Filed under: Chanukah, Gematria, Palestinians, messiah redemption, spiritual proof
It’s said by Rashi that Yaakov went back across the river to pick up the small bottles that were filled with oil for Chanukah that he had left there. It was when doing this that Yaakov came across the supernal angel of Edom (the west ), and he wrestled with him and won at Bait Ael which illudes to the place of the Holy temple. This shows us by the power of Chanukah we can concur the exile of Edom. As yaakov did fulfilling the verse “ I will punish the Hosts on high “. The threat of Yaakov getting the Chanukah oil was enough to arouse the angel of Asev, Edom to attack him.
Another matter we need to look at is what it means to us that on Chanukah that Asev can only be defeated when Yosef is with Yehuda. Yehuda alone cannot defeat Asev. This brings us to explain Masiach ben Yosef and David. Yuhudah is the fulfillment of the letter of the law. Yosef is service of a personal nature, above that which is required. The god of the Greeks was a impersonal unreachable god. To them god was the unapproachable authority. By the service of Yosef one fulfills the words of the Torah ”I shall dwell in your midst ” . This is how Yavan the exile of Edom is defeated. One must fulfill the mitzvot regularly this is Yehuda, but not only this but in a beautiful way by this we will overcome the present exile. We see the blending of these two aspects in the mitzvah of the Chanukah manora. As almost every one in Isreal fulfills the letter of the law of this mitzvah, being the aspect of Yehuda, yet in many homes even of those who claim to not be religious we find more than one manora lit this being the ”hadar” above the letter of the law being the aspect of Yosef.
A mitzvah is a vessel for the love of Hashem. A pitcher holds water so has an intrinsic beauty to its form, yet with ornate engravings it becomes something to behold. If this thing is a mitzvah that has become beautified it is truly something to love. Each person needs to express themselves with in the mitzvot with the uniqueness of their Nashama, this is to discover ourselves, and Hashem’s great source of light within each of us.
It is a time to manifest עזות הקושה (brazenness of Holiness) against the “sitra achra” (other side). By this is the perfection of the mitzvot. It is by this that we become Holy, which means separate. Each of us establishing our own personal relationship with Hashem. As it say in Leviticus ”sanctify yourselves and be holy ”. This being sanctification in the permitted or separation. Such as cutting the bread slightly before blessing or doing a ”Tynet debor” (fast of speech). Not speaking is equal to many fasts of food. It is the uniqueness of the individual that makes the ultimate fixing for the creation. It is this individuality that is the complete fixing against the exile of Edom. As they want conformity, a lack of individuality , every one to conform to a certain standardization. As taught by Rabbi Kahana in Pesicta Edom the offspring of Yavan (Greek values) tries to push Yisrael off the Torah path to conform to its values ” be like every one else ”. The perfection of the commandments defeats the darkness of exile. It is this dedication that is required. Now lets look specifically at how the klipa (evil) of Yavan Edom attacks.
In the era of Chanukah the Greeks made laws forbidding observance the Rosh Chodesh (new moon), Shabot ,and circumcision . Chodesh being sanctification in time, Shabot being sanctification in spirituality through action, and circumcision sanctification in the most physical our bodies. It is these institutions that Yavan chose to strike at as they are at the root of our service to Hashem. by observance of rosh chodesh we make known our time belongs to Hashem. With shabbot we realize the spiritual impact of our actions which we might have thought were in consequential, such as turning on a light. While the circumcision Yavan fought against actually represents the sanctification of Hashem with our bodies. That the most physical things we are involved in should be dedicated to divine will.
This all shines on Chanukah. חן (favor) from the revelation of the 8 days of Chanukah is as a Temple offering or ”Brit Mealah” (circucision) which both must wait till the 8th day. We receive זאת (SHECHINAH) Chanukah by the revelation of the oil (Chuhmah) that illuminates making one’s face to Shine. This Shining is חן. This is what one must find in their wife (Shechinah) as said in the end of Gemora Gitten. The כלה (bride) being the Shechinah. This being revealed as the perfection of man. This is the ”Gadlut” (greatness) of Yaakov which is called Yisrael. This is the סלום (ladder) from heaven. This is the ו . In this time of Chanukah ”dedication”, this is accomplished by doing what Yehuda Ha Makaabe stood for rebelling against what Yavan represents which is striving for beauty alone without the discretion or recognition of Hashem which, thus the pursuit of beauty becomes completely a reflection of the love of the body, and self love. Thus we see reason for their obsession with sports, the human body the main theme of their visual arts, and there obsession with abstract intellectual thought. All the things have only one end the glorification of one self, this is the ultimate product of the philosophy of the Greeks, but when the letter צ ’sawde’ is added to the word’ Yavan’ (Greek) it becomes Zion. Thus when one adds ’sawde’ representing yesod, the power of making the most complete revelation of Hashem out of all things and places. Perfect uprightness ,acting as a sadeek. Then true perfect beauty is realized. So, on Chanukah we need to dedicate to Hashem the beauty that which is unique to ourselves as we each have a different face. So our relationship to Hashem is a personal thing . It is our personal expression of beauty in Divine service. We see in the writing of our sages so many things called “hadar mitzvah”, which is performing the mitzvah in a way which is more than is required by the letter of the law. This is why Chanukah is called holiday of the Oral Torah. All Yisrael are required to fulfill the 613 commandments of the Torah. Since we don’t have a temple now, may it be rebuilt soon some mitzvot involving temple service and other mitzvot due to our lackings can only be fulfilled by learning about them. All the mitzvot that we do bind us together. This is the fulfillment of the letter of the law but this is not enough, as it says in the Talmud “ if only the letter of the law was fulfilled, no one could exist ”. If one only does the least that is required what kind of love does this express ?.
It is known that ”chuchmah” (Divine wisdom-creative power) is above space and time. Thus we see its revelation in this physical world “mamash”. The oil from the Manora allows us to Contemplate the surrounding lights and עליון רצון (supernal will). We know rabbi Moshe Chym Lazatto says this light comes around every year for those who are there to receive it, blessed are those who reach this time. Now the ”Chuchmah” (Divine Wisdom-creativity) dresses itself in our dedication as Chanukah means dedication. Chanukah being the celebration of our dedication to Holiness, which is during the time of ”chanuc” (dedication) of the alter as described in the Torah in the book of ”Bamidbar” (Numbers), the dedication of the temple by King Salomon, the dedication of the temple by Yehuda Macabbe, and today our personal dedication to the Holy Blessed One NOW.
Our personal dedication to the Torah is the absolute fixing of the present exile of
Edom (the west ), which is rooted in Yavan (greek culture ), which is the
source of the hellinism that Yehuda Macabee rebelled against. Yavon is the same
spelling as Zion, except for missing the letter צ ’sawde”. A sawdeek is represented by
Yosef ha Sadeek. He represents the sefira yesod. As taught by rabbi Shimon bar
Yochi yesod is 9th of the sefirot, it is as the 8 Chanukah lights and the ”shamash”. They are paralleled by
the 7 lights of the manorah in the temple, and the bulb where the branches meet. Thus it is said by kindling the
Chanukah manorah the manorah in the Holy Temple is lit. On Chanukah there shines the lights of ס”ג
(light of Divine underatanding) to Z’a (source of the Ruach, emotional soul). ס”ג =חנה and יהו”ה (is Z’a)=וכ
together is חנוכה . Every aspect can be lit up by נר (lamps) of chanucah. Thus נר
is gematria of the Yichudim (unifications) of אהי”ה אלהי”ם אדנ”י each with יהו”ה = נר.
Rabbi Ashlag teaches that all 25 Parzufim (divine faces of revelation) come down to
Prophets, they being attached to the highest powers.
Filed under: Chanukah, Spirituality versus Secularism, Torah Politics, ethics
Chanukah בס”ד
Chanukah is about revolution. It is a reminder to stand up against the oppression of the
nations, especially when gentile values and politics have overcome the government of the
Jewish people living in the land of Isreal. It is a time to establish a truely Torah government. Chanukah is a
time of ever increasing light. This is seen and accomplished through the service of
Chanukah which includes lighting of the “Menorah”. The main service of
Chanukah is the illumination of the darkness of night with the manorah in increasing
intensity from 1 to 9 lights including the ”shamash”. It was on the first night of Chanukah the 25th of kislev
that Antiocos made the temple into a shrine for idolatry. This was the darkest
moment when the house of Hashem became a place unfit for his dwelling .This
was the climax of the decent of the Jewish people led by their ”high society” as they slid down to the
depth of spiritual depravity being absorbed in the ”upper class” (Greek) values of their day, which was called HELLenism. The enemy may have stimulated the decline of Yisrael from outside yet the real enemy was within, it was ourselves. We allowed non-Torah values to
infect us to the point that a Cohen Gadol (High Priest) was placed in the temple who had values opposite that of the Torah.
The enemy was within but salvation came from without and within as only a small
group of Cohaniem who were living in the hills were able to bring about the
spiritual redemption of our people. Reclaiming the Holy Temple, with the miracle of
the oil, and the physical miraculous victory where our enemies were concurred. On
Chanukah we went from the darkest darkness of our souls, spiritually and physically
captured under the dominion of strangers, yet we came to witness miracles and
salvation. We came to witness oil that burned miraculously. That which had the
physical potential to burn for one day burned for eight. This infinite quality of oil represents the permutation of the
spiritual quality of oil, which from kabalah we learn is ” chuchmah ” (creative inspiration), right into this
physical world.
