Rav Yitzchak Breitowitz: Bringing Light Into The Darkness

You [music] see your [music] tomorrow [singing] [music] [music and singing] [singing] Yeah, I just wanted to uh just explain that normally a person fulfills the mitzvah of lighting kaneka candles only in their home or the home where they're staying for the night going to a hotel with the light. [clears throat] You can't just light somewhere you're going out for dinner etc. Except they want and that's actually true. However, there is a takana that goes all the way back to the gonim. after the garra that we do light khan candles in a shul uh because ash is considered to be a miniature basikdash and we are allowed to make the brahos on lighting in a schol now nobody's y you still have to light at home or I assume that people have already lit at home uh but since I is not only a moham of Torah >> but a mock of we're going to dy and they have a daily chakras minion and the like So uh this is a has a dinner of a bass kesset and because it is a base kesset uh we were going to light the uh manura uh with the recitation of brahos but uh in the rare event that somebody has not yet lit kanuka candles I hope you all have if you haven't when you get home you still do have to uh you still do have to light Amen. Okay. Hi everybody. First I also want to thank uh Reverend S Poston for the beautiful beautiful party and thank you very much. Uh [applause and cheering] I think all of us are very very grateful. Um on the other hand, it's also a little bit of a brokenhearted time uh for us uh with the tragedy that happened uh in Australia during a Kaneka party uh was 13 people 12 or 13 people were killed was it 16 including including the rabbi uh who was Moser Nephesh and these are people who died really alkashem they were they were in the process of serving God uh by rejoicing ing in Kaneka and uh people asked me a number of questions they they didn't ask me to meet but otherwise you know should we cancel our parties uh and the like because of a tra such a tragedy that happened and I always answered no because Kaneka is about lighting the the light even in the darkness you don't give up you keep on going and especially if I just I was very very moved by the very last stanza of Mo's sword You know, until the last stanza, we're talking about the past. You know, God redeemed us from Egypt and from Babylon and from Persia and from Yavan. But the last stanza of Moour, a very heavily censored stanza, that's why different people might be different words even because it's been censored so much, is not about the past. It's looking at the gullus that we're in and it's saying that there is no end to the days of of evil, the days of sorrows, the days of suffering that we're going through. Now, Mo sour, we don't know exactly when it was written, but it was written at a time of the crusades and then that type of area. So, the person who wrote it knew of what he spoke, but in truth, it also applies maybe to a lesser degree, but it also applies to us today. here in Erit Israel know since October 7 and before October 7. We know firsthand we know firsthand about Jewish suffering and death and destruction in a small country like Israel. Everybody knows somebody that has someone who who died in in the Pigua or in the army or whatever it is. So when you say this and you say take adv and get rid of him and bring the gul and bring the mashiach you know in many many ways we can feel that even more maybe than we would feel in a more tranquil time and then you know what's going on in the United States and uh New York New York City mayor mayoral election again I don't want to be political it's not a time for politics but once again it's a time of great great concern but the message of Khaneka as I will elaborate on is we don't give up we don't surrender to darkness we light our candle so on one hand we we have we should rejoice we should be miss but paradoxically to be miss with a broken heart at the same time may sound like a contradiction but once again I think those of us who live in Israel kind of understand what that means it's something that we go through and really every Jew kind of understands the notion as David Malik described it rejoice with a sense of trembling at the same at the same time. So this is a very long way of saying that I'm glad we went on with the party. Uh but one should not think it's because you know we're not thinking about the tragedies that have happened. We very much are thinking about it and this is our response uh to it. Uh we have our our dedications. We are praying for the lasting unity of AmIrael as we always do which will lead to victory and for all of those whose health has been affected by terror rafu for civa basur. She should have Israel aliat dedication in memory of Mike Klein's parents Joanne and Judah Klene and for the brother of Sarah Wiggler Yseph Yehuda Ben Israel uh and his yard site the English date is December 19th this year. Um anonym [clears throat] then we have an anonymous dedication for the protection and of all of our and good health for all of Ami Israel. And finally, Ibana's Kaneka and end of the year campaign is underway. Uh, one can partner with Ibana and help uh, Ibonet continue to help so many people through its programs, the social events, and the Torah classes. Special dedications are available to honor in honor and memory of loved ones. And more information about how to contribute can be found on the Ibonet website and the YouTube description box below the YouTube postings. Again, you can see the high quality of Ibon. I'm not going to say the shirt necessarily, but at least the food is great. Uh so, uh there's a lot of good things going on going on here. Okay. Uh we're talking about Kaneka and as I say, the feelings are very very mixed, but Kaneka is an enormously important time. And I want to start maybe with the passage in in the Gumar itself. You know, one of the most famous questions, it's a famous question that's asked about Kaneka is if they found enough oil to last for one day and the miracle was that it burned for 8 days, then the miracle is only seven days. There's no miracle on the first day because they had enough oil to burn for one day. If that's the case, Kaneka should only be seven days and not 8 days. Famous famous famous question. Uh this is known as the bas yoseph's question because he asks it but he's not the first one. It actually is a question that precedes the bayose. I know for a fact that there are at least 500 answers to this question because I have a safer that has 500 answers to this question. Now that I know firsthand. I am told that someone wrote a safer that has a thousand answers to that question. But you know the brain kind of peters out after the first 350. So I'm not particularly interested in buying another 500 answers. But you know it's really inflation. I remember when I was in yeshiva many years ago. So they were saying somebody wrote a safer with 550 answers to this question. Wow. You know that was a real big deal. Now you know that's nothing. But I want to give you a bit of a scholarly answer based on history. You know the Talmud is very very oblique and very very obscure. about the whole Kaneka story. It's like one paragraph basically. You know, the Yvan made evil decrees. We fought them and we found the oil. But the complete story of Kaneka in terms of all of its details are in books of the Apocrypha that are called well safer Hamakab, the book of the Mcabes. And in point of fact, there are actually four books of the Mcabes. Makabim Alf, Makabim Baz, Makabim Gimmel, Makabim Daled. Now I need to speak a little bit about what exactly is our connection, our relationship to the Apocrypha because after all apocrypha is simply Greek for the term excluded booksim. And you might remember some very ominous statements in the Talmud. He who reads theim does not have a share in old. So that's kind of scary. That may indicate don't touch Mcabes one. But in truth, you have to understand that the apocrypha itself is not uh is not homogeneous. There are different strands in the apocrypha and some of now the common denominator is none of them are part of the Tanakh. So they don't have the holiness of kisvaesh but they still might be legitimate books to get information from. So the books of the Mcabes are regarded as legitimate historical accounts of the makabian revolt against antio. And u the reason I say this is because even rishonim will quote from the book of the mcabes. Now there are other books in the Apocrypha such as Safraovos, the book of Jubilees, the book of Kan [snorts] which do contain heretical ideas that may even be connected to Christianity or various pagan religions. And that is really what the sages were afraid of. They didn't want the Jews to read those books because they could be nimshak. They could be pulled after heretical ideas. But their interdiction against does not apply to the book of the Mcabes. The book of the Mcabes is history. And in fact as history it is a legitimate supplementation of the Kaneka story. Now the truth of the matter is though I mentioned there are four books of the Mcabes. McBabes 1 2 3 4. We can exclude three and four right off the bat because three and four are not historical books. Three and four are philosophical books that involve a debate between a Jewish Hellenist and what you might call an Orthodox Jew. In other words, it's kind of a philosophical discussion very similar to what Rafersh did centuries later in his book the 19 letters. Uh 19 letters was I think Rafersh's very first work that he wrote as a young rabbi anonymously. And if you ever read it, it's one letter written by I mean first wrote everything. He wrote that letter, too. But one letter written by a young educated German Jew who was writing why he didn't believe in the Torah and didn't believe in mitzvah and didn't believe in Judaism. It was old-fashioned. It was primitive. And with all of the excitement of culture and philosophy, how can he belong to a religion that is so anti-intellectual? It was really an attack. If you only That's why I want to warn you. If you're going to read the 19 letters, uh, don't stop after the first letter. You stop after the first letter, you will become an AI. The first letter around 10 pages is attacking everything about Judaism. The rest of the book, Raersh plays the rabbi. He doesn't identify himself by name who kind of tries to explain things. So, Mcabes 3 and four is like an much earlier version of the 19 letters in which this Hellenist Jew starts saying why Judaism is not relevant to him anymore and is trying to be defended. So, these are not historical books. So, I'm not going to be talking about them. Mcabes one and two, however, are historical books about the re about Antiocus, the revolt against Antiocus and the war that continued for more than 20 years. Khaneka was not the end of the struggle. The war continued for quite a long quite a long time. Now in many many ways this is very fascinating. Mcabes one and Mcabes 2 cover the same grounds but they do so from two different perspectives and that's fascinating [sighs] in Makabe. Now both books are works of faith. Both of them acknowledge Hashem. Both of them say without God there's no victory. Meaning they're not secular books. They are books that are deeply religious. But in Mcabes one, the heroes are the kayim. The heroes are the military people. The people who fought the greatest army in the world. And Mcabes one gives you a blowby-blow, detail by detail account of every single battle, every single war. Today we had gained an inch. Tomorrow we lost an inch. So for most of us, you know, we wouldn't we're not necessarily that interested in it. But if you're a military history buff, Mcabes 1 is a very fascinating book to read because it really was the first instance of an organized guerrilla warfare. In fact, I'm told that West Point studied Mcabes one uh when they were fighting in Vietnam because uh in a sense was the same problem, Vietnamese farmers versus the United States military and and the like. So in Mcabes one the emphasis was on military prowess, military heroism. Mcabes 2 the heroes are very different. It emphasizes martyrdom and those who died alashm for example the very famous story of Kana and her seven sons. All of the sons died because they refused to submit to idol worship and the like. That is taken from Mcabes too. And Mcabes too has many many stories of people who died before they would violate the Torah. And therefore it's interesting that these are two different models of heroism. They're not in contradiction. We don't have to say either or. They're both true. There is the heroism of the who's also risking his life but is fighting the enemy. And then there's the spiritual resistance of the religious martyr who is not in a position necessarily to fight the enemy but resists and is willing to give their life. Okes Hashem. So the reason why the two books were written is the two authors had different perspectives as to what to emphasize. Now I find this is very very fascinating because it actually echoes a debate uh in Israel from the early years of the state that to some degree still continues. The shawah in Israel and really other countries as well is observed uh in the last week of the month of Nissan. And why was that chosen as Yashawa? Because that is the anniversary of the fall of the Warsaw Ghetto. That is the date that was chosen to commemorate the Holocaust. Now you'd figure Holocaust memorial should not be controversial. I mean everyone we remember the shawah but in Israel everything is controversial. There's not a single decision that's made it that doesn't have controversy. And back in the late 40s early 50s the designation of Yoma Shawah as being a ghetto was an enormously controversial and to some degree a painful decision. Remember in uh 1949, 1950, 1951, there were many, many, many Holocaust survivors alive, much fewer today. And they felt that picking the Warsaw ghetto, memorializing the Warsaw Ghetto as the event of the Holocaust was demeaning them because there was an attitude. Again, I'm not saying it was shared by all Zionist leaders, but by some it was, that they were almost ashamed of the Jews who went to their death like sheep to the slaughter. Why didn't they fight? Why didn't they stand up? They were wimps. They were the gullos mentality. And Israel represents the new Jew, the one that's tough, the one that has an army, the one that doesn't stand by passively. And because of this shame regarding the Jews who simply didn't resist because they didn't have any tools to resist, they picked one of the few events, one of the very few events in which Jews militarily rose up. Of course, they were crushed, but at least they rose up to attack the enemy. And that was of course the Warsaw Ghetto. So that opened up a very painful wound as it were in Israeli society uh where there were many victims of the Shawah uh who felt that they and their families were being denigrated and were being demeaned. Now as I say there's no reason to make this an eitheror type of situation. We glorify and appreciate as we do even today the who risks their lives to protect us [snorts] and we also glorify and admire the victims who died alashm when they didn't have a choice but as I say Mcabes one Mcabes 2 I think reflects the very same dichotomy that we see in Holocaust memorials uh to this very very day now again a lot of people don't remember this history so it may not be as alive an issue and certainly as fewer and fewer survivors remain so people are not thinking about in fact the only major issue they bring up now is a technical issue that you're not supposed to have sad memorial days in the month of Nissan okay but that's a that's more of a technical problem right that's a that's where they say oh you have y during where you're not supposed to have music and you have yaw in the month of Nissan where you're not supposed to have morning okay but but as they say those are issues But those are more technical issues. But the ideology split uh many people are not aware of but in the 194 late 40s right after the founding of the state and the early 50s this was a very very major issue and I find it fascinating that it emerges in the comparison of Mcabes one and Mcabes 2. Okay. [snorts] As I say, Mcabes one is a military history in great great great great great detail, probably more than you would be interested in. But I want to point out an interesting point. It does discuss that the basikdash was taken over by the yanim. It was not destroyed, but it was contaminated and desecrated in many, many atrocious ways. Uh pigs were sacrificed on the altar. Idols were erected in the bas mikdash. Houses of prostitution were put into the temple grounds itself and it took three. So, so for three years we had no access to the temple and it was being violated and desecrated in the vilest way. 3 years to the day 25th of Kislave. The year right the Yanim entered the 25th of Kislave 168 BCE and the temple was liberated the 25th of Kislave 165 BCE day today namash and it talks about purifying the temple etc. And then it says the following. And it was enacted that the Jews will celebrate a festival of 8 days. Why? Because it was proper to dedicate the temple for 8 days. Just as the tabernacle of Moshe was dedicated for 8 days, the Mishkan was an 8-day dedication ceremony. Wow. I find that very very fascinating because that actually answers the B Yosef Kasha. We don't observe Kaneka for 8 days because the miracle lasted 8 days. The miracle of the oil only lasted seven days. Kaneka is an 8-day festival not because of the candles. Khan [snorts] is an 8-day festival because the dedication of the BA mikdash is an 8-day ceremony as we find in the Torah, right? Very, very simple. And of course, what does the word mean? So, some make it uh an acronym they rested on the 25th. But the simple meaning of means dedication, the dedication of the Bikash. So I think it's fascinating that Mcabes one through the prism of history gives you a very convincing and logical argument why Kanuka is eight days. Now I want to supplement Mcabeswan with the following observation. Although it is true that the dedication of the Mishkan in the desert occurred over an 8-day period from the 23rd of Adar to Roshes Nissan. But when Schlomik built the first Ba Mikdash, the dedication period was 14 days in the book of Malim ending at that actually means Yam Kipper was one of the dedication days. And indeed the Gmorra tells us that that year they didn't they didn't fast on [clears throat] they celebrated it as [sighs] we're not really given a full calendar of the kanuka of the second temple but at least we know that the first temple was 14 days. So my question is when the enacted an 8-day ceremony of Kaneka which according to Mcabes 1 is designed to commemorate the mikdash. Why did they use as a model Mosher Rabenu's dedication of the Mishkan? Why didn't they use as a model Schlomma's dedication of the first bas which would have given us a a Kaneka holiday of 14 days. I'm not sure if that's a plus or a minus but uh yeah. Yeah. So I I want to answer this this is my own answer with a medish pika. Pika is one of the midrussian the medish pika says that when bal was building the mishkun the mishkun was actually finished on the 25th of kis but hashem didn't want to dedicate the mishkun then because he wanted to wait until Nissan because that was the birth of and that also was the month of the exodus so as the midrashim often state the month of kislave was very upset because it was denied the opport opportunity to be the month of dedication. So, Hashem made a promise to the month of Kislife. There will come a time in which you will be the month of dedication which is the Kaneka story. So, based on this Mcabes one fits perfectly. The whole idea that the miracle happens in Kislife and that we rededicated the temple in Kislife was Hashem's way of making up for missing the Mishkan. As a result, the dedication period is going to be the 8-day dedication period of the Michigan. It fits beautifully. There's no reason to mimic Schlommaik's dedication because the kisslave dedication was a makeup for not being given that privilege in the time of the Mishkan itself. Now, that is Mcabes 1, which gives you, I think, a very good answer uh for why uh Kaneka is 8 days. And the truth of the matter is fascinatingly enough Maral of Prague who lived in the 1500s and it is not at all clear that Maral was familiar with the book of Mcabes because it was not generally studied in Jewish circles that much. Maral in his very very fascinating safer and Khanekah called neritzvah actually gives that very answer. So Marau anticipated on his own that which historically is borne out by the safer Hammakabim. Now we come to Mcabes 2 which as I say goes over a lot of the same history but but it emphasizes the perspective of martyrdom more than military prowess. But it also has an interesting insight as to why Kaneka is eight days. And this is very fascinating. It says that remember for three years the Jews were denied access to the basa mikdash for three years that means no carbonos were brought uh the pilgrimage the shalosum were not observed when they finally regained access to the bas mikdash there was such a yearning to fulfill some of the mitzvos that they missed so spontaneously this did not come from top up this came from bottom down or bottom It came from the common people. They wanted to observe as a makeup the last regal, the closest rea to the event of the rededication. The closest regal to Kaneka is of course sukus. Now, sukus, although sukus is technically a 7-day holiday, but sukus, at least from the common perspective, is regarded as an 8- day holiday because you have sukus and you immediately have. So, the book of Mcabes 2 says the people, not the rabbis, the people wanted an 8-day festival as a makeup for the holiday of sucos that was missed. And it even says they took Lulu love and esrog during those days because they wanted to make up sukus. Now there is no intimation except one indirect reference I'll get to in kazal to this idea because it is a meaningless idea. You can't make up sukus. The only thing that you can make up is there is something called pesi. If you didn't bring the carbon pesak, you can bring it a month later, but even that is only a month later. You can't bring it three months later or whatever it would be. So the notion that somehow if I miss Lula Vanessukus, I'll take it on Kaneka is what we would call a nonhalic notion. It came from a good heart. It came from kind of maybe the uneducated instincts of people who yearned to serve God. But from the perspective of strict halaka, it has no sticking power. It just doesn't mean anything. Which is why Kazal kind of ignored it. But I would like to suggest that there's one place in our rabbitic tradition where it still makes an appearance like a fossil that you thought was long dead and somehow it's still popping out when you don't expect it. And that is in the famous Maklo B hill and B Shami. How do you light the Kaneka [snorts] candles? We know that according to B Shamai on night one you start with eight and you go down 87654. According to Bethle you start with one not counting the shamish. You start with one and you go up. And as is usually the case when you have a mlo shel you go according to basel by the way as a little aside this is really a homalytical it's a cute little little vort some use this as a reason why kaneka has to be eight days and not seven days because since dal is like basil every night of kaneka there has to be a difference between basil and b shami now think about this you have to visualize if kaneka would be seven days. Then on the fourth night of Kaneka, Bul and Bish would have the same number of candles. In other words, you'd have day night one, 71, night two, six, two, night three, five, uh, three, night four, four, four. So, night four, when I see four candles, are you following B Shami or Basilla? Right? Maybe you're a shami person. So by making eight that will guarantee that there will always be a difference in bash and b. Okay, that's that's an answer that that that some people give alash. Um but but be it as it may, the garra tries to explain the concept of bash and basil. And at least one reason the garra gives is that according to bil we go up in holiness which makes sense. But what does b shama say? Shi says the reason we go down is because we want to mimic, we want to imitate the pattern of the bulls of the musafim that are brought on sukus. On sukus, we bring a total of 70 bulls, but we bring them in descending order. 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 for the seven days of sukus. So b shama says ah for sukus we go down so let's go down with kanuk as well. Now problem is what's the connection? I mean I go down for sukus. Why why should that have any any relevance to kaneka? So one [clears throat] might suggest that b shama is preserving the old tradition of mcabes too that kanaka was enacted as a makeup for sukkot and therefore the mitzvah of hadlas should mimic the carbonos of sukkot. Now that I would suggest is like the fossil remnant of Mcabes 2 and even that fossil is only according to B Shami and we don't pass B Shami. So according to Basel the connection to sucos is legomery totally gone but as I say I think it's fascinating that if you know the history you can go back to the gammor and you can see things that you might not notice otherwise but be it as it may both makabes one and Mcabes 2 give us a very very nice answer why kanek is eight days one is dedication of the temple and the other is a makeup for sukkot which is seven days of sukkot and now as a little aside let me give you aidic explanation uh for b shami right b shami says the nos correspond to the sukus corbanos and basillo says we go up in holiness so the says a very very nice thought not connected to the history wasn't into book of the mcabes or whatever it is but he says the following he says the neighbor Nos all nos represent a human soul. That's why we light a yard sight candle. The puss says in Mish hashem nishma the soul of a human is a candle lit by God. So when I look at the neros I'm also looking at an insight into my soul. And as I look at my life and I try to perfect myself, there are two different modalities of perfection. And this is encapsulated in the famous verse of David. Turn away from evil do good. Bama emphasizes focusing on your evil flaws and getting rid of them. based on that the metaphor of fire is that which burns and destroys. So in the trajectory of burning away my negatives the hope would be I'd be going down in number meaning to say I start off with eight things I got to burn away and if I achieve progress it's down to seven. So when you're looking at a in terms of its destructive capacity and you're using it as a metaphor for the spiritual perfection of eradicating evil, you go down and that's the connection to sucos because the 70 nations represent powers of evil in the world and our prayer is as Mashiach comes that power gets diminished. So the same way sucos is the dimmunition of evil outside of meeka is the dimmunition of evil within me and that is why the trajectory is going to be going down. Basil takes the position that one shouldn't focus that much on their negatives because when you focus on your negatives and try to attack your negatives sometimes your negatives can overwhelm you and create depression and despair and hopelessness. Basil says don't focus on your negatives generate [clears throat] light generate warmth. And the way you attack darkness is not by taking a baseball bat and hitting the darkness but by turning on the light. And therefore basil says instead of a sorra modality we should focus on an acetto an acetto the light increases. Right? So this says very beautifully that b shami's comparison to the corbonos of sukus is not because of the historical reference to mcabes too. Although I I do think that has some truth to it. But his point is because the trajectory of the parak is the gradual dimmunition of externalized evil and the nut of Khaneka is the gradual extermination of internalized evil and therefore in both cases you get better and better by getting rid of that which is within you. Basillo's argument is that the better way of working for most people is to generate the light and not spend too much time on the darkness. The darkness will drag you down. Now I'm a little tempted to say that according to the emis's explanation thelo may be the makus between muser andos [laughter] and of course the is speaking as aid and basill becomes the in this reading so maybe there's a you know conflict of interest here but the idea here is that muser again I I am very definitely overgeneralizing and I and I understand that But on on a simple generalized level, muser is is a hypers sensitive introspection in which I look into every little flaw that I might have and I relentlessly want to expose it and work on it and eradicate it. Right? Did I have enough kavana? Why didn't I have kavana? Whatever it would be uh and again I am generalizing on that side as well often says don't be so introspective. Don't uh get so much into yourself that you're secondguessing every single movement. Enjoy the moment. Serve God with sim. So in reality, this is the according to the of Bamai and Basil. is made parallel at least in a very broad generalization and this is a very broad generalization uh the maklo ofus and muser and it's very convenient that the ms was a great secondary rebi and he is the one that's putting basil in the side of the equation again just something to to think about uh this is a nonhistorical explanation of b shami but as I say I think mcabes 2 has a uh has a a validity that I think is very very interesting. Okay. [snorts] Now the gammoran shabas then goes on uh there is no makus kaneka right there's a whole mahus about purim which is the another that's makus migilla we do not have a track date about kaneka we only have in the talmud basically around three tapim of kaneka and it's located in the middle of the second perk of mas shabas now you might ask why is the discussion of Khaneka in Shabas? Well, in the way the tom free associates, uh, the second perk of Shabas, something that you'd be very familiar with is what do you like the Shabas candles with, right? The Mishnayas are said in many Schulz in Ashkanaz every Friday night. So once we discuss Shabas candles, hey, let's discuss Kaneka candles as well. So Kaneka is brought in only as an association to the candles of Shabas. uh but in that discussion it's only around three blot three pages in three folio pages in the gammorrah the gmorrah mentions there are three different ways you can fulfill the mitzvah there is basic then there's mahadrin beautiful and mahadin mahadrin it's like a restaurant right hashk there's basic raut and there's mahadin mud and then mahadrin mahadrin etc But these terms these terms on ashkos were actually borrowed from the lashan first appeared about near kaneka. So what are what are the three levels? So I'm going to go from lower to higher basic level is very surprising. One candle not counting the shamish one candle every night. So if I have a family of 10 night one I light one candle. Night eight I light one candle. Now I've never heard of anybody who just does the basic mitzvah. So everybody goes beyond the law when it comes to the but the basic mitzvah one candle. Now then there's a second level that's called mahadrin to do the mitzvah with extra beauty. And even this middle level is not what we do. And that is you light one candle for every member of your household. Which would mean if I have a household of 10 including me, night one, not counting the shamish, I light 10. Night eight, I light 10. Okay? Still not what we do. Then we come to the highest of the highest of the highest maj. And that's where you get the mlo b shami and basil where you want to designate the days. Do you go down? Do you go up is like Bah which means you didn't realize how righteous all of you are. I mean I knew it but you didn't know it. Uh and that is when you do your Kaneka you know some people say I'm not at Saddak. I just want to do basic. Ah no no no. If you wanted to do basic you would just light one candle every night. If you're doing one and then two and then three and then four, you are mahadin minahadrin the best of the best. Now there's a lot of lumbus here. I just want to mention very very quickly that there's a mak it's based on the raam versus which turns into a mlo the makab and the rama. If you're doing the highest do you also include the middle meaning the following. Let's say I want to do the highest like all of us do. I want a light according to the days. Do I have a separate manora for each member of my household? Rab kairo in theor takes the position that if you're doing the highest level, you don't do the middle level and only one man is lit. If if if a person [snorts] has a family of 10 and he wants the light according to the days which is everyone does only one mana is lit and the reason is an argument that toos makes and that is if the whole purpose of this highest level is to clearly demarcate the days if there are too many manoras in the window and somebody walks by and sees 50 candles they're not going to clearly see the number of days. So according to Rabio Kairoita which is followed by most swardim mostard only one manora is lit only one in fact rose takes this even further he says not only is one mana lit if the kids are at home but even if the kids are in yeshiva going to yosef if bakim are learning in Erit Israel and their father is lighting in Los Angeles they will not light a separate manora here they will be yay with their father's hadla now they could light a monora but they can't make a braha on it in other words it would be a blessing in vain now that's a bigish one could argue when the says only one manora he means that people in the house don't light. But if you're not in the house, that's different. But he says even people not in the house. Now the Rama on the other hand, which is the shittita that is followed by Ashkanazim, actually says if you're doing the highest level, you include the middle level. And therefore, not only do you light according to the days, but every member of the household should have their own minora. and Ashkanazim generally generally follow the Ram. Uh the spardim generally follows Caro and that's why you'll see the difference that spartim will light one manora Ashkenazim will light several minoras. Now even then you have makum within Ashkanazim who who gets a separate manura for example let's take husband and wife uh should husband and wife light separately well some shitos actually say yes but we follow the rule ishto kigufo husband and wife are treated like one even among ashkanazim so that we don't have okay and and and and do you like for little children if you have a six-month old baby so they're going to be maken what do you mean you light for everybody. Who's the everybody? But take the obvious case certainly absolutely every girl 12 and up and every boy 13 and up. The minashkinazim would be they have their own they have their own minora. Okay. [snorts] Now I don't want to get into all the lumbus because this is you can see this is a lumbish discussion and there's a lot of ins and outs here but I just want to point out a simple thing that is you see that is very focused on beauty multiple levels of beauty not just mahadrin but even mahadrin mahadrin and not only is there a focus on beauty in terms of but everybody gravitates to that everybody is doing the most beautiful thing. Now on one level, the concept of doing a mitzvah with beauty is not unique to Kaneka. Every mitzvah that Hashem gives us, there is something called hedra mitzvah. One should try to have the nicest fill in sits lulro chauffeur. You honor Hashem by the beauty that you bring to a mitzvah. But it's absolutely very very clear that the Indian of Mahadrin by Khaneka is way way way beyond hedra mitzvah as a general concept and I'll prove it arithmetically theorama says how much extra money do you have to spend for hedra mitzvah meaning let's imagine you can get a kosher esroke for $40 I have a good memory I realize uh right so it's kosher but not so beautiful. But if I spend more money, I can get a beautiful esra. How much more money do I have to spend in order to do hedra mitzvah? So the gammorrah says not more than onethird of your final price, which means not more than $60. 40 is the basic price and 20 is the hedra. Meaning, if I can get a if I could get a kosher one for 40 and I can get a beautiful one for 60, I should go up to 60. But if I can't get a beautiful one for less than 100, I don't have to do that. Now granted, candles aren't that expensive, but you obviously see if the basic requires only one candle a night and instead I I do uh you know 36 candles a night multiplied by the number of people in my house. I'm going way way way way beyond the one-third of Hedor mitzvah which means Khaneka is unique in its emphasis on hedor. Why would that be so? So here is the idea that I want to suggest. Kaneka is about the victory against Yavan. Now as I mentioned last week, Yavan had a culture. Greece had a culture which was the greatest in the ancient world, the greatest of human achievement in the ancient world. It is the cornerstone of western civilization in terms of philosophy, in terms of science, in terms of literature, in terms of music, in terms of art, even in terms of athleticism and the like. And let's go back to the uh to the flood story. When Noah after the flood got drunk and he was exposed, his nakedness was exposed and Kam called the brothers in a mocking way to look at their father. So Shem and Yees walked backwards and they covered up their father and Noah gave Y a special braha. He saidim, this is kind of a pun. God should give beauty to ye the and he shall dwell shem in the tents of Shem. Now in English that sounds bad tense of sheame but tense of Shem is a good thing. In other words will have residence in the tense of Shem. This is actually one of the cornerstones of Rimshinal Hersha's philosophy called Torah where you try to integrate secular culture as part of your religious sensibility. This is what Rafford says very powerful interpretation of what Noah said to his sons. Noah is the progenitor of the human race, right? The human race is going to come out of Noah. And Noah sees in humanity two distinct missions. The first mission is the mission of spreading God and holiness in the world and morality. That mission was entrusted to shame and from shame it went eventually went down to Abraham and from Ara it went down to Yakov, the Jewish people. That is mission number one. the mission of godliness, holiness, ethics and morality. There is a separate mission entrusted to the human race and that is the generation of beauty and culture whether it's philosophy, science, mathematics or art and that was given to ye and ye passed it down to his son Yavan. Yavan the founder of Greece was Ye's son. So what Noah is saying is the following. I give ye the mission of beauty and culture and that is a beautiful thing but only when it dwells in the tent of godliness, holiness and morality and then it becomes beautiful. Then the beauty gets elevated and sanctified. But when that beauty becomes a rival to the mission of Shem, instead of living in the tense of Shem, it seeks to displace the vision of Shem. Then it becomes perverse, destructive, and evil. So here's the thing. Yavan is setting itself up as a competitor to holiness and godliness. Yavan is making man the highest of all things, human attainments. When we defeat Yavan, what do we do? We don't defeat Yavan like the Taliban and destroy the beauty of Yavan. But we defeat Yavan by reclaiming that beauty and bringing it back into the tense of Shem. And that's why beauty plays such an important role in Kaneka because we're taking the kak of yavan and we're using it for kaduca. Okay, that's a very [snorts] important message. The goal is not to reject yavan. The goal is to reclaim yavan and use it in positive ways. Now I want to end with again going back to history a certain historical observation that may appear to be mundane but I think it's a remarkably powerful idea about what Kaneka represents. I had mentioned that the Ivanim not going to overwhelm you with dates but the Ivanim took possession of the of the basikt and desecrated it in the year 168. before the common era and they and the kashman reclaimed it and the miracle of Kaneka happened in the year 165 BC 3 years later. We tend to think that that was the end of the war and the Hasmonians proclaimed in Jewish independence and Yavan is no longer an enemy. That in fact is not true and this you have to remember. The war went on for another 20 years. Yantus died shortly thereafter, but there were other his successors were doing the same thing. So the the miracle of Kaneka, >> yeah, the miracle the miracle of Kanek I was wondering if that was me. The miracle of Kaneka did not happen at the end of the war. The miracle of Kaneka happened towards the beginning of the war. You know, three years into the war. Okay. It took another 20 years till Shimon, the last surviving Makabe, established a Jewish state, independence. Okay. Now, you might ask, okay, I mean, maybe that's interesting, maybe it's not. Is there any spiritual importance to it? I suggest the spiritual importance is absolutely profound. If we were to assume that the miracle of Kaneka happened after we achieved military victory, it would have been the equivalent of frosting on the cake or a cherry on top of the Sunday. Meaning we won against the world's powerful army of Yavan and God even gave us this miracle. That would be very nice. But if you move it to the middle of the war, there's very much of a different message. Imagine if you were a Makabe, you'd be very discouraged very often. You're waging a war against the most powerful army in the world, the successors of Alexander the Great, an army that has conquered most of the known world. And you're untrained. You're not a professional soldier. You're fighting hope, seemingly hopeless odds. And not only that, but you don't even have the support of your own people. You know, most of the Jews, we don't always realize this, most of the Jews thought the Mcabes were crazy. They thought the Mcabes were fanatics. They thought the Mcabes were impeding progress. In some perverse way, Antiocus was not anti-Semitic. Antiocus actually said, "I will give Jews full rights in my empire as long as they give up these mitzvah that are holding them back." And many, many Jews went for that bait. So, you're a mcabe and every morning you're getting up and your job is to fight the most powerful army in the world without any support from your own people. Understandably, so you might ask yourself, what's the point? What's the purpose? I want to be from, so I'll run to the mountains and keep my misvos secretly. What am I going to achieve here? So what does God show them in the middle of the war? Look at this little jar of oil is only enough to burn for one day. What's the point of lighting it? Tomorrow we're not tomorrow we're not going to have anything. But what's the lesson? You do what you can and then God blesses your efforts beyond what you thought was possible. If you're a Makabe and you're in the middle of this war, look what God is telling you. Don't give up. Keep on going. Do the best you can and then Hashem takes over. But only after you do the best you can. The world is filled with [clears throat] a lot of darkness. There is darkness on so many levels. There's the darkness of violence [snorts] and death, terrorism which we experienced recently just now a few days ago in Australia and in Erit Israel Hamas. There is the darkness of ignorance, assimilation. There are the personal darkness that people have. Depression, despair, estrangement from spouse and children, parents and children. So much darkness. The Baba used to say all the time that the goal of a Jew is to be a lamp lighter to spread light, bring light into darkness. But when I look at the darkness and it's so overwhelming and I look at my light and it's so small, I think to myself, what's the point? How am I going to fight this? It's like trying to empty out the ocean with a thimble. How long is that going to take? What can I achieve? And if I can't achieve anything, what's the point of trying? Hanukkah says you light your light no matter how small it is and then Hashem takes over. And that is such a phenomenally important message especially in the aftermath of tragedies where our spirit can be broken. We get discouraged. We wonder what's the point of fighting all the time. And yet we know we try to create the light that we can create in our communal life, in our land, in our families, in ourselves. And then the [snorts] promise of Kaneka is that you do the best you can and thenu takes over. But until you do the best you can, that's not going to happen. If they wouldn't have lit that first light, nothing would have happened, right? The miracle was they lit and then Hashem blessed their efforts beyond what they thought possible. So I do want to wish you all a very very beautiful inspirational. May we be za to discover the light within us and to then be able to share it and spread it. And as small as we think it might be, may Hashem magnify that light. So it will truly make a difference in the world. [music] My [music] birthday is [music] my sh [singing] [music]