Rabbi Breitowitz on Chanukah "Living With The Parsha" series Vayeishev

everybody in their anticipation of chronic Aprilia for chronically coming up I know Obama already made the conical party so 80s dress actually he gave a very nice very nice kind of congestion guys tell me what I wanted to say tonight I say that we must have the same we must have the same same Rangers but they did say that it's kind of a very stupid people were circulating a photo of about no Tasha ring the kitchen and the White House kitchen and they said this is for you if I'm coming Jared so they can eat in the white obviously if it's erratically makin the kitchen is not going to be conscious with January 20th okay anyway uh-huh yeah well I mean they do it every year it's not that's not the first time this is the first time the White House kitchen is ever I mean every year did Patrick said about me more than once for about eight years yeah anyway so I want to talk a little bit about chronic I hope hopefully it won't be too overlapping with every goal Scheider the chronic is are very very fascinating holiday historically because it seems to be that there's Hanukkah version 1 and Hanukkah version 2 you know the oldest story know the story of chronic it happens around 180 185 BCE before the Common Era it was in the middle right the second beta McDuck was destroyed near 70 Common Era so this is more than 200 years before the disruption of the base of mikdash and essentially we really have to start the story a little bit earlier than Hanukkah around 100 years earlier with Alexander the Great algae and roof Macedon conquered basically all of the known ancient world including Eric Israel and that began a colonization but the hellenization of Alexander was not a coercive colonization basically it was simply exposing all sorts of cultures and people to the culture of Greece the philosophy the literature the athleticism and the light and this affected many many many societies throughout the world particularly in Eretz Israel in terms of architecture in terms of arts in terms of literature and the like in terms of assimilation if you take for example the Jewish community in Alexandria which was a huge huge wealthy influential community they were largely assimilated many were intermarried in fact you know if you read the Gemara the quran doesn't really talk about it that much because both the Mishnah and the kumaras seemed to look with a lot of disdain at the great degree of assimilation but yet the Gemara discusses for example can a safer tour be written in other languages and according to one opinion no according to another opinion the only other language that a Torah scroll can be written in is Greek because of the blessing of the absolute Kinley FS that God gave Beauty TFS the progenitor of Yavin vehicie ovulation and he made dwell in the tents of shame now you wonder who on earth would ever have a safer Torah in the Greek language like why in other words if the Talmud discusses an issue there must have been some relevance to that issue and some historians have posited that the degree of religious illiteracy in Alexandria was so severe and although they had a magnificent synagogue remember there's such a huge synagogue that when the Kazan was that burning people didn't hear and there used to be a flag people would wave so you've no one to answer I mean of course in some synagogues okay that's right well that's pretty big that's right that's right I was going to say some cement guys because of the talking you need someone to do that yeah but in spite of the fact that this was a huge ornate magnificent synagogue but some say the safer tower was in the other and your money to us in three might be so Philo of Alexandria who is way before the Hanukkah story Philo Philo was the most learning Jew of Alexandria he was actually an observant Jew to some degree but some historians have posited and he actually wrote commentaries he wrote commentaries on the Torah so very fascinating commentaries on the Torah but some say that his text was the Septuagint his text was the Greek translation of the Torah he did not read the Torah in the original and Philo was the most from that you had there so in a sense in Eretz Israel initially that was the Mishnah the turn I am very very keeping the halacha but the stuck in the santa thieves were largely Hellenistic and in like Andrea came out the entire population with Hellenistic so we start with Alexander the Great and of course the Gemara Numa gives us a very very interesting story that at some point Alexandra was told that the Jews were planning to rebel against him so he went to you shall I am to destroy the beit hamikdash to destroy the base of Mick - and the cohen tunnel at the time with the Kohen Gadol shimon hatzadik who was the last surviving member of the on shakiness like java the men of the great assembly and my she horse man located on the cove shimon hatzadik and shimon hatzadik Kevin is right over the across Tricia hat it is the kefir of shimon hatzadik and people davender and it is said that when Alexander saw Schumann outside they come out to please the spare you shall I would spread the beit hamikdash so Alex and Rick I got this horse it's also a famous mythological horse so we can just I'll tell you some stories about about their horse yeah yeah so Shimon that's so Alexander boughs down and he says you are the man I seen all of my dreams promising me victory in the name of Hashem and warning me to have deference and respect for you shal i am at the base of exemption and i dismiss those just dreams until i see you in the flesh and it was actually recorded as kind of a miraculous day of salvation when alexander spared the basin mukesh and it is said in the chimera yuma that that year every jewish boy that was born that year was given the name aleksandr and that is how our sunder entered the jewish lexicon of names it is treated as a shame kovash a person can be called up to the Torah with the name Alexander yes yes very much so if you look at the book of the Neal you will see the war between the king of the north the king of the south which I'll get to in a moment right that would be a better right to negotiated he's out okay yeah yeah and we know we know this if this was a recurring problem there were Roman emperors later once it's statue in the in the base of mikdash as well now Alexander died at a very young age as you know and legend has it that he I mean he died of a disease of an epidemic a plague but legend has it that he died of a broken hearts because he said I have no more world's to conquer at the payments them legend in the ancient world that has it worked but Alexander is huge huge empire by the way just to show you that with the money you can get anybody you know Alexander's father was Philip of Macedonia he was a king but a relatively small again yes yeah it's a relatively small Empire or not Empire a small country but Philip hired for his son Aristotle as a private tutor now Aristotle was outside of our common would certainly the wisest man of the ancient world we know that the romba many centuries later had tremendous admiration for Aristotle the Romberg said Aristotle reached the greatest madruga Kozma that a person to greet short of Nevada joy to prophecy and Alexander had I was toddle all to himself you know it's a very very amazing thing that I was titled took on private teaching jobs I was was aware of that too I saw that the beetus admit when Alexander died his empire was divided among different generals who were warring with each other and different parts were taken over by some and then take it back by some and there's a whole variety of civil wars for our purposes the two generals that you need to know about is told me yes the pto l m ey who established the Homeric dynasty which primarily controlled egypt and so lucas that control of Syria Turkey Asia Minor and the Seleucid dynasty the Tomei of dynasty were in a constant state of war against each other and as you can imagine Eretz Israel which is right in the middle between the two empires item a ik is Egypt solution in Syria going back and forth that's what people sometimes I know that you're more sophisticated but people sometimes have this image we talk about the locust is being Greek so people think somehow that some army from Athens went to wage war against there at Israel you know that's not true at the officers from Syria he was a solo Seleucid Vasilisa dynasty and the whole story of cranek occurs at a time when arid Israel was under the control of the Seleucid dynasty in Syria and we have this king Antiochus at the office who was known I called himself Antiochus a performance at the office of the great in fact that he was called by his even as non-jewish subjects Antiochus every - which is awesome illuminates RTOS the crazy the truth of matter is in many many ways similar to Herod much later he probably was psychologically unbalanced in in many many ways and Antiochus invented a new method of Hellenism Hellenism was proceeding quite successfully in Eretz Israel unfortunately for religious Jews many many Jews were assimilated they were illiterate they were not keeping the Torah there was even some intermarriage although not centromeric per se but Jews were adapting as flocking to Greek culture on a voluntary basis much as people do in America or you know it only westernized country even even in Israel and and the life but at the office wants you to hurry up the process a little bit and there Brad the office was really the first ruler of the ancient world to issue compulsory decrees against the practice of the Jewish religion now obviously we've had many enemies in the book of kings in the book of Judges and yo savory yoshua we've had many many wars but all of those wars were over territory were over land were over control the very very first king who issued decrees against the practice of religion was in fact Antiochus and don t opus in many ways you know and there's from a modern perspective you can look at him as almost almost in a perverted way in enlightened monarch because he was not anti-semitic he was not against Jews he was not a Hitler he was not a month Antiochus was 100% willing to grant us full civil and political rights provided citizenship provided they just go with the plan they don't be different they don't stick out and they don't practice circumcision they don't keep the Shabbos don't keep kosher just become like everybody else and this will be fun now many many Jews went along with it even before he issued those coercive degrees decrees but then we have the Maccabees the Cosmo know him etc and they were a tiny little minority now the story of chronica the earliest version of the story of chronica we have is in the apocryphal books that are called the books of the Maccabees either say for a mock up him or say for a Cosmo not when it's exact title is is not clear and of course there are four books there's Maccabees one that could be still Maccabees three Maccabeats four but three and four are really not about yokas that really philosophical treatises that are not relevant on history but the historical unfolding of the Hanukah campaign is in Maccabees 1 and Maccabees 2 now we still don't know what the original language of these books were it has come down to us in Greek any Hebrew translation you see if they modern Hebrew translation some have suggested that originally it was written in Hebrew and the Hebrew had gotten lost others have said the original language itself was Greek that's still an open question and that is why we have uncertainty with Maccabees means that's right I'm sure you've heard over the years maybe even here tonight that what does Maccabee mean Maccabi so there are two shut them that the forum gives one is that Maccabee is an abbreviation that was on their banner ma'am hop base yes and it represented the prusik Meachem Oh hubba mmm Hashem who is like you among the gods Hashem you are the most powerful and that was their banner in god we trust' so to speak now if that's what Maccabee is you would spell it with a huff the other translation of McCovey it comes from the word McKevitt which is a biblical term meaning ever and it refers to the ferocity of the Makka bin as warriors now that would be spelled with a quote so you might simply ask the question why are we debating if Maccabee means this or that let's just see how it's spelt in the book the answer is we don't have the Hebrew book we just have the Greek book and as a result therefore we don't know what the original hebrew spelling is and hence we have a my focus exactly what is the origin of the word mcafee but be it as it may the so Maccabee was simply kind of the nickname of the army Hashem ona mne were the family of the I'm who led the rebellion but the show was becoming too dull he was very old then we have the five sons of the Montes yo and the book of the Maccabees described the idea of these Jews a rose of antiochos and the fact that the cosmonium organized a guerrilla army to fight against this powerful Greek army but here is the thing in the book of the Maccabees this is what we read on the 25th of Kislev the Iranian took over the base of macness quite amazing the day that they entered the base of victory and took it out of our hands and contaminated it and they built houses of prostitution and they sacrificed pigs to idols right this is what we mean that they were mitai made the base of McNish that was on the 25th of Kislev and i'm that very day three years later i'm the 25th of Kislev the Cushman I have regained the base of my flesh and were able to purify it so it's important to know that the book of the Maccabees makes the point that literally we re-entered the base on mikdash on the very same day that it had been desecrated three years earlier now in Maccabees 1 there is no mention at all of a cruse of oil of a package Emmitt if you read the book of Maccabees and you ask the question why did the salami mandap the holiday called Hanukkah the answer is given that they reentered the base of macness they dedicated and consecrated the base--emitter us and the canoe cots Tobias is supposed to be eight days just as it was in the time of Moshe Rabbeinu now again in the time of Moshe Rabbeinu when the Michigan was built in the mid book so you'll see there were seven preliminary days of consecration that's from the 23rd of Aadhaar till the end of Aadhaar and then Rosh Hodesh Nisa was the actual final day so Chanukah Sameach can was a days canoe class by a cheney the debate Hanukkah with a days now so according to this this itself is historically a very very simple answer to the base Joseph's famous question like the ratio say asks the famous question one of the most famous questions that is if you assume that the miracle of chronic is because the oil was supposed to burn one day and it burned eight days then the miracle of Hanukkah should only be seven days and not eight days why doing the chronic afraid days right that's the gotcha what's the miracle and there are at least at least five hundred answers today and this I know for sure because I saw a safer that has 500 answers or there's questions I don't know more than a fraction of them but according to the book of the Maccabees the question is very simple the answer is a very simple answer the eight days is not because of the miracle of the package Eman it is because of the Hahn ducat Tobias and in fact that's what cazuca means I know we have ad Russia can do car is car new car pay they rested on the 25th but possibly shot is precious truck can do car is dedication of a stomach nurse and it was an eight-day dedication ceremony now the only question you might ask but I'll give you a good answer for this it's what way do you think the cannula is a bias of Moshe ribbon was eight days yes but the canoe cos have bias of Miller when he built the first base emitter was not eight days it was fourteen days and if you remember one of those days was Yom Kippur actually it's an amazing thing the day that they dedicated the base--emitter say eight or the year that they dedicated the first mixer they H on Yom Kippur they celebrated 14 days it ended Sweeney a service remember seven days before circus and then the seven days of circuits culminate which meaning a service it says that they were different permission to eat on Yom Kippur so the question though is why did the Maccabees follow the Salukis a Michigan of Moshe rather than the Sun do cos ha bias of but there's actually a very beautiful measures that gives us an answer to this question because it actually says that Moshe a painting with Basava has finished the Michigan and kissless but Hashem wanted to delay the dedication of the Michigan until the month of yet CS mitzrayim which was me son so Hashem had to placate the month of Kislev by telling kids they'd listen you should have been the month of the dedication of the Michigan since you're not I promise you they'll be a further dedication in the time of the custom of nine so now it's a perfect symmetry because it turns out that kiss lame was entitled to be eight days of motions dedication and that's the eight days of the Maccabees gave it by the way a very similar thing happened which Lamar Miller it actually says Slama Mela finished the besan McDuck in session eleven months earlier and Hashem wanted to delay it until Tishrei so fresh fun was promised this is actually a memory that it will be the month of the dedication of the third base emitter which is quite amazing that's run we look at as the month without him my researcher and Jesslyn according to summit Russian is the month of the dedication of the third McDuck making up for so appearances are deceiving so when you walk away from Maccabees one the holiday of Hanukkah is a celebration of the dead of the rededication of the Macduff's after it was contaminated okay now Maccabees to gives you a different perspective Maccabees - now now Maccabees won by the way is a very very detailed probably more detailed than most people are interested in but every single war it's really I believe in some military academy it's actually studied as they as they study a classic study of ancient methods of guerrilla warfare just the Maccabees were among the earliest of guerrilla warfare against a huge powerful organized but somewhat static non fluid a type of type of army and he goes through every single war and what's interesting is Maccabees one emphasizes very much the military prowess and skill now again it is still portrayed as a religious conflict that's really important Maccabees one does not portray the war against antiochos as a secular war this was a war to be able to establish Torah and abode and mitzvahs but what if when it emphasizes the heroism of the Jewish people it talks about their military prowess Maccabees 2 goes over a lot of the same history but it's interesting that it emphasizes a different type of point it emphasizes the righteousness of martyrdom the fact that so many Jews were killed by Antiochus that they dive al-qaeda sham so for example the famous story of Cana and her seven children all of whom died and I rather than submit to idolatry that appears in Maccabees 2 so it's so interesting both accounts are true there was military here with him and there was spiritual mr. Wesson official key possession but each author emphasized a different theme and is so fascinating because in many many ways this is still a debate that's going on in modern Israeli society if we think for example about the Omaha show up like the the observance of the OMERS are both in Israel actually in most places in the United States is in what that it's in the month of Nisan after right and the date that was chosen was this was the the form of the Warsaw Ghetto and there was a particular reason why this was chosen not I agree a lot of reasons are very problematical in the month of Nisan it's interesting that the the the celebrated days in Israel are kind of difficult on both perspectives yo MOT smooth the day of rejoicing is in the middle of the counting of the owner right so that raises a problem that this is a time you're not supposed to rejoice you have to be in availeth yo mashallah is in Nisan when you're not allowed to be said so so we kind of don't get it right either way but if you go back to the 1940s right after World War Two there was a very very big debate what day what event what demova should commemorate the holocaust and the reason why we followed the war together was chosen because war together was one of the very few situations where the Jews had a military uprising against the enemies and the truth of the matter is in the early years of the State of Israel it's painful to say many people were ashamed at the Jews who went to their deaths as sheep to the slaughter was the common expression that was not the Jew we wanted to be massive that was not the Jew we could respect we can only respect the Jew that is a fighter that is tough that is strong that doesn't get pushed around and hence them the Warsaw Ghetto was the event that was chosen to memorialize now it is very very true that they're the ones who the one who died in the Warsaw Ghetto work adoshem as well and they deserve to be commemorated but at the same time we have to recognize that kiddush Hashem can take many many different forms there is the kiddush Hashem of destroying your enemies in order to build up a Jewish society and then there's the kiddush Hashem when it's a Malaysia you go to your debts with nobility and self-sacrifice and that too is a key discussion so what's interesting is the very debate that played out in Israeli society in the 1940s between those who wanted to commemorate the Warsaw Ghetto versus those who wanted to commemorate the what you might call the passive resistance of giving your life for a sham is exactly the division in emphasis between Maccabees one that emphasizes military heroism versus Maccabees - but that's one makuta abdel but there's a second akuto felt down Maccabees - also does not mention the miracle of the packer shipment I'll tell you where that comes in but Maccabees - gives another reason for eight days and this is very peculiar it says the fund enacted there be an eight-day commemoration of this great victory because that year they were not able to bring the Corporal notes of Sukkot they could not commemorate the big holiday of Sukkot and Sukkot is really an eight-day holiday could you have seven days of sucrose and Shmi niet service which is a separate card so Hanukkah was enacted as a toshing min as a make up for how the naove circuits odd kid they taught that it says in Maccabees - that many of the people would take the lulav in the s row and build sucrose on Hanukkah now this too is an answer to the patient's question why is chronica eight days not because of the miracle of the oil but because of the connection to service now the second suggestion our economy in the mission and the Gemara seemed to simply treat with the contempt in the sense that it's not even mentioned yeah there's a phrase in German I think it's called tough Turkish right that means kill killed by silence I'm meaning to say the Cohanim consider whatever Maccabees to said about circuits as a totally illegitimate tradition simply because how logically it makes no sense you can't make up for circus if you miss circus you don't may build a sucker during Hanukkah there was only one holiday with the Torah gives you a partial make up and that is of course Pesa SHANY but that's it so the comment considered this the the statement of Maccabees - to be the maybe the folk tradition of I'm a Horace and does not become part of the electric structure however what is fascinating is I think if you know your history here this could shed light on Talmudic passage because there is one thousand in the Talmud that indicates that even hundreds of years later there was a residual vestigial memory connecting Sonic at the circus and this is the famous mark Lopez bass hello and Beit Shemesh right my focus may still be shy my how do you light the Hanukkah camera they shall I start off with eight and a-one and you go down they still L says starts with one and go up we of course follow base Hillel and they shall make a little hard to understand they say love you is Marlon mcComish and holiness we increase so the Gomorrah says in Beit Shean I won't be shy my sense the pattern of Hanukkah should follow the pattern of the offerings of the circus festival the bowls that were brought during circus in which day one was thirteen day two was twelve and all the commentaries have a lot of problems what are the connection okay so the Bulls of circus go down kind of get Hanukkah follows them circus so I would suggest to you that they shall I is preserving the ancient tradition of Maccabees one that connected the eight days of Hanukkah to the circus vessel so in many many ways what you see is an interesting phenomenon that Maccabees - yeah yeah that even when the Cohanim wanted to discard a minute they felt the mimic was not proper there might be various ways in which it still pops up in different ways but the kids are the kids are therefore both according to Maccabees one in Maccabees to the eight days of Hanukkah were not adapted for the Polish Shemin Maccabees one said it was enacted to celebrate the dedication of the base of McNish which was a hundred ton of eight days like Moshe Robinho's canoe Kazan mishka's Maccabee still connects it to the holiday episode now the first mention of the profession is not in the book of the Maccabees at all the first mention of the Parker Shemin is in a safer called McGee last time it Mickey left I need to give up Thomas now this is a bit of a confusing name the last time is literally means the scroll of fasting but actually it's the opposite it is a listing of the days that you're not allowed to fast because they are festive the days that you don't give youa geez and you don't fast and this was the earliest written document of the terrible path this is earlier than the Mishnah the Mishnah was completed around the Year 200 of the Common Era the Gillett on it was completed probably a hundred years earlier so that would get you a hundred of the Common Era but still that is more than two hundred years after the Konica story which is around 185 b.c so it's important to understand Magilla time it is two hundred years after the Hanukkah story and mcgill that time it describes for the first time the idea i'm your time so so in McGillis thomas it actually reads that they found the praça chemin and only was able to burn for one day in there for eight days and they made stronger because of the persimmon now and that story from Magilla status is incorporated in the babylonian talmud now there are people of a secular orientation of which i am not i hope who basically say oh that proves the Popish MN is a made-up bubble nicer as my meaning we say hots for Shalom of course that miracle occurred but here is the point the fact that a great miracle occurred with the oil is not a reason to make a youngest we make youngnam tobin for events like our survival for the events of having the base--emitter just because God does agree a great isolated miracle is not the reason for the hive moreover most people weren't aware of that keep in mind in some ways the miracle of Hanukkah is not totally unique in the base of mixes they're always well not always going the Jewish people around spiritually high level there was always a near Tom ends that didn't go out where they would put it out and be able to light it without necessarily filling it out so Hanukkah was all of the candles all of the seven candles so why didn't they kill that time to change so a sense that's what I mean by Hanukkah version one and the kind of conversion to Hanukkah version one essentially celebrated and triumph over the event Hanukkah version two celebrates the miracle of the puckish Eman why was there that change so there were a few reasons to be said here first of all reason number one is that's celebrating a military victory over a foreign occupying power was not a politically correct type of holiday to do when you're under Roman domination the Romans see Jews lighting a menorah the Romans say oh why are you letting a menorah oh because we defeated this oppressive Greek occupying power that was keeping us from keeping the Torah and we like to publicly celebrate that every single year not too politically correct so as a result the emphasis of chronic I guess not a question of changing the story but the emphasis changed from the military victory against the oven to the spiritual godless of the miracle of the Polish oven that's one thing reason number two Ron bond points out that in a way that has Moni in revolution actually turned out to be a failure because who with the cosmonaut they were it's addiction they were very very righteous but they made one critical mistake they proclaimed themselves king upon the conclusion of the war and that was not right there up on it because Mullis belongs to the tribe of Yujin and because of it the hush were not wound up eventually being wiped out second point those of you who have read George Orwell's Animal Farm so you may recall that this is his parody of the Russian Revolution in which the animals rebelled against the oppressive owners but the animals become or at least some of the animals become as this product and dictatorial as the owners they were trying to replace right and always making the point that lemon and then Stalin didn't really create a greater equality of society who every was equally miserable but you know it really creates a better society Robespierre vs. Louie the sixteenth to Phnom Penh versus whoever was there bikini of Cambodia these were not revolutions that improved people's lives and the revolutionary often becomes equal to or worse than the desperate that Castro described Castro Batista that that's correct so tragically this was the eventual fate of the house millions themselves because they were fighting hellenism they were fighting to establish the primacy of Torah I wrote as a sham Brooklyn what eventually happened in the course subside by the time of the missionary driven by the time of McGillis on it the Hasmoneans themselves became the very enemy they were fighting against they became the helymus they became the persecutors of the common many of the great Muhammad had to go in hiding so by the time until s thymus is written what are we going to sell them who don't just celebrate the victory of the Hasmoneans first of all politically that victory is no longer because the common statement spiritually the victory is not here because the customer named themselves became Helenus so as a result the fulfillment were very ambivalent about hi what exactly is it that we celebrate the answer is we still celebrate God's love for us God's providence for us so even if the political situation is no longer a cause for great great celebration that is why I say there's a Hanukkah version one that emphasizes milk hama and the chronic aversion to that emphasizes POC Shemin now the allah neason prayer this is a very famous question the oven decent prayer that we recite in shmouna Ezra and in Murtaza mother does not mention the miracle of the oil at all it only mentions the miracle of the Mahama and the fact that the many were delivered in the hands of the few and the impure in the hands of the pure right there were after and even though it mentions we lit candles in your court judge that I was going to any miracle it just says we lit the menorah it does not indicate there was any miracle in that connection the answer is this the oven isom is a very very old prayer the alum eason dates literally from the time of the miracle itself and explaining the original emphasis of the miracle was the mill Hama and it was not the pasta Shimon now the EMA says this point the morale did not see the book of the Maccabees but the evidence the morale himself in his great wisdom was macabre Angeles tomorrow right it's a double positive that's a holiday of character was not created because of the miracle of the path of Eman the holiday of Hanukkah was created because of the victory against Johanna and the dedication of the base of mikdash but the miracle the praça chemin was necessary so we shouldn't attribute the victory to our own co-ceo to the other so we needed the miracle but the miracle was not intrinsically important it was needed to make us realize that the victory comes from a friend and Hanukkah is a days the morale says because Kolkata bias not because of the miracle of the oil itself right so the morale himself says exactly this point even without looking at the at the book of the of the book of the Maccabees now there's another interesting historical point that I think a very very moving point and that is we tend to think that the rededication of the mikdash and the finding of the oil occurred at the end of the similar to a struggle against the other meaning we got the oven out of the country we established the Hasmonean dynasty and we found the oil in point of fact that is not the case the war against Antiochus continue to extend many many years it was a 25-year struggle the Hanukkah story is three years into that struggle now gaining the base of make this is a very very important part of the victory but the richest realm was still under out the officers control so it's important to understand the following the miracle of the oil is not the end of the military struggle it is towards the beginning of the struggle with almost two decades a lot of more than two decades left now that is a very important implication because instead of looking at it as a price or a frosting on the cake it is actually a message to a struggling army not to lose hope because again let's imagine you're a Maccabee or euro Hasmonean in those early stages you are fighting against the most powerful army in the world you are small you are beleaguered not only are you fighting against the you've on him but your own co-religionists your fellow Jews think you're crazy they think you're fanatic they do not support what you're doing and the normal response of a person is to give up hope to think that there's no use going on why should I keep on fighting day after day what am i able to accomplish so what is a chef showing with this miracle of the oil here - there's only enough oil for one day there's no way it's gonna burn for eight days and a person might have the attitude why should I bother to light the candle at all if it's gonna go out tomorrow like what's beautiful I'll just wait eight days but what is the lesson of Hanukkah what if such I'm telling you that you like the light that you have no matter how ineffectual it is and then God takes over now think about that as a message to this army not at the end of their struggle they don't need that message at the end they've accomplished it but at the beginning of the struggle the message is don't give up don't despair have courage have faith in Hashem have faith in yourselves that know that if you're able to shed light in any good way even if it looks like your efforts are ineffectual or worthless a sham will bless your efforts so the path of Eman is very important because that gave an encouragement that gave chastening I think I may mention last week that really you know we live in a world that was filled with darkness the darkness of assimilation the darkness of ignorance the darkness of violence and hate the personal darkness that a person has whether it's illness or depression and often a person looks at their situation looks at the world situation and says it's hopeless there's nothing that we can do but the message of Chanukah we light the little light that we have and then God takes over if they wouldn't have lit the candle for the first day there wasn't been a miracle candle is not gonna light by itself you do what you can and then good things happen even if it doesn't seem to be connected that's a wonderful wonderful message of hope not only for the political situation but really for all of the forms of darkness that surrounds us in many many many ways that's why I think it's very meaningful that the Maccabees got this message towards the beginning of their struggle not at the end at the end they didn't they wouldn't need it they get cheap victory they achieve victory but this is telling them don't give up as hopeless as your situation is and that's really the magnificent message of Chanukah the iscap hood tour I like oh sure now I'll give you another answer to the famous debate Joseph Scott chef why is how to get there together this is 500 answers but one interesting answer is what's the culture the miracle is only that it brings for seven days what's the miracle of day one so someone is saying the miracle of day one used to understand that even the natural order of things is also a miracle you know we say in governing in modena all only SEPA Shiva Kalyani money we thank Hashem for the miracles that he does every single day the fact that we can walk that we can talk that we can move that we can love that we can think that we are in a richest round and with the Medina Israel after all of these thousands of years being in exile even though we're still you know far from us yes not matter the temple of the McNish is not there yet but nevertheless these are such miracles the fact that Jews are still around you know everyone knows Mark Twain's famous article and Yaqoob eminent said that the miracle of Jewish being around is a greater miracle than Korea Thomson and the 10 markers we make no sense it's not sensible you know I don't toy me with the famous British historian big anti-semite yes basically you know once said that he didn't understand why there are Jews in the world any termed of a fossilized people we are a fossil we are a fly trapped in amber and he was attached to that you have a perspective agent a lot of college campuses the hurts like Toynbee debate was the famous debate just to show you you read I said I wrote you know we say the door stood you know in the 1950s and 60s there was the her sight Toynbee debate a very high level very high level discussion now they have the latkes hamantaschen debate if you go to it I don't know if they have any right now but you know in American campuses even graduate school people have a debate you know what is better a lot care or a hamantaschen right so that's you read us a tourist it's not there hurts act when we debate anymore but Venus it made my argument is that 20 B is actually right been toid me is fulminating or foaming-at-the-mouth of saying there ought not to be Jews in the world from the perspective of historical causality and the rise and fall of civilizations based on the natural order he is correct he is a historian he studied 50 civilizations he wrote the study of history he determined the factors that contribute to their rise and their fall and he did the Romans the Babylonians of the Sumerians and up to the Greeks and the Romans and he mapped and he charted and based on that there ought not to be a Jewish people he's right we exist by virtue of a miracle the supernatural the moral rights that is why the Brits meal at circumcision which is the sign of our relationship to a is on the eighth day because seven is the cycle of nature six days of creation with the Shabbos eight is above nature right so that's what Hanukkah is you generate your light and then God takes it to a supernatural level if you do the best that you can but going back to the Big Show six question there for many many things that don't look like miracles are in fact miracles so Hashem basically says I want you to realize it's not just the seven extra days that's the miracle but the ordinary burning of fire of oil is also an eight and the Sun Soper says it gives a beautiful support to this answer from Osorio mouser is the song everybody sings after they light the candles so as you know most orders based on the whole history of exile starting in mitzrayim and then Babylonia then Persia then Greece they're Yellin and then culminating in the last stands of mouth or which was heavily censored and that's the godless a dome that is why your people are singing from different Sidora then they have different words in that last stanza because it was very much affected in different in different ways but be it as it may in the stanza about the chronicler so there's only one stands in common the Hanukkah stanza you have on them Nick was so alive the Iranian came out him against me so it says Bonet be not the children of understanding you may shamone for eight days Kabu Shearer who done him they made songs and to rejoice him so what is the phrase Bonet be Bonet be not that unusual race the children of bina now you can simply say well listen the author has to have a write the name bean on your mesh moment right thanks after I write so you have to you have to make up something that rhymes but the son so for says there's a deeper meaning what is the difference between hakama and Vina Kozma is a calm as a person who absorbs information he looks at things and he absorbs it veena is Maeve in devar Beto stubborn he draws new conclusions from pre-existing facts so here's what essential process a frotcom would have made Hanukkah seven days because oil was found for one day and there was a supernatural miracle it burns for seven days but a B knob and maybe now a person with benign that's Maeve in devar me totally understands from the burning of the miracle we understand that even the normal operation of oil is miraculous it comes to much in and in fact there are moderates and Flemish that the word for miracle mace mace mace literally means a better or a flag now even use an English a red flag is to call your attention to something meaning we take nature for granted we forget about us and we think things just operate they operate the way they operate every once in a while a sham has to put a flag in front of our eyes hey I'm here notice me but it's not the miracle that is a Shems intervention assumption to mention isn't everything but we take it for granted so a sham does be nice every once in a while and therefore the B'nai bina may Tomica eight days even though a on would it make Chanukah only for only for seven days okay so these are just some thoughts about the heart in joelly had had a psycho Grimm Samara and too may it be may all of us have the capacity to bring light into the world and to understand that even if we feel that our life is small and ineffectual and meaningless whenever we do what we can a punish Barker will bless our efforts beyond what we thought was possible in any way