Living With Emunah (Chanuka Edition, Part 214) - Lighting Your Fire This Chanuka

good morning frederic hanukkah boker tov to all so happy you're here don't know how to lower the volume so you'll have a big wake up with your coffee my loud voice the amount of series is sponsored generously bobby and bella morgan a member of dr brian galbin in memory of his mother dr ellen chancellor a huge thank you as always to the morgans also this morning shir is sponsored by carol wald or is she in the memory of her father binyam and ben daniel the shaman should have aliyah thank you so much for that sponsorship okay we're going to take a break today from revolba can you hear me without the mic all right we're going to do without the mic i don't like the sound that's coming out of there um we're going to take a break from the revolver that we had been learning to do a special edition by chanukah talk about hanukkah i don't know if you got the memo today is the third day of chanukah and these eight days chanukah is a very funny holiday because the actual effort or exercise the actual ritual of hanukkah takes very very little time to light the candles if you have a large family it takes a little bit more time and even then it's not so long how long does it take you know sukkas pesach you're sitting in the sukkah you're sitting around the young fifth table rosh hashanah yom kippur the max of the dharvani and shul chanukah is an exciting time but the whole mitsu which is the lighting of the candles takes literally a few moments and a person easily can run away from those candles the latkes are flying the gifts are flowing the dreidel's spinning and all these other things that we associate with hanukkah the safganyot are clogging the arteries they're all happening all these things we associate with hanukkah which are beautiful complements to hanukkah are not to icker the core of hanukkah the core of chanukah of course is lighting the menorah lighting the candles not only lighting the candles but illuminating lighting our lives and we're not meant to run away we're meant to sit to gaze to look to watch we're meant for that light to go through us we're meant for that light to dispel the darkness in our own lives to give us a hope and an optimism and a positivity where it's meant for that light to illuminate so that we have a clarity about who we are and who we could be and how we're going to get there so the idea is not to light the menorah which is the timsta to get to the hanukkah concert i got to light the menorah so i could leave to the concert to the party to the gathering to the get-together to the presents in the other room light the menorah and then you sit next to the menorah and then you connect to the menorah you're mindfully watching and looking and gazing at the menorah so i want to spend our time so really 24 hours for eight days straight that's 24 times eight is hanukkah it's a few brief moments every evening that we're lighting the menorah and we think that's the totality of hanukkah but these are days that are brought to us by the number eight these are not shemona yamin they're not eight days we sing in mao sure yamaya shmona these are days brought to us by the number eight and what does it mean the number eight remember sesame street or electric whatever it was each episode was brought to you by a number different letter in the alphabet or a different number so the holiday of chanukah is brought to us by the number eight i'm not making that up it's not a cute play on words that's actually what we sing in mausour in mosur we say yemeshmona you may veena these are days of eight these are days brought to you by the number eight not eight days it doesn't say it says what is the significance of the number eight that these are days that are brought to us by the number eight so we know seven is the natural world seven is nature seven is creation seven is what we can see and observe and measure eight is one above nature eight is one beyond eight is what is beyond what meets the eye eight is not the physical but eight is our capacity to see the metaphysical to see above and beyond that's why one is a boy's bris on day number eight why is it on day number eight because in this in the natural order in the natural world that particularly that place where the burst takes place there are natural urges natural instincts natural drives natural desires the brisk the covenant the promise with hashem is our commitment and our pledge to transcend and rise above we have a natural instinct to drive a desire but we also have the ability to be to be moral to have moral boundaries we have the ability to be disciplined we have the ability to transcend we have the ability to strive not only for happiness we have the ability to live for holiness and so these are yamesh these are not just eight days these are days brought to us by the number eight that for these eight days we have 20 20 vision even if it's clouded even if we have cataracts even if we're walking around we can't see perfectly well the rest of the year for these eight days we can see clearly and what do we see we see the hand of hashem everywhere we turn everywhere we look we don't only see the number seven we don't only see the natural order we'd only see everything that can be explained through nature we're not cynical and sarcastic and rational beings so everything has to conform to our understanding of the world but we look around and we interpret and we filter the world through our glasses by the number eight number eight glasses 20 20 vision we see hashem behind everything hashem's behind the beautiful the weather we've been having again i hate to do this the people that don't live here in florida i don't really feel today i take it back i don't really feel so bad about it they should be here i i um this weather's been extraordinary i know i've been harping on this i went from the coffee to the weather sorry that's just the way i am just be grateful you don't have to live with me like other people so the weather how do you sit outside how do you sit outside i had lunch with someone yesterday at a restaurant and there was not one person sitting inside every table outdoors was full for good reason the weather is magnificent the warmth of the sun at the same time the cool breeze and the crisp air and you just feel like this is unbelievable the palm trees hashem is everywhere so maybe the rest of the year i take it for granted maybe for the rest of the year it's just natural it's just creation but for the days of chanukah i'm finding hashem everywhere the days yamaha these are days brought to us by the number eight the hashmonaim didn't see what was right in front of them had they seen only what was right in front of them they would have thrown up their hands and said forget about it we have no shot we're few in number they're much mightier their military is much uh more superior their weaponry we don't have a shot we don't have a chance but the kashmir the maccabees didn't say that they said you know if all we do is look at what's right in front of us right now we throw up our hands we'd surrender we'd walk away it would be at the end of the experiment called the jewish people but to be a jew is not such to see what's right in front of your eyes to be a jew is not to live in the number seven we are a people of the in israel we are a people of the number eight we are people of the brismillah we are people the story the holiday of hanukkah that we are the descendants of the of the maccabees and the who look at a circumstance and we say nothing is impossible nothing is beyond hope nothing is beyond possibility and look how we measure we triumphed in the six day war in 1967 of the israeli army looked around and said they're far superior their weaponry their air force their training their numbers we don't have a shot we don't have a chance we wouldn't be here today and that's true throughout our entire history throughout our history if they would have looked against all odds we wouldn't be here that's not who we are a yid doesn't break a year doesn't give up a jew doesn't ever surrender because we are not living and operating in the natural in the normal in the ordinary world we are a transcendent people we are people who are living one above we're living in a different plane we're living in a different dimension we're living all together a different reality and this holiday is brought to us not by the number seven it's holidays brought to us by the number eight whatever we're going through in life and whatever's bringing us down and whatever we're struggling with whatever that we look at and say i just don't see how i just don't see how in the natural order with my seven glasses i just don't see how put on your eight glasses these are yamaha this is the holiday of chanukah this is when we are like the maccabees the jews walked around the entire base of makdashi there was no flask of oil and the truth is they had every right there's a halacha to mahatrapatsibur the is the jewish law is that if everybody is equally contaminated then you can use an oil that's contaminated you do not need to go find a pure oil or they could have so they could have employed that rule they could have used the contaminated oil that was easily accessible that was plentiful it was bountiful but they didn't they kept looking and they turned the basal mites upside down because they knew that there was going to be one last flask and is inside of us there's inside of us a little flask that is pure shem there was shaman tahor there was pure olive oil it was buried beneath the base of floor and they found it they tripped on it they recovered it and inside every one of us there's a flask that is pure maybe there's so much of us that's impure maybe our mind and our hearts become so polluted and contaminated by the images by the ideals by the experiences by the practices maybe we've strayed maybe we're distanced maybe we're far away from who we could be and what we're meant to be maybe we're not living our most righteous or right selves but inside is that pintalia that little flask is still there it's in us it's in our children maybe it's in our spouse it's in the people around us don't give up a jew doesn't give up a jew lives the number eight we never give up that last flask it's pure it's there i think i said it yesterday at the partial class the word shemin hashem and with the hay are the same letters as neshama this oil that's pure that there's a little flask that's hidden it's hidden in us is like our soul our soul maybe has been neglected it hasn't been nourished it's dehydrated it's starving to death but it's not too late to bring it back to life to revive it once again to bring it back you know last week we had to have machlas and i hope everybody listened to the baha'i withdrawals so he said when we were talking about the loss of his amazing wife rabbits allah shalom and how he remains so positive 57 years old way too young his life partner his other half and he has this joy for life and i asked him how he does it how he does it so he gave several answers but one of which was he said you know tells us that in every generation whatever technological breakthrough whatever innovation that we have is really a symbol for the jewish people we're meant to grow the telephone the car everything is so he said you know today you hear people say my phone is dead my ipad died my computer died and what happens 10 minutes later they plugged it in and they're back on the device you say i thought it died brought dynamis i was ready to pay a ship a call we sent that a shiver notice you said your ipad died you said your phone died you said your laptop died i don't understand how you're on it right now i already scheduled to come to the funeral you plug it back and it comes back to life he says we see the possibility of our time the revival of the dead the things that seem like they're gone come back to life they're still there even when we can't use them for a brief period of time and he spoke about his own robertson she'll be back we'll be reunited he said every time he looks around his home that's filled with guests she's still alive when her influence is felt through her 14 children she's still alive so he said i would be sad if she were really gone but she's not gone physically she's gone but she's still very much here why would i be sad i miss her i miss her terribly but he said also the technolo the technology of our time has reinforced within us that possibility that notion that reality that even that which is temporarily gone and we call it it's dead we should be more careful with our words and use them more accurately but even that which feels like it's dead is gonna come back to life it's here so that neshama that looks like it's been extinguished the spark that looks like it's been put out it's inside every jew and hashem neshama can be brought back to life and you know that oil that we use in our menorah is the preference to use oil we use candles also but there's a preference to use the oil olive oil is so much more valuable than olives same thing the olives have olive oil in it so why is olive less valuable you know you step on the olive oil you press the olive oil you squeeze the olive and the olive oil comes out and the olive oil is more valuable it's worth more it's a greater commodity it tastes better it's more valuable to us all right so you see that when you squeeze something when you step on it when you press it what you get out is even more precious we the jewish people have been squeezed we've been stepped on we've been pressed and what comes out is more precious same is true with grape by the way that's why we make a bracha priya guf and the wine is much more valuable than the grape when you step when you squeeze when you smush when you what comes out is more precious what comes out is more special and that is a symbol of the jewish people okay all that was by way of introduction help yourself some chanukah coffee okay so i told you we're going to do a little bit of a hanukkah there's a great pamphlet that came out last year of veterinary morgenstern on chanukah we can't read the whole thing i wish i could keep you here all day and go through it it will transform your hanukkah and your life somebody should be translating it's really incredible but we'll go through some parts of it just to plant some seeds to think about and to have those discussions as i said we don't like the hanukkah candles in two minutes and that was hanukkah out of the 24 hour day we spent two minutes the whole day is supposed to be permeated with the energy of hanukkah the energy of hanukkah we say in the barracha the miracles that happened then so one gear so one language is in those days in this time and that's the case then it means in those days at this time the end of kislev beginning of tevas the winter this time of the year but there's another version of the blessing and al-anism that doesn't just say in those days that says and at this time and it means that we're not commemorating miracles from long ago we are tapping into the energy that is present still today the miracles of long ago revealed to us the energy that was present in these eight days but we're not commemorating a miracle in american holidays and other secular holidays you commemorate things from a long time ago you commemorate events you commemorate historical experiences you commemorate people and places it's commemorative judaism is not commemorative when it's commemorative it turns into a barbecue and a sale and shopping which is what every secular american holiday is we don't actually honor the veterans or we don't actually invoke the memory on memorial day and we don't celebrate it depends on july 4th when you're celebrating something the further you get from it the more years that pass from it the less meaningful it is to you so how do you tap into it a sale we look for the universal things that we can all rally around a sale shopping a barbecue fireworks we find all these insignificant frankly meaningless and utterly disconnected to the essence of the day ways to honor or commemorate something from long ago but judaism that's not our notion of time we're not commemorating things from long ago we are tapping into energy that's present today we're growing we're living experiencing today not long ago so these eight days of chanukah yeah you know we tell them yeah we're telling the story but the story reminds us what's what we're able to experience today what we're able to experience today is a number eight we're not number seven we're not living in the ordinary the mundane the natural where it's transcendent we're not uh limited to the physical we are living the metaphysical our life is informed and inspired yamesh by the number eight so what is this essence what is the theme what is the energy what are we meant to be getting out other than a lot of high cholesterol morgan's turn these days of chanukah are holy and they are illuminating there are days of gratitude there are days of of uh praise of singing it's very hard how do we tap into something that happened so long ago none of us have met the maccabee we don't know we didn't live we didn't overlap it's very hard to connect with something so long ago but but rather the energy that drove that attitude of gratitude then is the same energy that can inspire a greater attitude of gratitude today however we're living in such darkness this is not me you know like some rabbi you know certain church organizations every year everything is worse than it's ever been more dire than it's ever been you have to give now more than you ever gave like khalil everything would be okay they'd be in big trouble so this is not something i've been a con perbola we're living in darkness everything's terrible this pandemic is dark we were supposed to go to soil next week and yet again it's been suspended and not complaining grateful we'll be able to go again for other people it's much more difficult but here just like every time we think we turn the corner every time we think we're coming out and it's over here it is again a new form a new variant what does it mean are we protected from it what will be there's darkness and you know what's happening within this darkness i'm not talking about the suv that drove into a parade or the school shooting that happened two days ago and the darkness that's all around us i'm talking about the darkness of mental health when people are depressed when people struggle with anxiety they describe i'm in a very dark place it's very vernacular that we use i'm in a dark place i'm feeling hopeless i'm feeling lonely i'm feeling isolated i'm feeling neglected i'm feeling rejected i'm feeling despondent it's living in a very dark place and in corona mental health has exploded and gone through the roof and only now are we seeing the levels of suicide the levels of overdose are are unacceptable we talk about gun control in school shootings we talk about violence and it all pedals in comparison to the mental health challenges and consequences and casualties which is devastating it's a world of darkness and you'll say darkness we have more prosperity than ever before we have more technology than ever before we have more we have more longevity than ever before we celebrated several birthdays this week of people in the shul in their 90s kanai nahara zaza zumt and stark and every other yiddish expression you could use that you don't want to jinx it it's unbelievable a beloved dear member hami this shabbos told me he says rabbi i'm celebrating the 80th anniversary of my bar mitzvah the shabbos it's unbelievable yesterday we celebrated eisenberg's 90th birthday and mike sanders is 97. go on and on we have more than a million three million of people in the night can i know our r when i was a kid i didn't know one person in their 90s it's unbelievable it's unbelievable we have more longevity than ever before we have technology i was saying to you the other day with one press of a button we are simultaneously facetiming video conferencing with our kids in israel grandchildren israel kids in new york our kids here but it's like this is george justin stuff this is like disney carousel of progress stuff this is the stuff that like someday maybe it'll probably never happen but wouldn't it be cool if and now it's like ah ah it's buffering it's like you know i'm entitled my rides like how dare they this free service like i'm entitled we're living in in prosperity we're living in prosperity cars that drive for themselves we're living in a time of prosperity we're living in a time of longevity we're living in a time of and and there's more mental health challenges than ever before and more suicide more depression than ever before we are we are submerged in darkness it's dark people wake up they're sad they're negative they're lonely there's darkness everywhere so this is the holiday this is it we're lighting candles we're lighting candles and you know you could have a pitch black room you light one candle all it takes is one candle to dispel the darkness you don't need to flood the room with candles you don't have to flood the darkness with light in order to dispel it in order to turn it over one candle one spark gets rid of the darkness we're just not lighting candles we're being lit ourselves we are those candles the imagery of the candle is meant not just to be in our windows for others it's supposed to inspire and inform who we are and how we live and how we walk around not only those eight days but all year round and again if a person is clinically depressed clinically anxious clinically needs help there are thank god chemical help there's medicines therapy i'm not talking i'm not talking i give this disclaimer because it's important people are struggling suffering people who are confronting clinical diagnosed issues of mental health need to take care of it without shame without stigma any more than you would have shame or stigma khalil if you had a physical ailment and you need to see a doctor i'm not suggesting live with ammuna and then you don't need the medicine you don't need a doctor i'm not suggesting that i've never suggested that and it's very very important to be clear about that but i'm talking beyond the clinical diagnosis i'm talking about the general atmosphere the general environment the general culture of darkness and sadness and and hopelessness that's all around us the general sense of giving up of despair that's all around us that's only increased every time we have another school shooting or another domestic terror event or another variant that comes on the scene all that does is drive us deeper and deeper into the darkness but all you have to do is light a candle we light a candle and and it illuminates the world it brightens the world it lifts us up so how does it do it that's what i want to talk to you about this morning so let's start misha libo air verota or a person whose heart is awake and wants to acquire the light yes touched it good where the latkes you don't walk away let the menorah burn in the in the window i did the mitzvah in a millisecond in a fraction a second and i'm done it's like you stood under the hook but you gave the ring it's like i'm done i don't say i love you again i don't have to be selfless to you again i don't have to do for you again like i'm good i gave you the ring it lasted a millisecond that was it's on video it's on video we have pictures it's proof there's evidence good is the story of the yeshiva student who's who's uh married his wife is is very concerned about her marriage doesn't feel affection doesn't feel loved she complains to his rebbies is rebbe comes to him and he says you know you seem happily married i know you love your wife but you never tell her she needs to hear that you love her you never tell her so he says i told her he said what are you talking about when's the last time you told her 26 years ago on the chapa i said i love you and i never took it back since so it's just like a like a lumdas like a halacha i said it then and i never i wasn't movatlet i didn't take it back i didn't nullify it so it's still standing so why do i have to repeat it i started i gave you the ring under the chupa that was that moment the millisecond so we're good that's it that's i lit the candle so we're good no you're lighting the candle is what launches the feeling the energy that should permeate the whole eight days and what is that feeling and what is that energy is to spend time understanding and acquiring what it's really all about what it's really all about and the ponemius of it the inner feeling of it and then ravich meyer goes on we're not going to spend the time now but it's true not only for hanukkah this is his life mission and cause muscle weinberger and others the idea that we are living in a time in a generation maybe it's existed for many already but ours is suffering terribly from it where we're living mitzvos very superficially we do them externally but is the panemias is the depth there are we mindful are we present do we understand the deeper meaning are we connected how it's meant to transform us or we check hanukkah candles check shabbos candles checked feeling check keeping kosher check keeping shabbos check check check check check check but other than that i don't think about it doesn't transform me i'm not present i'm not really there it needs a premium it needs an energy it needs an emotion it needs to get into our kishkas we have to understand what we're trying to do what we're trying to accomplish who are meant to be as a result of it the hablak is on a shama borah near sakadoshim we're not just lighting the candle kiner hashem nishmas we know that the candle represents the neshama how do you know that give me an example of a candle representing the neshama the earth's eye candle a person has a urethra loved one they light a candle yiskar if you've ever lost a loved one you like easter candles before you're a saiyan shiva a seven day candles in the home throughout the shiva a tahara in the room of the tahara is being performed by the khabar khadijah a candles lip all based on this position my mouth tells us that the soul is likened to a candle and why is this so likened to a candle because you can't hold the flame you know it's there you could feel its warmth you know it's there because you can benefit from its light but if you try to grab it or hold on to it you can't and the soul can't be measured it can't be captured it can't be grabbed onto but you could feel its warmth and you can benefit from its light and you know that soul is there the candle no matter what direction you hold the candle what does the flame always do the flame always goes up you can hold the candle upside down you'll just burn your hand because the flame is going to still go up the soul is always yearning the soul striving the soul is aspiring the soul wants to be nourished from the heavens with holiness no matter what direction you face the candle the soul is always flickering upward so there are many many other examples and metaphors so says what we're trying to do when we light the hanukkah candles is not light some wax we're not lighting some wick we're lighting our soul on fire we're waking ourselves up we're waking up to the reality of who we can be and the life we want to live and the love we want to share and the difference we want to make that we're not here to take we're not here to receive we're not entitled we're here to serve we're here to make a difference we're here to repair the world we have duties and obligations because of the uniqueness of who we are and what's incredible and i'm going to talk about this a lot more in the future because i really believe this and i want it to be a staple of of our community and inform our youth and our teen and our adults in everything that we do because here's the paradox in the irony the more that you think you'll achieve happiness by taking care of yourself the less happy you are and the more that you want to make other people happy the happier you become it's not goldberg saying this every research study there's actually treatment for depression to volunteer there are countless countless studies that confirm this today they give two groups money one they say buy something for yourself the other say buy something for someone else then they measure your happiness there's countless countless studies the more we pursue our own happiness the more unhappy we are by the way you don't need to study all you need to do is look at your your window all you have to do is look at the world today it is a world of people pursuing their own happiness very focused on their own happiness their own pleasure pleasure seeking happiness seeking that is the world and that's what the world do whatever you want whatever makes you happy you're entitled to your happiness you deserve your happiness the world owes you your happiness do whatever you want that makes you happy because the only measure that matters is are you happy does it make you happy will it make you more happy that's the world we're living in but judaism says the exact opposite your happiness whoever told you you're entitled to be happy whoever told you that you should be focused on your happiness you know you should be focused on making other people happy taking care of other people relieving other people's pain and stress making the world a better place and you know what happens when you do that you walk around so happy because you're fulfilled and you found meaning and you found purpose and this is a language that we don't use we don't use enough again i apologize in advance because you're going to hear it a lot from me with our kids you know where our kids walk around i don't want to go to school i'm entitled to stay home who's not a boss me i deserve the latest version of the iphone i deserve the highest speed of wi-fi i deserve the latest of this the latest of that the latest of the other thing everyone has it the world owes it to me and i deserve to be happy and you know what it's not their fault these kids because if they're consuming pop culture culture they're watching marketing and ads if they're driving i-95 and reading billboards then this is the messaging that's coming from all over is that life and the world are all about your happiness your pleasure and what the world owes you but it's time to turn this backwards inside out that it's not about our rights and entitlements about our duties and obligations it's not about our happiness about making other people happy it's not about our needs but it's about figuring out how we're needed that's what our life is about because when we do that's what brings us the greatest happiness that's what nourishes the neshama the more you pamper the body and neglect the soul the more unhappier you will be because the more counterfeit you will feel your life is and the more that you nourish the soul and you can pamper the body too nobody's suggesting you have to neglect the body nobody's suggesting you have to live with fasts and starvation and neglect but nourish the soul and then pamper the body because it is the instrument and vehicle for the soul the happier you're gonna be more beautiful the more fulfilled the more meaning we have to reintroduce the words to our vocabulary with our children with ourselves like meaning purpose responsibility service duty obligation these are the words that have to re-enter our curriculum our attitude our programs the mosquitoes led a great father-son trip to new orleans and the people came back on fire on fire it wasn't a two-day trip to scotland for golf and scotch tasting it wasn't a two-day trip to charlie chocolate factory it wasn't a two-day trip to what do you mean they came back on fire if you saw the pictures they spent two days back breaking labor sweating with three masks on taking away moldy walls in new orleans that's been savaged by by multiple hurricanes and they came back i'm so happy was unbelievable i'm on fire i'm happy i'm energized what from 12-hour back-breaking work days half the people haven't lifted a hammer in 20 years and they come back and fight yeah because when you do when you give when you volunteer when you're responsible when you make a difference when you find meaning and when you find purpose you find life and that's what we're meant to think about we haven't even started yet it's a disaster i haven't started yet that's what we're meant to be thinking about while we're lighting the candles those are the candles we're lighting the candle kinera we're lighting the candle we're lighting the neshama we're lighting the pentalyid we're finding the little last flask of pure neshama inside us the one that's not been tainted and contaminated and compromised and corrupted by this culture and by this pop culture and by this world we're finding that little pentaly yet inside us that still remembers what gives us meaning and purpose what gives us life what makes us feel alive and therefore it's light when you're focused on your own happiness and its pursuit you're living in a world of darkness why do you think that so many celebrities and athletes and mega wealthy people around us are are struggling with addiction to all kinds of substances because they've climbed the mountain that the world tells them should bring them happiness and on top of the mountain they're empty they have money they have fame they have power they have following they have celebrity and you know what they're empty they're lonely and there's a hole in their heart and they have to numb themselves to all kinds of substances and they have what all these other people are chasing and pursuing and think will bring them happiness but it's not what does it what does it is meaning what does it is purpose you want to get out of that dark living in that darkness you could be in darkness in a mansion you can be in darkness and a crowded room you can be in darkness and an overflowing bank account you're especially in darkness if you're addicted to substances and behaviors that bring us down you want to step out into the light you want to be lit you want to be a candle on fire and hashama on fire meaning and purpose and responsibility and mission and mission to hashem there's nothing greater than being on a mission being on a mission you know we know that when we're little children my children had a game with their younger siblings they passed it on we never even spoke about this we certainly didn't train them on this but they just learned this mission like when a kid is really little they love being the messenger of an older sibling okay i have a job for you right remember one of our kids is one of the others especially i have a job for you clean up my room i have a job for you go bring me a drink and the younger sibling is like yes i have a job i've been like i'm elevated i'm lifted like i had a status my older sibling who i looked up to and admire i want to break into their chevra it's like has a job for me it's a mission for me i have a purpose wow and then we get a little bit older we say go get it yourself mission purpose purpose murphy's somebody else should get me a drink but when we're young we know when we're young we know that sense that there's no greater feeling that i have a mission i have a purpose i'm here to serve if you got a phone call from a prime minister or president you got a call from a powerful person who said you know i got your name look at our parsha by the way pyro brings yosev out of prison he says i heard about you that you interpret dreams and i'm appointing you to be in charge wow you come alive schlickless that's what it means to be a shliyak has this right they ingrain within their children and their mother's milk from when they're born that you're not here to take you're here to give you're not here to receive you're here to serve you're an agent you're a messenger you're an ambassador it's unbelievable that's not again to romanticize it that chabad has no challenges or problems that every the khabar world is perfect it's amazing there's so much to learn from it but that sense of that's how we light the candle inside us okay so let's start just give me a few more minutes a few more minutes hode the holiday of hanukkah is characterized the idea is the aries of isaac the modern modern several hundred years ago great cabalist the great mystic the arizal okay frieza called mikveh it's fast in the north of israel he says he taught us that the the theme the energy of hanukkah is brought to you by the number eight it's brought to you also by the word hode hey hod hod vahadar yahudah and we know this word yes so what does it mean hoda yes hod is the core the foundation the central theme of this holiday you know what how it is hode is admission it is an admission of the truth it happens to mean two things hoda this is an insight of a footnote said the word means two things it means admission what else does it mean thanks i won't break into the benny friedman song for your sake toda toda thanks moder modem means gratitude refunder pointed out we use the same word mode and mode animodelaha i am grateful to you that you had me for dinner gave me the ride sponsored the class i'm grateful to you animo i admit to you that i owe you a hundred dollars i admit to you that you were right i admit i admit to you that you were right animo de al i make an admission that you were right animo de al we couldn't find another word scissor hutner we ran out of letters combinations couldn't find another word we're using the same word for gratitude and admission so our footnote says you know what they have to do they're really the same word implicit in every expression of gratitude is an admission i needed you that's why arrogant people can't say thank you arrogant people struggle to say thank you they not they grunt they at most but they can't say thank you they'll give a gift before they'll say the words thank you because implicit in every thank you is thank you you enhanced my life thank you you enriched my life thank you i am better off because of you thank you i needed you i benefited from you thank you it's an admission every thank you is an admission so says of dr victor meyer that's our footnote so he says hanukkah is all about an admission and gratitude halal that's what we say in allah nissan that's how we celebrate halal and hoda and what is the admission we're making all the rest of the year the other 51 weeks a year i pretend and i act like i'm in charge like i'm in control like i make a difference like i understand what's happening for eight days i admit you got it covered i don't know anything i'm not in charge i'm not in control of anything that we're living in a matrix the world is an illusion it's really all you it's really all you habori is it doesn't mean the other 51 weeks a year we're not supposed to be thinking this but this one week a year is a conference about it it's a convention about it you know it doesn't mean that you don't have to love your spouse when it's not your anniversary but your anniversary is when you write the card and buy the flower and give the gift and you say i'm so happy and i'm nothing without you and the best decision i ever made blah blah blah blah blah and all that other stuff that people put on facebook and don't even tell the person they love so so you have to love them you know you're supposed to appreciate a person when it's not their birthday but their birthday is when you the balloon and they sing the corny song at the restaurant and everyone says their favorite thing about you you're supposed to feel that all year round so similarly we're supposed to feel this all year round all 51 weeks but for one week we really focus we really emphasize we're really trying to grow that's what this mission is and the name taught this to us he says there's no nature there's no nature you live in the natural world you live in the world of biology chemistry and physics we study it we value it we understand hashem through it but that's not all there is that's not all there is the rest of the world is limited by physics the jew lives in a world of metaphysics of metaphysics of the metaphysical we're not limited and we're not bound by a world of the physical and by the natural by the number seven we're living in the number eight we're living above and beyond we're living in a world in a dimension of anode milvado we're living in the place of impossibility not only the possible we're living in a world that i have to make my effort and take my initiative but i never ever have the fatal mistake or fatal flaw of thinking that my initiative my effort brought about the result i know that the result is only from the one above who owes cole he is the source he does everything there's a creator he's involved he's invested is intimately aware of everything in my life in all of our lives in the entire world the ain't built and aside from him there is no strength there is no energy there is no power but there is no existence other than god he is all there is and i tap in and attach myself to him and that is hod bi mekhanika because again the kashmir name looked around and they said ha in the world of teva in the natural order if we analyze and evaluate this naturally we don't have a shot we don't have a chance pack it up let's go home call it a day wave the white flag it's time to surrender here's the base and make the share of the keys here's the land of israel we're done we'll head to uganda but they didn't they looked at the world and they said ah just because in the natural world there's no chance but that doesn't what does that have to do with us we don't live like everyone else in the natural world we don't live under the number seven we love under the number eight and that's hode hode is gratitude and hoda's admission hashem i have a confession i have an ambition to make and my admission is you're in charge of everything yeah i go through the motions because that's the way you design the world that i have to go through the motions you design the world that i have to take the initiative but i never confuse or mistake my initiative with your result i know that the result is from you is many jews are willing to give their lives to god many jews have died allah willing to die to be jews they're willing to give their life but are we willing to live for god we're willing to recognize and see god or willing to wave the banner of god or willing to light that candle and illuminate the world with god and to bring his greater light into this world this is our koa this is what we're meant to do for these eight days we are trying to plant deeper and deeper within us the media of hod the media of this admission this gratitude we're holding the candle to go for that search to find hashem in every corner and every crack and every crevice we are exposing and revealing hashem in every aspect of our lives for ourselves and for our children yes you scored the goal kinder luck and soccer yes you worked hard you train you practice you're in great shape and yes you kicked the goal but you know that you couldn't have succeeded with that goal of that hashem you know he's the one who made the goalie in that direction he's the one who enabled your foot to move that speed and velocity he's the one who allowed the ball to fly through the back of the net hode it's not a contradiction to say we go through our initiative but ultimately the result is from hashem with all of our hearts and to see that in everything that happens to us every turn and everything we do to see and to find hashem everywhere everywhere not where's waldo where's hashem take a picture and a snapshot of everything in our life and stop looking for waldo look for hashem because you'll find him and he's a lot easier to find because he's not hiding he's right there in everything that happens in the world every headline every everything we experience everywhere we go every scene we see to see and to find hashem when a jew merits to feel this light shh when a jew when you turn the light on wow when you turn that light on dispel the darkness and now you can see the yeti you walk out of hanukkah you're a different person for the whole year chanukah energizes and illuminates and lifts and enriches and transforms not just for those eight days but of all eight days you say it's not about me i'm looking for him it's not about seven it's all about the number eight it's not about my rights and entitlements about my duty and obligation it's about my admission and it's about my gratitude for the life that i have i'm gonna have a different view of the world chanukah is the lasik surgery that when i walked in i couldn't see anything without my glasses and i walk out of chanuk after my lasik surgery 20 20 vision i see hashem everywhere when you walk out of lasik it doesn't expire or fade a day later now you can see differently the rest of your life if we live hanukkah properly then we see differently the rest of our year we see differently the rest of our life and that's what we're doing when we light these candles he has so much more i want to talk about i'll end with one last thought we have a locus basila do you start with eight lit candles and go down to one do you start with one candle and build up to eight we pass them like basila basil's opinion is moses our life can't be stagnant we're not complacent we're not stuck we're not apathetic if someone were to look at us and measure our spirituality our religiousness our deep understanding of mitzvos our practice and were to compare it to five years ago and 10 years ago and 20 years ago what would they track what would they find if our shabbos is the same as it's been for 20 30 40 years if our understanding of the pasha if our experience with connecting to hashem if our faith if our prayer if our conversation with him if it all looks the same as it did five years ago 10 years ago 20 years ago then we're living the same year over and over and over again that's not a life a life is most of the holist every year to grow to add every year to improve to be better a more sophisticated understanding of the world of hashem of ourselves to be better people i'm not just talking about editing homeless i'm not a hammer of the weak guy i'm not talking about what's the latest stringency that we can practice what's the latest homura we can introduce i'm not even talking about introducing anything other than the depth with which we do it light the same candles but have a different mindfulness an understanding a presence while you're lighting shabbos candles the chanukah candles dom in the same sitter i'm not suggesting you said all book of tell them three times a day every day say the same dominant you've been saying for 30 40 years but say it differently have a conversation with your creator be in conversation with hashem if we're living the same way over and over and over again then we're living one year over and over again and we're calling it a life basilo teaches us the holiday of hanukkah we start with one and by the end there's eight shining lights because we're mostly vaholis we're growing we're improving we're developing you know if your iphone is up to version 13 what version of your life are you up to whatever age you are is version you're meant to be version 47 version 75 versus version 12. you know you can't i don't know anyone here who still has the iphone version one i don't know anyone who's satisfied with it if you're satisfied with iphone version one then you could live your life version one of you but if you need to upgrade and update and have the latest if you understand that the latest version says more bells and whistles and makes your life better and is better for you if you're not satisfied and you need to turn it in to get the latest version what version of your life are you up to what version of your life what chapter of our book are we up to so all of this is in the holiday hanukkah and so much more and it's not just the moment or the milliseconds that we light the candles this is supposed to permeate our whole day this whole eight days these are yamashima these are days of the number eight and they leave us walking out different than the way we walked in and they improve and they repair our eyesight so we see differently than what we saw before until we light the candle we're lighting that pure uncontaminated little pentaly that's still inside us so we can shine bright transform the world transform ourselves stay happy stay healthy and stay holy