~ What is the central aspect of chanukah, according to this piece?
~ Look at the name of the tractate. Why do you think Chanukah is inserted here?
~ Note that there is no tractate of Chanukah in the Talmud. But there is a tractate called Megillah - all about Purim.
~ What do you make of that? How similar are Chanukah and Purim? How different?
~ There are 24 different ways of transliterating the name of the holiday.
~ What are the best place to set your chanukiah, and why?
~ What are the conditions that make that change?
(6) I, Ad-nai, in My justice, have called to you, and I have grasped you by the hand; I created you, and appointed you a covenant people, a light into nations.
“It is too little that you should be My servant
In that I raise up the tribes of Jacob
And restore the survivors of Israel:
I will also make you a light of nations,
That My salvation may reach the ends of the earth.”
(4) Hearken to Me, My people, and give ear to Me, O My nation, for Torah shall go forth from Me, my way for the light of peoples, in a moment.
(3) And nations shall walk by your light, And kings by your shining radiance.
~ The famous idea of being a light to the nations is found four different times in Isaiah. How do they differ from each other?
~ What does to be "a light into the nations" mean, in your opinion?
~ How does bringing light out into the public sphere in Chanukah connect with this idea?
~ Why are some oils and fats not acceptable to light Shabbat candles? Why would the be accepted to light Chanukah candles?
~ What are the differences between Shabbat and Chanukah?
(חינוך בית יהודא פרק ה'.)
I heard in the name of our Rabbi, the Rebbe Yisrael Baal Shem Tov (may the memory of the righteous be for a blessing) regarding the teaching of our Sages of blessed memory, that the Holy Blessed One concealed the light (Bereshit Rabbah ch.3 and ch.11) - how could God hide it, if it is such a great light that it filled the entire universe, and a person could see with it from one end of the world to the other?! And he taught (may his memory be a blessing) that God hid it in the Torah. For the Torah is so much greater - thousands of times more vast - than the universe (Eruvin 21a), and one who studies Torah for its own sake is granted access to this hidden light.
~ Shlomo Hakohen Rabinowicz (1801 – 1866 CE) aka the Tiferet Shlomo studied with Rabbi Meir of Apta and several other chassidic figures. He eventually established his own hassidic court in Radamsk, in the context of which he was able to use his great talents, both as a communal leader and as a hassidic rebbe.
לעושה אורים גדולים כי לעולם חסדו. הנ"ל עפ"י דברי הזוהר הקדוש פ' תרומה דף קל"ו ע"ב ר' המנונא סבא כד הוה סליק מנהרא במעלי שבתא הוה יתיב רגעא חדא וזקיף עינוהי והוה חדי והוה אמר דהוה יתיב למחמי חדוה דמלאכי עלאה אילין סלקין ואילין נחתין ובכל מעלי שבתא יתיב בר נש בעולם הנשמות. לפי הידוע כי בכל עש"ק הנשמות יש להם עלי' למעלה ועי"ז יורדים נשמות יתירות בשבת לעולם הזה. ובזה בארנו בגמ' מ"ש ר' זירא אמר ר' מתנא אמר רב שמנים ופתילות שאמרו חכמים אין מדליקין בהם בשבת מדליקין בהם בחנוכה בין בחול בין בשבת לרמז בזה על הנשמות הנדחים כמבואר במ"א שמנים רמז לנשמה ופתילות רומז לגוף. השמנים ופתילות שאין מדליקין בהם בשבת שלא הי' להם עלי' בשבת כידוע שיש כמה פגמים שהאדם ח"ו פוגם אשר עי"ז נדחה כמה וכמה זמנים מלעלות למקום שרשו. על כל זאת גדול כח שבת וחנוכה להיות עלי' גם לנשמות הנדחים לחוץ. וזה הפי' לעושה אורים גדולים הם האורות הנ"ל שבת וחנוכה. השבת נקרא אור כמ"ש מנוחה ושמחה אור ליהודים. ובחנוכה נתעורר אור הגנוז מזי"ב לכן שניהם יחד נקראים אורים גדולים. כי לעולם חסדו. זה חסד עליון לכל העולם לבל ידח ממנו נדח ולהעלותם למקור מחצבם. ...
(7) "To the One who makes great lights, God's love endures forever" (Ps. 136:4) [We can understand] the verse according to what is written in the Zohar (Zohar 2:136b) "R. Hamnuna the Elder, when the morning star would come out throughout Shabbat, he would sit for a moment and raise his eyes, and was happy, and would say that he was sitting under the sight of the joy of the superior angels. They go out and they rest, and throughout Shabbat a person sits in the world of souls". According to what is known, every Erev Shabbat Kodesh the souls have an ascent, and through this the extra souls come down, on Shabbat, to this world. And through this we explained what is written in the Gemarah in the name of Rabbi Zeira, that Rabbi Matana said, that Rav said: the fats and the wicks that our sages talked about, which we to not light the candles of Shabbat, we do light with them the candles of Chanukah, whether on Shabbat [of Chanukah] whether the rest of the week." And this is a hint regarding the souls that are distant, as it is explained in other places the fats are symbolic of the soul, the wicks are symbolic of the body. The fats and wicks which are not kindled for Shabbat are due to the fact that there are some defects on humans, God forbid, defects that make them distant, every so often, [preventing them] from ascending the place of their soul-root. And this is the strength of the Shabbat of Chanukah that are an ascent even for souls that are distant, and [feel] outside. And this is the explanation of "Maker of great lights [for God's love endures forever] (Ps. 136:7)" - those are the lights of Shabbat and Chanukah. Shabbat is called light as we say "a rest and a gladness, light for the Jews" (zemirah of Shabbat). And on Chanukah the Hidden Light of the seven days of Creation is aroused and this is why, together, they are called "great lights." "Because God's love endures forever" (Ps. 136) - this is the Higher Love to all the world, without any dismissal of any sort, and to rise them to the source of their quarrying [creation]. ...
~ What is the consequence, according to the Tiferet Shlomo, of being able to light Chanukah lights even for Shabbat Chanukah, with things you cannot light Shabbat candles with? Does it surprise you?
~ How does the Tif'eret Shlomo show to you that Shabbat Chanukah is, indeed a special Shabbat?
~ The Or HaGanuz, the Hidden Light, is an interesting concept in kabbalah and hasidut. How does the Tiferet Shlomo see the connection between Chanukah and the Or HaGanuz?
יון החשיכה עיניהם של ישראל. ע"י שלא הניחו לעשות המצות שהם נרות. מצות ה' כו' מאירת עינים. וע"י ביטול המצות החשיכו עיניהם. וגם הביאו חושך לכל העולם כי המצות מאירין לעולם כמ"ש ונר מצוה. ואחר שנצחום הוסיפו עוד נר חנוכה מצוה דרבנן שהוא נר המאיר תוך החושך הגדול ביותר כדאיתא במד' דברי חכמים כדרבונות כו' מכוונים הפרה לתלמי'. אפילו למי שנמשל לבהמות נדמו. עכ"ז ע"י מצות דרבנן יוכל לבוא לקיים גם מצות דאורייתא. וזה נר חנוכה שמתחנך האדם להתקרב גם למצות התורה ממש. לכן הוא בפתח בחוץ. התקן עצמך בפרוזדור שתכנס לטרקלין:
Greece, the one that darkened the eyes of Israel (Bereshit Rabbah 2:4) - through the fact that they did not allow the doing of mitzvot, which are "lights". "The mitzvot of Ad-nai etc lightening up the eyes" (Ps. 19:19). And through the cancelling of mitzvot they darkened their eyes, and also brought darkness to all the world, since mitzvot bring light to all the world, as it is written "the mitzvah is a light" (Prov. 6:23). And after they vanquished them, they added another mitzvah, of Rabbinical force (derabanan) that is the light that illuminates through the greatest darkness, as the midrash brings "The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails fastened are the words of the men of the assemblies which are given by one shepherd (Eccl. 12:2). Just as the goad directs the cow [which ploughs] straight in the furrows, so as to produce sustenance for the world, so also do the words of the Torah guide those who study them [away] from the ways of death to the ways of life" (Ein Yaakov, Khagigah 1:4). Even to those who are comparable to animals, this applies, since through mitzvot derabanan people come to observe mitzvot of the Torah. And this is the lights of Chanukah, that enables a person to self-educate and to come closer to the mitzvot of the Torah. And that is why they are set at the opening, on the outside: "fix yourself in the hall, so you can enter the banqueting-room" (Pirkei Avot 4:16).
~ What is the expectation regarding the mitzvot made by the rabbis? What are other mitzvot that you know were established by the rabbis?
~ Are those "gateway mitzvahs", in your opinion? How so?
~ How were the Greeks darkening the eyes of the Jews? How do you engage with that idea?