Transcript
Good Erev Shabbos. Good Erev Shabbos everybody, today is not Friday, today is Erev Shabbos. Not only Erev Shabbos, it's Erev Shabbos Chanukah. It's Erev Shabbos Chanukah which is Rosh Chodesh, all this power, all this light all combined into one day. Don't neglect it and get ready for it and extract and draw everything you can out of it, this incredible combination, this amazing energy, this amazing light, Shabbos, Chanukah, Rosh Chodesh, all in one. Our turn friends to Erev Shabbos is generously sponsored by Mendy and Tova Fishman לזכות חיה רבקה בת שרה פרידל in memory of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks רב יעקב צבי בן דוד אריה. The Gemara says in Shabbos on daf yud, Hakadosh Baruch Hu turned to the Jewish people and he said מתנה טובה יש לי בבית גנזי ושבת שמה. I have this incredible gift and it's in my storehouse and it's called Shabbos. It's called Shabbos. In that or in that beis ginazav is the or haganuz. We know at the time of creation there was a great life, the or ein sof. Hashem is the infinite, endless light. And there was this light of consciousness, light of clarity, light of confidence, light of goodness, light of purity, this light that is the light of the soul, the light of eternity, the light of the infinite, the light of Hashem. And it shone bright during creation. Hakadosh Baruch Hu put it aside the or haganuz, the hidden light. But where is that hidden light? That hidden light is in beis ginazav, it's in that same place that Shabbos, that gift of Shabbos comes from. So Shabbos when a person enters, you notice it says matana tova. Hashem doesn't say I'm giving you the matana tova, he says מתנה טובה יש לי בבית גנזי. I have a matana tova, I have a great gift called Shabbos and it's in my storehouse. And the light, if you want contact with that light, that light of creation, that light of purity, the light of goodness, that light that has been filed away, the light that has been hidden, that light can be accessed and that light can illuminate on Shabbos. But how does one do it? How do you make contact? How do you get that light? You have to enter beis ginazav. You have to go into that place. This matana, this gift Hashem didn't take it out and give us the gift. He kept the gift in the storehouse because that's where the light is. We have to go in. We have to go into that place. Rav Shore quotes, Rav Shore shlita in his new sefer Nezer HaParsha, quotes from the holy Sfas Emes and he says he heard this from his father, used to repeat it from the Sfas Emes, כי לא הוציא הקדוש ברוך הוא את השבת משם רק נכנסים לתוך בית גנזיו. God didn't give Shabbos as a gift. If we want to tap into it, if we want to draw from it, if we want connection with the light of Shabbos, we have to go in. ורק אז יכול לטעום מעין עולם הבא של שבת. If you want to taste a little bit of the world to come of Shabbos, then it's not a gift that's handed on a silver platter, we have to do the work. We have to enter that space and that place. We have to be in that mindset. We have to live that life. ולא כל אדם זוכה לעלות לשם. And not everybody gets there, not everybody taps in, not everybody gets that bright light. However, בחנוכה גם כן מאיר אור הגנוז. The Bnei Yissaschar writes in the name of the Rokeach, that on Chanukah, we also have that light, the or haganuz. We can return to, we can bask in, we can illuminate, we can feel the warmth and the fuel and the energy of that light. ויש לומר דמהני חנוכה לשבת כמו שאור חנוכה מאיר למטה מעשרה. And in this way Chanukah is even greater than Shabbos because Shabbos you have to enter that place, but Chanukah the place enters you. Chanukah you can light the candles lower than even ten. וכל אחד מישראל כיון דאור השבת זוהר למטה בשבת זו, יכול אדם בכח נרות חנוכה לטעום אור השבת גם כן למטה, אפילו אם אינו יכול לעלות לתוך בית גנזיו. So in an ordinary Shabbos, every other Shabbos, a Yid, a Jew has to climb that ladder, a Jew has to enter that place. You have to get into beis ginazav to get that light. You have to have the mindset, you have to prepare, you have to have the perspective, you have to be in that place in order to be able to get that light. But Shabbos Chanukah, the light comes to you. We don't have to go in to it. Shabbos Chanukah because Chanukah the menorah can be lit even below, even below ten, even below where we say the Shechina ordinarily doesn't dwell, Chanukah it does. ויכול אדם בכח נרות חנוכה לטעום אור השבת through the power of the combination of the lights of the Shabbos candles combined with the light of the menorah of Chanukah, these combined lights let us access Hashem in unprecedented and unparalleled ways. They let us connect to Hashem in places we ordinarily struggle or we can't always. The Gemara in Shabbos says, מה שאמרו רב זירא אמר רב מתנה אמר רב, שמונה פסילות שאמרו חכמים אין מדליקין בהם בשבת, מדליקין בהם בחנוכה בין בחול בין בשבת. The oils and the wicks that don't qualify to use on Shabbos, they qualify to use for Chanukah. Even though they don't meet the standard for Shabbos, but for Chanukah, we can use even an oil and an inferior oil or a wick. And the Tiferes Shlomo, Rav Shlomo of Radomsk and others say you see from here, from here that even the Jew who struggles to connect for Shabbos. Shabbos gets old, Shabbos gets stale, Shabbos is complicated, Shabbos is a 25 hour, essentially, *taanis dibur* because you can't text or use technology. Even for the Jew, the *Yid* who struggles to connect through Shabbos, but Chanukah, Chanukah every Jew can connect. The very oils and wicks that you can't light for Shabbos, you can light for Chanukah. שמנים ופסילות שאין מדליקין בשבת, שלא היה להם עלייה בשבת. Nevertheless, they can have an *aliyah*, they can elevate, they can illuminate when it comes to Chanukah. And this says *Rav Shlomo Radomsker*, this is what we say, לעושה אורים גדולים כי לעולם חסדו. *Orim gedolim* are Shabbos and Chanukah. Shabbos is called *or*, Shabbos is called light, as in מנוחה ושמחה אור ליהודים. Chanukah is called light because it's the *or haganuz*, the hidden light, the light of the *menorah* that we continue to burn. Two of them together are called the *orim gedolim*. And the gift of לעושה אורים גדולים, the two great lights of Shabbos and of Chanukah, כי לעולם חסדו. Ah, so *chevreh*, today is not Friday. Today is *erev Shabbos*, and it's not just *erev Shabbos*, it's *erev Shabbos Chanukah*. And even if on an ordinary Friday you struggle to get into it, you don't have a skip in your step, and you're not preparing a *dvar Torah* and a story, and you're not looking forward and savoring Shabbos, even that person, the *Yid* who doesn't get lit by Shabbos can get lit by Chanukah. And the combination of these lights, whoa, so bright. We can see things that we struggle to see, we can dispel so much darkness, we can connect in such a deep and deep way. So wake up, wake up for this *Shabbos Chanukah*. You know, *shofar*, *Rosh Hashanah*, we wake up through the alarm, the sound of the *shofar*. *Chanukah* we wake up, because when someone turns the light on in the room, you say, ah, well, I'm awake, I'm awake. We would light, we light it up and we wake up. So wake up for the most beautiful Shabbos, a *heilige Shabbos*, a holy Shabbos, a healthy Shabbos, a happy Shabbos, a *Shabbos Chanukah*, a *Shabbos Chanukah* that's *Rosh Chodesh*, new beginnings and fresh start that's built on this combination of this light. Let us live a light and lit life, a happy, a healthy, and a holy *Shabbos Chanukah Rosh Chodesh*. יודוך ה' כל מעשיך וחסידיך יברכוכה להודיע לבני האדם גבורותיו וכבוד הדר מלכותו מלכותך מלכות כל עולמים וממשלתך בכל דור ודור yoy yoy yoy yoy yoy yoy yoy yoy *Shabbos kodesh*
