8 Incredible Insights on the Rambam Hilchos Chanukah

okay good morning everyone sh did you hear the news there's a big war you heard about the war and the one and in honor of that is sponsoring Today's Breakfast in honor of the victory of the Kash um welcome everyone I wanted to read to you a few simple in the r and share with you a number of observations that are found in the SA from R shurin citing these are familiar with but if we dig a Little Deeper we'll uncover a number of gems in the second temple era when the kings of the Greeks the Greek Kings decreed various decrees on Israel they abolish religion they did not allow them to engage in learning and doing now we're very familiar that Kana we celebrate spiritually because they try to abolish religion but look what the ram says they stretched their hands into our pockets interesting so it wasn't only religious persecution it was also Financial persecution they violated our daughters they entered the sanctuary and they made breaches and they contaminated all Purity so it's interesting the yanim entered the sanctuary they breached it and they contaminated it many people in order to never forget what the yanim did by defiling the sanctuary like to follow in their path by continuing to violate the sanctuary let's say they talk by daving or they bring their phone into a sh so they're very uh following and they never want to forget what the yanim did they always want to commemorate The yanim Who defiled the sanctuary they were Mame they contaminated all the oil so a way to do that today is let's say you enter the sh you bring in your phone you talk to your friend this way we'll never forget what the yanim did okay now it's interesting one point to make on the rambam is the rambam seems to emphasize not only religious persecution but also Financial persecution and physical persecution this says is not like the the says because it was spiritual persecution we celebrate but the r seems to be saying there is what to celebrate physically okay vit they distressed Israel was greatly distressed because of them that also requires analysis why is the ram adding that that Israel was distressed greatly from before them and they oppressed them with a great oppression until the god of our forefathers had mercy on them and he saved them from their hands and he rescued them another thing we need to point out is the ramam is not a story book The ramam is a book is a code of law why is Ram telling us the story of Kaneka who asked the raham to tell us a story this is not this is not a medish the ram doesn't cite midashim the ram doesn't tell us the story of P or the story of PM why does the ramam need to tell us the story of Kana we'll discuss that as well the and the children of prevailed the high priest they killed the Greeks and they saved Israel they appointed a king from the why is the ram seem to say this is a good thing the ran says this was a great great sin the ramam seems to hold it was not a sin it was a positive thing why is it a positive thing that they appointed a king from the and sovereignty returned to Israel for more than 200 years okay who cares well how is that relevant to why is the aftermath of a 200e Jewish Reign relevant to the of until the second destruction Okay so asked a number of questions number one why is the ramam telling us the story of Kaneka he's not a story book why does the rambam add that there was Financial persecution why does the rambam add that we were very distressed why does the rambam add they appointed a king from the Kim how does that enhance the Kana story why does the rambam say they restored M to to isra for more than 200 years when the Jewish people prevail over their enemies and they destroyed them it was the 25th of they enter the sanctuary didn't find any pure oil only one jug there's only enough to last for one day they able to light Theos for eight days until they are able to crush more olives and produce pure olive oil thean says that why did they why did it have to burn an extra seven days because it takes three days to get to the share of Asher Asher's land was three days away takes a day to make the oil three days to come back so they needed uh it to burn for an additional seven days because of this the rabbis of that generation enacted that these eight days that begin on the 25th day of days of Happiness what when now the ra is making something up days of happiness since when are days of happiness you eat meat on they're not the says um what do you mean you Mayim I thought the says we celebrate spiritually and the r says's physical happiness where the where does that come from and we recite Hal we recite Hal what do you mean and we light candles the ra should say they enacted days of and the lighting of candles why does the Rah say matter of fact by the way we light candles what we don't have to the raah is reporting that we just we do them we do that but we don't have to at the entrance of the houses every night on the nights to show and to reveal the miracle these days they're called they are prohibited to eulogize the ESS and to fast question did the rambam say that we light candles on Kaneka he already said that look what he says now lighting candles on like reading the ra you already told us we like candles why is RA saying it again so why why is it the first time he didn't say they enacted a holiday to light candles all the Rah says is he reports we light candles and then the r goes back and refers specifically to that Mitzvah and he says lighting candles well he doesn't say like M and you know what the biggest question of all is the ra left something out the gar says what's the ra say we do Kana no no so what the ramam has a thankless kanaka in the world of RA we don't thank hasem by the way Rashi on the when Rashi says rash says Al do you see in the ra that you say Al nope so we asked many questions on the ramam many good questions why does the ramam tell us the story of Kaneka why does the ramam say that they took away our money and violated our daughters why does the raham say they distressed us greatly why does the raham say they appointed a king from the khanim why does the ramam say that they returned sovereignty to Israel for more than 200 years why does the rambam not say that they enacted KH to light the man he just reports they did like them why does the ram omit thanking Hashem why does the ram repeat the Mitzvah ofos twice eight questions on the rambam that's a good one right eight that's a good title for we can Market that one eight questions of the r for so RAB m is getting nervous cuz he's from the rabam and he doesn't he you know he's not going to take this so we have to answer all the questions on the rambam so of salvic begins as follows why the ram tells us the story of Kaneka very simply because when we light Thea we're not just performing a Mitzvah we're we're accomplishing Puma we're spreading the miracle yeah we're we're broadcasting the miracle if you don't know what the miracle of Kaneka is you can't broadcast it say no I'm lighting the candle pal you don't know what happened if you don't know what happened your is meaningless you see you could shake you don't need to know anything you could just shake it God said to shake it so shake it but if the purpose of lighting the Mana is to be a miracle you must know what the miracle is if you don't know what the miracle is then your is empty well so you'll say that the r didn't tell us the story of PM that's because R wrote something called Mish what's mishna the ran writes together with and the M you have everything you need to know so the ra didn't have to tell us the story of Pam because he he understands that we have the background of the and now the ra is just adding but it doesn't record the story of kanah therefore Hally the r must record the story of Kana otherwise we wouldn't be says that the ramb in the beginning of Milla says that what does the mean he means if you know the and you have the background of the story of from M then that will fill in the missing information of how your the miracle of P but we don't know the story of Kana so ra has to record it okay that's Point number one point number two the r says they distressed us greatly they distressed us greatly why is that relevant that a why is it relevant that they distressed us the ramam said they abolished the religion they didn't let us learn Tyra they took away our money and our daughters why does ra have to say they distressed us greatly you ready for this the say regarding the MIT of that the were for is I'll for every chapter in our history and for every distress that it shouldn't come to us when we were redeemed we would say for our Redemption the G emphasiz is that in order to recite Hal there needs to be a distress and when we're redeemed from under the distress we could say so therefore says the r emphasizes they distressed us greatly in order to explain how we could have a recitation of Hal since on we have to recite Hal therefore the ram has to say that we were distressed because in order to say Hal we need to be saved from distress okay so that's why the r emphasizes they distressed us greatly adds that the r says what's isah only against the Z isah only against the ra says there are three categories ofah a war against the Seven Nations a war against Amal the ezas helping Jews from distress is a so the r emphasizes that we were in distress to teach that the war of the was not a regular War it was aah therefore the ra says they distressed us greatly friends parties or it's a big many say because is only enacted it's you want to eat jelly donuts that's your prerogative you want to invive a th000 calories on one round circle that's up to you however other say it's it's a Mitzvah what do the rambam hold now why would it be a sudas Mitzvah they only tried to persecute us religiously they didn't try to persecute us physically but if you look carefully in the ram the ramam says not only did they make decrees and they abolish the religion and they didn't allow us to learn Tyra but they try to take away our money they try to take away our money I would I would suggest maybe the indan of Kaneka G it's because since Tred to take away our money you got to got to restore the money you have to give Jews money you know push to ah so the r who learns not like the that it was only religious persecution the ram learns it was physical persecution therefore the r says what's look in the ra says is not only Hal are days of Joy according to the ra maybe par would you have to wash then you can right you just you can make bench but um according would you have to wash according to the ra if it's would you have to eat meat would you have to eat meat people have uh mil parties not my family we have F why all also because people are allergic to milk but that's a different story why all eight days would be only be the first day if was because of the they yeah they enacted eight days you mean the eight days are really for the N right no no you can say only one day is the m right that's what I'm saying so the first day should only be theim the other seven days shouldn't be should be like the right could be but if it's you may yeah me you could add you could add them yeah okay so the just it's very it's a very nice de the Rah is going to the r who learns that it wasn't just religious persecution it was also physical learns that Kana is you may okay then we pointed out the ram says they appointed a king from the Kim of what relevance is it that they appointed a king from the kaham the first observation we meant is ramban learns the fact that they appointed King from theim was this terrible sin they violated the ethical will of who said that's why the ran says all the were wiped out but the ramam seems to learn it was a positive thing that they appointed a king from the Kahan and by the way theel and the r say the did absolutely nothing wrong by taking the king just means Torah leadership rest in the hands ofuda and even in the times of the Torah lead of Jewish people came from Yuda more says were never wiped out says that she jumped off the roof and she said anyone who says she's from is a liar I'm the last one and I'm jumping off the roof that's what she said because all the other were in hiding but they were never wiped out says so the the question is what's the that they appointed a from the says the r says you know there's a mitzvah ofik you know it's a Mitzvah it's mentioned I believe in there's a Mitzvah on the to guard the mikdash so you would have let's say two khanim bodyguards you know bouncers at the mikdash they would feel your your belt they would feel your pocket and if you had a device they would take it away from you you couldn't go in with that you also if you were tummy you couldn't go in or if you came in with your money belt or your shoes and you couldn't you couldn't slip it in between your belt and your pants you couldn't have like a micro no you you couldn't come in with that there's a try to beik there the fact that they appointed a m from the insured that was part of the that they appointed a from the to counteract the fact that they and now that the were they had power to control the sanctity of theik ah now this is my favorite okay you ready for my favorite why in the world does the ramam say they restored malus to CL Isel for more than 200 years how is that relevant to the story of Kaneka that the 200 year aftermath of Kaneka is relevant to the miracle of Kaneka that malus was restored to clo for 200 years that's not relevant to Kano who cares and let's say malus wasn't restored let's say just we got back religious freedom then we wouldn't have Kana I understand the try to take away our religion they didn't let us learn T they didn't let us do bris wish toin who made a bris today what's the name shve yeah so they let us do bris they let us do bris and and now we could uh we're back to work right the Bas m is open for uh operations but if we wouldn't have a king we couldn't have Kana why does the ram throw that in says I heard this from Other M also others suggest this also the says why don't we say different answers one of the answers is we say Halu hasem in order to say Hal you have to be only a servant of hem and not a servant of anybody else the says on we couldn't say why we were still so the Ra's bothered if we were still times of and therefore we don't say how could we say how could you say we're still subject to the therefore the Rah says no they restored sovereignty to Israel for 200 years we're no longer a so you could be that's why the ra said that they was restored to for 200 years otherwise how could we say R sh asks but wait a second the r personally when he discusses why we don't say Hal doesn't give that reason why we don't say says we don't say why the reading of the m is the recitation of so the ra doesn't hold of the reason of so don't say the ra said they restored because otherwise we say Hal because that's not the reason the ra says we don't say Hal and he ends off with the on the rambam I would humbly suggest no I would say of course the rambam holds of the gara's reason that on Pim of course the ramam holds that if we're an EV to another king we couldn't say Halal so why didn't the ramam say where still slaves of a cuz maybe because since Esther was the queen that's not called being slaves to not that the ram doesn't hold fundamentally that if we're slaves to a foreign King we could say Hal anyway no the raham agrees to that fundamental logic we can't be slaves to another king but maybe the raham didn't bring that answer of the gamar not because he doesn't hold of it fundamentally but because if morai second in command and Esther's the queen that's not really called being subservient to if he's letting us build theik and we have Esther in power and we have in power and and and and mor was proving a king and the med says Mor was minting coins and was given license to attack that's not called however in times ofanim had we not made our own King we would be subservient to the yanim maybe okay you ready for the biggest Whopper of all why does the Rah say it's like the Rah says by the way they made Kana what do you do you have to Rejoice you have to say Hal and people light candles what you don't have to light the Mana and then the r afterwards repeats that the lighting of the is a why does he only repeat the and not comes you ready for this he one of the my grandfather's grandfather was a he said that in in the aftermath of they did not make a Mitzvah there's no Mitzvah there's no such Mitzvah there's only to say and to eat meat there's no Mitzvah to said what but so what does the r mean he's just reporting people people at candles to remember what but doesn't the gar talk about the mitzah of lighting the Mana it came later it's a mitah what they didn't say you have to light them right away of course not why would you light him there's a standing there's a the the miracle happen you think are going to be that every Jew should lie man in his window why there's a man in theik you should make an and a in your house also it would be absurd to legislate that Jews have to light man the was standing there was a in the mikdash after 200 years when the b m was destroyed the r came along and they said now that this is destroyed you need to light them an on your window so the ran when he first speaks about he just says people did it report people did it then the r says nowadays is but it was not part of the original legislation of that's that is not I don't want to say it's not the simple reading of the rambam it is the simple reading of the rambam it is not unanimously maintained that that's how you read this rambam it is the literal reading of the ram it is the simple reading of the ram it also answers why he says that to tell you that they weren so that they weren't right away because there was there was and we had M so there was no need to light them in yeah if you would have said the B mik stood for 200 years the emphasis on the's explaining he's explaining how it their ability to enact lasted for this long okay so so you're going to ask about the number of how do you do the candle lighting so weren't they during the time of so is asking we have how you like the do you go up or do you go down and they were around in the times of the B mikash so what were they arguing about if they were around in the times of the base H mikash when did H live he took over the B and says that they were Mo H said you could be mo of the carbon p on the that means was standing so what was the answer is Hill and Shai never argued B Hill and B shamai argued that was their Academy after the B mdash you would have to say you would have to say that the base B even though if you look can you bring AAR shabas does thear there bring Hill and shamai themselves I have to take a look maybe you would have to say that according to him but it's a very it's not typically maintained that uh that they were not massaki right away thank you let's see what is the say all the says yeah we do we do have let's say about preparing for chabas let's say so you you have a nice piece of meat in the store do you put it away for chabas or you use it right away and you hope so you get something better for sh that was sh themselves okay so how would you read the ramam according to the traditional view that the they were originally m in the remember we asked another question on the rambam we asked on the rambam the ram forgot something very important the ram left out the gar says [Music] and the r didn't say anything about and I'm going to ask you now the biggest question you ever heard in your life or at least in the last three minutes the question of the asked the says what about the mitzvah of what about the Mitzvah of so says see that's the proof they were but according to the traditional that why didn't the gar say so basically we have a question on the gamar the gor didn't sayah and we have a question on the ram the ram left out thanking Hashem so says says must be the r the gamar is telling you the purpose of the Mitzvah and the ram is telling you the act of the Mitzvah there's one Mitzvah the Mitzvah is to light the and the purpose of the lighting is to thank okay now this is very important the reason why the didn't say said gratitude the gra the Mitzvah is having gratitude to the ramam didn't say gratitude because the ramam said how you express the Gratitude how or if you look in the the a who codifies the you thank hasem by lighting the it comes out and we spoke about this last night it comes out lighting the man is different than any other mitzah the every other Mitzvah is the Mitzvah sh so go pick it up of course you're going to have mitvah you have you pick it up you shake it you did it I I didn't think this thought I didn't have that thought it doesn't matter I did the Mitzvah is shaking it I put on the so as long as I had the Mitzvah and I had say I did the mitzvah there's no mitzah to light the there's no mitzah if you go home and at the exact time you light the Mana you didn't do anything there's no Mitzvah to light the the Mitzvah is the Mitzvah is gratitude so how do I how do I express gratitude do I make a sign happy Kaneka do I write Hash a thank you card how do I express gratitude by lighting the Mana and what if I like the and I don't think this is my expression of gratitude says you missed the main part says you're not the Mitzvah that's why we say what other Mitzvah do we explain why we do it now if you're not aware of what you're saying in Alan also you didn't do anything so how does that feel with the r according to the r they should have been Ming to away no this is a different approach says the reason why the ra left out isik says the reason why the G left atak is because they were never Ming it and to begin with and that's why the ra just says they light people did it it was the practice to do it actually um I once heard R said over mik and he dismissed it based on the fact that they found Manas that date back to understood so I showed him inside in rishu that that's says they weren't obligated to but they did they did he told me that he heard would always say over so to buy him the set of the and he says he addresses this question he says they they they did not you don't have to but that's but the traditional view is they were Ming right away going with the view that they're Ming right away now if they were Ming right away why didn't the say the did said why didn't the r say the ra did say it comes out we know that if somebody is not going to be home the first night of Kaneka what do they do they look at someone else's n and they make the however if they didn't think but but he says um they would still be lacking the main fulfillment of the mitzah which is thanking Hashem so in other words says now do need or do not need kabana in the shabas we spoke at the the Mish pans they do they do says Mrs do not need kabana however since the purpose of is to thank hasem even or though ordinarily MIT do not need kavana possibly to for this you for sure would need kavana because if you don't have kavana you're not doing anything so it comes out yeah right in other words corre right according to that so just to conclude you know the gar says that uh anyone who anyone who's careful to light will have and there's a famous question says Everyone likes the but not everybody is but according to what we're learning we see that there's a very critical way to light the Mana that if you don't have that additional thought you could be missing the main part of the Mitzvah and that is you see from the fact that the gar left out and the Raam left that H the two compliment each other you light the Mana as an expression of gratitude and if you do that then the promises have a good day everyone