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Zakasha Ve'Aruch Hashulchan. The Aruch Hashulchan asks why the mitzvah of Ner Hanukkah is on the bias and not on the person. Marshal When it comes to Purim Purim was also a time when Klal Yisrael was saved. There's no mitzvah for one person to read Megillah in the house, but when it comes to the Nes of Chanukah So there's a special mitzvah on the house itself. By Ashkenazim we're makpid that every person, Mahajim and Mahajim, every person lights by Svardim. Who Svardim? In your house, what do you do? Who lights? Only the phone. It's a mitzvah on the bias. So what's the pshat? And another question. You'll notice who the people were that brought the nesh to being. It's chashmonoi ubanov. It's matasia ubanov. We know who the children were, but it doesn't list the children.
It's Hashmonoi Ubanav. Why do Chazal say it like that? And finally, last question: What's the halacha? When do we light Hanukkah? Starting from when? From Shkia. Very good. Until when? So the Torah says Until people are finished coming home from the shuk. What does the Gemara say that means From when until when? You're giving the time. What does the Gemara say? The Gemara says, "New Moish, what do you want to say?" "Says, 'Mekali Yeragla the Tarmuday.' There were these people, the Tarmudayim, the woodcutters. They were the very last people to leave the shul until the time of the Tarmudayim when they would leave. It's a very strange way for the Gemara to express this concept. The Gemara should have just said the time. Why does the Gemara say? I'm told the Tarmudayim would leave the Shuk. Why the Afk of the Tarmudayim? I want to share.
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I want to share with you a challenge that we're having in the world today, and not only today, but it's been happening for thousands of years. Perhaps today it's in an extreme form, and a solution to that challenge. I remember that my Rebbe told us a ma'isa. There was a great mashgiach of Mir Yeshiva. His name was R' Chatskel Levinstein. R' Chatskel Levinstein, before he went to Shanghai, ran away through Shanghai. So first R' Chatskel came to America before he came to Eretz Yisrael. R' Chatskel came to America for his man. It was mashgiach and Mir in Brooklyn. And he announced that he was leaving yeshiva and he was going to Eretz Yisrael. The Bachum were very upset. They wanted the opportunity to hear Shmuzin from the great Mashgiach, the Mashgiach that brought all of Mir out of Poland. He was their father. He was so close with them. They were so upset. Rabbi, why are you leaving and going to Eretz Yisrael? Why aren't you staying here in Mir?
He said Chil Shabbos. He said, Rabbi, what Chil Shabbos are you talking about? It's not Chil Shabbos in Mir. He said, "There's chilu Shabbos on the streets" And if it's on the streets, then it's in the walls of the yeshiva, and it's having an impact. I could feel a lack of sensitivity in me because of what's happening in the streets. And I need to go to Eretz Yisrael because I don't want to be impacted by what's happening in the streets. By the way, when you're in the world today, especially in a world where social media is so pervasive. The influence and hashkafa of the streets has seeped into the walls of everything that we have. And you look around, you could see that a person's hashkafas are being impacted not by what the Torah says But what are the values? What is the morality of the street?
That's what's happening today. You see that people are twisting and turning every which way to try to stick the secular values of the streets. Into the Torah itself And to anybody who's sensitive, it's obvious and clear that these are not Torah hashkafos. But just like in the times of the Yevanim Where there was a lashkichaum Torah secha There was a movement not away from Torah But to remove Hakadosh Baruch Hu from Torah. So too today. You see that there is a movement that exists in the world today to move away from Hakadosh Baruch Hu's Torah to become our Torah. I say that this is the value of Torah. This is what Torah means to say. As opposed to a bittel, a nullification of the self, to try to listen to what the words and hashgachas of Chazal are, and then to live our lives in accordance with those hashgachas.
There is a movement towards a completely secular value. And as opposed to us being an arlagayim and saying this is the Torah's value and bringing it out into the world, it's exactly fakert. Now we feel a sense. A person in Chasrusshalim could feel a sense, and we see it happening. Could feel a sense of almost like An embarrassment to be a Jew, an embarrassment to stand up and say this is the Torah Haskafah. Without getting into recent articles that were written, for those that know what I'm talking about. With certain articles that were written recently about having the courage to stand up and say this is a Torah haShdafo And today people are very afraid to say that. Why are they afraid? Maybe they're afraid because they're going to get canceled. And if I'm being honest with myself, Maybe I'm afraid to be canceled. Maybe I'm watching myself right now and speaking in a way that's Couching what I really mean, delivering it to you guys in a way that I'm hopeful that you'll hear it, because even I myself don't want to get up and stand up and say this is what the Torah believes.
Because if I say that and it's recorded and it gets out and they say Berg said, and then it becomes a thing. We have a culture today that if you say something that's not in line with the hashkafa of a certain group of people, they tell you you're a rasha marusha. Simply for standing up and saying this is what the Torah says—that hashgufa is in the streets That hashgufa has come into our homes And it's having an impact. There's a marida, there's a rebellion that's happening in Klal Yisrael today when it comes to our hashgufas. Again, a person authentically has a Torah hashgufa. It's coming from a Rebbe. It's coming from a Misora. No problem. There's varying hashgufas. A person thinks a little bit like this. A person thinks a little bit like that. No problem. But today we see a hashkafa developing that has nothing to do with any mesora, has no leadership behind it. There's no talmidei chachamim behind it. There's no mesora. There's no rabbi.
Where does it come from? Comes from me. This is what I think. And you should know when you hear these people, it's clear. You could hear if you pay attention carefully. You could hear a sense of how shall I say this. There's a lack of godliness. It's clear and apparent that the people speaking are speaking from within. Not from above. And they're impacted. And the impact has gotten into our homes And it's the way that our children are being raised. And I dare say, maybe this is not the right thing to say. I dare say that this is one of the major impacts. On the reason why children today are feeling so distant from Yiddishkeit Because rather than being proud and standing up in our homes and saying this is what we believe Rather than having homes that are ensconced in Torah Rather than having homes where on the walls of our homes there's not svarim or pictures of gedolim or works of art that are Jewish in nature But on the walls of our homes there's foreign influences.
Influences that have the capacity to corrupt And it's having an impact on the children. So everyone's trying to make a more exciting Yiddishkeit, which is a beautiful thing. And Baruch Hashem, today there's more kumsitzes and fabrängens and better relationships with rebbeim and all good things, all amazing things. We still see that despite our very best efforts, foreign influence is having a massive impact. Le marshal. I remember many years ago When I was in a yeshiva called Yeshiva Darche Torah in Farakow, I remember Rabbi Bender got up and gave a shmuuz about playing ball on Shabbos. Was something that had to be spoken about Playing ball on Shabbos. And I remember Rabbi Bender spoke about the sanctity and the dignity of Shabbos How a yid dresses on Shabbos How a yid dresses on Shabbos, how a yid behaves on Shabbos. And after that shmuus, even though all my friends were playing ball because I didn't go to school with a lot of my friends because my friends went to a different yeshiva All my friends were playing ball on Shabbos because of that shmuus from Rabbi Bender with Rabbi Bender's special varmkeit and the way that he said it and it never made us feel attacked.
Other rabbi made us feel uplifted. After that, I couldn't play ball on Shabbos. It used to be that a person wore Shabbos clothing. And a couple years ago, I was in a certain place for Shabbos. It doesn't matter where I was. I saw a bunch of kids, high school age kids, tenth and eleventh graders. And they were walking down the street on Shabbos. And they were in shorts and a T-shirt, and they were carrying a basketball. It was clear that they were going to play ball on Shabbos. But not just going to play ball on Shabbos. The dress wasn't Shabbosic. What does it mean? It's not Shabbosic. There's a halacha you have to wear this on Shabbos. First of all, there are halachas like that. It doesn't mean there's no halacha like you have to wear this and not that. It's not like begad has to be a certain amount of tefachim.
It's halacha that a person has to dress mechubar for Shabbos. Not Shabbosnik Is a failure in Shabbos itself. It's a failure to appreciate Shabbos And it comes from this foreign influence, which cares about these things. When you bring in these foreign ashkafas, it creates in the home a certain sense of a lack of chasivas for yedeshkeit. When does Yeshua come? How does a person combat these things? When a person has a home of Meiros Chanukah When a person has a home of Torah When a person has a Lichtigah home A lit up home And that doesn't only mean, of course, this is the prelude. A home of safety, a home of warmth A home of relationships. Of course, that's the beginning. If a kid doesn't feel safe at home, it doesn't matter what's going on in the home. The home could be the frumest home in the world.
But if the home doesn't have a feeling where a child says, "I'm allowed to be me, I'm comfortable, I can talk to my parents" So it doesn't matter how frum the home is. Of course, it goes without saying that a parent needs to work very hard to create an honest, authentic, open relationship with the child. But once you've done that Now you need to ask yourself a question. What is the tachlis of this home? What is the purpose of this home? The purpose of this home is to build a bayis neman b'yisrael. We are here to create Jewish families. That's what we're doing. That means our home needs to be places of kedusha. It's not enough for our homes to have a little bit. It needs to be surrounded by it. That's why the halacha is. Where's the mezuzah, Rabbi? Say on what side of our door?
On the right of our door. What does the Gemara say? Where do we light the neros Chanukah? On the left. And even according to one Masechah, a person has to be wearing a tallis while he's lighting the neros Chanukah. Why? Surrounded by mitzvot A complete and utter dedication, no foreign influences. At this point in your life. You guys are deciding. Some very important, critical decisions. Decisions like What will I do after yeshiva? Who will I marry? What community will I raise my children in? Yesterday I was on the phone with a guy who went to Beis Harat 25 years ago. A good chaver of mine. 25 years ago, he was here in Eretz Yisrael. We were on the phone speaking. We're talking about where his son should go to yeshiva in Eretz Yisrael. And the guy started reflecting on his own life. And he raised his kids in a particular community. It doesn't matter what community—a beautiful Jewish community—but a community that has, we'll call it, certain foreign influences that are pervasive in that community.
And really, his hashkafa—the places where he feels more comfortable—is in that community. But he said he has tremendous karata raising his children in that community. He said it would have been better for me to be the zanav in a computer in a community that was more dedicated completely to Yiddishkeit than to be a rosh in my community. And he is a rosh in his community. He's a person who learns Torah very seriously. He's about stodka. He's about chesed. He's a leader in his community, and he's looked at as one of the top guys in his community. But he said for his kids. It would have been better for him to raise his kids in a community that was more dedicated, that was more focused, that was alkdusha v'taira. Because the impact, when you're in a community that you're ensconced in Torah and mitzvot It has a completely different impact.
As alacha, I mentioned before that goes without saying that there's a prelude to having a home of Torah and mitzvot that it has to be a home of shalom bayis. So we know the halacha is, Rabbi, if you only have a certain amount of money, if you only have a small amount of money And that money can either be spent on the nearest Shabbos or nearest Chanukah. What's the halacha, Rabbi? Say, what do you buy? Nearest Shabbos. Nei Shalom Bayis. Shalom Bayis comes first. Even before the nearest Chanukah. Shalom Bayis comes first. We have here some chevra. At different times, some of you guys have come to me and discussed certain things, the way you grew up in your homes. I want you to know which one of you But one of you once said to me Just in my home there was a tremendous amount of love.
And I hope that I'm able to instill that in my home when I get married. When this person said it, I want you to know I was so deeply moved by it. It shook me. I was like, wow What a way to grow up! What a way to grow up! That there's just a person feels like there's so much love in his home. He wants to be in his home. There's a meisel with Rofrifeld, Zeichatadik Levracham, that a girl was going off the derech. One of the talmidim of Rofrifeld, his daughter was going off the derech. And he asked Rofrifeld, "What can I do?" So Rofrifeld said, 'What is she like doing in the home? What's a good thing that she does in the home that's really important? And the guy said, "My daughter makes the best cholent." My daughter makes the best cholent. So Rofrifeld said, "You have to tell her, no matter what" She has to make the cholent. Every erev Shabbos, she has to make the cholent. She doesn't keep Shabbos, but she has to make the cholent.
So the father went to his daughter and he said, "I love you so much. You got to make the cholent. I can't. No matter what you do, your cholent has such an impact in our home. It wouldn't be Shabbos for me if it wasn't your cholent." So every single week, the daughter would make cholent. Eventually, the daughter was chayzer b'tshuva And she said, "The fact that I was important to my family, that I had a continued role in my family. That I felt there was something I was contributing to my family that made it a little bit shabbistic. That was a big part of what brought me back." In yeshivas, if a person doesn't feel safe And by the way, that's not just my responsibility. That's not just your rabbi's responsibility. It's your responsibility. If there's not an avirah of shalom in the yeshiva, if it's not a place where a person feels comfortable to be themselves If there's chas v'shalom yelling or treating each other with a lack of dignity, it creates an environment that's not shyach to growth.
It's not only true in the dorms; it's true in our homes. Perhaps we can explain based on this Why Chazal were saying that it's a mitzvah al Pesach Beisel. It has to be at the entrance to your house. It's a mitzvah on the home. It's Chashmonayu Bonav. The Neros Chanukah have to be Neros of the home. It's a family mitzvah. Hashmonayu banav. A pesach beiso. When a person enters your home, he has to feel ensconced in Torah and mitzvos. There has to be an avirah rabo say of this a place of godliness. This is a place of Hashem. There's a merida. There's a rebellion happening in the world today. Talmudai is from a lashon of Merida. In the shuk today, there's a Merida. You go out into the proverbial shuk in the world today. There's a terrible rebellion in the shuk not far from here. You can see that rebellion.
A person told me this week that they were in a tremendous amount of pain. Stuff came up for them, a lot of old family stuff. And they fell not into a long-term depression, but the pain of feeling those feelings came up for many hours. And so this person decided to call a friend and say, "Let's go to the shuk." They went to the shuk. And I said, "And what did you see in the shuk?" So this person said to me, "I saw a tremendous amount of pain" And I saw people doing whatever they could to numb that pain. I said, "Tell me What did you do in the shuk? So this person said, "I got a falafel, and what's a drink? A tequila sunrise. That's a drink." Come on, Rebbe," Admit it. We're all friends here. It's Shana Ben now. We're talking about from my mother's side. Back in the day, it was a guy or a girl. It's a person. Getting a mixed drink.
It's a person. It's ETL's holding. Not just what it is, the nature of it. Like a little scientist understanding all the things that go into it. I'm saying, Rebbe said, like everyone can admit it. I'm saying, like guys over here, we don't drink that. Chassid Shalom. You don't drink tequila sunrise. If I had just said tequila, it would have been. Of course. So I asked this person. Said you could have gotten a falafel anywhere. Why'd you go to the shuk to get a falafel? Why'd you go to the shuk? The person said. Thinking about it, they stopped. They said it's where you go when you're in pain. There's a tremendous amount of pain. You should know all these hashkafas that you're seeing in the world today. It's born from a place of a tremendous amount of pain. This is not coming from a healthy society. This is not coming from a society that's truly loving and truly giving.
This is coming from a society that has no idea how to feel the tremendous feelings of loneliness that exist in the world today. And people are doing everything they can to try to escape these feelings. In Yiddishkeit, we don't have these notions. In Yiddishkeit, we have a connection to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. We have value. We're not pursuing happiness. We're pursuing meaning. We're not asking what we need. We're asking what we're needed for. What are we here in the world to do? Our homes have to be homes of tahara. We all know that the halacha is that tumah is cher betzibur. That Klal Yisrael could have used the tameh oil to light the menorah. But then it would have missed the point. The menorah has to be lit b'tahar. It's a good opportunity. In yeshiva, we always talk about what my hashkafa is. What is my hashkafa? You have the question a lot. Rabbi, soon I'm going to be dating.
What is my hashkafa? I'm going to go to a girl. I'm going to tell this girl, this is who I am. What is my hashkafa? Guys say, how much? All of a sudden, they become lamdanim. They say, 'How much?' They don't know. Maybe it's one. Maybe it's two. Maybe it's three. How much of my hashkafa do I need to know before I start dating? Whatever hashkafa you have, Rabboi, it has to be a hashkafa of tahara. It can't be a half-baked hashkafa. It can't be a hashkafa of Yiddishkeit plays a small role in my life. Yiddishkeit has something to say. Rav Aaron Lichtenstein, Rashi of Gush, used to say If Yiddishkeit is true, it should mean everything to you. If it's not true, it should mean nothing to you. If we believe that Yiddishkeit is true, then it should be the center of our lives. It should be the lens through which we see the world.
It should inform every decision that we make. And as we're making these decisions in our life, we have to ask ourselves, 'What does Hakadosh Baruch Hu want from me?' Not 'What do I want, and how do I somehow manage to fit that in?' That's not what it means to be a Chanukah Jew. We're living in a time of great darkness. And more than ever before, we need the Nerus of Chanukah. As we are preparing to build our own homes, this lesson, I hope, is coming across. Even though I'm speaking in vague terminologies, I hope I'm looking around fairly confident, especially from certain of you that are giving me that eye Tolly is giving me right now. I'm confident that you hear the words that are not being said. Am I being clear? Yes. Clear decisions that place Yiddishkeit at the primacy of your life. Aye, but I need you to come home. Mommy misses you. Decisions that will place Yiddishkeit at the primacy of your life. Rabbi, I have an excellent day.
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