From Darkness to Light - Chanukah Featuring Rabbi YY Jakobson

[Music] [Applause] [Music] good evening everyone welcome to tonight's program i'm happy you can make it i would like to first wish a happy hanukkah foreign to each of you and to your families tonight we are privileged to have rabbi yuwai jacobson as our keynote speaker someone who really personifies what this evening is about bringing darkness to light he's someone who brings so much light to so many people by jacob said thank you for being here and for making for everything that you do really tonight's program is dedicated in memory of a very special person shimon alexander benach hakoen rabbi craft's father-in-law who passed away just a few weeks ago and in a few moments rabbi kraft is going to speak a little bit and tell you a little bit about his father-in-law as well tonight's program was sponsored through generous sponsorship from cayman health company as well as margaret tights we thank them for their participation in this program and for everything that they do for the broader community tonight is hanukkah and i like to think that hanukkah is really emmett's holiday that's emmett's yomtov because at ahmet everything we're about is really what the hashmonayam were fighting for back over 2000 years ago the battle in hanukkah both the physical battle and the spiritual battle was very different from any battle that the jewish people had dealt with before different from the babylonian battles different from exile different from the persian exile and battle and difficulties that we faced in the time of purim hanako is unique in that really it's a it was a spiritual battle the the syrian greeks under antiochus were not trying to take away our ability to to live in the land of israel but rather take away our ability to practice the mitzvot they wanted us to assimilate they wanted us to become part of the regular society and with what what the khashoggi were fighting for was a battle for spirituality a battle for purpose a battle for finding light in a dark world and this is why hanukkah is symbolized through we we practice the the mitzvah of hanukkah through lighting the menorah putting a candle putting a little bit of light into a dark world and this is what what chanukah is about and ahmed our whole purpose and mission is to bring light to the world and in these difficult times during kovit we've had the opportunity in some ways to bring more light than maybe ever before through a combination of live classes and with social distancing of course as well as a tremendous amount of zoom classes and one-on-one interactions with our amazing staff and and their students and and all these different connections that they have as well as our torah connect program which is our partnership between the community members and our students we've been able to bring so much light in difficult times and we're excited to be launching two initiatives right now and chanukah that are very excited about one is our emmet based medrash which is a morning bait midrash program for men this is geared for college students young professionals i met alumni and the community to learn torah in the mornings starting from 7 30 in the morning through 12 o'clock and this is a program we're very excited about as well as a new initiative called emma match which is going to be there to help build torah families jewish families in our community as well the battle of chanukah is a battle that really didn't end 2000 years ago but it's a battle that we continue to fight each and every one of us throughout this difficult long exile that we're in almost for almost 2000 years and in many ways our society today is not so different from what the khashoggi were fighting against over 2000 years ago and we believe that the only way to fight this darkness is through the true light which is the light of torah and the the the jewish pride of chanaka really needs to be the pride of our relationship to the torah our connection to the torah which is our true inheritance that has kept us around for so many thousands of years and the japan will keep us for so much so many years to come my prayer to all of you is that we have so much light this coming year that we're able to bring really what the message of emmett is which is to light up our souls to connect ourselves to spirituality to connect ourselves to our true mission and purpose in life and at the same time to spread that light to others to share this light with others and sometimes you know the greatest nachas the greatest pleasure we have in emmet is when our own students go and make chava brahot and invite their friends over for shabbos meals and spread the torah to others as well and i like to ah have last but not least thank the emmett partners and donors who are the light behind emmett they're the ones who literally light the spark that lets all of this at emmet happen and we give hakart a tough gratitude to hashem that we're able to do everything that we've done this past year and we look forward this coming year to doing even more at emmett with each and every one of your support thank you and happy hanukkah to you hanukkah burns so bright lifts my soul raises my sights hanukkah feels so right eight small planes shining through the night [Music] good evening everybody and they fell hanukkah to all it's a joyous night of lights i'd like to take this opportunity to wish everybody it's especially appropriate tonight that i speak about my father-in-law shim alexander bennatman akoin who was lifter approximately 30 days ago and like the story of hanukkah his life was really a life of darkness to light he grew up in europe born in 1930 in slovakia to a family steeped in jewish tradition with the coming of the nazis he went into hiding in hungary where he was eventually picked up and sent to auschwitz miraculously he survived this election and from auschwitz he went to another camp he went to mount housing and for over a year he endured the tortures that we all know describe what life was like at that time yet the stories that my father-in-law told me about the experience in the camps were really about the kindness that he was able to do placed in the kitchen he was able to find ways to to smuggle potatoes and other small items of food out of the kitchen and to give it to other fellow jews prisoners who needed it so badly even at the point where he risked his life to do it punished very severely for such an act it didn't stop him he didn't it didn't it didn't hold him back and in fact that's really defines and epitomizes who he was he was a giver somebody looking to do for another despite the darkness he was able to find ways to give he was able to bring out the light he came to america after the war and again his whole approach was that of gratitude despite what he went through his amuna was never shaken his gratitude to god for everything that was given to him epitomized everything that he said everything that he did he appreciated america he appreciated his family he appreciated every opportunity he was somebody who was grateful just to be alive someone grateful just to have the smallest possession in this world and hashem blessed him with a beautiful family that followed in his path a family dedicated to tara and mitzvot he was also blessed with a beautiful voice he was a cousin and he used that talent to inspire the hearts of so many [Music] unfortunately 13 years ago he was struck with a debilitating stroke and despite that stroke for 13 years unable to really communicate and speak one could see on his face a a gratitude a smile he once saw an inner glow from within him that really spoke to the fact that despite his situation he was able somehow to to maintain a a grateful disposition and we witnessed and we watched this and indeed it was his life was a life of finding that light in darkness no matter what the situation was and that's the legacy that he bestowed to his family [Music] you know we think about this time period of hanukkah it's a time period where really we're focusing on on the gratitude that we have to the almighty for the miracles which are large and the miracles are small all life is a miracle and indeed that's where my father lived my father-in-law lived that life a life of focusing on all the gifts and all the goodness when i think about what we're doing now with them in outreach it's nothing less than bringing light into the darkness and the the the experience of seeing the glow on the students face when all of a sudden they realize that life is meaningful life is purposeful and they have a way to connect to god and find meaning in what they do we've been through a time period right now of enormous darkness and emmett has been there for our students in order to help them find meaning to help them find a way to to see the good in what they're doing to not stop growing but to use the darkness to use the whole situation we've been through as a way to enhance their connection with hashem and to further their jewish thought and jewish growth and to that end we've had countless zoom classes whether they be on a large scale whether it be private meetings we've done everything we can to to meet one-on-one when appropriate or to have small classes when we could we've higher level learning we've had learning for beginners we've had single-gendered learning we've had our higher level step it up program we're in the process now of forming a base bedridge for our students to continue the growth the message of emmett throughout this time has been and is bringing light into the darkness that's why we started the organization to to bring the jew closer to his inner globe to his internet and when the situation has been difficult over the past months we haven't stopped with that message so it's very appropriate tonight we call this class tonight to bring light into the darkness that's been the mission of emmett for all these years and in many ways that epitomizes who my father-in-law was he was a person who despite his situation chose amona chose gratitude chose goodness chose helping others chose to say how can i strike that candle how can i light that match to illuminate the darkness of my time my hope and prayer is that in the merit of tonight's torah his nisham neshama should continue to have the lead of the shamayim i'm sure that he is watching down on the work of emmett and understanding if he could say one thing to us it would be have optimism and faith when things are difficult choose to spread that light choose goodness choose gratitude choose to give choose to have a moon and connect to hashem in any situation that we're in and when we can do that that's truly how we bring light into the darkness of the world transform the world and bring the entire world closer to its divine mission of closeness to [Music] the hashem [Music] the darkness on its way is starting to fade away i lift my eyes to heaven where my health is from the light now from the flames shines for everyone panicking [Music] hi my name is kaminetsky i am the ceo of commonhealth urgent care centers with locations in fresh meadows crown heights and borough park i am the manager at the fresh meadows location on 186th street and union turnpike we opened commonhealth to serve the community our community with for the basic urgent care needs that people no longer have to go wait for long hours at the emergency rooms for the non-life-threatening emergencies that happen on a daily basis speed and ear infection eye infection allergies dog bite insect bite suturing x-rays we do it all and we've done it all for the last seven years for the community of course when the pandemic hit we were challenged about whether or not we should stay opened and our thought was we started it for the community we're going to stay for the community and we fought very hard along to make sure we are aligned with the right partners in terms of laboratories suppliers in terms of getting the rapid tests and the proper ppe for our staff so we can stay open and serve the community and we've done so with great success i'm very proud of what we've done we've helped a lot of people stay safe be able to know whether or not they are sick they have to quarantine etc but lately we've gone beyond our four walls and we now do testing for schools we've done help many schools in the neighborhood stay open we do for we do testing for corporations to make sure their workplaces are safe and we continue to do that we help many hope and care agencies make sure their patients are safe we do physicals for home care agencies for the patients and for their staff and we've done many other corporate events in terms of people needing for photo shoots for that as well additionally we are open to doing events for people making simchas parties and they want to make sure that their guests are safe and healthy we do that too we have the equipment we have the staff i'm very proud of how my staff has performed over the last six seven months under very very challenging times commonwealth has been here and we will be here for the community and it is our pleasure and our privilege to be partnering with emmett on this evening's lecture happy hanukkah to one and all i am so thrilled and privileged to be here with all of you learning torah together during this festival of lights you know when i think of the special work of the extraordinary emmett organization the work led by my dear friend rabbi rattenberg and his dedicated staff of teachers and mentors and lovers of the jewish people it reminds me of that special insight i recently shared it i heard it from the late british chief rabbi jonathan sax who passed away just last month there is a fascinating and ancient debate in the talmud in track day shabbos page 22. it's a very simple question am i allowed to use a hanukkah candle in order to light another hanukkah candle now usually we use the shamash we take a foreign candle a stranger and we use that to kindle all of the flames but what happens if i don't have a shamash can i use one chanukah candle that's burning to light the other candles of course there is an argument about it it's an argument between two of the greatest talmudic sages of the third century rav and rav says ain't madly can we nail in there you're not allowed to use one hanukkah candle to light other candles shmuel says it's permissible it's fine the logic rav says a crochet mitzvah if i use existing hanakigan to light another candle i may be diminishing of the first candle some of the oil can spill some of the wax can get lost you're diminishing the first flame the chanukah mitzvah flame that's inappropriate shmuel disagrees he says it's fine but what is the logic behind schwa why doesn't he agree with rav what is more there's a very interesting talmudic principle that in most issues of jewish law when there was a debate between rav and shemoel the verdict follows the position of rav there are three exceptions one of them is chanukah jewish law dictates that in this case the verdict follows shmuel jewish law says you could use a hanukkah flame to light another flame why the understanding of this ancient talmudic debate can be clearly seen in today's jewish world take two jews they are both burning they are both on fire both of their jewish flames are lit they are deeply passionate about judaism committed to jewish faith inspired by their religion but they have two different views the first one says i must look out from my own flame you cannot ask of me to go light other flames that are unlit you know why mitzvah that may diminish my judaism that may weaken my connection with spirituality that may ultimately diminish my holiness i must remain in my own cocoon to look after my own light and the light of the people who are very close to me now rav was a great spiritual giant but jewish law in this case embraced the vision of shema and you know what she's moral says shmuel says when you take your light and you use it to set another jewish soul on fire your flame doesn't get diminished your flame grows stronger and stronger when you dedicate time and space and energy to ignite the soul of other people to inspire their hearts to broaden their jewish horizons to inculcate them with a deeper sense of purpose meaning love hope to make them appreciate the infinite priceless value of their heritage their faith and their own inner reservoirs reservoirs of spirituality your light doesn't get diminished your light continues to grow and grow from one comes two and from two comes form from four comes eight until we flood the entire world with light i think this is one of the greatest commentaries for the special work of emmett people women and men dedicated to ignite other flames realizing that our greatest power lay when we care for each other when we're connected with each other when we reach out to each other and when if i have a flame burning in my soul i do not want to only keep it in my home and in my soul rather i want to utilize it to illuminate and to inspire others every hanukkah i'm always inspired by that picture i saw a number of years ago it made me so curious and then i had the privilege of having created a relationship and correspondence with the grandchild of the person who took the photo it's a photo that is surreal it's unusual when i saw it the first time i was shocked take a look a chanukah menorah burning and behind it a large swastika who would take such a picture who would lie to hanukkah right in front of the symbol of the nazi party and then i learned the story the photo was taken in kiel germany on the eighth night of chanukah 1932. the rabbi of kill germany was a man named rabbi akiva boroch he was getting ready to light the menorah the eighth night of chanukah in which we light all the eight candles and it happened to coincide with shabbat so of course the home is more rushed because you got to get the candles lit and you have to get the shabbos candles lit so it was moments before sunset to friday afternoon kill germany chanukah 1932. rabbi posner set up the menorah on his windowsill as he lit all of the eight candles across the street the headquarters of the gestapo the large nazi swastika so in the background of the menida you have this draped flag of the nazi party rachel posner rabbitson posner the wife of rabbi akiva barak posner is getting ready for shabbos but she observes how surreal this scene is in the background the swastika and on this windowsill of her home the hanukkah candles and she decides she must immortalize this moment and she goes and she fetches her camera and she takes a photograph this is the photograph you're seeing when she prints the photograph she writes something on the other side of the picture in german this is what she writes i'll translate it into english judah will die thus says the flag judah will live forever thus say the hanukkah lights little did she realize how powerful how tragically accurate her words would be the posner family managed to escape germany in 1934 she her husband their three children they made it to israel in fact most or all over the community of kill germany was saved but over the next 10 years the flame of the jewish people would come so close to being extinguished yes death to the jews that flag exclaimed and tried to execute over the next decade remember only a little while later after this photograph was taken adolf hitler january 1933 was elected as the fuhrer as the chancellor of germany 75 years have passed since the end of the second world war that flag that exclaimed death to the jews thank god has been removed from the consciousness of history besides in the minds of some deranged and dangerous anti-semites who still yearn and crave for our destruction but every single year right before hanukkah the grandchild of rabbi akiva and rabbits and rachel posner yehuda man my friend yuhudaman sabach borrows this menorah this very menorah that stood on the windowsill of his grandparents home and killed he borrows it from the holocaust museum in jerusalem yad vashem he brings it to his home in haifa as he stands with his children and grandchildren and lights the candles in the same menorah that his grandfather used in germany back in 1932 and as they sing the beautiful songs of chanukah he shows the entire family the picture that his grandmother took so many years ago and what she wrote on the other side of that photograph and he asks them the question we must all ask ourselves who was right death to the jews thus the flag says judah will die thus the flag says judah will live forever thus the lights say and indeed during the original hanukkah the flame of judaism the flame of the jewish people came so close to being extinguished the khashoggi rose up in a guerrilla war which was super rational it didn't make sense but they fought and they defeated the greeks and it wasn't only the syrian greeks they had to defeat this was sadly a war among the jewish people themselves most of the jews were hellenized most of the jews at the time embraced the decrees of antiochus and even though he tortured mothers who circumcised their children who gave their children a bris he barbarically mutilated and murdered jews who had the audacity to violate his commandments prohibiting all practices of judaism at the pain of death jews assisted him in erecting a statue of zeus in the temple and sacrificing pigs to pagan gods in the beta mcdonagh in the holy temple sadly jews looked the other way when they took hana and her seven children and murdered them because they refused to bow down to idolatry nonetheless so many jews were enthralled by what seemed like as progress and open-mindedness and the greek focus on human power and prowess the human body the greatest athlete and the human mind the great philosopher these were the crowns of creation for the jews for so many jews that seemed so enthralling this was the future and they were hypnotized by that vision even if it meant bidding farewell to their deepest values to their deepest faith to their god to their ancestors to their history to their own deepest truths but there was a small group a small band of khashminayam who understood that goodness can be eclipsed but never obliterated that the inner jug of oil that little jug of oil will remain eternal they understood that goodness holiness divinity infinity morality torah mitzvos may be threatened and the challenges may be daunting but the flame of hope is never extinguished truth will ultimately prevail reality will ultimately prevail that is its nature because it's real light will dispel darkness clarity will defeat confusion truth will ultimately triumph over falsehood because reality originates in truth you can eclipse the truth you can repress the truth you can run away from the truth you can deny the truth in your own soul you can knock it down you can make believe it doesn't exist but it will emerge and just like oil even if you mix it with many other liquids at some point it's going to rise to the top it will not forever remain assimilated and mixed and forfeit its identity this is what the khashoggi understood they understood that there are certain truths about reality that you cannot repress and keep them down they're going to float back to the surface and this is what they fought for and they were successful and 2200 years later we still have the hashmanaya we still have those people who hold on to that flame and who will not let go of it and even when there seems to be confusion and darkness and uncertainty and trauma and fear and insecurity and ambivalence and people who are very confused and overwhelmed by their own stress and by distress around of them these khash manayam know that their job is to kindle every day a flame of faith and hope and resilience and wisdom and authenticity the flame of torah the flame of yiddishkeit the flame of mitzvahs the flame of truth and to kindle other flames all waiting to be ignited to be inspired there's an old anecdote about a lover of antiques who threw a hanukkah party and he invited his family and friends and people were sitting around and he would always go to auctions and buy these most ancient items you know from the days of yore and he points to his guests and he says you see this menorah this menorah was used in italy 500 years ago you see this menorah this menorah was smuggled out of the worst ghetto during the second world war you see this oil this oil dates back to israel you know how long and you see this dreidel this dreidel is more than a century old i got it from galicia from eastern poland and he goes through every single item there on the table and he tells them how old it is this is 100 years old this is 200 years old this is 300 years old and there's a jew there who's busy biting into a donut and he says sir and how old are the donuts i don't know how that compliment was registered by the boss we like donuts to be fresh we like latkes to be fresh but as we eat those donuts and latkes it's good to recall that they're telling a story that is literally thousands of years old and never died never will die there was once a teacher i wanted to share this message with the students so you have them all built a model cardboard model of the beta mechdash of the temple in jerusalem where the chanukah miracle happened and they did it they put an effort arts and crafts and they constructed this lovely model they finished and he said and now let's sing a chanukah song and they all sang a song and they danced and they cheered it was beautiful then he said i want you all to destroy the cardboard model of the holy temple oh that was exciting they got matches you know you give kids matches and they put them on fire and they made a fire and the model was burnt and then he says boys girls i want you to destroy the song that we just sang they said teacher how do we do that how do we destroy the song that we just sang he said you tell me he said we can't he looked at him and he said and now you'll understand something very curious about chanukah if i had to ask you what should have been the main celebration of the hanukkah holiday what would you say i would say the military victory of the khashong against the syrian greeks this was a unique unprecedented victory as we say in the prayers of chanukah you have surrendered the strong in the hands of the weak the few have triumphed over the many burying you're talking about a little group it started off with five brothers it grew to another few hundred maybe at most a few thousand drew's fighting the mightiest army of the time tens of thousands of syrian greek troops there was absolutely no possibility for them to win and yet after a few years they managed to drive out the syrian greeks from jerusalem rededicate the temple reestablish jewish life re-establish religious liberty if not for the there would be no memory of the jewish people or of judaism this was a historical unique achievement by the way there would be no christianity no islam the other monotheistic faith wouldn't either be here because chanukah happened approximately 150 years before the genesis of christianity it happened around 200 years before the destruction of the second temple so this was a unique moment in history this victory the fact that they won and yet the talmud chooses to focus on one individual detail which even though it was miraculous and inspiring doesn't seem to be so consequential and so important and that is that they wanted to light the menorah and they only had oil for one night and the oil lasted for eight nights and therefore we celebrate chanukah by lighting the menorah for eight nights one second but even if that miracle wouldn't have happened then the menorah would not burn for eight nights the victory would have still been extraordinary in fact if you look at the book of the maccabees which records the hanukkah history that is the main focus of the holiday the victory of the kashmiri family against the syrian greeks troops and the establishment of religious liberty when you look at the talmud which was written after the destruction of the second temple a few hundred years the second devil was destroyed in seventy the babylonian talmud was composed in the fifth century there the focus is very different the talmud in tractate chambers page 21 b says hanukkah why do we celebrate hanukkah because when the kashma nayim defeated the greeks and they came to the temple they couldn't find any oil and they found one jug of oil and it burned for eight days why did that become the focus of the story the teacher explained to his students you see look what you just did the cardboard model of the temple you burnt you can destroy it the song you could not obliterate the military victory of chanaka could be reversed it was reversed a hundred years after the khashoggi came into power ultimately there was strife and civil war and terrible contention and escort and then rome rome ultimately took over judea and this led to the destruction of the second temple and the long exile of the jewish people subsequent to that so if hanukkah would have just been based on the fact we won the war we liberated jerusalem now let's go eat let's go celebrate the holiday of hanukkah would have come to an end when the jewish people lost the war were defeated or exiled were dispersed there was no temple anymore there was no menorah and yet hanukkah persisted why and that's where the talmud tells us the military victory is tremendous and we're so grateful for it and we thank god for it every hanukkah was an incredible moment but you know what the real achievement of hanukkah was it managed to ignite the flame in the human heart it managed to rekindle the spark of hope and faith and resilience and commitment to the jewish soul it managed to re-inspire the jewish people to accept upon themselves once again their covenant with the creator of the world to change the world to light up the world with the flame of morality with the flame of values with the flame of truth with our commitment to education to love to charity to faith to transforming the landscape of planet earthless to repair our world under the sovereignty of god a commitment to build homes that are infused with joy and infused with faith and infused with holiness and infused with idealism and infused with the celebration of mitzvahs of yiddishkeit and infused with the study of torah and infused with charity and infused with prayer that is what chanukah accomplished and that could not be destroyed even when the flames burnt not just the model of the holy temple but the holy temple itself the song of the heart that hanukkah ignited in the jewish psyche continues to resonate in our souls more than 2 000 years later and you know friends i think there is also a very personal message for each and every one of us tonight and that is in your life in my life we each have to choose whether i could become a source of light to light up others it's so easy in our world to become victims we just become victims of our circumstances victims of our own inner wounds and scars and traumas victims of our past victims of our present victims of our environment victims of situations that may be challenging and difficult and indeed some of us have grown up with traumas that have wounded us deeply some of us do have to confront various ghosts and demons and skeletons and yet hanukkah teaches us something very powerful and that is at every single moment of my life i can make a choice either i'm going to become a source of light or a source of darkness a source of confusion or a source of clarity either i'm going to be part of the problem or i'm going to be part of the solution there's no other choice in life every single day you choose either you're part of the problem or you're part of the solution which part which team do you want to be part of there are problems everywhere there are problems inside of me there are problems outside of me there are problems in our society in our nation in our world but i can be part of the problem or i can be part of the solution and chanukah tells me become a menorah when people see you in the store in the supermarket in the street in the office in synagogue and school in your workplace in your home they could look at you and see just a person who's looking for validation and love and attention like the rest of us or they could see you as a person yes who is looking for love and validation and attention but also a person who is ready to be a source of love and a source of light and a source of inspiration and don't say i am different i am messed up i am not capable i am already an old man an old woman i am incompetent i am a nerd i am a loser you don't know who i am you have that little jug of oil that could never be tarnished and contaminated it remains unscathed and wholesome because it is rooted in divine infinity going to finally share with you a lovely insight of one of the greatest hasidic masters known as the sfast embass swash was a jew named rabbi yehuda arya leib alter he was the second gary rabbit the second spiritual master of the hasidic dynasty known as gair he passed away in the winter of 1905 in the city of garrett not far from warsaw in poland and in his commentary on homa sansvasemas on that story that is being read in the jewish world during these weeks during the time of chanukah he has an extraordinary commentary on one of those faithful voices you remember joseph was sold by his brothers into slavery and he ends up in the home of this man named potiphar he's so successful there his master loves him and he makes him really you know the chief of staff running his entire estate but then comes the next part of the story potiphar's wife his master's wife loves joseph joseph is beautiful and handsome and attractive and she tries to entice him and persuade him to engage in a promiscuous relationship and joseph refuses and the torah describes how she did not stop every single day she nudged him she pleaded with him she nagged him she did whatever she can to persuade him to engage in this immoral relationship the torah describes one scene when joseph refuses he insists that he cannot do it and he gives her an explanation he tells her why he cannot possibly fulfill her desire and he says you have to understand my master your husband doesn't know anything that's happening in this house everything that's happening in this home he has surrendered to my control i am the sole boss here he has given me the authority over everything there is nobody in this estate who is greater than i am who has more power than i am there is only one thing that he did not allow me to lay my hands on there is only one thing i have no access to and that is you because you are his wife how do you expect of me how do you expect of me to engage in such an immoral broken and destructive act if she doesn't stop she doesn't stop she continues and ultimately she accuses him of violating her and he's plunged into prison where he would remain for 12 years until he'd be emancipated and ultimately become the prime minister of egypt and the rest is history as they say but let's focus on one element he's building up this dramatic answer of why he can't sin it's a wonderful words he's saying he's saying basically you know my boss trusts me he's given me he's given me his home he's entrusted me with his estate he's entrusted me with his bank accounts i'm the one who manages everything now you want me to take this trust and betray it there's one thing he didn't give me his wife a wonderful wonderful argument but one second let's say joseph was just a simple slave who owned nothing in the house who ran nothing in the house let's say he was just a regular guy the real issue here is when a woman is married to a man engaging in a relationship with this woman is a violation of one of the basic moral codes of civilization and society judaism known as one of the seven noah hyde laws in which adam was already commanded vendavagabishtova loba has the talmud says in sanhedrin this is one of the basic laws of civilization no difference if i'm rich or i'm poor if i'm a slave or i'm a master if my owner trusts me or doesn't trust me you are married that's the real basic thing here joseph builds up this whole beautiful argument i mean it's it's just an extra argument you're really betraying his trust but even if he didn't even if you were a stranger and he never trusted you with anything you're not allowed to cheat with his spouse come on and the spouse is not going to cheat with somebody else is this really the main crux of the argument this was says something marvelous he says joseph was not only talking to her he was also talking to himself and he was not only referring to things on an earthly level he was also referring to things on a much deeper level when he says my master knows nothing that is happening in this home there's nobody greater in this home he has given me everything he has allowed me to do everything everything he's giving me such authority but there's one thing that he asks of me and what does he ask of me he asks of me to be loyal to him not to betray him how can i betray him says this vasemus what joseph was discussing was not just his masturbative he was also discussing the ultimate master of the world god he says let's understand this this whole estate is his the whole world is his la shmoop he runs everything he runs everything it's his home it's his enterprise it's his resources i don't own anything i didn't make it i couldn't make it i didn't fashion it i didn't design it i didn't create its mechanisms it's all wrought by god who created it controls it supervises it who allowed the one cell with which human life begins to develop into 70 trillion cells operating in the most synchronized beautiful and organized manner moment by moment to create the miracle of human life who created the processes of photosynthesis in a tree that unique ability to transform sunlight into glucose and the other thousands and thousands of miracles of nature that allow you to take a seed planted into the earth and between soil and oxygen and water and sunlight suddenly i'm eating a plum and i'm eating watermelon and i'm eating a piece of challah or a piece of papka or a latke on chanaka or a donut chanaka suddenly i'm eating a peach or a cucumber or a tomato or a potato how did that exactly happen from the soil and the water and the sunlight and the ear we take these things for granted but those are don't take this for granted who allows the machinery of life to work do you know the atomic structure of every single thing we call matter every single atom working in perfect harmony with the center of the atom the electron revolving around the nucleus of the atom and how about the subatomic particles and all of the atoms working together in perfect harmony and you're dealing here with numbers that are beyond what the human mouth can articulate just the amount of atoms in one drop of water and do you know the miracle of one single cell in a living organism and how about the dna if spread out as a scroll can fill the height of the empire state building and probably more than once or two times or three times and the processes of lightening which allows the nitrogen which can't merge with oxygen to be absorbed in the rain and in the soil so it can become part of our diet so it can produce amino acid and the processes of the winds that allow the clouds to be scattered and dispersed so that when the sun acts like a pump and draws the water upwards and if there wouldn't be winds that would scatter the clouds the water would fall right back into the oceans and the rest of earth would remain barren desert and everything working in perfect symmetry and harmony to allow for life on our planet and to allow for the existence of the cosmos and we can discuss this for approximately 90 years and still not scratch the surface of the magic that exists in one bee dance or in the productivity of a single ant a flake of snow a droplet of rain a beating heart a blade of grass the largest or smallest galaxy or star joseph says this is all his and he does it all do i even know what's happening inside of me am i the one who commands hundreds of billions of white blood cells to act like a police force and survey and control my body 24 hours a day to stand guard against any foreign invader and when there is a foreign invader as a virus or bacteria fungi and infection they come for an attack do i even know what's going on does anybody know what's going on who designed all of this and who designed the nine systems within my biological framework who the respiratory system and the urinary system a digestive cyst etc circulatory system what about that heart pumping blood and how many highways and arteries 60 000 miles joseph says he does it we don't we don't even we build we take it for granted but then but then this god asks of me one thing there's one arena in which god says i will abstain everything is in the hands of heaven besides the fear of heaven there's one arena of life where god says it's up to you you have to make moral choices you're the one who has to choose whether you're going to be a source of light or a source of darkness where you're going to live a life aligned with your infinity or you're going to live a life aligned with your trauma are you going to live a life that expresses your truest deepest self your truest deepest values as a soul that embodies the light of god or am i going to reduce myself to pettiness and smallness and surrender to mediocrity and allow anger insecurity fear traumas wounds and deep struggles to overpower me and to ultimately dictate what i'm going to do god who owns everything has given over this home has given over this life to me and he told me i ask of you one thing i'm giving you everything i'm giving you a world that i created and it's at your disposal i'm giving you i'm asking you one thing don't touch my wife i'm asking you to abstain from that which is immoral which is forbidden even if it's tempting joseph says to the wife of patiphar how can i violate that do you understand what's at stake here the whole world is god but when it comes to the moral questions of life he gave it over to me and he said i'm trusting you with this responsibility this is what i need from you i will do everything else but this i need from you you're the only one who can do it i can't betray this the stakes are too high the responsibility is too deep the grandeur is too profound and this fasama says he's trying to convince her too he hopes to help her understand and he even adds that the sages say that she actually did it for the sake of heaven she wanted to be with him for the sake of heaven and he says maybe after this conversation there was something in her that was triggered and she wanted to be with him because she realized how righteous she was even though it didn't begin that way and ultimately he would end up being with her daughter he would marry her daughter so my deepest friends at this time of chanukah we recall that even though we don't master the world we're not masters of the world but we are the partners of god and repairing the world we are the partners of god in the work of creation we are empowered and invigorated to make a difference every single day you can choose to say i will become a source of light of love of hope of healing of truth of inspiration thank you happy hanukkah [Applause] [Music] you