Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz: Chanuka is it Potential or Actuality? Reaching Perfection

my baby [Music] Hanukkah samayak I first just want to announce the various dedications that we have to share tonight should be a refurbisha uh together with all of the Holy Israel and Aliyah nishama for Lisa and Gary Rosen who are sponsoring tonight's class in honor of their children uh Nathaniel Rosen and Jonah and Shawnee Rosen this is that the honor of their children who should be well and prosper who embodied the promise of Jewish light hope and commitment into the future as well as in honor of Shimon and China jacobovix wedding anniversary by their children in honor of their parents they should have continued gesundheit and the special appreciation for uh this year also sponsored by Michael and and Gila Kagan and I also was asked to wish a special happy birthday to uh Moshe in New York that his brother asked me to mention so he should have a happy birthday eighth anniversary okay happy birthday to you but as well and Ibanez conducting its annual end of the year Hanukkah fundraising campaign they have many new projects that require funding as well as their ongoing activities new projects include several new headset projects with new olim and the elderly even setting up a bait knessets is in the works anyone interested knowing more about these projects to speak to other posting directly and there are links to donate in the YouTube description box and on the Burnett website first I would be remiss if I wouldn't thank Mrs Quint for her number one her wonderful hospitality her gracious Hospitality but more important I want to thank you for sharing the remarkable beautiful amazing life that you've LED I think you're an inspiration to all of us and indeed in the holiday of Hanukkah which talks about the miracle of Jewish survival I think you've shown us that indeed that Miracle is very very much alive and uh you should be so good to have much much nagas from your beautiful family in good health at Maya viest room viod I also I also want to say that I although I never had the privilege of meeting your late husband I learned very very much from him I treasure his swarm I use them they are really an indispensable tool in heisen mishpat and the fact that you know you were kind of responsible the ancient trial that enabled him means all of that learning of his Forum goes to your as as as well I believe I don't remember I believe I actually wrote a book review of the first volumes back in Jewish action many many years ago I don't remember but I think I actually did review the book I and it was positive very positive um yeah I think when the first one or two volumes came out uh the OU Jewish action had a book review about it but 17 volumes okay all righty uh so uh tonight of course uh Hanukkah and I wish everyone a Happy Hanukkah and it's very very interesting that the gemaran masaka Shabbos discusses three different ways that you fulfill the Mitzvah of Hanukkah there is basic there is mahadrin to do it in a more beautiful way and there is mahadrin min Hama hadrin sounds like restaurants the most beautiful of the most beautiful surprisingly the basic Mitzvah is something that nobody does nobody just does the basic that's one candle every single night night day night one of Hanukkah I like one candle and even a night eight I Light One Candle and if that's what I did I would be yo say the Mitzvah of near Hanukkah but then there's a second level you want to beautify the Mitzvah you want to do the Mitzvah in a more beautiful way so there's something called mahadrin and even this is not what we do you light one candle for every member of your family in other words what that would mean is if I have let's say a family of 10 including me night one I would like ten candles and night eight I would like ten candles that's still not what we do then there is the highest of the highest highest level with it which is a famous mahloget between where you light in accordance with the number of days except beichamai says you start with eight and you go down datilo says you start with one and you go up and is normally the case in a machloket between we follow batelo now it's interesting there isn't the there's a Big Mac Locus ashkenazym inspired him so in this room you probably have people who do these different Customs uh if you're doing the highest level meaning you're you're lighting according to the days you know as you're lighting three candles tonight do you also incorporate the middle level of every member of the household lighting spard them feel that if you're doing the highest you badafka don't do the middle and only one Menorah is going to be lit no matter how many been a buy it there are the Rama who incorporates the Minogue of ashkenazim is that we do light for everybody meaning okay dear as it may the question I want to raise is why is there such an emphasis on multiple levels of beauty when it comes to Hanukkah why is beauty such an important idea for chanukkah now to be sure every Mitzvah has a concept of hedor Mitzvah we're supposed to do a Mitzvah in a beautiful way that's a double but it's clear that chanukkah is going beyond the normal parameters of Hider mitzvah because uh you know you have multiple levels and and number one gazelle actually tell us you're not obligated to go for heater more than a third more than the basic here you're doing many times more because I could be outside on the eighth day with one candle and I'm doing eight candles multiplied by Rene by it so I'm doing you know four thousand percent more than I would have to do so the engine of hydro for near Hanukkah is not connected to the general idea of Hydra Mitzvah but there's something unique about nehrot Hanukkah so I want to share with you three uh short answers uh answer number one is this it's based on another question you know how Jews are we we answer questions by asking other questions so I'm going to ask another question and through the other question and we'll have an answer to this question and that is what happens here with the miracle of the oil the miracle of the oil they found enough oil to burn for one day and miraculously it burnt for eight days by the way I just want to point out I made this point but I'll say it again that my route points out in the book of Maccabees confirms that the holiday of Hanukkah was not because of the miracle of the oil the holiday of Hanukkah was because we dedicated the beta miktash that had been contaminated and desecrated by the Greeks for three years and we were able to achieve a military victory over this all-powerful enemy and that's why there's a holiday of Hanukkah the miracle of the oil was an additional that God did but it is not the origin of the Khan itself but be it isn't okay The Story Goes but I think Gamora records the story that we found enough oil for one day but it burned for eight days now in truth there was plenty of oil the problem is the oil was ritually impure by contact with the dead and the like meaning was the only tahar oil that they had there was plenty of tummy oil so that we showed him as a halachic question the halacha is that although an individual person cannot bring a carbon if the carbon is tame but when you're dealing with the seabor something that the congregation of Israel is doing the laws of Tuma are waived this is called Tuma hutra bitsibor the laws of impurity are set aside for a communal offering is a communal activity on behalf of the Jewish people so why did God have to do a miracle at all we lit day one with the pure oil and if there wouldn't have been pure oil the next day we would like with the tummy oil the miracle was superfluous answer even though the miracle was Superfluous in terms of what we needed God wanted to show his love by enabling enabling us to do the Mitzvah in a more beautiful fashion it is a hedor Mitzvah to light bittahara so it turns out that the whole Miracle of Hanukkah was God showing his love by enabling enabling us through a mitzvah bihidor because the whole Mitzvah was ahidor mitzvah right so that's the answer number one I'll come back to the implications of that answer number two is a little technical a little complicated but it's a fascinating answer when it describes the Hashem the little jar of oil that was found it says was sealed with the Seal of the Kohan Gadot that's how it's described now the question is why would a jar of oil be sealed with the hotem of the kohanga doll was not the custodian of the olive oil in the basement this actually were designated people that were in charge of the olive oil so one of the commentaries posits that this wasn't meant to be Menorah oil at all rather every single day the Cohen gadol was supposed to bring a meal offering in the morning and the flower was mixed with oil this is called kravitin the modern Hebrew word for omelette is connected to that talmudic term Cavite and therefore this was the coing godo's private oil supply but here there's a problem the quality of oil that you need for a menorah is grade A oil with no sediment quality of oil that is suitable for a meal offering can be Grade B oil so if we posit that what they found with the khotam of the cohengado was the oil for the meal offering it wouldn't have been Kosher for the menorah because it would have been an inferior quality LMI it must be that whoever the anonymous Colleen got all was he was using grade A for his meal offering even though he didn't have to in other words hidor Mitzvah if this Anonymous coin wouldn't have he wouldn't have done Hider Mitzvah we would have had no Miracle of oil at all so the whole Miracle came because of somebody Cedar Mitzvah so we do hither Mitzvah right so these are two answers one is that God gave us more than we needed because Tuma which rabbit seibor the other is the coin godo was Mo sarnafesh to do a Mitzvah I would suggest that these two Tech technical answers actually reflect two spiritual paradigms in the looking at the lights of Hanukkah is about light it's a light that pierces the darkness and that's why it gives us encouragement and strength in times of adversity times of challenge times of difficulty whether we're dealing with national crises or whether we're dealing with the individual struggles that we all have in our lives whatever those struggles might be that's the beauty of Hanukkah it's the message of hope the message of resilience what am I looking at when I'm looking at the lights of Hanukkah one aspect is I'm looking at the divine presence the Divine benevolence that suffuses into the world I'm looking so to speak as at A visual representation of the shakina hakitosha God's presence that pierces the darkness of course obviously God does not have a physical image but representationally is the light of Hashem in fact there's a beautiful teaching kabbalistically that we know that God did not create the son until the fourth day now day one two and three there were 12 hours a day of light Sunday Monday Tuesday that light did not come from the Sun it was the light of the Shekinah and God concealed that light another 36 hours of the light of the shakina which was then concealed and replaced by the Sun so the light of those first 36 hours are called or haganos the hidden lights how many candles do we light on Hanukkah according to base hill we like 36 not counting the shamas it is said that the 36 candles of Hanukkah is bringing back into the world the 36 hours of the Hidden light of the that's why there is such a concept of sitting by the candles so to speak because one is absorbing God's presence so that is what the first answer is emphasizing the first answer is emphasizing that the heater was a gift that Hashem gave us even though it was not necessary but because he wanted us to do the mitzvoting the best possible way even though tumor who tripped sieber even though the laws of impurity are much it emphasizes what God does for us and the lights represent the light of Hashem but there's another thing I look at when I look at the lights it is a mirror of the radiance of the greatness of our souls success in Michelin near Hashem nishmatadam the soul of a person is a candle that is lit by Hashem that is the source of the yard side lamp because a candle is the muscle for the nashama in fact even the word nephesh which is one of the words for soul the judiciaryam says is an abbreviation means the receptacle that in samudic language near the pay is shin is Sherman oil so what is a soul I have a container that's my body I have a wick I have oil and I'm waiting for God to ignite me to give me inspiration give me guidance give me understanding so when I look at the neighbors of Hanukkah there are two things I'm looking at at the same time I'm thinking about the goodness that Hashem brings to the world but I'm also looking at the greatness that is implanted within the human personality and that's what the second answer emphasizes the second answer to why there's Madrid is emphasizing not what God did for us but that the Cohen God will sacrifice to do the Mitzvah at the higher level meaning one is an emphasis on the greatness of Hashem and one is an emphasis and the greatness of us and erupts other greats a beautiful thing powerful thing this is one of those things that one should memorize or put or adds put on the refrigerator door he says just as a person must believe in God and Muna from a person is obligated to believe in themselves believe in their greatness believe in their goodness believe in their capacity to achieve great things in spite of obstacles as of course we we heard so eloquently tonight right because as the T-shirt saying says I like t-shirt sayings uh because they're usually true if they're assuming they're not assuming they're not obscene says God doesn't make junk if God gave you life that means you're worth it you have something to give you have something to contribute one should be proud in a non-agant way because after all if you know Roofing is great then Shimon is great meaning everybody's you know is worthwhile but in a non-abrogant way one should have a pride in their capacity to do good to be good to make a difference to matter every morning we begin the day with modani right so a person looks at the newspaper sees they're not in the obituary column so they're able they're able to begin the day so the public says I give thanks to godsmate he returns my soul with compassion and then we say your faith is great now that is actually a fragment from Aika that is those are actually words from your Mio Miguel but Robert has a bit of a problem your faith is great I mean the way we normally talk and Muna is what I have in God I have a Muna in God so if I'm professing Maya Muna and God I should say my faith is great now in truth there's a very simple answer to that and that is muna actually does not mean faith and Muna means faithfulness and dependability in other words in Hebrew when I am in what that actually means grammatically if you actually analyze the grammar A Min is I ascribe to God qualities of faithfulness and dependability technically in Hebrew you don't say I have I mean maybe in colloquial Hebrew modern Hebrew but in Biblical Hebrew a person does not say you know I believe in God rather I ascribe to Hashem qualities of a mooner that's what it means doesn't mean God of Faith but God of faithfulness and dependability so Rabbi munisaka just means you can depend on God but but if you go with the normal way we talk and Muna is faith faith faith so what does it mean God has Faith the answer is God does have faith God has faith in you God has Faith even though he knows the end of the story that's another philosophical question if Hashem gives you life this morning he says I have faith that you'll do something good with it or at least you can do something good with it if not because if not he wouldn't give you that life this is a classic for people you know because sometimes life can be difficult you sometimes don't get the affirmation that we might need from our colleagues or our families or whatever it might be but think of it this way if you're alive God whispered into you into your ear in the beginning of the morning I believe in you I trust you there's things you can do in the world that are worthwhile Rabbi hashem's faith in us is very very great so this is kind of a double visualization of the nehrot Hanukkah the light of the shechina and The Light Within my nishama and that is why we have these two answers why is there mahadrin that's why I began one is because God gave us a gift that we didn't need beyond what we needed and the other aspect is the Cohen did for God beyond what he needed to do and either way we celebrate the idea of Mahajan but I want to give a third answer to this which is an interesting interesting philosophical answer uh and that is you know that the struggle of Hanukkah was the struggle against yavan Greece and the morale points out you know in throughout we talk about the four Exiles Babylon in fact most swords based on this Babylon Persia Greece and Rome and we're still considered in the Roman Godot and then Ishmael as a fifth component which were in the grip of each mile as well but Hanukkah is about yavan now yavan was a different type of galot because yavan was not about physical persecution you know Haman is like Hitler Haman didn't care if you were from not from religious not religious if you were a Jew he wanted to kill you same thing with Hitler there were Jews who tragically converted to Christianity and they still died in concentration camps right so Haman Hitler is the Paradigm of the one who is seeking the physical destruction of the Jewish people antiochos seeking physical destruction of the Jewish people in fact in some perverted sense you could say he wasn't he wasn't in anti-semite as he basically told the Jewish people hey give up What Makes You Different stop with your Britney Line stop with Shabbos and stop with kosher and you can be a full-fledged citizen political economic rights so really the nisayan of yavan was not physical persecution the nisayan of yavan was cultural and religious assimilation now Antiochus did it with the fifth but we still face this Nissan maybe not with a fist of coercion but with the sweet talk of persuasion meaning to say it's still ultimately assimilation because Antiochus was not seeking annihilation of Jewish people he was seeking destruction of Jewish Singularity Jewish uniqueness and the Lord Hellenism happening in Israel I mean there was a world Empire here Hellenism was a very very popular idea the Greeks were very great in a whole variety of fields whether it was philosophy whether it was literature whether it was Art whether it was Athletics whether it was Science and Mathematics Greek culture represented a tremendous Advance over any civilization that came early so came earlier so Hanukkah is about the defeat of the oven but what does it mean to defeat the oven what does it mean to defeat the oven so here let me share with you a very very critical beautiful Passage of Rabbi shimshen Rafal Hersh when if you remember After the flood got intoxicated and in his intoxicated State he was exposed his nakedness was exposed his father and called over his two brothers to kind of share in the mockery the two brothers shame and EFS did not want to humiliate the father in any way they walked backwards with a blanket over their shoulders they covered their father's nakedness to protect his dignity as a result Noah gave a curse to Khan and he gave a special blessing to shaman yephys I want to focus on the blessing that he gave us and the blessing was as a Biblical pun ft Elohim Lee ephus God shall give Beauty yofi to yephath I say Amen and he will dwell in the tents of Shem now in English that sounds very bad that he will dwell in the tents of Shame as an English sentence that sounds very negative but in the hummus it's the opposite shame is Noah's righteous son and he says yes shall dwell in the tents of Shame what does it mean the fs dwells in the tents of shems listen to what referred says Noah envisioned for the human race two fundamental missions One mission was entrusted TFS and one mission was entrusted to shame the mission that was entrusted to EFS is to generate what is called Beauty EFS was given the color to create Beauty in the world now Beauty exists on many levels there is Artistic Beauty whether it's painting sculpture there is intellectual Beauty such as philosophy and Mathematics there is even physical Beauty as athleticism and alike the ability to create these manifold forms of beauty was given TFS The ephesus's Descendant was the oven the oven right so Greek is said that the Greece took over the bracha of yofi that was entrusted TFS but there was a second mission for man that is even greater the notion of holiness sanctity spirituality godliness that mission was given to Shem and of shem's descendants that was taken over primarily by avraham so we have EFS as the generator of beauty and we have Shem as the generator of holiness what Noah is saying to yes is your beauty your your gift of beauty is truly beautiful and Noble but only when it dwells in the tents of Shem when it subordinates itself to Godliness to righteousness to morality then it becomes beautiful when it separates itself from godliness Holiness and morality it then becomes destructive now it's fascinating this actually connects to what Mr Quint was talking about and of course we are in the German Colony again there's a certain irony in that in that as well you know Germany before World War II was by far the most cultured country in Europe and much more so than even even England in terms of literature there's a music in terms of philosophy in terms of science that people couldn't believe now and I understand that a lot of the Holocaust was actually carried out by polls and Ukraine's I understand that but but certainly people could not actually believe that from Germany would come the Holocaust now maybe from A Primitive Country from a country without civilization but this is kind of the tragedy that you see that when the yofi is detached from some serbians to God's morality the yofi itself becomes destructive I think the Holocaust one of the lessons of the Holocaust shows you that having an advanced sophisticated civilization and a strong sense of Aesthetics is no guarantee that you can just you that you can that will not descend into the abyss of the most animalistic destructive Behavior that could possibly exist in the in the in the world and that's why the morale points out that the oven if you take those three letters as a verb known as a sharish meaning oppression like oh no it's the same but if you reverse yavan you get noi which is beauty is so he says when the beauty is perverted and not put into the right place it becomes a source of Oppression so here's the thing by the way this is really this passage I just shared with you from our prayers is really the foundation of his famous philosophy says you know reverse in the 19th century was the great great advocate of combining some some understanding of the secular world into your Torah framework with Torah always being your foundation but understanding that it can be enriched and deepens and this was in Contra distinction to the position of the great rabbis of Poland Russia and Lithuania who believed that second their culture was worthless and different and this was a fundamental Mark Lokes the same shamayam within Claudius rail in fact the Eastern European take on Earth was the first didn't really mean what he said but Germany was so far gone that he had to give them a watered-down form of Judaism because that's as much as they could take that's what I call the revisionist reading of represent but I don't buy it meaning I believe Hirsch meant what he said and he certainly considered the secular wisdom of the world as potentially positive as long as it is subordinated to the ethical monotheistic message of Judaism and the Torah this is called Torah IM Derek Eric so now this so now based on this idea when we defeat the oven defeating Yavin doesn't mean we destroy all that yavana represents we defeat yavan by taking the good within that culture and bringing it back into the tents of hem not rejection of it but recapturing it and reclaiming it so now I would suggest I didn't see it anywhere that this is why there's such an emphasis of beauty in Hanukkah because if Beauty in its various forms is the kawak of yavan we celebrate our victory over yavan not by rejecting yavan but by taking yavan and bringing it into our service and it's the afternoon has given Beauty TFS the ishkind and it shall dwell in the tens of tens of Shem so their suggestion would be the hither of near Hanukkah is the yesh Beyond taking the yofi of yephys and bringing it back into the tents of Shem so these are three explanations of why there is such an emphasis of hidor of beautification for chanukkah right explanation one because God gave us a miracle that we didn't telegraphically need because tumor is permitted but sibor but he gave us something so we could do hidor therefore we thank him the second answer is the Cohen God all with Moser nephesh to use grade A oil for his meal offering so hidor enabled the Mitzvah so we do it behita and the third is that this is a way of fulfilling yafter La Kimberly feshem to reclaim the beauty of yes and bring it back this by the way is a very relevant issue I mean certainly in the in Medina Israelis as well in America as well other countries the issue is how much should a Jewish a vibrant Jewish religious Society separate from the outside world how how much should there be an emphasis on insolarity versus some type of integration now obviously integration has dangers you bring some secular ideas into your environment that could pull you down that could corrupt you that could affect your children in a negative way so that is the case for a more insular exclusionary approach on the other hand because I'll do teach us if someone tells you there is wisdom even among the Gentiles believe them there is wisdom there is Insight so in some ways it's always easier to live in a pure black and white world meaning to say I could take two extreme positions I could say anything outside of the Forum oats of the beta midrash is trafe I don't want to have anything to do with it although that's really impossible but at least theoretically I could take that position or I could take the position I'm a citizen of the world I want to be involved in every aspect of culture but both of those are potentially destructive uh the if I had to choose I would pick insularity over total acceptance I think that's the lesser of the two evils but it is the lesser of two evils meaning you try to create insularity then you're cutting off a whole source of enrichment that could come in and if you try to adopt everything then you corrupt your own Moral Moral compass life is hard life is not black and white life is assessing various Shades of Gray in determining what is acceptable what is not acceptable what enhances my connection to God and to the Jewish people and even my mission to the world and what takes it away it takes discrimination it takes wisdom it takes it's not a one-size-fit all it's not an automatic yes no but issue by issue events by event one has to assess this is what a responsible parent parent does you know I know parents uh you know we have different religious school systems in Israel uh each of their children goes to a different type of different type of school instead of saying oh Curry needs our team or whatever the different combinations are cardial this goes here and this goes here and this goes here because every child is different and the particular mix that is appropriate will be different for each child and Shalom said you educate a child according to their way and their personality so what's interesting is that because he sent his kids to all of these different schools he had to have different head coverings for each School meaning to say in some schools he had to wear a black Yeshiva Shah hat in other schools he wore kipasuruga other schools he wore a velvet keeper he had different he coordinated as he dropped his kids off so I was with him once in his car and he was running late and uh he was wearing to keep us through God from the last drop off and the next one was to a radio crater and he just rushed in with this kid wearing kipasurugan he came out like five minutes later he was he was literally shaking he says they told me if this ever they're giving me a warning if there's ever ever happens again he says their child will be expelled from potato but you know as they say uh that type of parenting is tougher but that that is the that is the greatest type of parenting and that's really torium Derek Harris which also understands that we look at the world and we have to make decisions what to accept what not to accept uh those of you who knew uh ravarin Lichtenstein zacharacha know that he was such a model of that he was a great roshishiva who was totally devoted to tamatoa this was his life it was a great great passion and at the same time he also had a PhD from from Harvard University and in English literature and I think Rabbi Quint also the Cardinals was similar in terms of combining a secular profession uh and a great Torah learning as well so these things can be done but they are a challenge it's much more difficult to live in this multifaceted world than to live in one side of the world or the or the other in fact there's a famous letter from a footner a talmud complained to him that he felt uh like he was living in Two Worlds and he didn't really belong anywhere rafutner said why do you describe it as two worlds you're living in a house that is more than one room now a person has a bigger house they're comfortable they have a bigger house you know as opposed to living in one room you have a house with two rooms he says one want to look at it as a positive feature so that's the point so so sometime when we talk about the victory against the oven it's described as we totally reject the oven I'm suggesting that's not really true we don't reject the oven rather we want to take the oven and bring it back into the Olay Shem as our first said in tobium debit card okay so this is part one part one is explaining why chanukkah has a general concept of mahadrin mahadrin but now I want to focus on point two point two is the fascinating machlocus between both shamai and basila how do you do the Mahajan minamahajan says you go from eight and you go down basilo says you go from one and you go up so basilo is intuitively more obvious in Holiness you go up Etc uh so how do you understand the maclocus by shamai and Basel and how you write so part one was discussing why is there a Mahajan by Hanukkah part two is discussing why is there a maklokis about how you do the mahadrant of New York so here and this is really based on what the gemara says and it's interpreting the Gomorrah we have two explanations for the muklocus you know when we commonly look at arguments between basilo and beijamai technically most of it most of the time not all the time beishama is strict base Hillel is lenient now when it comes to chanukkah that pattern doesn't fit because going from 876 or one through three is not a matter of leniency or humra because you're going to have the same number of candles either way but the great of Yosef seven yeah a lot of people are not aware of Rose Evan today he was Nifty already in the 1970s but rep 7 was a thank you was a gun atsum uh one of his many many accomplished and only one of them was he was the founding editor and main writer of the in the early years of the encyclopedia tomudis but as I say that's one of many many things rev zebbing was a guy in atsum in kalato rakula and he was one of the rare rare people who got along with every single segment of jewelry he was he was close to the khazonish and the briskarov he knew rev cook from the 1930s he was Mizrahi and he was Chabad at the same time so mizrah you're not going to find anybody like that like that today he knew everything and he was a wonderful writer in modern Hebrew as well just a literary it was in swarovar actually literary masterpieces as well as masterpieces and he offers the following Insight he says the real difference between hello and shama or basil and may shama is not strict versus lenient but it's a question of potential versus actualization and here's the following idea the Tyra says voracious Elohim is the name of God that connotes the attribute of Midas Justice originally God wanted to create a world based on did you commit a sin lightning strikes you down you do a Mitzvah you get a million dollars immediate responses Hashem saw that the world could not survive with strict did we would be constantly messing up so Hashem combined in and that's why later it says Hashem Elohim which means God's perfect world God's perfect world would be run based on dead the only problem is because of our imperfections he had to kind of compromise the din by putting in they shaman represents AMA is rooted in God's original plan and that's why by Sharma is stricter meet us again is rooted in the imperfect actualization of that reality which is now you have to understand kabbalistically this is not a self-conscious agenda in other words one has to understand this basilo didn't get up or Hillel or basil his tomidum didn't get up every day and say okay how can I be lenient today and beisham I certainly didn't get up and say I want to be mean today what can I do to make life tougher on people not the way it works this is a much more subtle process each one is looking for truth but the way they perceive truth is filtered through these spiritual root of their neshama and since base shama is nashama is rooted in because God is infinite so you could be rooted in many parts of God I shouldn't say Parts but different aspects of God because God is infinite foreign so he perceives reality through the prism of din basilos nashama is rooted in he perceives reality in the sense though the Ariza writes since Mida sadin was God's original plan when mashiach comes and the world reaches a perfect State the hawaka will be like beichana because din is the more perfect world is the concession that God has to make so therefore revseven says if you understand this metabolistic idea it turns out that shamai is the founder of Beijing because they look at the world in terms of its ultimate potentiality Hillel is Michael because he looks at the world in terms of the imperfect actualization see now this is actually a very brilliant way of understanding it seen in that way we can now explain chanukkah the same way if beijamai looks at what's called koa's potential and basilia looks at powwow which is called actualization so look at it this way day one of Hanukkah that oil had a potential of eight days in it we didn't know that yet but God put into that oil eight days of potential the second day of Hanukkah there's only seven days of potential left the last day of Hanukkah there's only one day of potential end so if you're looking at potential the potential goes down if you're looking at actualization it goes up the first day only one day potential was actualized by the end of day it was eight days so rep 7 is making a remarkable connection he's saying that the maklokes by Shame about the neighbors of Hanukkah is connected to the general idea that bechama is strict and basilo is lenient not because Hanukkah has anything to do with leniency or strictness but because it's Co-op versus poem potentiality versus actualization but then there's a second explanation the gemara gives and the second explanation that gemara gives is the following says the reason we go down is because on sukos there are 70 bulls that are brought and they're brought in descending order 13 on day 1 13 12 11 6 11 10 9 8 7. so the same way the Bulls of Sukkot go down the candles of Hanukkah go down basilo says when it comes to Holiness we go up so this is the second explanation the Gamora gives now once again basilo is understandable Holiness we want to go up but what on Earth is beisham I doing by saying oh you know the bowls of Suk outs go down so the candles of Hanukah go down what's the connection well first of all why do the bowls of circus go down that's one issue and the second of all if whatever reason that is what is the connection because circus goes down Hanukkah goes down why is there a connection now it doesn't matter there is historically there might be a very interesting illusion here you know uh there's a famous question that Rod Joseph Cairo asks the although he was not the first one who asked the question you know the miracle of the oil it burnt for it should have burnt one day and it burned for eight days why is Hanukkah eight days it ought to be a seven day holiday because the first day is not a miracle there are at least 500 answers to this question because I have a safer that has 500 answers to this question although I haven't read them all so I know they're there but the book of The Maccabees Maccabees won and Maccabees 2 actually gives us an answer to this question Maccabees one says the reason Hanukkah is eight days is not because of the miracle of the oil that would have been seven days chronic is eight days because the dedication ceremony of the second temple was eight days just as the mishkan was dedicated for eight days in the Torah so that's a beautiful answer Maccabees too gives another answer that's quite surprising that is that year during sukos the base amigdush was still in the hands of the Ivana because that was in history and we didn't Liberate the temple until kiss life the Jews were heartbroken that they were not able to observe sukhas properly in the temple so they made chanukkah as a substitute for circus in this in this in the book of The Maccabees it's even recorded they took Lula Vanessa and built a sukha now there is no remnants in hazam this is obviously was a folk thing I mean rabbinically there was no you can't make a you can make up a pesach there's not even not Patrick totally but this pastor Cheney you can make up a pencil offering there is no provision in for making up sukkas you miss you miss sukis unfortunately you missed it so obviously this came from the hamonam this was a folk reaction and that's why hazal ignore it so hazal and Gomorrah ignore the connections of chanakin circus but you know there is something that sometimes that old traditions that gazal ignored tend to pop up like from the concrete so like grass coming up from the concrete and I think that this might be what baishama is alluding to that since chanukkah had its Origins as they make up for circus then they wrote of chanukkah Will Follow the carbonus of circus again it's very fascinating this might be Aramis to Maccabees too which normally do not quote the book of The Maccabees but this might be a connection so they will come back here but that's more of an academic explanation but let me share with you what hasidisha thoughts of these fasemus is going with one of the points I made earlier that when we look at the neros we're looking at the radians of our nishamas and when you look at the nashama you have to look at how do you Rectify your soul how do you repair your soul now David Miller says a Jew has two missions really a human being has two missions turn away from evil the asset off and do good now based on that fire can have two different metaphors fire can be something that burns and destroys and fire can be something that illuminates and warms and gives light bait shamai when he looks at my nishama and how do I perfect Myself by shamai's model is you want to become close to God you got to confront your negativities confront your dysfunctions confront your Character defects work on them sore Mayra eradicate them one by one by one by one and then you'll make yourself pure so his vision of spiritual growth is attacking my negatives and working on them in other words fire burning it away if you look at the image of fire as that which burns away the evil traits then hopefully spiritual growth will be a diminishing process meaning I start off with 10 things or eight things I got to burn away and I go down so beijamai who is looking at fire as the destructive force that takes away the bat we'll look at it as a declining process diminishing process what does space hill say to that basil says that that type of Derek of frontally confronting my negativities and attacking them that can work well for itsidic if I'm a righteous person I am strong enough to look at whatever is negative within me and work on it directly but basil is suggesting for most people that is a counterproductive chuva strategy because when I confront my flaws and I confront my inadequacies instead of energetically trying to change and improve I get depressed I get despondent I get paralyzed and I just give up so basilo is suggesting instead of starting with your negatives and working on them build yourself up in the midst of us that you're able to do use the fire not as the medium that destroys but that which illuminates and warms right the old muscle that if I'm in a dark room and I need to get rid of the darkness I don't take a baseball bat and hit the darkness I generate light and the light dispels the darkness now both are in agreement that ultimately you got to do both you got to do both I gotta do good and I have to try to rectify that which is negative the question is what's your starting point says get into that bad stuff right away and work on it because until you're pure you're mitzvot you're not going to mean very much basilo says you know why did you start with the positive things why would you start with the things that you're attracted to the things you do well the things that inspire you and then you build up in your personality reservoirs of light and then gets weaker by itself so therefore it says very beautifully that by shamai who is looking at spiritual growth from the perspective of surmeira is going to be podcast for hopeless now the question because I didn't answer this question so what's the connection to Circus I left that point out the connection is very simple the gamarian soccer tells us that the reason there are 70 Bulls on sukkos is they are connected the 70 nations of the world that try to destroy us in various ways and the fact that they're diminished is God telling us that as we get closer and closer to mashiach the power of this evil is going to get diminished even though we don't always see that we sometimes see terrorism is on the rise but that's actually the death throws just like a candle right before it goes out as a sudden burst of flame and even a human being even a human life right before death sometimes there's a certain convulsive movement so unfortunately the the tragedies that we still see today is essentially the death throws of evil before the coming of mashiach so it turns out that the gives the metaphor of the diminution of evil is the externalized evil of the seventy Nations then they Rose chanukkah is the internalized tikon hamidos that I have to work on and that's why he's comparing it to sukkas that legabe the stormera as we progress towards Redemption things go go down so this is something you think about again in Daenerys of chanukkah let me descend uh with um one short story and again um I don't know if Mrs Clinton correctly this is a story that is told about the last chanukkah any bergen-belsen but my details may not be correct but it is a story that is recorded this was December 1944 right before the end of 45 um no 45 no no 40 yeah yeah the last Hanukkah was 44 December 44. and uh it involves uh I believe the bridge of Arabic that Hadlock us neighbors of course was a capital offense if the Nazis caught you lightning candles they would kill you so it was arranged in secret that two or three in the morning the rebbe with light neros and really silence and people would gather together and the guards wouldn't be so alert at that particular time they'd find a corner that was not illuminated and the story goes there were hundreds and hundreds of Jews at that last Hadlock at nehrot and the blizzard Arabi used the strings from the pajama uniforms and some rancid margarine that he saved and he made the Baraka lahadlika and then he made the brakasha Nissim again people were everybody was you know answering a very low voice and then it was time to make and he hesitated and he looked around and he finally said after that Lucas and arrows a man went over to the Revy and a man said to the rebbe he said you know listen I don't believe in this stuff after what what I see happens to what has happened to us in these camps I can no longer believe in God at all you believe I don't take that away from you but here's my question revi I understand you made a bracha that God commanded you to light Hanukkah candles because you believe God commanded you to like Hanukkah candles I even understand the blessing God did Miracles all right you believe God did Miracles okay you say there I'm not going to take that away from you but tell me rebby how could you make a shakayano thank you God for letting me be alive are you happy that you're alive do you know how many people go to sleep every night hoping they will not wake up that life is so miserable so horrendous so without hope that they want to die do you really and you yourself there have been lost to you a first wife and a number of children and you're saying how can you say the rabbi didn't call him a shakers didn't call him an epic chorus the rebbe was honest the rebbe said I wasn't sure I could say this that's why I hesitated that's why because on one hand and I follow halacha on the other hand God is a god of Truth how can I say Hashem if I didn't believe it in my heart I didn't know what to do I was never then he said I looked around I saw hundreds and hundreds of Jews who lost everything whose suffering is indescribable and they still have faith and they still want to serve Hashem and they still want to do mitzvahs and at that moment I felt what a privilege it was to see the greatness of om Israel to see the goodness of these nishamas that still won a light Hanukkah candles in spite of everything and for that he said I could say even in bergen-belsen to see the greatness of the Jewish people and that is the story of the Bush rivers in the last chanukkah bergen-belsen so again I wish I really want to thank you Mrs Quinn for for everything especially sharing your story I will actually yes yes yes she brings it yes yes yes yes and um I'm gonna I'm gonna get her book and I urge you you to do it do it as well and uh maybe we all be together only for small thank you and give up everybody [Music]