Chanukah 5779 Day #8: We Are One - A Tale of Two Prisoners

the yeshiva.net [Music] it is something that is difficult to understand you know the menorah in the beta mikdash in the holy temple which we commemorate in our hanukkah menorahs every night of chanukah was an intricate complex and nuanced extraordinary piece of art and yet the torah says it had to be made of one piece of gold miksha which made it extremely difficult i had to take one piece of gold and hammer it out into seven branches with all of the intricate designs that the menorah had to have why couldn't they just build separate pieces and then weld them together as they did with most of the holy pieces of furniture in the holy temple like the ark and the table and the altar etcetera one of the explanations for this is given by the balatania by the al-tarab and he says the menorah represents the jewish nation which was sent down to this world to cast a spiritual and divine glow on our entire planet that is why it must be made of one piece because we are really one we are indivisible we are cohesive we are an integrated entity it's only later that we are branched out we become differentiated from each other but if you trace us back to our core we are one if you would build a menorah from separate pieces you miss the point because we're not separate we're essentially one and the deeper you go into yourself your core you find that oneness with other jews you know last year december 20th 2017 was the eighth day of chanukah at three o'clock p.m a man by the name of mark denny was freed from prison in new york he has been imprisoned for 30 years he was sent into prison in december 1987. he was accused of violating a young girl in burger king and other crimes and after 30 years the judge said it was a mistake there was no evidence and he freed mark denney after three decades in prison he was put in there at the age of 17. he came out at the age of 47. who was there to greet him when he came out of prison four people his lawyer his mom and two relatives and we wish mark danny the greatest success and the most beautiful and productive life two hours later the same day december 20th 2017 the eighth day of chanukah around 5 00 pm another prisoner was freed his name shalom bashkin a chabad butcher of iowa who was sentenced to 27 years in prison five attorney generals advocated on his behalf maintaining that there was a travesty of justice there professor alan dershowitz has fought for years to commute his sentence and indeed president trump commuted the sentence of rabashkin and let him go on the last day of chanukah 2017. he came out of prison in the nearby gas station many hasidim of a different question dynasty were there to greet him and dance with him as he came to muncie where his home is thousands of jews packed the streets welcoming him dancing celebrating in boro park close to ten 000 jews in crown heights a whole night they were dancing in the next few days celebrations erupted everywhere around the world i was the next day in chicago in skokie i gave a lecture in the yeshiva and the boys asked me if i could dance with them after my lecture why most of these people never saw him never heard his name before this entire story the answer is miksa akhas we are one our people are one we are indivisible even after we are branched out into individual people individual communities individual sex individual groups all around the world our greatest and deepest truth is that we are one happy hanukkah [Music] [Applause] this class is brought to you by the yeshiva.net please help us continue the classes make even a small contribution at www.theyshiva.net [Music] donate