Chanukah - Out of This World | Rabbi Moshe Weinberger

Look, something happened on Chanukah. It was a miracle of רבים ביד מעטים. גיבורים ביד חלשים. Somehow, even though we were so weak, we were able to defeat those who were so powerful and strong. Even though we were so few, we were able to defeat the many. And each one of us feels like that in life, when we're facing the challenges of this world, when what we're up against seems to be overpowering and overwhelming. I feel like I'm a חלש, I'm weak, and that the world is a גיבור, the world is strong. I don't know how I'm going to win. רבים ביד מעטים the many in the hands of the few. If I look at my life, how many minutes of the day am I really, really in a place of connection to Hashem, am I really in a place of Kedushah? But then how many other things am I exposed to every day of my life? And it seems that the Kedushah in me is so little and small compared to the רבים of the world. How is it possible for me to win? The odds are stacked very much against me. So let's go back to Yosef Hatzaddik. The Koach of Vayimaen. It says, that he left his clothing there and he ran outside. How did he succeed? How was Yosef Hatzaddik victorious? Chazal focus on the word החוצה, he went outside. And they say in the Zechus that Avraham Avinu was taken outside of the world by Hashem, and Hashem said to Avraham Avinu, Look up to the heavens and count the stars. You can't count them. So will your children be. Which the Tzaddikim tell us means the following. There are things in this world that בדרך הטבע, according to human nature, I can't possibly win. רבים ביד מעטים, גיבורים ביד חלשים, I can't win. But Hashem took Avraham Avinu outside of this world. That means that each and every Jew has woven into the fabric of who we are the ability of וינס ויצא החוצה, to go outside, to get to something higher. And Hashem told Avraham Avinu to look at the stars. כֹּה, by the way, is כ”ה, which is 25, which is Chanukah, the 25th day of Kislev. כה יהיה זרעך You will have children, who will have the ability to be higher than this world, to lift themselves above this world and to shine in the night like the candles of Chanukah, כה יהיה זרעך. Like they say from the heiliger Ruzhiner, the holy Ruzhiner, that it was once a winter night and it was the last night to make Kiddush Levana. And it was snowing, it was a blizzard. And the Rebbe kept on sending somebody out to look to see if they could see the Levana, the moon. And the Chasidim came back with snow. They said: Rebbe, it's snowing. And the Rebbe said: Go back again. And they went back again, three, four times. Until in the middle of the blizzard, there was a clearing and they were able to see the moon and to make Kiddush Levana. כה יהיה זרעך means that somehow there's this miracle of a Jew who's able to shine even in the night, who's able to go החוצה, higher than the normal restraints and constrictions of this world. There's a beautiful song from this group called the Eighth Day. And there's a little piece over there that goes, Avraham, are we the children that you dreamed of? We look at ourselves. Are we the children that you dreamed of? Are we the stars that you saw that night? We know it's true, because we still call you Avinu. Our father, our pride, we've got your soul inside. Take us home. We are your children. And because we’re your children, we’re the stars that you saw that night. And that means that we have the ability to shine even at night and we have the ability of וינס ויצא החוצה, to get out, to run away, from the wife of Potiphera, and from everything in this world, we have the ability to get out of it. And we know it's true. It's 100% true. Our father, our pride, we've got your soul inside. Take us home. Take us back to Yerushalayim.