea R cook R cook
in explaining the story of
KHAK and explaining the famous story of
the
the miraculous oil this is how R cook
explains
this every single Jew has an aspect of
priesthood within
us because collectively the Jewish
people are called what a a Priestly
nation and a holy
people and the inner desire for the
sanctity of life and for the torah's
wisdom
that is hidden deep within the heart of
every single
Jew and this is the small Cruise of
oil the inner Hidden World of the
Jew in sealed with the Insignia of the
ultimate call meaning
who right
this the Greeks can never render impure
the word by the way
the the word Hashem in is corresponds to
theot ofish of the soul and that's
exactly the message that Rook is saying
here cook is
saying whether or not there was a a
mystical jar of oil we talked about that
in last week's year okay whether or not
there was a mystical jar oil or not what
was the message of that were trying to
communicate Us in in coding this story
of khaka as they did in the in in the
midst of of the discussions of of the
laws of shabas scandals to teach us a
very fundamental idea and that is the
Greeks try to what eradicate the
Holiness of Torah but there was
something they didn't understand and
couldn't could never comprehend that
hidden within every single Jew is in
the okay the p
and this says with cook no matter what
every Empire that has tried to destroy
us has tried to lead us away from the
light and Holiness of Torah that could
never be rendered impure the the shama
is pure every single one of us is pure
and holy my friends as we prepare for
the for this shabas where we'll continue
to read the story of ysep atad and just
in a few weeks we'll look ahead to
when we'll read the story of the burning
bush let's let's have in mind as we
light our candles this evening the
beautiful imagery of a supernatural
flame a flame that could not be consumed
no matter what hatred and and and
impurity surrounds us every single one
of us has
a innate within us that is Untouchable
from the outside maybe we be blessed to
feel that Holiness be blessed to
understand stand and experience that
Holiness and share that light with the
entire world