Zos Chanukah On Fire

A Torah Anytime original series. What exactly am I supposed to take out of Zeiss Kaneka? Why does the last day matter more than any other day? What's the significance of the last day other than the fact that it's the last? Perhaps it's because it's not just the final candle. It's not simply the day where the manura is finally complete. Ze Khan is the day that asks a question that no other day asks. And that question is, now that you're finished looking at the light, what are you going to do with it? How you going to take that light with you? Because here's the bold truth. The Kaneka story screams at us. The degree in which you choose Hashem is the degree in which Hashem chooses you. That's not some abstract cabalistic oneliner. That is the single defining principle that has carried the Jewish people throughout history. Every time we faced armies bigger than us and rulers stronger than us in situations that seemed impossible, the only reason we survived, the only reason we won, the only real reason we came out victorious is because we chose Hashem. And when we chose him, he chose us. That has been our one and only weapon for thousands of years. Not tanks, not swords, not sophisticated strategies, not wealth or influence. Choosing Hashem is what defeated the Greeks. It's what protected the Jews during countless exiles. It's what carried us through puggrams and persecutions and attempts to erase us from history. That choice, the active conscious defiant choice to scream out mash lie in your life is the force that textbooks and historians and generals cannot explain. And when it's fully realized creates miracles. That's why Zaneka matters because it's not the end of a yantive. It's the entrance into the darkest stretch of the year where the excitement fades and the inspiration wears off and lights life gets heavy again. And Ze Khan is the moment that asks, "What are you taking with you into the winter?" Because the only way Jews have ever survived the darkness is not by avoiding it and not by pretending it isn't there. It's by choosing Hashem inside of it over and over when it's cold, when it's exhausting, when no one's watching, when it would have been far easier to just give in and give up and go numb. Zanuka is the line in the sand. It's the night we make sure we walk into the winter knowing one thing for certain. The only way not to get smothered by darkness is to keep choosing Hashem. That choice, the same choice that carried Jews throughout empires and exiles and fires will carry us through the winter ahead of us because this is how we've always made it. And this is how we always will. Listen to this story. Rasher Wade was a US chaplain for Jewish soldiers stationed at West Point, the most elite military academy in the world, where the next generation of generals are trained in the art of warfare and military strategy. And Rab Usher's role there was to inspire and give to Jewish soldiers brave enough to hold on to their Judaism in a place built on uniformity and strength and force. And one day he noticed something unexpected. A soldier named Stuart, who he passed a million times without realizing he was Jewish, suddenly out of the blue, appears wearing a yarmaka. So surprised, Rab Usher, he stops him and he asks, "Steuart, I've seen you a thousand times and never I never knew you were Jewish. Why are you suddenly wearing yamaka?" So Stuart looks at him and he says, "I'll tell you exactly why." for 6 months. He said he had been taking a course called the history of military tactics and field strategies taught by a three-star lieutenant general with a PhD in military strategy. The man responsible for shaping major military decisions of the United States Army. The class studied the great battles of history, ancient Egypt, the Romans, the Mongols, the Middle Ages, down to the most recent wars in modern times. So yesterday, Stuart says, was the last day of the course, and he'd been wanting to ask one question the entire semester, but I never had the courage. But being that this was the last day, it was either now or never. So as people were getting up to leave, I stood up and I asked the professor in front of the entire room, "Professor, why haven't we studied a single Jewish war, either ancient or modern?" And the room freezes. conversation stops soldiers who were already on their feet slowly. They sit back down sensing that something important was about to be said. The general looks up from his notes. He sigh and he says quietly, "I was hoping you wouldn't ask that question." And then he continued and he said, "The United States Army and West Point and the Pentagon have spent decades studying Jewish wars. We've analyzed every one of them from every possible angle and we made a decision not to teach them here because according to military textbooks and battlefield strategy and every rational model we use, the Jewish people should have disappeared thousands of years ago. You should have been erased and swept into the garbage can of history. But you weren't. Again and again, you won wars that logic said that you had no right to win. And the only explanation we ever came up with is that while the rest of the world fights wars with strategy and might, the Jews fight wars with God. And in our military textbooks, there is no chapter on God. Class dismissed. That night, Stuart looked at Rebasher Wade and said, "You better believe that by the time I went to sleep that night, I was wearing a Yamag." That is our secret. We don't survive longer than any other people on earth because we're stronger or smarter or better armed. We survive because when it matters, we choose Hashem. And when we choose him, he chooses us. That choice repeated across centuries of exile and pressure and persecution is what carried us through every empire that tried to erase us. Zo Khanaka asks you a simple brutal question. How many times in your life do you really choose Hashem? Not because of social pressure, not because you'll get looked down on, not because someone expects it, but because you are choosing Hashem for no one else. It's easy to daven when everyone else is watching. But what about when you're alone on a business trip in Seattle, exhausted 1:00 in the morning, you remember you didn't daven? Do you roll over and mumble a half-hearted prayer in your pajamas? Or do you roar like a lion and dress like you're about to speak to the king of the world and you choose Hashem anyway? It's easy to be honest when it cost you nothing. But what about what when one line on a contract, one exaggeration, one nobody will ever know could make you a lot of more money? Do you take the shortcut or do you choose Hashem and walk away? It It's easy to learn Tyra when it fits neatly into your schedule, but what about when it doesn't? What about the day that was long and the kids are all screaming and your body is done and the couch is calling your name? Do you scroll or do you choose Hashem and learn anyway? It's easy to speak kindly when you're calm. But what about when you're not? What about when you're tired and stressed and someone pushed the exact wrong button? Do you unload or do you choose Hashem and hold your tongue? It's easy to be proud of being Jewish in a friendly room, but what about when you're not in a friendly room? When you're the only one? When the joke crosses a line, when staying silent would be easier and safer, do you laugh it off or do you choose Hashem and stay visibly, stubbornly Jewish? It's easy to believe in Hashem, that he runs the world when things are going well. But what about when they're not? What about when the bills pile up and the pressure mounts and the future feels uncertain? Do you panic and grab for control or do you choose Hashem and trust him anyway? That's what Khan is all about. remembering the Yidden who stared down the strongest empire the world had ever seen and said, "I choose Hashem." And today we look at the pressures and the distractions and the armies trying to steal our focus and our values and our souls and we say, "I will not give in. I will not give up." Unlike the Pim story which got a whole long lega, Kaneka did not. Why is that? It's because the story of Kaneka isn't over. The Greeks are still here. They're just they just change their language. They wear different clothes. They advertise different things on the radio, but they're still out there ready to kidnap your brain, your mental space, and your soul. The world's been telling us the exact same lie for 4,000 years. Get comfortable, drink a beer, make more money, and then you'll be okay. That's how you win in life. But that has never been how Jews win. We don't win by doing more. We win by choosing better. by choosing Hashem again and again and again when it's hard, when it cost us, when it's uncomfortable, when it's inconvenient, and especially when no one's watching. That is Khan. Zeiss. This is it. Now or never. Every candle's lit. Nothing is hidden. Nothing is left for later. This is the moment you decide what you're taking with you into the darkness ahead. Because the light doesn't disappear. Only the excuses do. Choose Hashem and he'll choose you.