Transcript
Good morning, Freilacha Chanukah, Boker Tov to all. So happy you're here, don't know how to lower the volume, so you'll have a big wake up with your coffee, my loud voice. The emunah series is sponsored generously by Avi and Bella Morgan in memory of Rabbi Dr. Brian Galbut, in memory of his mother Dr. Ellen Chanzer, a huge thank you as always to the Morgans. Also this morning's shiur is sponsored by Carol Wald, where is she, in memory of her father Binyamin ben Daniel, his neshama should have an aliyah, thank you so much for that sponsorship. Okay, we're going to take a break today from Rav Wolbe. Can you hear me without the mic? Alright, we're going to do without the mic, I don't like the sound that's coming out of there. We're going to take a break from the Rav Wolbe that we had been learning to do a special edition about Chanukah. Talk about Chanukah, I don't know if you got the memo, today is the third day of Chanukah. And these eight days, Chanukah is a very funny holiday because the actual effort or exercise, the actual ritual of Chanukah takes very, very little time to light the candles. If you have a large family it takes a little bit more time and even then it's not so long, how long does it take? You know Succos, Pesach, Shavuos, you're sitting in the sukkah, you're sitting around the Yom Tov table, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, the machzor, the davening in shul. Chanukah's an exciting time, but the whole mitzvah which is the lighting of the candles takes literally a few moments. And a person easily can run away from those candles, the latkes are frying, the gifts are flowing, the dreidel's spinning, and all these other things that we associate with Chanukah, the sufganiyot are clogging the arteries, they're all happening, all these things we associate with Chanukah, which are beautiful complements to Chanukah are not the ikkar, the core of Chanukah. The core of Chanukah of course is lighting the menorah, lighting the candles, not only lighting the candles but illuminating, lighting our lives. And we're not meant to run away, we're meant to sit, to gaze, to look, to watch, we're meant for that light to go through us, we're meant for that light to dispel the darkness in our own lives, to give us a hope and an optimism and a positivity. We're meant for that light to illuminate so that we have a clarity about who we are and who we can be and how we're going to get there. So the idea is not to light the menorah, which is the heicha timtza to get to the Chanukah concert. I gotta light the menorah so I can leave to the concert, to the party, to the gathering, to the get-together, to the presents in the other room. Light the menorah and then you sit next to the menorah and then you connect to the menorah, you're mindfully watching and looking and gazing at the menorah. So I want to spend our time, so really 24 hours for eight days straight, what's 24 times 8, is Chanukah. It's a few brief moments every evening that we're lighting the menorah and we think that's the totality of Chanukah, but these are days that are brought to us by the number eight. These are not shmoneh yamim, they're not eight days, we sing in Maoz Tzur, Yimei Shmonah. These are days brought to us by the number eight. And what does it mean, the number eight? Remember Sesame Street or Electric, whatever it was, each episode was brought to you by a number, a different letter in the alphabet or a different number. So the holiday of Chanukah is brought to us by the number eight. I'm not making that up, it's not a cute play on words, that's actually what we sing in Maoz Tzur. In Maoz Tzur we say, ימי שמונה ימי בינה, these are days of eight. These are days brought to you by the number eight. Not eight days, it doesn't say shmoneh yamim, it says yimei shmonah. What is the significance of the number eight that these are days that are brought to us by the number eight? So we know seven is the natural world, seven is nature, seven is creation, seven is what we can see and observe and measure. Eight is one above nature, eight is one beyond. Eight is what is beyond what meets the eye. Eight is not the physical, but eight is our capacity to see the metaphysical, to see above and beyond. That's why, when is a boy's bris? On day number eight. Why is it on day number eight? Because in the natural order, in the natural world, that particular that place where the bris takes place, there are natural urges, natural instincts, natural drives, natural desires. The bris, the covenant, the promise with Hashem is our commitment and our pledge to transcend and rise above. We have a natural instinct, a drive, a desire, but we also have the ability to be moral, to have moral boundaries, we have the ability to be disciplined, we have the ability to transcend, we have the ability to strive not only for happiness, we have the ability to live for holiness. And so these are yimei shmonah, these are not just eight days, these are days brought to us by the number eight, that for these eight days we have 20/20 vision. Even if it's clouded, even if we have cataracts, even if we're walking around we can't see perfectly well the rest of the year, for these eight days, yimei shmonah, we can see clearly. And what do we see? We see the hand of Hashem everywhere we turn, everywhere we look. We don't only see the number seven, we don't only see the natural order, we don't only see everything that can be explained through nature, we're not cynical and sarcastic and rational beings who everything has to conform to our understanding of the world, but we look around and we interpret and we filter the world through our glasses by the number eight. Number eight glasses, 20/20 vision, we see Hashem behind it all. I I this weather's been extraordinary. I know I've been harping on this. I went from the coffee to the weather. Sorry, that's just the way I am. Just be grateful you don't have to live with me like other people. So, the weather, how do you sit outside? How do you sit outside? I had lunch with someone yesterday at a restaurant and there was not one person sitting inside, every table outdoors was full. For good reason. The weather is magnificent. The warmth of the sun, at the same time the cool breeze and the crisp air, and you just feel like this is unbelievable. The palm trees, Hashem is everywhere. So maybe the rest of the year I take it for granted, maybe for the rest of the year it's just natural, it's just creation. For the days of Chanukah I'm finding Hashem everywhere. The days yemei shemonah these are days brought to us by the number eight. The Chashmonaim didn't see what was right in front of them. Had they seen only what was right in front of them, they would have thrown up their hands and said, forget about it. We have no shot. We're few in number, they're much mightier, their military is much more superior, their weaponry, we don't have a shot, we don't have a chance. But the Chashmonaim, the Maccabees didn't say that. They said, you know, if all we do is look at what's right in front of us right now, we throw up our hands, we'd surrender, we'd walk away, it would be the end of the experiment called the Jewish people. But to be a Jew is not just to see what's right in front of your eyes. To be a Jew is not to live in the number seven. We are a people of ein mazel l'Yisrael. We are a people of the number eight. We are a people of the bris milah, we are a people of the story, the holiday of Chanukah, that we are the descendants of the of the Maccabees and the Chashmonaim who look at a circumstance and we say nothing is impossible. Nothing is beyond hope. Nothing is beyond possibility. And look how we managed we triumphed. In the Six Day War, 1967, the Israeli army looked around and said, they're far superior, their weaponry, their air force, their training, their numbers, we don't have a shot, we don't have a chance. We wouldn't be here today. And that's true throughout our entire history. Throughout our history, if they would have looked against all odds, we wouldn't be here. That's not who we are. A Yid doesn't break, a Yid doesn't give up, a Jew doesn't ever surrender because we are not living and operating in the natural, in the normal, in the ordinary world. We are a transcendent people. We are a people who are living one above. We're living in a different plane, we're living in a different dimension, we're living altogether a different reality. And this holiday's brought to us not by the number seven, this holiday's brought to us by the number eight. Whatever we're going through in life and whatever's bringing us down and whatever we're struggling with, whatever that we look at and say, I just don't see how. I just don't see how. In the natural order, with my seven glasses, I just don't see how. Put on your eight glasses. These are yemei shemonah. This is the holiday of Chanukah. This is when we are like the Chashmonaim and the Maccabees. The Jews walked around the entire Beis HaMikdash, there was no flask of oil. And the truth is they had every right, there's a halacha tumah hutra b'tzibur. The halacha is, the Jewish law is that if everybody's equally contaminated, then you can use an oil that's contaminated. You do not need to go find a pure oil. But they could have so they could have employed that rule. They could have used the contaminated oil that was easily accessible, that was plentiful, that was bountiful, but they didn't. They kept looking. And they turned the Beis HaMikdash upside down because they knew that there was going to be one last flask. And there's inside of us, there's inside of us a little flask that is pure. Shemen zayis zach, there was shemen tahor, there was pure olive oil. It was buried beneath the Beis HaMikdash floor and they found it, they tripped on it, they recovered it. And inside every one of us there's a flask that is pure. Maybe there's so much of us that's impure. Maybe our mind and our hearts become so polluted and contaminated by the images, by the ideals, by the experiences, by the practices. Maybe we've strayed, maybe we're distanced, maybe we're far away from who we could be and what we're meant to be. Maybe we're not living our most righteous or right selves. But inside is that pintele Yid, that little flask is still there. It's in us, it's in our children, maybe it's in our spouse, it's in the people around us. Don't give up. A Jew doesn't give up, a Jew lives the number eight. We never give up. That last flask, it's pure, it's there. I think I said it yesterday at the Parsha class, the word shemen, hashemen with a hei are the same letters as neshamah. This oil that's pure, that there's a little flask that's hidden, it's hidden in us, is like our soul. Our soul maybe has been neglected, it hasn't been nourished, it's dehydrated, it's starving to death, but it's not too late to bring it back to life, to revive it once again, to bring it back. You know, last week we had Rav Machlis on, I hope everybody listened to the Behind the Bima with Rav Machlis, so he said, when we were talking about the loss of his amazing wife, Rebbetzin Machlis aleha hashalom, and how he remains so positive, his simchas hachaim, his joy, 57 years old, way too young, his life partner, his other half, and he has this simchas hachaim, his joy for life, and I asked him how he does it. How he does it. So he gave several answers, but one of which was he said, you know, the Chofetz Chaim tells us that in every generation... Whatever technological breakthrough or whatever innovation that we have is really a symbol for the Jewish people. We're meant to grow. The telephone, the car, everything is. So he said today you hear people say, my phone is dead, my iPad died, my computer died, and what happens 10 minutes later they plugged it in and they're back on the device? You say, I thought it died. Baruch Dayan Emes, I was ready to pay a shiva call. We sent out a shiva notice. You said your iPad died, you said your phone died, you said your laptop died. I don't understand how you're on it right now. I already scheduled to come to the funeral. Ella mai, you plug it back in it comes back to life. He says, we see the possibility of techiyas hameisim in our time, the revival of the dead. The things that seem like they're gone come back to life, they're still there even when we can't use them for a brief period of time. And he spoke about his own Rebbetzin, she'll be back, we'll be reunited. He said every time he looks around his home that's filled with guests she's still alive. When her influence is felt through her 14 children she's still alive. So he said I would be sad if she were really gone, but she's not gone. Physically she's gone, but she's still very much here. Why would I be sad? I miss her, I miss her terribly, but he said also the technological—the technology of our time has reinforced within us that possibility, that notion, that reality, that even that which is temporarily gone and we call it it's dead, we should be more careful with our words and use them more accurately, but even that which feels like it's dead is going to come back to life. It's here. So that neshama that looks like it's been extinguished, the spark that looks like it's been put out, it's inside every Jew. And Hashem and neshama can be brought back to life. And you know that oil that we use in our menorah, there's a preference to use oil, we use candles also, but there's a preference to use the oil, olive oil is so much more valuable than olives. Same thing, the olives have olive oil in it. So why is olive less valuable? You know you step on the olive, you press the olive, you squeeze the olive and the olive oil comes out. And the olive oil is more valuable, it's worth more, it's a greater commodity, it tastes better, it's more valuable to us all. So you see that when you squeeze something, when you step on it, when you press it, what you get out is even more precious. We the Jewish people have been squeezed, we've been stepped on, we've been pressed, and what comes out is more precious. Same is true with grape by the way, that's why we make a bracha, Borei Peri HaGafen, the wine is much more valuable than the grape. When you step, when you squeeze, when you smush, when you—what comes out is more precious, what comes out is more special. And that is a symbol of the Jewish people. Okay, all that was by way of introduction, let's start. ברוך אתה ה' אלוהינו מלך העולם שהכל נהיה בדברו. Amen. Help yourself some Chanukah coffee. Okay. So I told you we're going to do a little bit about Chanukah, there's a great pamphlet that came out last year, Rav Itche Meyer Morgenstern, BeYandorchacha on Chanukah, we can't read the whole thing, I wish I could keep you here all day and go through it. It will transform your Chanukah and your life. Somebody should be translating, it's really incredible, but we'll go through some parts of it just to plant some seeds to think about and to have those discussions. As I said, we don't light the Chanukah candles in two minutes and that was Chanukah. Out of the 24 hour day we spend two minutes. The whole day is supposed to be permeated with the energy of Chanukah, with the energy of Chanukah. We say in the bracha, we say in the bracha, the miracles that happened בימים ההם בזמן הזה. The miracles that happened then, so one girsa, one language is Bayamim Haheim in those days, Bazman Hazeh in this time. And if that's the case, then it means in those days at this time, the end of Kislev, beginning of Teves, the winter, this time of the year. But there's another version of the blessing, and Al HaNissim, that doesn't just say Bayamim Haheim in those days, Bazman Hazeh, it says U'Bazman Hazeh. And at this time. And it means that we're not commemorating miracles from long ago, we are tapping into the energy that is present still today. The miracles of long ago reveal to us the energy that was present in these eight days. But we're not commemorating a miracle. In American holidays and other secular holidays, you commemorate things from a long time ago. You commemorate events, you commemorate historical experiences, you commemorate people and places, it's commemorative. Judaism is not commemorative. When it's commemorative it turns into a barbecue and a sale and shopping, which is what every secular American holiday is. We don't actually honor the veterans or we don't actually invoke the memory on Memorial Day, and we don't celebrate independence on July 4th. When you're celebrating something the further you get from it, the more years that pass from it, the less meaningful it is to us. So how do you tap into it? A sale. We look for the universal things that we can all rally around. A sale, shopping, a barbecue, fireworks. We find all these insignificant, frankly meaningless and utterly disconnected to the essence of the day, ways to honor or commemorate something from long ago. But Judaism, that's not our notion of time. We're not commemorating things from long ago, we are tapping into energy that's present today. We're growing, we're living, we're experiencing today, not long ago. So these eight days of Chanukah, yeah, we... We're not living in the ordinary, the mundane, the natural, we're transcendent. We're not limited to the physical, we are living the metaphysical. Our life is informed and inspired yemei shemonah by the number eight. So what is this essence, what is the theme, what is the energy, what are we meant to be getting out other than a lot of high cholesterol? Hineh yamim ba'im, ימי חנוכה הקדושים המאירים, says Rabbi Itche Meir Morgenstern. These days on Chanukah are holy and they are illuminating. ימי הלל והודאה להודות על הנסים והנפלאות, they are days of gratitude, they are days of praise, of singing Hallel, שעשה השם יתברך לאבותינו בימים ההם בזמן הזה. אבל למעשה יש בזה מעט קושי, קצת קשה לאדם להודות עם כל הלב על נס שנעשה לאבותיו. It's very hard. How do we tap into something that happened so long ago? None of us have met the Maccabim, the Chashmonaim. We don't know, we didn't live, we didn't overlap. It's very hard to connect with something so long ago. Velachen tzarich lada'at. So therefore says Rabbi Itche Meir, we have to know, שההודאה וההלל אינם רק על מה שהיה אז. We're not just grateful for something then, bizman Chashmonaim, אלא שבכוח מה שהיה אז נשפע עלינו בכל שנה מחדש. But rather the energy that drove that attitude of gratitude then is the same energy that can inspire a greater attitude of gratitude today. והאור הזה נכנס בנו. Chevra, we're living in such darkness. This is not me, you know, like some rabbi, you know, certain Jewish organizations, every year everything is worse than it's ever been, more dire than it's ever been, you have to give now more than you ever gave. Like chalilah everything would be okay, they'd be in big trouble. So this is not some rabbinic hyperbole, we're living in darkness, everything's terrible. This pandemic is dark. We were supposed to go to Eretz Yisrael next week and yet again it's been suspended and not complaining, grateful we'll be able to go again. For other people it's much more difficult, but here just like every time we think we turned the corner, every time we think we're coming out and it's over, here it is again, a new form, a new variant, what does it mean, are we protected from it, what will be? This darkness, and you know what's happening within this darkness? I'm not talking about the SUV that drove into a parade or the school shooting that happened two days ago and the darkness that's all around us. I'm talking about the darkness of mental health. When people are depressed, when people struggle with anxiety, they describe I'm in a very dark place. It's the very vernacular that we use, I'm in a dark place. I'm feeling hopeless, I'm feeling lonely, I'm feeling isolated, I'm feeling neglected, I'm feeling rejected, I'm feeling despondent. It's living in a very dark place. And in Corona, mental health has exploded and gone through the roof. And only now are we seeing the levels of suicide, the levels of overdose are unacceptable. We talk about gun control and school shootings, we talk about violence and it all pales in comparison to the mental health challenges and consequences and casualties, which is devastating. It's a world of darkness. And you'll say darkness? We have more prosperity than ever before. We have more technology than ever before. We have more longevity than ever before. We celebrated several birthdays this week of people in the shul in their 90s. Kein ayin hara, זאל זיין געזונט און שטארק and every other Yiddish expression you could use that you don't want to jinx it. It's unbelievable. A beloved dear member, Hammy, this Shabbos told me, he says, Rabbi, I'm celebrating the 80th anniversary of my Bar Mitzvah this Shabbos. It's unbelievable. Yesterday we celebrated Fay Eisenberg's 90th birthday and Mike Sanders' 97th and go on and on, we have more than a minyan, three minyanim of people in their 90s. Kein ayin hara, bli ayin hara, when I was a kid I didn't know one person in their 90s. It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. We have more longevity than ever before. We have technology. I was saying to you chevra the other day, with one press of a button, we are simultaneously FaceTiming, video conferencing with our kids in Israel, grandchildren in Israel, kids in New York, our kids here. It's like this is George Jetson stuff. This is like Disney Carousel of Progress stuff. This is the stuff that like someday maybe it'll probably never happen but wouldn't it be cool if? And now it's like, ugh, it's slow, ugh, it's buffering, ugh, it's this. It's like, you know, I'm entitled, my rights, like how dare they? This free service, like I'm entitled. We're living in prosperity. We're living in prosperity, cars that drive for themselves, we're living in a time of prosperity, we're living in a time of longevity, we're living in a time of and there's more mental health challenges than ever before and more suicide, more depression than ever before. We are submerged in darkness. It's dark. People wake up, they're sad, they're negative, they're lonely. You don't need to flood the room with candles. You don't have to flood the darkness with light in order to dispel it, in order to turn it over. One candle, one spark gets rid of the darkness. We're just not lighting candles, we're being lit ourselves. We are those candles. The imagery of the candle is meant not just to be in our windows for others, it's supposed to inspire and inform who we are and how we live and how we walk around not only those eight days but all year round. And again, if a person's clinically depressed, clinically anxious, clinically needs help, there are thank God chemical help, there's medicines, therapy. I'm not talking, I'm not talking, I give this disclaimer because it's important. People struggling, suffering, people who are confronting clinical diagnosed issues of mental health need to take care of it without shame, without stigma, anymore than you would have shame or stigma chalila if you had a physical ailment and you needed to see a doctor. I'm not suggesting live with emuna and then you don't need the medicine, you don't need the doctor. I'm not suggesting that, I've never suggested that, and it's very, very important to be clear about that. But I'm talking beyond the clinical diagnosis. I'm talking about the general atmosphere, the general environment, the general culture of darkness and sadness and hopelessness that's all around us. The general sense of giving up, of despair that's all around us, that's only increased every time we have another school shooting or another domestic terror event or another variant that comes on the scene, all that does is drive us deeper and deeper into the darkness. But all you have to do is light a candle. We light a candle and it illuminates the world, it brightens the world, it lifts us up. So how does it do it? That's what I want to talk to you about this morning. So let's start. מי שלבו ער ורוצה לקנות האור, a person whose heart is awake and wants to acquire the light, ישים אל לבו שלא מספיק לעשות מעשה המצוה לבדו. It's not enough to do the mitzvah. It's not just ברוך אתה השם אלקינו, touched it, good, where the light goes. You don't walk away, let the menorah burn in the window. I did the mitzvah in a millisecond, in a fraction of a second, and I'm done. היינו להשקיע זמן ללמוד להבין את מהותו ואת הדרכים איך לקנותו. It's like you stood under the chuppah, you gave the ring, it's like I'm done. I don't have to say I love you again, I don't have to be selfless to you again, I don't have to do for you again, like I'm good, I gave you the ring, it lasted a millisecond. That was it, it's on video. It's on video. We have pictures. There's proof, there's evidence. Good. There's the story of the yeshiva student who's married and his wife is very concerned about her marriage, she doesn't feel affection, doesn't feel love. She complains to his rebbe. So his rebbe comes to him and he says, you know, you seem happily married, I know you love your wife, but you never tell her. She needs to hear that you love her, you never tell her. So he says, I told her. He says, what are you talking about, when's the last time you told her? 26 years ago under the chuppah I said I love you and I never took it back since. So it's just like a lamdus, like a halacha. I said it then and I never wasn't mevatel it. I didn't take it back, I didn't nullify it. So it still standing, so why do I have to repeat it? I said I gave you the ring under the chuppah, that was that moment, the millisecond, so we're good. That's it. I lit the candle, so we're good. No, your lighting the candle is what launches the feeling, the energy that should permeate the whole eight days. And what is that feeling and what is that energy? היינו להשקיע זמן ללמוד להבין את מהותו ואת הדרכים איך לקנותו. You have to spend time understanding and acquiring what it's really all about. What it's really all about. And the pnimiyut of it, the inner feeling of it, I mean then Rav Itche Meir goes on, we're not going to spend the time now, but it's true not only for Chanukah, this is his life mission and cause, Rav Moshe Weinberger and others, the idea that we are living in a time and a generation, maybe it's existed for many already, but ours is suffering terribly from it, where we're living mitzvot very superficially. We do them externally. But is the pnimiyut, is the depth there? Are we mindful, are we present, do we understand the deeper meaning, are we connected to how it's meant to transform us? Or check, Chanukah candles check, Shabbos candles check, tefillin check, keeping kosher check, keeping Shabbos check, check, check, check, check, check, but other than that I don't think about it, it doesn't transform me, I'm not present, I'm not really there. It needs a pnimiyut, it needs an energy, it needs an emotion. It needs to get into our kishkas. We have to understand what we're trying to do, what we're trying to accomplish, who we're meant to be as a result of it. להדליק את הנשמה באור הנרות הקדושים. We're not just lighting the candle. כי נר השם נשמת אדם. We know that the candle represents the neshama. How do you know that? Give me an example of a candle representing the neshama. The yahrzeit candle. A person has a yahrzeit for a loved one, they light a candle. Yizkor. If you've ever lost a loved one, you light Yizkor candles before you recite Yizkor. Shiva, a seven-day candle's in the home throughout the shiva. A tahara, in the room where the tahara's being performed by the chevra kadisha, a candle's lit. All based on this pasuk Shlomo Hamelech tells us that the soul is likened to a candle. And why's the soul likened to a candle? Because you can't hold the flame. You know it's there, you could feel its warmth. You know it's there because you can benefit from its light, but if you try to grab it or hold on to it you can't. And the soul can't be measured, it can't be captured, it can't be grabbed onto, but you can feel its warmth. And you can benefit from its light. And you know that soul is there. The candle, no matter what direction you hold the candle, what does the flame always do? The flame always goes up. You could hold the candle upside down, you'll just burn your hand because the flame's going to still go up. This soul is always yearning, the soul striving, the soul's aspiring, the soul wants to be nourished from the heavens with holiness. No matter what direction you face the candle, the soul is always flickering upward. So there are many, many other examples and metaphors. So says Rav Itchmaier, l'hadlik es haneshama. What we're trying to do when we light the chanukah candles is not light some wax. We're not lighting some wick. We're lighting our soul on fire. We're waking ourselves up. We're waking up to the reality of who we can be and the life we want to live and the love we want to share and the difference we want to make. That we're not here to take, we're not here to receive, we're not entitled, we're here to serve. We're here to make a difference, we're here to repair the world. We have duties and obligations because of the uniqueness of who we are. And what's incredible and I'm going to talk about this a lot more in the future because I really believe this and I want it to be a staple of our community and inform our youth and our teens and our adults in everything that we do. Because here's the paradox and the irony. The more that you think you'll achieve happiness by taking care of yourself, the less happy you are. And the more that you want to make other people happy, the happier you become. It's not Goldberg saying this, every research study, there's actually treatment for depression to volunteer, there are countless, countless studies that confirm this today. They give two groups money, one they say buy something for yourself, the other they say buy something for someone else, then they measure your happiness. There's countless, countless studies. The more we pursue our own happiness, the more unhappy we are. By the way, you don't need a study. All you need to do is look at your window. All you have to do is look at the world today. It is a world of people pursuing their own happiness, very focused on their own happiness. Their own pleasure, pleasure-seeking, happiness-seeking, that is the world. And that's what the world tells you, do whatever you want, whatever makes you happy. You're entitled to your happiness. You deserve your happiness. The world owes you your happiness. Do whatever you want that makes you happy because the only measure that matters is are you happy, does it make you happy, will it make you more happy. That's the world we're living in. But Judaism says the exact opposite. Your happiness, whoever told you you're entitled to be happy? Whoever told you that you should be focused on your happiness? You know what you should be focused on, making other people happy. Taking care of other people, relieving other people's pain and stress. Making the world a better place. And you know what happens when you do that? You walk around so happy because you're fulfilled and you found meaning and you found purpose. And this is a language that we don't use, we don't use enough. Again, I apologize in advance because you're going to hear it a lot from me with our kids. You know what our kids walk around, I don't want to go to school, I'm entitled to stay home, who's the one to boss me? I deserve the latest version of the iPhone. I deserve the highest speed of Wi-Fi. I deserve the latest of this, the latest of that, the latest of the other thing. Everyone has it, the world owes it to me and I deserve to be happy. And you know what, it's not their fault these kids. Because if they're consuming pop culture, culture, they're watching marketing and ads, if they're driving on I-95 and reading billboards, then this is the messaging that's coming from all over. Is that life and the world are all about your happiness, your pleasure, and what the world owes you. But it's time to turn this backwards, inside out. That it's not about our rights and entitlements, it's about our duties and obligations. It's not about our happiness, it's about making other people happy. It's not about our needs, but it's about figuring out how we're needed. That's what our life is about because when we do that, that's what brings us the greatest happiness. That's what nourishes the neshama. The more you pamper the body and neglect the soul, the more unhappier you will be because the more counterfeit you will feel your life is. And the more that you nourish the soul, and you can pamper the body too, nobody's suggesting you have to neglect the body. Nobody's suggesting you have to live with fasts and starvation and neglect. But nourish the soul and then pamper the body because it is the instrument and vehicle for the soul, the happier you're going to be. The more beautiful, the more fulfilled, the more meaning. We have to reintroduce the words to our vocabulary with our children, with ourselves like meaning, purpose, responsibility, service, duty, obligation. These are the words that have to reenter our curriculum, our attitude, our programs. Reb Moskowitz led a great father-son trip to New Orleans and the people came back on fire. On fire. It wasn't a two-day trip to Scotland for golf and scotch tasting. It wasn't a two-day trip to Charlie Chocolate Factory. It wasn't a two-day trip to... what do you mean they came back on fire? If you saw the pictures, they spent two days backbreaking labor. Sweating with three masks on, taking away moldy walls in New Orleans that's been savaged by multiple hurricanes. And they came back, I'm so happy, it was unbelievable. I'm on fire, I'm happy, I'm energized. What? From 12-hour backbreaking workdays? Half the people haven't lifted a hammer in 20 years. And they come back on fire? Yeah, because when you do, when you give, when you volunteer, when you're responsible, when you make a difference, when you find meaning and when you find purpose, you find life. And that's what we're meant to think about, we haven't even started yet. It's a disaster. I haven't started yet. That's what we're meant to be thinking about while we're lighting the candles. Those are the candles. We're lighting the candle, כי נר ה' נשמת אדם, we're lighting the candle, we're lighting the *neshama*, we're lighting the *pintele Yid*, we're finding the little last flask of pure *neshama* inside us. The one that's not been tainted and contaminated and compromised and corrupted by this culture and by this pop culture and by this world. We're finding that little *pintele Yid* inside us that still remembers what gives us meaning and purpose, what gives us life, what makes us feel alive. And therefore it's light. When you're focused on your own happiness and its pursuit, you're living in a world of darkness. Why do you think that so many celebrities and athletes and mega-wealthy people around us are struggling with addiction to all kinds of substances? Because they've climbed the mountain that the world tells them should bring them happiness and on top of the mountain, they're empty. They have money, they have fame, they have power, they have following, they have celebrity, and you know what? They're empty. And they're lonely and there's a hole in their heart and they have to numb themselves to all kinds of substances and they have what all these other people are chasing and pursuing and think will bring them happiness. But it's not what does it. What does it is meaning and what does it is purpose. You want to get out of that dark, living in that dark. You can be in darkness in a mansion. You can be in darkness in a crowded room. You can be in darkness in an overflowing bank account. You're especially in darkness if you're addicted to substances and behaviors that bring us down. You want to step out into the light, you want to be lit. You want to be a candle on fire, *neshama* on fire, meaning and purpose and responsibility and mission and mission to *Hashem*. There's nothing greater than being on a mission, being on a mission. You know, we know that when we're little children. My children had a game with their younger siblings. They passed it on. We never even spoke about this, we certainly didn't train them on this, but they just learned this mission. Like when a kid is really little, they love being the messenger of an older sibling. Okay, I have a job for you. Remember, one of our kids with one of the others especially, I have a job for you. Clean up my room. I have a job for you. Go bring me a drink. And the younger sibling is like, yes, I have a job. I've been like, I'm elevated, I'm lifted. Like I have a status. My older sibling who I looked up to and admire and want to break into their *chevra* is like, has a job for me, has a mission for me. I have a purpose. Wow. And then we get a little bit older we say, go get it yourself, mission, purpose, purpose-shmurpose, nah, somebody else should get me a drink. But when we're young, we know. When we're young, we know that sense that there's no greater feeling than I have a mission. I have a purpose. I'm here to serve. If you got a phone call from a prime minister or a president, you got a call from a powerful person who said, you know, I got your name. Look at our *parsha* by the way. *Paroh* brings *Yosef* out of prison, he says, I heard about you that you interpret dreams. And I'm appointing you to be in charge. Wow, you come alive. *Shlichus*, that's what it means to be a *shliach*. *Chabad Lubavitch* has this right. They engrain within their children in their mother's milk from when they're born that you're not here to take, you're here to give. You're not here to receive, you're here to serve. You're a *shliach*, you're an agent, you're a messenger, you're an ambassador. It's unbelievable, that's not again to romanticize it, that *Chabad* has no challenges or problems, that every, the *Chabad* world is perfect. It's amazing, there's so much to learn from it. But that sense of *shlichus*, that's how we light the candle inside us. Okay, so let's start. Just give me a few more minutes. A few more minutes. *Hod*, the holiday of *Chanukah* is characterized, the idea is *hod*. מתבאר בדברי האריז"ל ששורש מה שמתגלה בחנוכה הוא אור של מידת ההוד. The *Arizal*, *Rav Yitzchak Luria*, *Rav Isaac Luria*, the modern, modern, several hundred years ago, great kabbalist, the great mystic, the *Arizal*, could, it's freezing cold *mikvah* in *Tzfat* in the north of Israel. He says, he taught us that the, the theme, the energy of *Chanukah* is, if *Chanukah* is brought to you by the number eight, it's brought to you also by the word *hod*. *Hey vav dalet*. *Hod*, *hod vehadar*, *hod hoda'ah*, *hod Yehuda*, *hod Yehudim*, we know this word *hod*. יש לברר תחילה את פנימיות ענין מידת ההוד. So what does it mean? *Hod yesod hamo'ed*. *Hod* is the core, the foundation, the central theme of this holiday. מידת ההוד עניינה להודות על האמת. You know what *hod* is? *Hod* is admission. It is an admission of the truth. It happens to mean two things, *hod*. This is an insight of *Rav Hutner*. *Rav Hutner* *zt"l*, the *Pachad Yitzchak* said, the word *hoda'ah* means two things. It means admission, what else does it mean? Thanks, *toda*. I won't break into the Benny Friedman song for your sake. Toda, toda, thanks, modeh. Modeh means gratitude. Rav Hutner pointed out we use the same word modeh, modeh le and modeh al. Ani modeh lach, I am grateful to you that you had me for dinner, gave me the ride, sponsored the class. Ani modeh lach, I'm grateful to you. Ani modeh al, I admit to you that I owe you a hundred dollars. I admit to you that you were right. I admit, I admit to you that you were right. Ani modeh al. I make an admission that you were right. Ani modeh al. We couldn't find another word, says Rav Hutner? We ran out of letters, combinations? Couldn't find another word? We're using the same word for gratitude and admission? So Rav Hutner says, you know what they have to do? They're really the same word. Implicit in every expression of gratitude is an admission I needed you. That's why arrogant people can't say thank you. Arrogant people struggle to say thank you. They nod, they grunt, they at most, but they can't say thank you. They'll give a gift before they'll say the words thank you. Because implicit in every thank you is thank you, you enhanced my life. Thank you, you enriched my life. Thank you, I am better off because of you. Thank you, I needed you, I benefited from you. Thank you. It's an admission. Every thank you is an admission. So says, back to Rav Itche Meir, that's Rav Hutner. So he says, lehodos al ha'emes. Chanukah is all about an admission and gratitude. Hallel ve'hoda'ah. That's what we say in Al Hanissim, that's how we celebrate, Hallel ve'hoda'ah. And what is the admission we're making? שהכל נעשה רק על ידי השם יתברך ואילו האדם אין בכוחו לפעול מאומה בעצמו. Hashem, I have an admission to make. All the rest of the year, the other 51 weeks a year, I pretend and I act like I'm in charge, like I'm in control, like I make a difference, like I understand what's happening. For eight days I admit, you got it covered. I don't know anything. I'm not in charge, I'm not in control of anything. That we're living in a matrix, the world is an illusion, it's really all you. It's really all you. הבורא יתברך הוא הכל ואין עוד מלבדו. It doesn't mean the other 51 weeks a year we're not supposed to be thinking this. But this one week a year is a conference about it. It's a convention about it. You know, it doesn't mean that you don't have to love your spouse when it's not your anniversary, but your anniversary is when you write the card and buy the flower and give the gift and you say I'm so happy and I'm nothing without you and the best decision I ever made blah blah blah blah blah and all that other stuff that people put on Facebook and don't even tell the person they love. So you have to love them, you know, you're supposed to appreciate a person when it's not their birthday, but their birthday is when you vechulu vechulu, the balloon and they sing the corny song at the restaurant and everyone says their favorite thing about you. You're supposed to feel that all year round. So similarly we're supposed to feel this all year round, all 51 weeks, but for one week we really focus, we really emphasize, we're really trying to grow. That's what this mishna is. And the Chashmonaim taught this to us, he says. Why? הם הכריזו אין טבע אלא רק השם יתברך. There's no nature. There's no nature. You live in the natural world, you live in the world of biology, chemistry, and physics. We study it, we value it, we understand Hashem through it. But that's not all there is. That's not all there is. The rest of the world is limited by physics. The Jew lives in a world of metaphysics. Of metaphysics. Of the metaphysical. We're not limited and we're not bound by a world of the physical and by the natural, by the number seven. We're living in the number eight. We're living above and beyond. We're living in a world and a dimension of ein od milvado. We're living in the place of impossibility, not only the possible. We're living in a world that I have to make my effort and take my initiative, but I never ever have the fatal mistake or fatal flaw of thinking that my initiative or my effort brought about the result. I know that the result is only from the one above. Hu oseh hakol. He is the source, he does everything. כי אין הדבר נעשה בידי אדם כלל אלא יש בורא שהוא מנהיג את הכל ועושה הכל. There's a creator, he's involved, he's invested, he's intimately aware of everything in my life, in all of our lives, in the entire world. ואין בלתו שום כוח. And aside from him there is no strength, there is no energy, there is no power. U-shum metzius. There is no existence other than God. He is all there is and I tap in and attach myself to him. And that is hod. Biyemei Chanukah because again the Chashmonaim looked around and they said, 'Ha, in the world of teva, in the natural order, if we analyze and evaluate this naturally, we don't have a shot. We don't have a chance. Pack it up, let's go home, call it a day, wave the white flag, it's time to surrender. Here's the Beis Hamikdash, here are the keys. Here's the land of Israel, we're done, we'll head to Uganda.' But they didn't. They looked at the world and they said, 'Ha, just because in the natural world there's no chance, but that doesn't... what does that have to do with us? We don't live like everyone else in the natural world. We don't live under the number seven. We live under the number eight.' And that's hod. Hod is gratitude and hod is admission. Hashem, I have a confession, I have an admission to make, and my admission is you're in charge of everything. Yeah, I go through the motions because that's the way you designed the world and I have to go through the motions. You designed the world that I have to take the initiative. But I never confuse or mistake my initiative with your result. I know that the result is from you. כי אפילו שבוודאי כל יהודי מאמין בהשם יתברך וגם מוכן למסור נפשו על ייחודו יתברך אף על פי כן למידת ההוד נפגמה וחסר בהכרה והרגשה שהכל רק השם יתברך עושה Many Jews are willing to give their lives to God. Many Jews have died al Kiddush Hashem, were willing to die to be Jews. They're willing to give their life, but are we willing to live for God? Are we willing to recognize and see God? Are we willing to wave the banner of God? Are we willing to light that candle and illuminate the world with God and to bring his greater light into this world? This is our koach, this is what we're meant to do. וזהו כוח המועד הקדוש הזה or midat hahod, להכתיר בנו את האמת הזו. For these eight days we are trying to plant deeper and deeper within us the mida of hod, the mida of hodaah, this admission, this gratitude. We're holding the candle to go for that search to find Hashem in every corner, in every crack, in every crevice. We are exposing and revealing Hashem in every aspect of our lives for ourselves and for our children. Yes, you scored the goal, kinderlach, in soccer. Yes, you worked hard, you trained, you practiced, you're in great shape, and yes, you kicked the goal. But you know that you couldn't have succeeded with that goal without Hashem. You know he's the one who made the goal lean in that direction, he's the one who enabled your foot to move that speed and velocity, he's the one who allowed the ball to fly through the back of the net. Hod. It's not a contradiction to say we go through our initiative, but ultimately the result is from Hashem. עד שנרגיש אותה בכל לבבנו to feel it with all of our heart, ונחיה אותה ונזכה לראות בתוך כל מה שקורה לנו and to see that in everything that happens to us, everywhere we turn and everything we do, to see and to find Hashem everywhere. Everywhere. Not where's Waldo, where's Hashem. Take a picture and a snapshot of everything in our life and stop looking for Waldo, look for Hashem. Because you'll find him and he's a lot easier to find because he's not hiding. He's right there. ולהצליח לגלות בכל הפרטים והעניינים שקורים בעולם in everything that happens in the world, every headline, every everything we experience, everywhere we go, every scene we see, to see and to find Hashem. וכשיהודי זוכה לקבל את האור הזה when a Jew merits to feel this light im kol pnimiyuto, when a Jew, when you turn the light on, wow. When you turn that light on, dispel the darkness and now you can see, ויצא מהחג עם קניין לכל השנה. You walk out of Chanukah, you're a different person for the whole year. Chanukah energizes and illuminates and lifts and enriches and transforms not just for those eight days. But if all eight days you say it's not about me, I'm looking for him, it's not about seven, it's all about the number eight, it's not about my rights and entitlement, it's about my duty and obligation, it's about my admission and it's about my gratitude for the life that I have, we're going to have a different view of the world. Chanukah is the Lasik surgery that when I walked in I couldn't see anything without my glasses and I walk out of Chanukah after my Lasik surgery, 20-20 vision. I see Hashem everywhere. When you walk out of Lasik it doesn't expire or fade a day later. Now you can see differently the rest of your life. If we live Chanukah properly then we see differently the rest of our year, we see differently the rest of our life. And that's what we're doing when we light these candles. There is so much more I want to talk about, I'll end with one last thought. We have a machlokes Beis Hillel and Beis Shammai. Do you start with eight lit candles and go down to one? Do you start with one candle and build up to eight? We pasken like Beis Hillel. Beis Hillel's opinion is mosif veholech. Add on as you go. That's Chanukah, chevre, is mosif veholech. Our life can't be stagnant. We're not complacent, we're not stuck, we're not apathetic. If someone were to look at us and measure our spirituality, our religiousness, our deep understanding of mitzvos, our practice, and were to compare it to five years ago and 10 years ago and 20 years ago, what would they track? What would they find? If our Shabbos is the same as it's been for 20, 30, 40 years, if our understanding of the parsha, if our experience with connecting to Hashem, if our faith, if our prayer, if our conversation with him, if it all looks the same as it did five years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, then we're living the same year over and over and over again. That's not a life. A life is mosif veholech, every year to grow, to add, every year to improve, to be better, a more sophisticated understanding of the world, of Hashem, of ourselves, to be better people. I'm not just talking about adding chumros. I'm not a chumra of the week guy. I'm not talking about what's the latest stringency that we can practice, what's the latest chumra we can introduce. I'm not even talking about introducing anything other than the depth with which we do it. Light the same candles but have a different mindfulness, an understanding, a presence while you're lighting Shabbos candles, the Chanukah candles. Davven the same siddur. I'm not suggesting you say the whole book of Tehillim three times a day every day. Say the same davening you've been saying for 30. 30, 40 years, but say it differently. Have a conversation with your Creator. Be in conversation with Hashem. If we're living the same way over and over and over again, then we're living one year over and over again and we're calling it a life. Beis Hillel teaches us the holiday of Chanukah as we start with one and by the end there's eight shining lights because we're mosif ve'holech. We're growing, we're improving, we're developing. You know, if your iPhone is up to version 13, what version of your life are you up to? Whatever age you are is version you're meant to be. Version 47, version 75, version 12. You know, I don't know anyone here who still has the iPhone version 1. I don't know anyone who's satisfied with it. If you're satisfied with iPhone version 1, then you could live your life version 1 of you. But if you need to upgrade and update and have the latest, if you understand that the latest versions has more bells and whistles and makes your life better and is better for you, if you're not satisfied and you need to turn it in to get the latest version, what version of your life are you up to? What version of your life, what chapter of our book are we up to? So all of this is the holiday of Chanukah and so much more and it's not just the moment or the millisecond that we light the candles. This is supposed to permeate our whole day, this whole eight days. These are yemei shemona, these are days of the number eight, and they leave us walking out different than the way we walked in and they improve and they repair our eyesight so we see differently than the way we saw before. And so we light the candle, we're lighting that pure uncontaminated little pintele yid that's still inside us so we can shine bright, transform the world, transform ourselves, stay happy, stay healthy, and stay holy.
