;.cProofed scanned T3, Channukah 81 LA
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 CHANUKKAH 1981 LA

 Hanukkah is the holiday when you open the doors of your heart andthe doors of your house.   You put your holy candle by the door. You truly want your light to shine into the whole world. 

 Everyone knows that water is pure and fire is holy.  Why is fireholy?  Fire is holy because you can kindle an infinite number ofcandles from one candle. 
	I have an apple and I give it to you.  If you have the appleand I don't have the apple anymore, then I really didn't want togive it to you.  Yes, I gave it to you.  But I had trouble doingit.  So you have the apple now, and I don't have it anymore. 
But, if I completely wanted to give you the apple, you would havethe apple and I would have the apple. 
	Fire so deeply and so completely wants the world to havelight, that you can give the fire of one candle to another candle,and the light of the first candle is still there. 
	So there are two kinds of giving.  If I give you something,and I don't have it anymore, then I have no right to give it. But, imagine that I could reach the level of giving like firegives. 
	The Torah is called fire.    
G-d's fire.  You give it over to other people, but you still haveit. 

 The difference between holy things and ordinary things is verysimple.  You do not long after ordinary things once you get them. You have them, and your longing is fulfilled.  When it comes toholy things, even if you have them, you still long for them verymuch. 
	How do you know if you have the holy Shabbos?   You don'thave it if you only go through the motions and keep Shabbos. 0.K., you can go to heaven for keeping Shabbos.  The question is; Do you have Shabbos.  You only have Shabbos if you are longing forit.  You have it if you miss it all the time. 

 "     

	Why does fire flicker all the time? Fire flickers because itis longing so much for something holy and exalted. 

 I want to share something with you that blew my mind. 	Everybody knows that Chanukkah is the real end of RoshHashonah, Yom Kippur, and Simchas Torah.  That means that the HighHolidays may be beautiful, but the real point of it all isChanukkah. 
	The Holy Baal Shem Tov says that wherever a Jew reaches onYom Kippur (which is to a very high place) and wherever a Jewreaches on Simchas Torah (which is to a very high place) do notcompare to where the lowest Jew can reach to on Chanukkah night. 

	I don't need a house for any of the other holidays.  I caneat matzah on the street.  I can blow the Shofar in the street. On Succos I am definitely in the street.  On Shavous, I can learnwherever I want to.  On one holiday, Chanukkah, I really need ahouse.  I have to kindle the lights at the doorpost of my house. 
A house means permanence.  I live there.  It is my place.  Also,spiritually it means that I have a place somewhere.  I ampermanent somewhere. 

	Light is the level of reaching higher than yourself, deeperthan everything in the world.  You can learn something, and knowmore or feel more.  This is not the level of light yet.  Sometimesyou learn a word, and it gets so very deep in your heart. Suddenly you reach somewhere deeper than the deepest part ofyourself.  This is called light.  That is where you have yourhouse. 
	I can love a girl without building a house.  Then one day Imeet a girl and suddenly I am besides myself.  I am deeper thanmyself.  I build  a house with this woman. 

	The house is the one place where you are more than yourself. More isn't the best word.  You are really yourself.  You reach sodeep that it is infinite. 

	On Yom Kippur, you stand before G-d and measure yourself. You did so and so many sins.  You did so and so many good deeds. On Chanukkah you stop talking about all that.  The deepestquestion is not really how many evil deeds you do and how manygood deeds you do.  The deepest question is "What do you have inthe deepest depths of you?" After the whole story is over, whatremains with you?  What is permanent inside of you?  What is yourhouse?  Where are you?  Is there any light in your heart?
	If there is light deep inside you, then you are the one tohelp bring the Messiach.  You are the one to open the doors for
G-d's light to shine into the world.  But if after you doeverything, the world is still dark, what good was it all? 
	What does it mean to be besides yourself?  It means that youare longing for the deepest depths.  You didn't even know that youwere capable of longing for something so deep and so holy. 
	What is the fight between the Macabees and the Greeks?  TheGreeks don't mind what you do.  Do anything you want.  But don'tput your heart into it. You want to keep Shabbos?  Why not?  Justdon't put your heart into it.  You want to have a house, a HolyTemple?  Why not?  Just don't put your heart into it. 
On Chanukkah, we want to wipe out pagan worship.  In Hebrew, pagan worship is called  Avodah Zarah, strange worship.   That meanspagan worship is worship that you are a stranger to.  You areserving G-d, but you are serving G-d like a stranger.  You doeverything like a stranger.  The whole meaning of Chanukkah isthat we are wiping out Avodah Zarah.  We are wiping out idolworship.  Everything we do has to flow from the deepest depths ofour hearts.
 
[4]	Many of us Jews are strangers to our own holidays.  We arestrangers to everything holy.  We do it, but who cares about it? We don't feel anything before we celebrate a holiday, and we don'tfeel anything afterwards. 
	This morning I was in Shul during Hallel.  I didn't know ifpeople were reading the stock market sections or they were readingHallel.  I had to look to see that they were reading Hallel. Hallel says, "Thank G-d for all the miracles." You have to do it! 

	Why are we losing our children?  There is nothing in theYiddishkeit that we offer them.  If you tell children somethingand it doesn't come from the deepest depths of your heart, theydon't want to listen.  They are 100% right!  To tell the truth, Idon't want to buy it either. 
	I want to bless you and me and all our children that weshould always find people to teach us about G-d.  We should feelclose to it.  We should feel at home with it. 

	Moishe Rabbenu (Moses, our teacher) was the master ofteaching us what to do.  Why are the Hasmoneans the children ofAaron the High Priest?  Why are they the ones to bring Chanukkah? Aaron the High Priest sat in the Tent of Meeting.  Any time a Jewcame in and said, "I made so many mistakes," Aaron the High Priestwould make them feel at home again with G-d and with Yiddishkeit. 
	You have to feel at home.  You have to know where you live. 

	I want to share something very deep with you: There are allkinds of doing teshuvah (all kinds of repentance.) Basically,repentance means saying to G-d, "I'm sorry I did it." Then I makehundreds of excuses. 
	Imagine that I was doing wrong my entire life.  I don't justwant to go back.  I am longing for one place in the world where Ican knock on the door and I don't even have to make any excuses. They just say, "I'm so glad you came back."
	On Yom Kippur, I come back to G-d, but I'm still makingexcuses.  I tell `Him' a long story.  Chanukah is so holy, and
G-d's light is shining from such a high place, that I don't sayanything about what I did.  I just stand by the door, I look at 
G-d's light, and I say Ribbono Shel Olam, Master of the Universe,Please, can't I stay here forever?  Can my house be G-d's houseagain?"
	On Yom Kippur, when I stand before G-d, I promise G-d that I
will learn day and night.  On Chanukah, I say to G-d.  "I can only
read one line.  I am nothing.  Please let this one line shine intome until I realize how deep and special it is. 
	If we danced with our children each time they learned onemore letter, they would keep on learning.  Each time a childlearns one letter, it is mindblowing.  If we realized this, eachtime a child learned one more word of the Torah we wouldn't knowwhat to do with ourselves for joy.  Then our children  would keepon learning. 
	Each night of Chanukah, I see my child kindle one more light. All day long I am beside myself with joy.  I say Hallel.  I can'tsleep at night. I just don't know what to do with myself. 
That is the way G-d is about us.  Each time I do something, G-dblows His mind over it.  The only problem is that I don't feel it. Then Chanukkah comes.  G-d opens all the gates, G-d's light shinesinto the world. Suddenly I realize that all my life, whenever Idid a little more than I did the day before, I kindled the greatlight in heaven.  I changed the history of the Jewish people.  Ididn't know when I was doing it what effect I was having. 
	So Chanukah is the time I educate myself.  Chanukah comesfrom the word chinuch, education.  Also, I see the way that G-dhas been educating me. On Chanuka I swear, "Ribbono Shel Olam, Iswear to You that I will educate my children the way that youeducate me."
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	" The blessing we say over the light is "   "to kindle the light of Chanuka" We don't say "...to kindle thelight on Channuka( ) That means that the light is therealready.  We only have to kindle it. The light we are seeing rightnow is the light of my grandfather and your grandfather.  It isactually the light of the Cohanim, the priests. 
It is the same light that burned from the bit of oil which lasted8 days in the time of the Holy Temple.  It's the same light.  Itis waiting in heaven all year to be brought down through ourkindling of the Chanukah lamps. 

	We have to make things which are from this world, You have to
 make a succah... You have to make Tefilin.  You can't make fire. You cannot create fire.  It is not in the world.  You strike amatch, and it is there.  Or you put one fire next to a candle andthe candle will have a fire.  All you have to do is get the candleand the fire close together.  When you get them close together,then the fire is right there. 
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Reb Nachman said that any time you make a mistake, you hate oneperson in the world.  This is because a mistake () makes yourheart unholy. Obviously, the people who hate the whole world musthave made many mistakes.  
	I want to share something unbelievable with you:  On YomKippur, G-d forgives us for our mistakes.  On Simchas Torah wedance them off.  When does G-d fix our hearts?  When does He takeout all the hatred and all the evil from our hearts?  When does 
G-d give us back the holiness of seeing somebody else's light andsaying a blessing over it?  When do we see that somebody else'slight is so beautiful? 
	On Chanukkah.  
	Chanukah is the time of Aaron, the High Priest.  Aaron'sspecialty was making peace between people.  How can someone makepeace between people?  Aaron Ha-Cohen had the holiness of beingable to actually cleanse a person's heart of hatred.  This is avery special blessing. 
	Each time you make a mistake, you hurt somebody. But you knowwhat else?  Each time you make a mistake, sadly enough, you loveyour children less.  Your heart is not pure enough any more. Children need the purest heart.  They need the purest light. 
When does G-d clean our hearts again so we can have the privilege
of giving over the Torah to our children?  On Chanukkah. 
	The holiness of the Chanukah lights is that they burn even in
the middle of the night.  We are praying, "If I made mistakesagain next year, let this Chanukah light shine into all mydarkness.  Let this Chanukkah light keep me from ever hatingpeople.  Let this Chanukah light give me so much holiness that allthe darkness of the world can not take away my love for mychildren." Chanukkah is the highest kind of fixing in the world.  
	If each time you make a mistake, you hate somebody else;let's face it, each time you make a mistake, you hate yourself,Each time you make a mistake, you get further away from your ownneshamah, from your own heart.  On Yom Kippur, G-d fixes yoursoul.  But when does your light shine for yourself again?  Whencan you look in the mirror and see a great light instead of aShmendrik?  When do you see your light again?  On Channukah.
 
	All year long, Whatever you do you think is nothing. Whenever you do anything, you think, "It's bad, It's stupid.  It'snothing." This is because you think so little of yourself.  OnChanukkah, you kindle a candle and you know it's G-d's light.  Yourealize you are bringing down G-d's light.   You realize that youhave been bringing G-d's light down into the world all year long. 
I want to bless you and bless myself that this Chanukah should fixus.  It should reach the darkest corners in our hearts. 

	Everybody knows that the nights of Chanukkah are the longestand the darkest nights.  This means that the light of Chanukhahreaches into the darkest places.  In that dark night, I suddenlyrealize, "Gevalt, this is G-d's light!" Good Chanukkah.  GoodYontif. 
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	According to the Shulchan Aruch, you really have to have afeast after you kindle the Chanukkah lights.  It's not a joke.  Itis not a sweet custom.  It says right in the Shulchan Aruch,"after you kindle the lights, you make a feast."
	Yet you really have to keep your eyes focused on theChanukkah lights.  Even if you walk away, you have to watch them. So let's focus our eyes in a very strong way.  The light ofChanukkah should be in our eyes all the time. 
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	I know that Lilian and Josh are real Chanukah people.  Their
light is burning at the door all year long.  I know they preparedthe highest feast.  Your light should shine forever.  Yourchildren's light should shine forever. 
