Nitzotzos Melava Malka - Rav Weingot - Finding Your Inner Shemen

2:13 And the Mepharshim say that when Hashem puts such a hisor, if we don't quickly put it into something, it could turn to anything. It could turn to just lights. It could turn to just trees. So whenever such a time comes, if you put it into a heifetz, as the Ramban, if you put it into something solid, then that guards the special time. So you clearly had a spark, and the Tzotetz have put together such a beautiful thing of learning, and you put it into a heifetz right away. What a heifetz this is. What a beautiful group this is. And that's the whole nature of Hanukkah, why we put a menorah, because the menorah is what guards us this whole time period, which is a very warm time, but we keep that warmth within Kedusha. We light the menorah, which keeps the Shemot of Hanukkah, the hour of Hanukkah, that's where our greatest coziness is. You're going to make parties over Hanukkah, and we're going to make parties like the world, but we light a menorah first. We're going to eat latkes that are fried in oil, even though it's oil, girls, and you're still going to eat the latkes. And you're going to do different things, which comes back to the chafetz, to the object. So it's a beautiful thing that you put together such a nice thing.

3:14 And it should be a schos for not just for all of you, but for all of Kola Yisrael, because we need every schos. So continue, continue to go to Shiurim, continue to live by what you hear in the Shiurim, and continue to be a nachas to Hashem. Okay, so... So let's discuss a little bit about Hanukkah. I want to ask a few questions first, and then... Together, and if anyone has what to say, if anyone has what to share, please speak up. Please. This is not official. Oh, you're not taking notes. I'm joking. Okay. Last time she tried to and I stopped her. That's why. No, literally. Yeah. Okay. The Lubavitcher Rebbe was a big tzaddik. And there was once, somebody was at a chastena. After the Rebbe had passed away, somebody was at a chastena. And he's a guest at the wedding and he's dancing with another guest at the wedding. And he sees there's a man that he had seen is very connected to the wedding. There's a man that was very connected to the wedding.

4:17 He didn't know exactly what, but you know when you're at a wedding you can tell who's family, based on what they were and where they are at the chuppah. You know who's family and who's not. So he said to the man dancing in front of him, why is that man over there? Where was he? He was off to the side. He wasn't dancing. He was clearly not dancing with the wedding. Because he knew he was related somehow. He says, oh, you don't know. He says, what do you mean? He says, he's the father of the chasen. And he didn't grow up with Torah and mitzvot. He didn't grow up religious. And when his son, who did become very religious,

4:48 when his son took on a life of Torah and mitzvot, he made up that when his son's going to get married and he knows he's going to walk him down, he's going to get a bris milah. He never had a bris. A father, he's past his 60s. He made up he's going to get a bris. So right before the chasen, he kept that commitment and he went and he got a bris and he wasn't capable of dancing. The man who heard this was so touched, unbelievable, that a man at such an age, who for whatever reason didn't do it till then, would take on such a hard commitment to something he clearly wasn't connected to and to still do that for his son. He left the circle. He went over to the man who he didn't know. And he said, Shalom Aleichem. He said, hello. He said, mazotav. Congratulations on your son. That's so special. I just heard what you just did. That's so beautiful. Okay, they're talking. He says, here, I want to give you something. He takes out his wallet, and he reaches into a side pocket in the wallet where he kept something very special, this man. And in there, he had a folded dollar. He had a folded dollar. What was this dollar? When he started to get old, he met with so many, so many people. It was too much for him to meet at meetings with each people,

5:49 so he used to stand. And the entire Sunday, from the beginning of the day till the end, he didn't go to the bathroom, nothing. Unbelievable. And he would give out dollar bills and give people a bracha. The purpose of the dollar, give a tzatzaka. No one gave that dollar a tzatzaka. They would keep it and give a different dollar. But everybody, it was a special thing to get that dollar. So this man, Baba Trevor had passed away already many years as this story is taking place, but he had gotten a dollar when the Rebbe was still alive. So he says, I cherish this dollar. I have it from a big tzaddik, from a holy Jew, but I want you to have it. It's a special thing to have. You did such a special thing, you deserve it. So he gave him the dollar. As he's handing him the dollar, the man turns white, and he's about to faint. He's grappling for a chair. He quickly gives him a chair. He says, what's the matter? I thought maybe, you know, a side effect, a surgery. He gives him a minute. He says, I'll tell you what just happened. He said, when I was a little boy, when I was a little boy, so I was playing. I lived in Brooklyn. Didn't grow up with any of this. And I was playing with my friend one Sunday, and we saw a big line near 770, Crown Heights.

6:54 We saw a big line. People were waiting to get dollar bills. So I went with my friend to go wait in line with him. Why not? A dollar, candy, it could be good. So waiting in line, finally it was our turn. My friend, he gets his dollar. And then the rabbi, the rabbi looked at me, and he said, do you have a brismila? I couldn't lie to the rabbi. I said, no, I don't. He said, he smiled at me, and he said, when you get a brismila, you'll get a dollar. So now you know why I almost fainted. How does a tzaddik do that? Is there a book, like, you know, how to make miracles? Do they have a list, like, you know, the Satmar Rebbe, like, him and the Lubavitcher Rebbe get together. Okay, let's make good stories for the next generation. How do they do that? Where does that koach come from? All they do all day is they sit in front of these books, girls. There's no, and this is what, you know, you sit in front all day. You've learned probably a lot more than me. And this is a bunch of Hebrew letters. How do they do that? And we could say 3,000, 10,000 more maises like that, other stories. Where does that come from? So let's learn a gemara about Hanukkah.

7:55 and hopefully we'll have a little bit of an idea of where that amazing koach is. You have to tell me when I should stop, okay? My Hanukkah, the very famous gemara, the gemara on Shabbos, and, question number one already I'll start is girls most most yom tovim special days have their own masechta they got their own masechta Hanukkah nothing it's hidden in masechta Shabbos when it's talking about halachas about Shabbos about the wicks starts the gemar about the psilos my Hanukkah what's Hanukkah Psachim is Pesach. Megillah is Purim Yuma is Yom HaKippurim Rosh Hashanah is Rosh Hashanah and so on and so forth Shavuos also Shavuos because masechta Shavuos is not about Shavuos but it has at least a name, Hanukkah has no masechta my Hanukkah what's Hanukkah the Taner HaBonan we learned in Avraisa B'chav Hei V'Kislev on the 25th day of Kislev Yom HaDei Hanukkah T'man Ye'Inan the days of Hanukkah they are eight. I'm going to read, then we'll ask some questions. It's such a happy time, no eulogies.

8:59 Even if sadly somebody passes away, which should never happen from now to Moshiach, but there's no eulogies. There's no fasting. No fasting because it's a time of simcha. Why is all this the case? Because when the Yavanim came into the Heichel, into the Beis Hamikdash, they made all the oil, that was in the Heichel, that was in the Kodesh. When they came in, when they overpowered them, they were only able to find one little jug of oil. It had the seal of the Kohen Godo, and it only had enough oil for one day. I know this is all very familiar, but I'm reading it because I want to break it down a little. So first of all, it says, What's Hanukkah? The days of Hanukkah, they are eight. Someone asks you, what's Pesach? Oh, Pesach's eight. Also, Hashem took us out of Mitzrayim. Also, He did this. Guys, Pesach is eight. Why does the number of the days get put into what the Chag is? You could tell me what the Yom Tov is and then say how long it goes for. But Yom of the Hanukkah, the days of Hanukkah, they are eight. And then say,

10:35 As though that's like the name of the Yom Tov. It's the eight-day Yom Tov. What does that mean? And number two, it says that the jug of oil that they found had a seal from the Kohen Gadol. What's the significance of the Kohen Gadol? One of his jobs was not sealing bottles and making sure that they're tar. So what's the bottle? Why is that so important to us? And why did he do it? Where's the connection of the Kohen Gadol? It says, The next year they made it into a yontif. There was nothing to celebrate that year. If something good happens to you, you don't celebrate right away. Why was it only the next year? It says the next year they made it, What's the yomim tovim? Many yomim tovim. You see there's such an emphasis that's put on the shemen. What's the big, big deal? It's a big nis. But they had a lot of nisim. In the base of Miggush, there was a sar nisim, ten nisim that happened every day. When the smoke went up, even if it was a windy day, it went directly up. Where they slaughtered all the meat, there was no flies over there.

11:38 You know the mission in Pirkei Avos, in the fifth parakh. Asar Nisim, every single day. Why was this night something which was deserving of such an amazing celebration, that for eight days, for all of time now, we're celebrating? More than that, the Gemara says if a person's on his way to measure his silo, after he harvests his crop, before he ever counted it, it says you should say a bracha, that you should give me a bracha in this silo. Because Hashem could give you more. Don't make that bracha after you count it, because then that's already asking for an ace. And then it says after you measure it, thank Hashem for the ace. The Gemara was saying it as a normal thing, that you can ask Hashem, a yihiratzon, that there should be more. More? I harvested it already. What's there is there. No, no, no. Say a tefillah. Yihiratzon, that Hashem should send bracha in this, as though it's such a normal thing, that they have an ace. Yet we celebrate the Shem, and why is the Shem so unique? Also, Hanukkah is unique. that there is no special begadim on Hanukkah. There is no special se'ud on Hanukkah. That's not what the Yom Tov was set for.

12:39 Of course, you make nice parties, and in Halacha, it's brought down that if you say shiros v'sesh bachos, if you praise Hashem, say Devar Torah turns into surah mitzvah, that's not the Chag, that's not the Yom Tov. Why not? Okay, so a few questions. If anybody wants, they can answer all of them. But now let's, Ali, no? Let's learn a little bit. Does anybody have a watch, Ekevara? Because if I see the time, I won't go as long. Thank you very much. What time did we start? No? Let's talk a little bit about oil first. There's such a big significance that's put on the shemen, that's put on the oil. We did win a battle, our lives were saved, yet still such an emphasis is put on shemen and put on oil. Everybody knows that Rosh Chodesh is a special Chag, is a special time, especially for Nashem, especially for women.

13:46 So the, in our Chayim, actually the Torah, the Torah is discussing why is it that Rosh Chodesh has a special connection to Nashem. Our Zeruah, Daki Moshe brings down, but what's the reason that the, less common, even though it's brought down in the Torah, what's the connection? He says like this, I heard from my brother of Yehuda. He says because the Pesach, Sukkot, and Shavuot, that corresponds to Avram, Yitzhak, and Yaakov. Why? Pesach was Avram Avinu and the Malachim came, Lushi, Va'asi, Ugos. Let me mix the dough, because Pesach Chaya was Pesach. Yitzchak is Shavuos because we know that by Kabbalah's Hathorah the shofar that was blown is the Eil Shel Yitzchak. That was the ram of Yitzchak. Sukkos, Yaakov Avinu from this past week's parasha. Yaakov, what did he build on his way back to see his father Yitzchak on the way back to Beisau? Sukkos. He built Sukkos. That's corresponding to Sukkos. How about the Shvatim? Yudbe's Shvatim will correspond to them or the Yudbe's Rosh HaChadoshim. Those are also Moadim.

14:47 Those are called Yom Tovim. They're called Yom Tovim. And that's the Yom Tovim that all the Shvatim have. What happened? Men, we made a mistake. We did the Chet Ego. So Hashem took it away from the men and gave it to who? Who can you trust? Yes. You don't. Don't show it. It's okay. Avi. Hashem gave it to the Nashi. So now it's yours. And that's why Rosh HaChadosh belongs a lot more to you than it does to us. It's all of ours but there's something special. Why? There's even a sheet in Halacha that people don't do Malach in Rosh HaChadosh. We don't follow that. I don't know if your family would be okay with that. But there is such a shita that there's no malacha done. Not like a malacha avyantiv, but that there's a nice idea of not doing malacha. So the Shem Yishmura says, that if you take all the 12 yom tovim, I mean, sorry, if you take the 12 months, and then you match it up with the 12 shvatim, based on the Rambam's order, the shvatim, chodesh teves comes to the shevet, which shevet? Shevet asher.

15:50 What was the bracha of asher? We have coming up in Parshat Zvayechi. It is me asher shmeina lachmod. What's shmeina? It's shemen. It's oil. Birch ha'smoshe, in the end of the Torah, in Devarim, me asher v'tovel b'shemen ragel, the bracha of asher is shemen. So asher is connected with shemen. Teves, which is the Chodesh of Ashers connected with Shemen. So we're in the month, we're coming up to the month of Shodesh Teves, which comes out in Hanukkah is Shemen. What's unique. about Shemen? So he goes further and he says everybody knows the story with Ashes Ovadia, the wife of Ovadia that she had, her husband died of it. Her husband had passed away, he was nifter and her two sons were taken by somebody who had lent them money and it's in Malachim You know the Tamalachim story? You see the Tamalachim also? Oh, this is Malachim Beis I don't know anything I didn't see So you've been told this, Maisa? No, not really Oh, so what happened was, I was saying it quick, So one of the B'nai Hanuvim, Ovadia was nifter, he passed away It's like the only thing I know from Navi So he passed away and his wife.

16:53 they had to owe the money, so Yehoram who had lent them the money was going to take her two sons. She was going to take her two sons as a, you're not paying me that, say take your two sons that's what happens when someone doesn't pay you, take their kids, So. she comes running to Elisha and she tells Elisha what happened. So Elisha said to her, do you have anything in your house? Do I have nothing in my house? She says, do you have nothing in your house? She said, no. Tell me one thing you have in your house. Because The Baruch of Hashem needs something. If you have something, the Baruch of Hashem could come upon it. She said, okay, you know what I have? I have one little thing. She said, I have an Now what's, Umar says, is the amount of oil it takes to put it at the tip of your finger. When you're annoying, when you rub something, so if you're taking a little bit of cream, that's I have a little bit of oil that I have. He said, oh, you have comforted me, now there's something we can do. Obviously there's a deeper meaning to that. I don't know how Hashem.

17:57 is going to give you bracha otherwise. This is Rav Shemra Yochai writing. He said, I don't know how Hashem is going to give me bracha without that. But now they have oil. If you have oil, now there's a place where bracha could come. If you have some shemen, now bracha can come. So on a simple level, what food is good that's not fried? So you could start eating food again, girls, because schnitzel is much better than plain chicken cutlets. Who would honestly say plain chicken cutlets is better than schnitzel? If you want to be honest. Okay, that's not the pshat. But shemen is a source of bracha, says the Zohar. And he brings down a passage, I'm going to read some pshukim from, it's actually a very short capital, it's Kuflam and Gimel, the whole parak of Tehillim is three pshukim. Sheha malos lidavit. Hinei ma tov u'ma noyim, sheves achim gam yachat, a very famous passage. How beautiful is it, people getting together, getting along. It's referring more to the but Sheva Sachem Gem Yachad is everybody.

18:59 Continues the next passage. Like good oil, that you pour onto a head, don't try this, and then goes down to the beard, whose beard? The beard of Aaron. And then from there, it starts going onto his clothing. Goes onto the clothing. Just like Har Hermon was higher than Har Zion. So anything that's dripping off Har Hermon would go to Har Zion. That's where Hashem gives bracha. There could come life to the world. So Shemen, we're talking about Shemen again. From that's the source of bracha, and from there could come life to the world. So again, another Makar, that Shemen is a source of bracha. Hashem is a hint to bracha. On a very simple level, let's try to understand that, because it's obviously a deep concept, it's in Zohar. But on our level, we know The nerah of Hashem is the candle, is the neshama of a person. That means our neshama, which is Hashem,

20:03 that's Hashem's nerah, so to speak. A nerah gives off light. What allows Hashem to give off light, to give off bracha to all of us? It's the neshama. It's the nerah of Hashem. What fuels every nerah? And what fuels every nerah is the shem. If you have a candle, you can have a million candles or wicks, but if you don't have shem, or the wax, but if you don't have the shem, the candle's not going to give off any light. So what's the makar of Ar? Hashem says that the neshama, which is everything, the premium of everything is your neshama. What's the neshama? That's the ner, that's Hashem's candle. What fuels the candle? What gives off the light? That's the ner. Gemara says you light on Shabbos, we light neris on Shabbos, right? What's Shabbos? Shabbos all week we have a guf and a neshama. The guf wants pizza, the guf wants to go play, the guf wants to have fun in this world, it's everything physical. The neshama obviously is more inclined towards ruchnis, towards what we're supposed to be doing. They kind of don't get along, you can't mix the two. Come Shabbos, come Shabbos, then even the guf becomes neshama, you get a neshama, you're seira. That means even the guf, everything becomes clear that it's all Hashem.

21:09 Shabbos, there's no more malacha. That means Shabbos we're able to take a step back and say it's not me anymore, it's not that physical malacha, and still there's bracha, you keep Shabbos, you get more money. How? Because Shabbos is the eye-opener to us, that all of bracha is where? It's from there, it's from neshama, it's not from guf. Guf is the house, the house is the neshama. Which allows us to see the truth, to see the end. It's the house in which we're able to use the neshama. With the neshama, you can't really go have guests over. You have to have a body and a house. You have to have the physical world. It's the way how Hashem wants us to serve Him. So it's through that guf, but ultimately the source of it is the neshama. It's what's here, the netzach. After the guf is no longer here, that's what's going to be here forever. It says in the Gemara, why do we light nershabas? Because of shalom, bias. The bias is the guf, what houses the neshama. What enlightens us, what opens our eyes to realize that everything really is true, is the source of the neshama, that the purpose of everything is the neshama, that's the ar, that's the ner. So the ner is what opens up our eyes to realize how everything, everything is Hakadosh Baruch Hu,

22:10 everything is Hashem. We have to find Hashem in everything. So the shemen is the makar of bracha. Shemen is their representative, is symbolizing to us the source of all bracha. Let's talk about Hanukkah now. Let's talk about the Yavanim a little now. We know that the Yavanim, they wanted us to lose our, What's a chok and what's ratzom? It's a chok, everybody knows. Chok is a mitzvah that we don't understand the reason. Mishpat, it makes sense. Chok is something which doesn't make sense. The Yavanim, it's a very interesting thing that you ever have a non-Jew walks by. So there's people, anti-Semitism everybody gets. You ever have a person and he walks by and says, oh, they're learning Gemara. Oh, they're learning Navi? Now I'm upset at them. Most of them, oh, they're a Jew. I'm upset at them. You ever saw someone that's upset at us because we're learning? Because you're doing mitzvahs? The Yavanim had this thing that they cared that we kept Hashem's Torah. That was the uniqueness of the Yavanim. And the Yavanim didn't like the fact that we have chokim, that we have something that doesn't have a reason.

23:12 What's the idea of a chok, says the Ramban? Because since the chok is something which makes no sense, there could only be one reason we're doing it. Not because of our chachma. Nobody in their right mind would have thought, I can't guarantee, I'm guessing, Yonina, that you would have never thought of paradum if Hashem didn't write it. Would you have thought that that could make a tummy mace tar? You have a cow with no... No? Nobody would think such a thing. Would you have thought that you can't mix wool and linen? There was once three Balei Tshuvas sitting around, and they were talking about what they remember. Good people, wonderful people, but like what they missed from the olden days, you know, from the good old days. So, not good old days, but now it's better. So one of them said, I miss just that whole life of guilt-free. Do what we want, have a good time and come home, and the next day, no guilt. It was just okay. Now, we have Yetzirah, we feel bad. Now we learned about it. Second one says, you know what I miss? Cheeseburger. The meat with the cheese. You could try all you want with the veggie burgers. It doesn't do it. But just a good cheeseburger. And the third guy, a little of a humorous guy,

24:13 he says, you know what I miss? I miss shotness. A good wool and linen mix. Nobody in their right mind could care less or would have thought of that there's an isser of wool and linen. You would have thought that? No. So then, if we could keep that halacha, if we're going to keep that halacha of shotness, clearly we're tapping into something way beyond us. Because that bothered the Ivanim. Greek philosophy, Greek ideology, it's all about the men. It's as far as my intellect can take me. Which, very quickly, because I don't want to put too much time to that now, but the limitation of that is that when I have failure, it's my failure. Because if I'm the cause of all my success, if it can't go beyond me, so that's good when it works, but the moment it doesn't work, whose fault is that? Mine. Because I'm the one causing everything. Yevonim saw by the Jews something else. There was such simcha. It says, When you're connected to something greater than yourself, which is a smart truth, but when you're connected to that, so there's a lot of room for joy because even if, something goes wrong, but as long as I did my part, that was Hashem's plan. So it turned out like this.

25:15 I didn't go to that seminary. I didn't get that shirach. Or I didn't end up, getting the outfit that I wanted. Okay, I tried what I could. It was a normal. I put on my eshtagos. I'm going to go crazy. It allows for us to be happy. Yevonim saw that by Christ or it bothered them a lot. They couldn't have that simcha. What does it mean who gave ritzonecha? It says, What does ritzonecha mean? Ratzon means your desire. You want something. You have a desire for something. A ratzon, many, many times. is a lot stronger than your seichel. Seichel, what makes sense. And ratzon is what doesn't make sense. Simple mashal. You ate already. It's 11 o'clock at night, but you're passing Berrylicious. I can't say La Chocolate, they're closed at 5. But you're passing Berrylicious, and they have the dazzle and all the ice cream into the mushroom that works for me. I don't know if it works for you. Maybe like you're passing a salad store mushroom. But you're passing Berrylicious, and they even got bigger cups recently, girls. It could get even bigger. They have jumbo cups now.

26:17 And you could get the nuts and the peanut butter and the chocolate. Your body is telling you no. Your body is saying, don't get it, don't get it. You ate supper already. And you're going to sleep now. You're going to be sleeping. Your body's working all night now trying to do something with all that you put in. What happens? I want it. And you stop the car. You don't have to pay the meter. Then it's after 7. And you stop off. And the lady there at night is very nice. She gives a lot extra. And it works perfectly. I did this a few times. There's no seichel to that, but you want it. And once you have the ratzim, you can't stop it. sitting around Zohar two years ago when I went to Tiferet, but we also went to Nativ. And I was in Nativ, so we had a meeting with Avina, his son, and the boys from Hank that were there that year. So Avina says, he says it the way it is, so he was going around asking which boys are going to be there for Shana. Hey, Shana bet. So he asks, so you're going to come back? He says, I don't know. He says, why not? Do you want to? He says, yeah. So why don't you even come? I don't know if my parents are going to let. So Avina laughed at him,

27:19 I'm sorry, Avina laughed at him, and he said, if you wanted a girl, you would listen to your parents? When the Shana comes that you want, you're not listening to anybody. When there's a ratzon there that's strong enough, you should, by the way, you should, it's not halach, you should listen to your parents. But when there's a, what he was saying to them is that when there's such a strong ratzon, ain't nothing, ain't davar omefnei ratzon, or like the mimer achachem he brings down is, ain't tamal de ratzon, there's no cheshbon, there's no reason for ratzon. Ratzon is from a much different place. Many times it's off. That's why it's good to have parents and to listen to parents, even when they're in America and it's a horrible place, America. But your parents are still parents. But that ratzon though, how is it so strong? And especially when it's a ratzon of kedusha, when it's chuk eritzonecha. Says the Shem Yishmael like this. He says, means that you have something called the heart, and that's, oh, that's very delicious. Then you have something called the that's, don't eat it, because it's 11 o'clock at night. But then, when the two of them make a little shidduch,

28:21 you have the moach and the lave. That lave allows you to dip into a place in the moach that you couldn't normally get there, because it's such a deep cheshbon, but it allows you to get to a place that's not rational, but from a rational place. That's chuk gei ritzonecha. Chok is a millstone below time. It's something that doesn't really have a reason. We can't understand it. Ritzonecha is the ratzon of Hashem. Ratzon is the deepest thing. Ratzon is so much deeper than what makes sense, because it overpowers it. So much so, he says, Dovra melech, libi ubasari iranu. he says, he's going to be in a way greater than the either the that's where the comes from but he's when you have and obviously whatever that means that he's not greater than them he is greater we don't know what it means greater but it means there's a certain of being able to get to the so the Yavanim couldn't stand that because Klai Yisrael had such a such a good thing going for them everything made sense they were always.

29:22 happy things were always working they were clearly tapping into something that Yavanim with all their theaters and with all the Olympics and with everything that they had which was astonishing it was a success why are they the ones upset no other nation was upset was anybody do you ever watch an inauguration of a president and be jealous that you're not the one up there you never watch a NBA player make his 30th shot and say oh I should have shown up today they would have let me play you don't make that because it's so not you, Right? You're not thinking like, oh, if I would have been in Washington, I could have given the inaugural address. Oh, I had a class. I had a seminary reunion probably or Shabbaton with Leora. That's it. Nobody's singing that way because it's not in your ballpark. It's two different worlds. Yavan was close. They were close. They got the bracha from Noah. Yav te'lo kim li'efes. V'yish gembo le'shem. Yif yifu so shal yavan. The beauty of yavan. The Gemara Megillah says that a sefer Torah that's written in any language according to Shem HaGom Le'el is no good. It has to be Lashon HaKodesh. One exception. Yavan. If it's written in Yavani,

30:23 it's good because Yavan did have something going for them. Their ideology, they were successful people. But there's a limit to the success of men. But if you could tap into something greater, it takes you much further places. And they saw that in Kal Yisrael. There's a group of people, a father, a B'Shech that was once taking his kids on a Chol HaMaitre. It wasn't to Cancun, and it wasn't to Florida. You'll see, girls, if you ever marry... Don't be so quick to marry Chinuch, because all my trips are going to be different. So where did he take them? He took them to JFK. It cost $4 to park. That was the trip. They went inside, and he went in, and he took them. You know they have the tram that goes around? You don't pay to go on that, because most people going on it are actually flying somewhere. So when JFK built it, they had in mind people who paid for their tickets. That's what JFK had in mind. He, though, had a different kavanah. And they went around and around, and they saw planes take off. They saw people coming and going. That was their Cholomai trip,

31:24 by the Schechter and his kids. He tells over the story. So they're on there, and they're having a great time, probably eating matzah and romaine lettuce. Well, then you could eat romaine lettuce. So they were going around. They were on the thing, and all of a sudden, people who are supposed to be on it, a pilot gets on. Because he's probably going to this hotel to sleep three hours because he has a flight to catch. It was meant for him. So he gets on, and he sees this family. So he says, they start talking. Rav Shachar is a very friendly Jew. And he says to him, where are you going? So Pilate says, well, I actually just landed from Boston. I'm heading out in a few hours. I'm just going to go get a little sleep. I'm heading on to Samhain, wherever it was, another place. Where are you going? He says to Rav Shachar, he said, we're going around. We came for this. This is our day off. Where are you flying? He said, no, no, we're not flying. He says, but this is an airport. So until he explained to him, he said, no, we didn't come here to fly anywhere. We have no luggage. We didn't come off a plane. We're not going on a plane. But it's a trip for my kids. We're going around in this. So it took him a little while just to grasp it.

32:30 After he got it, so they continued talking. And before it was about, the trip was about to end. Rav Shachar, he turns to this, the Pilate says to him, he says, you know what? He says, every single moment of my life, I know exactly where I'm going. I have it on paper. I get it at the beginning of every week in email, fax, exactly where I should be, which flight, which time. He says, you know what? I was away so much from home. My wife left me. I never spent time with my kids. I never took advantage of the moments. He says, I know it every second where I'm supposed to be, but I have no idea where I'm going. I have no idea where I'm going. He says, you, you guys are going absolutely nowhere. You know exactly where you're going. When you could tap into that call of Hashem, that we have to do everything we could do. We have to do everything we can do. And Hashem gave us the bias. That's the goof to do it with. But as long as we're able to be maka that that neshama within is a chelek al-kamimau, that there's a Hashem controlling the world, that there's a Hashem that's taking care of me, who cares for me,

33:33 which is why He created me. So if I have belief in Him, I have belief in that. As long as we have that koach, we're unstoppable. Unstoppable that as long as we try with our sincerest kavanah to do what we're supposed to be doing, we always have direction. It could be right now we didn't find our sheref. It could be right now we listened to a sheref that was boring and we have no idea what's going on. It could be different things happen, but the overall picture, we have such direction. We have such clarity at every moment. I don't know the exact boy I want to marry. Enough kamina. I know what I want in life. I know what I should be doing in life. I have the manual. I have the guide. And I have Hashem who loves me and cares for me. Every moment is mapped out for us. Every moment makes so much sense. It's the biggest bracha. It's the greatest bracha in the world. Reb Eson Machlis had a, Allah, Henni Machlis, Mrs. Machlis, so she had, everyone knows about the Machlises, about all their, so you may know this story also, but her little boy,

34:34 one time, Moshe, they had a guest, and raise your hand, if you read the whole book, okay, a bunch of humble girls, so, they, she, there was once a guest, a kid from college, somewhere in Eretz Israel, a college kid, and, he was being very disrespectful, the whole meal, he was throwing comments, excuse me, at Rabbi Machlis, and making fun of him, and this whole Jewish thing, this whole religious thing, and they've had, and they've had the, not to call any human crazy, but they had, every type of person in their house, read the book, you'll see, they had every type there. But this one was Ola al-Kulam, and so insulting. And everything he would say at the meal, anything nice, he would put down and mock, to the point that Rabbi Machlas just at one point had to walk away from the table. He didn't want to say anything to the boy. He just walked away. And his wife's in the kitchen taking care of something. She says, where are you going? He says, I can't. It's too hard. I'm just going to go to my room a little. She says, you can't do that. Hashem put him there.

35:35 There's a reason why he's here. Go back to the table. He listened to his wife. He went back. Okay. Sudah's over and the boy's leaving. As he's leaving, little Moshe, little Moshe Machlas, he says to the teenager, he said to him, I'm just going to use the words he used. I apologize. He says, why do you have that stupid thing in your nose? It was one of those nose rings. So right away, the college kid retorted back. He says, why do you have that stupid thing on your head? So this seven-year-old right away said, oh, that's because I want to remember it every time there's something greater than me and above me. But why do you have that stupid thing in your nose? He went back to his college. He was in the dorm, writing in his diary that night. And he said, the seven-year-old knows exactly why he does what he does, but I have no idea why I wear what I wear. A few years later, he was in UCLA running the minyanim, making sure there's minyanim. He got his direction. He got his path back. And on Hanukkah, on Hanukkah, when Hashem made the nays of the shemen, let's go back to a little of the questions, a few of the questions.

36:37 When Hashem made the nays of the shemen, so they didn't make a yom tov right away. They didn't make a yom tov right away because the yom tov of Hanukkah at that point was they won a war, which would have been amazing. Purim, we want to wear also, and we celebrate that. But the yom tov of Hanukkah, as the menorah kept on lighting, as the shemen and the aura of Hanukkah kept on lighting, it turned into this eight-day yom tov, which was something that was unbelievable. Eight. Seven is this world. Eitzel Amal HaMana Teva. It took them out of this world to see that there's something much greater than we have here. There's the Makar HaBracha, something that's causing all of this to happen. It was the eye-opener to know that there's a source that's bringing light to everything. Says the Sheymi Shmuel, why don't we make a se'uda on Hanukkah? Why don't we have that kind of celebration? Because on Purim we're celebrating, we won the war. Pesach, we won out of Mitzrayim. Every Yom Tov has its specific celebration that we have. Hanukkah is the source of every Chag. It's the source of every day. It's the source of every bracha that we ever have. That realization, that lighting of the menorah, that it's Hashem who brings bracha to everything, that's why we won the war on Hanukkah. We're going to go celebrate the war. We can celebrate something much bigger.

37:41 That's life. Why is everyone so happy on Hanukkah? Everyone loves Hanukkah. Everybody loves Hanukkah, and there's not much that goes on. Not much, yeah, presents. But even as we grow mature enough that it's not the biggest thing, everyone has such a warm, I hope, such a warm, don't say not, I'll ask you to. It's such a warm feeling for Hanukkah. It's the makar of everything. It's the makar of all bracha. We don't wear big day shabbos. We go to school. Yes, go to college, continue your classes. Why? Because a Jewish life has bracha in every moment. Hanukkah tells us that every single moment is Kodesh Kedashim. Not a specific event like Yitzias Mitzrayim. Not a Kriyas Yamsif. Not because we got to Torah. Because Hashem created you and every single moment is Kodesh Kedashim. This is the source of all bracha. You're going to put on a big day shabbos? No, wear your weekday shirt. That's Kodesh Kedashim. When we realize that in everything is Kodesh Kedashim, is the Kedush of everything, we purposely don't put on those begadim. No, it's your malacha. Your malacha is Kodesh Kedashim. Why are you doing work? What's the purpose of it? It's the penemius behind it. It's the Kedush of it.

38:43 Continue working. The nisim that happened, we asked the question, they had so many other nisim that happened. I saw a nisim, ten nisim that took place in the Beis Hamikdash every day. They used to go, true, says Hashem, what was the makar? What was the source of all that bracha? All the nis? This was the makar. Nis Chanukah was the makar of everything. It's the source of it all. It's what reminds us that Hashem is ultimately the cause of all bracha. There's no mesechta for Chanukah. Because Chanukah is every mesechta. Chanukah is everything. Chanukah is what it means to live life, Kodesh Kedashim. Every second, and this is what we said last Chanukah, every second, Elior took out her notebook, said don't write anything, just write Hashem. Just write Hashem, because that's everything, that's our life, is Hashem. Every moment, if we can think, what does Hashem want from me? What does Hashem want at this moment? My parents ask me something, my brother's crying, I'm not sure about this shidduch, all the dilemmas that come our way, what should I, what does Hashem want from me? What does Hashem want? And if we can ask that question, we know what Hashem wants.

39:44 We know sometimes we don't want that. That's the Kiddush of Hanukkah. The Gemara says, Yom HaDachanukah Tman Ye'inan. When the Gemara was giving us the label of Hanukkah, it says, Yom HaDachanukah Tman Ye'inan. The definition of Hanukkah is eight. Eight means out of this world. Seven is this world. Shabbat Shavuos. Seven days of a week. Seven. Eight. Shavuot is Lamala. That is the name of Hanukkah. Yom HaDachanukah Tman Ye'inan. It's the Makar Bracha. That's the eight. There was a boy in a yeshiva in Eretz Yisrael. This yeshiva wasn't for boys who had grown up religious, but had come to it later. And he was loving it. He was his parents' one. So happy he was there. He came from a family that wasn't Shom HaTorah Mitzvahs, but he was having a great year. His family couldn't afford to pay. He didn't have money. But the yeshiva worked out a deal for him, and he was in the yeshiva. One day the boys got together. They were going to make a Shabbaton to go up in Or. To go to Tzvat. the yeshiva wasn't this was from the boys they wanted to have a Shabbos of Hisoros a nice Shabbos.

40:47 so they made up amongst themselves they're all going to chip in at the end of the trip one boy would lay it out, they would keep all the receipts and whatever it cost for the cheap hotel rooms the food and the travel, they would all divide amongst themselves they wanted to do their own Shabbos like a Liora type of thing their own Shabbos and all of you I just know Liora that's why I'm saying that I'm sure all of you and Rivka and Nina and everybody, and it's two Hannahs and everybody all of you Zavabracha, I'm sorry I don't know no more names otherwise I would say that and Avi and Mrs. Fishman sorry okay, and everybody. what's your name? Dina. Chani, Hannah, your name? oh sorry Nicole hi Nicole Liana Liana right your name? Emily, Zavabracha Liora Gabby, Mrs. Fishman what's your name? Elsie Elsie? yeah very nice your name? Rivka Carly, Yelena? Your name? Noka? Anna? What's your name? Shoshana.

41:48 It's a nice name. What's your name? Aviva Wap? Okay. Nice Chavra. So he decided that he was... So all of you, what all of you would do, and continue to do, and all your life, with your husbands beautiful homes. So they were going to go, so they went around to all the boys to ask them if they want to go. They came to this boy, and they said, do you want to go on the trip? So he said, I would love to, but he knew it was going to cost money. He didn't have money. So he's about to say no, but then he remembered that week what they taught in Yeshiva. They had just taught him that week, that the Gemara says, it's decided at the beginning of the year how much money you're going to make. Rosh Hashanah, Hashem decides how much you're going to make in the year. There's three exceptions. Hotzoh HaShabbos, what you spend for Shabbos. Hotzoh HaYom Tiv, what you spend for Yom Tiv. And what you spend for Talmud. Chavra. Torah, not tzedakah, it's not one of them. Tzedakah, b'davka, comes from what you are. But there's three things that don't come off. That means that if you're supposed to make, chas v'sham ten dollars a year, then you go to the store to buy chicken for Shabbos,

42:51 which costs two dollars, it's not coming off the ten. You'll have twelve. Whatever you spend sincerely for Shabbos does not come off what was meant to come to you that year. He had just learned that that week. So he says, why are my friends going? They're making a nice Shabbos of his soros, to sing a beautiful Shabbos, to reinvigorate ourselves during the week. That for sure. So he said, that for sure falls into that category. Amen. Saying to himself, Hashem will take care of me. I don't have money, but that's not me. That's Hashem. Amen. They went up. They had an amazing Shabbos. It was a beautiful, beautiful Shabbos. But then, it was after Shabbos. Sunday, they're back in Yeshiva, and the boy in charge is going around to each boy collecting the money. So then they get to this boy, we'll call him David. They said, David, okay, it came out the calculation is... 388 shekel and 60 agarot. 388 shekel and 60 agarot. Remember the Meisner? I think I did. 300, maybe I didn't say it. 388 shekel and 60 agarot. So deep down, he's like, you know, you know when your.

43:52 lungs fall with your heart? Lave, you know, and the moth, everything fell. So, but he put on, he says, can I have a few days to get it? I said, sure, yeah. Okay. So he's walking back to the dorm after. When's he going to get 300? It's $100. And if you don't have $100, it's even more than $100 when you don't have it. Like Amara says, even a Kli Katen, if you don't have it, it becomes a Kli Gogo. He didn't have the money. So he's thinking, what am I going to do? Gets back to the dorm, and he sees there's a letter on his bed when anyone would get mail. In Yeshiva, there used to be something called mail. Not email, mail. And whenever anyone would get something, they would leave it on your bed. So he had gotten a letter and he saw it's a birthday card. It was his birthday and his family had sent him a birthday card. Oh, very nice. He opens up the card. Nice letter from his parents, happy birthday, da-da-da. We decided to send you an interesting gift this year. An interesting gift. We're going to send this in Eretz Yisrael. We're sending you, it was in a separate envelope, one of every single type of Israeli currency. So he opened up the letter, and he counted. What's the largest one?

44:54 200 shekel bill. Then there's a 100 shekel bill. How much is that? Then there's a 50 shekel bill. What's that? Then there's a 20 shekel bill. That's? Then there's a 10 shekel coin. That's? There's a 5 shekel coin. There's a 2 shekel coin. There's a 1 shekel coin. There's 50 agurot, and there's 10 agurot. 388.60. The exact amount which Shabbos cost. He tapped into that great koach. You tap into Hashem's way. Hashem's going to take care of me. Shabbos. Shabbos is the ner. We like the ner for shalom vayis. It's what enlightens us to see that even guf is neshama. Everything in this world is Kodesh Kedashim. Everything in this world is holy. And if as long as we're able to try our hardest to see that it's really Hashem controlling, it's really Hashem giving, waking up in the morning and it's moda ani, that I'm only waking up because of Hashem, then every moment becomes a bracha. Every moment becomes easy for us to say, I want to do the ratzen of Hashem. So we should all be zolcha. We shouldn't have to light Hanukkah candles in America this year. We should all have the Beis Hamikdash very soon, where the ultimate light will come. The Gemara says that, I'm not the Gemara, we know that. Tess has four crowns on the Tess of Tov. Nine times four is thirty-six. It's the thirty-six lights of Hanukkah.

46:27 Vav Beis is eight. Six plus two, those are the eight nights of Hanukkah. Thirty-six, the eight nights of Hanukkah, it's Ki Tov. It's only good. It reminds us that everything is good. We shall be zoha, to see that good in everything, to have that koach from Hashem. And Hashem should give you continuous bracha, continuous clarity, continuous clarity in all moments, to find Him, to find Him everywhere, to find Him always. G'tzvah.