Copyright (c) 1986 Congregation Kehilat Jacob Hakrev Ushma Division Reprinted with Permission Not for Commercial Redistribution 
CHANUKA: THE LIGHTS OF INFINITY by Reb Shlomo Transcribed by Rivka Haut for Connections Magazine Brooklyn, New York 5747.
Everybody knows that Chanuka is the end of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. The great Kabbalists said that, since a contract has to be signed by both sides, the Ribbono Shel Olam signs on Yom Kippur, and Ahron HaCohen signs on Chanuka. The Cohen Gadol (High Priest) signs. He refuses to give his signature unless it is a good deal for the Jews. Rabbi Levi of Berditchev says that if Rosh Hashana falls on Shabbat, it is a good sign, because on Shabbat writing is not permitted. G-d cannot write bad things. But, if there are good things to write, then saving lives is permitted on Shabbat (pikuach nefesh docheh Shabbat), and G-d is able to write. So, if Rosh Hashona occurs on Shabbat, it is a very good thing, because then G-d is permitted to write only good things. All the big rebbes, on the last day of Chanuka, would wish each other, "G'mar chatima tova -- Be inscribed for a good year." On Rosh HaShona, "bakesa liyom chageinu", everything is hidden.
Because it is also the New Moon, the moon is hidden. On Chanuka, on the contrary, there is a great light. The light is so bright that it is shining out on the street. Yet, our holy rebbes teach us that Chanuka is the light of Mashiach, the "Ohr haGanuz -- the Hidden Light". You know what is so special about a candle? It doesn't take away the darkness. It is not like the sun, which dispels whatever darkness there is. A candle leaves the darkness the way it is. We don't stop sitting in the darkness, but the Ribbono Shel Olam gives us light in the darkness.
Everybody knows that when Ahron HaCohen saw that the heads of tribes were each bringing sacrifices to the Tabernacle and he didn't have anything to bring, he felt very broken. So, G-d said to him, "Yours will last forever." The Rambam, Maimonides, says: "Yours will last forever - this is the light of Chanuka." G-d said to Aharon HaCohen, "You were meant for something bigger." The Temple can, and will be destroyed. But your light, the light of the Cohanim (priests), cannot be destroyed. It will last forever and ever.
We learned many times that them is a deep thirst in everyone of us. We are looking for something we don't know about. We want to go someplace where we have never been before, in order to experience something new. And yet, on the other hand, people are so afraid of the unknown. Every light has vessels. And yet, there is such a deep yearning inside of us. We are looking for a light which has an vessels. What turns us off from the Establishment so much?
All their light is in vessels. We don't want to be in vessels all the time. We want to get out of our vessels.
Why, at a wedding, do people dance like crazy? Why, on Simchat Torah, do people dance like crazy? On Shavuot, G-d gave us the Torah, and the Torah is in vessels. Torah Shebiktav (written Torah) is Torah that is in vessels. It is black on white. It teaches us that Shabbat is the seventh day; tzitzit need four corners; ham is not kosher. It is the greatest light in the world. But, it is in vessels.
What was the outcome of it? We made a golden calf -- another vessel. Vessels us basically a little bit pagan. The moment you deal with vessels, you am in danger of becoming pagan. The Gamara says clearly that even pagans don't say that there is no G-d. They make vessels for His light.
On Chanuka we are fixing the sin of the Tree of Knowlege. We are fixing what Adam and Eve did wrong and we we also fixing the sin of the Golden Calf. What is the Tree of Knowlege and what is the Golden Calf? Everything is in vessels. Everything has a number and everything has a label. Only the voice of the shofar is the voice of the inside of me which has no vessels. It has no words, but it touches me so deeply. Even the most assimilated Jew, who, when he leaves the synagogue an Yom Kippur, may go and eat a hamburger, at that moment when he hears the shofar, he cries inside, it touches him so deeply. It has nothing to do with vessels.
The beginning of the year is when G-d says to me "I know why you made so many mistakes. You were looking for something beyond vessels. You think the Torah doesn't have it. Gevalt are you mistaken." The voice inside which is so deep, which has no vessels, the Ribbono Shel Olam brings it out. When the Torah was given, the shofar sounded. You can hear it. When Mashiach comes it will be sweeping the whole world. The truth is that the vessels of the Torah are not ordinary vessels. They are different vessels. The vessels of the Torah are divine vessels.
The beginning of a wedding is when you cover the face of the bride. The chupah is Yom Kippur, but the badeken is Rosh Hwham (bakese leyom chageinu). "Bacesa' is so hidden, so deep, there are no vessels for it. When you love somebody very much, them are vessels for it, but it is so much deeper than vessels, much deeper.
I want you to know the difference between Eretz Yisrael and other countries. Every country has a grant light, and its land, its earth, is a vessel for it. Eretz Yisrael, as much as it is a vessel for the land, is really so much deeper. Nationalism is good for Russians, for Chinese - it is not for us. Eretz Yisrael has no vessels. It is beyond everything.
The Torah is beyond vessels. The truth is, you have to go through so many nights, so much pain, until you realize this. Between people it is the same. Sometimes when you love somebody, the love is contained in vessels. When do you suddenly realize that you really love somebody, beyond vessels? At night. When things go wrong.
I want to share a story with you, one of my favorite stories. I saw a movie about the sinking of the Titanic. The movie is about a husband and wife who had an open marriage. That fateful night on the Titanic, the husband was sitting with his girlfriend at one table, and the wife was sitting with a boyfriend at another table. From time to time they waved at each other. They had two children, a little boy of six and a little girl of seven. They come to the mother, she sends them to the father. The father sends them back to the mother. The first half hour of the movie, the kids us so lonely, running around the deck. Nobody puts them to sleep, their parents are too busy. So they sit on the steps, on the deck of the ship, and fall fast asleep.
Okay. Twelve o'clock, nebekh, the ship starts sinking. Gevalt, are those parents looking for their children. They suddenly realize how stupid they had been. Why didn't they take care of their children?
And here is the climax, it just pierced my heart. They are looking for their children. If you remember, the ship didn't have enough lifeboats. Finally, all the people meet on deck. The captain says that everybody has just one minute to say goodbye to their children.
Gevalt. The love they felt at that minute had nothing to do with vessels. The whole world cannot contain it. It was so holy. Suddenly you see two little kids standing there, with their parents, and the parents we saying, "Please forgive us. Forgive us. If only we could take care of you for one more minute." The essence of Yiddishkeit is our children. The difference between us and the whole world is that for us, the Torah tells us, that G-d chose Avraham because He knew that Avraham would be completely dedicated to his children. There are some people who do not have children, not everyone is married. Nevertheless, the essence of Judaism is children. When was Avraham closest to his son? The first time in the Torah that we find someone calling his father "father" is by the Akedah (the binding of Isaac). The Torah says that Yitzhak said to his father. "My father.. . ".
I always tell people that the name that your parents give you is very special, but the titles "father" and "mother" you can only receive from your children. Today, in the modern world, people sometimes call their parents by their first names. I want you to know that that is the ugliest thing. That means that you cut yourself off from Akedat Yitzchak.
When did Avraham feel closest to Yitzchak, and when did Yitzchak feel closest to his father? At the Akedah: "And they both walked together". Sometimes, you walk with a person, and the world still exists, because the relationship is contained in vessels.
When you love somebody se much, beyond vessels, then the world ceases to exist. The verse says: "And they both walked together." Just those two. Them was no mm world. The world ceased to exist.
There was just Avraham and Yitzhak. The Ishbitzer says that after Akedat Yitzchak, G-d gave us a gift, that every father and mother are as close to their child as Avraham and Yitzchak were to each other. Yitzchak looked at his father and thought, what a holy father I have. And Awaham said, what a wonderful son I have.
Who was that angel who told Avraham not to kill his son?
Everybody knows that an angel can only be created from simcha, from joy. All the rebbes say that Avraham was actually ready to slaughter Yitzhak from simcha. I am sure it was true, if the rebbes say so, but I want to say a different Torah. I think there was sadness, but, amid all the sadness, Avraham and Yitzchak said it was all worth it. Sometimes, in one minute, people are so close, that it is beyond time and space. Of course, we would all love to be with our parents forever, and with our children forever, but, you can be with someone forever and nothing ever happens. But then there are moments like the Akedah. "And they both walked together." This was brought down to us. Why am I a Jew? Because I am walking with my father. Why was my father a Jew? Because he walked with his father. "And they both walked together" is the essence of Judaism, until Mashiach comes. So this was so much with simcha.
The angel is telling them: don't stop; this closness is here forever.
What was the real test of the Akedah? After all, Avraham had been promised by G-d that, through Yitzchak, he would be the father of a great nation. Also, it was clear to him that you are not permitted to kill. So what was really the test? The test was that his head was completely turned off, and his heart was completely open.
The Midrash says that all the tests that Avraham underwent were very hard. Avraham had to jump in the fire. By the Akedah, the Midrash says, G-d said to him: "Do Me a personal favor. I am begging you. " G-d said "Please ('na') take your son." "Please." At other times G-d did not say "please". When G-d told Avraham to leave his land and his father's house, G-d did not say "Please." G-d did not say "Please" by the covenant (the brit). Only by the Akedah did G-d say to Avraham, "Please. " Do you know what that means? Can you imagine how close Avraham was to G-d that G-d said to him, "Please," please do Me a personal favor?
Sometimes G-d reveals Himself in the world through vessels, and then, there are times when "And they both walked together", there are no vessels. The whole Akedah was beyond vessels. The closness of Avraham and Yitzchak to each other was like the closeness they felt to G-d. At that moment then was no world, there were no vessels. The shofar was found at Akedat Yitzchak. The sound of the shofar is beyond vessels.
Eliezar was looking for a wife for Yitzchak. Do you want to hear something crazy.? There was Eliezer, who was a strong person, and he had ten servants with him, so why did he ask Rivka to got water for them? Why didn't he take water himelf? Do you hear what is behind all this? Cm you hear the infiniteness boymd everything?
When Eliezer asks, "Can you give me some water?" he is really asking her, are you the one for Yitzchak, are you the holy mother who will give birth to Israel, to all the Jews who will jump into the fire for G-d? Are you the one who will be the mother of the Six Million?
And if you hear this, you cannot answer merely, "Yes, I will give you a glass of water." She answers, "I will give water to your camels also." He asked her something infinite, and she answered him with something infinite also.
When Rivka first sees Yitzchak you know what she does? She covers her face. She is saying, for you, I am infinite. Because anything finite you can see. The infinite, the hidden. you cannot That is why she covers her face.
You know, the shofar has two kinds of sounds. One sound is very loud. When the Jews heard the shofar on Meant Sinai, the ones who made the Golden Calf heard the shofar as noise. We cannot hear the Infinite. It is too much for us. So we ended up making the Golden Calf. Each year, Rosh Hashana, we are saying to G-d, "Do You know why I ran away from You? I was looking for something beyond vessels. " Our children, the children of this generation, are so special. They are looking for something so deep. Mashiach is at the corner, and they are waiting for him. On Rosh Hashana G-d tells us that the Torah is infinite. We are living in a finite world, but we have to know the infinite. Yom Kippur is the fixing of the down to earth. We did this wrong, we did that wrong. After Rosh Hashana, when I become infinite, even when I tell of my sins, on Yom Kippur, I am singing.
Because I know that its not so bad. G-d will forgive me.
Here we come to Aharon HaCohen. On Yom Kippur, when Aharon HaCohen goes into the Holy of Holies, he doesn't ask for forgiveness. Its much deeper. Can you imagine by Akedat Yitzchak, that Yitzhak should have said to his father, "I'm so sorry, last week you asked me to do something and I didn't do it?" Can you imagine if, by the Titanic, those two kids would have said "We're so sorry " we didn't eat our eggs this morning?" At such times there are no words.
This summer I had the privilege of converting a girl who was married to a Jewish man, and he didn't really care if she converted or not, but they had a baby and she wanted to convert. So, she started ]owning. They were living in a city where them was no real Yiddishkeit, so she Iearned just from books. Then they came to the Moshav, with their baby, and I converted her, and then married them When she was standing in the mikva, she said, "Test me." I asked her a few things, but I want to share with you this one thing.
I asked her, "What will you teach your children what the essence of Yiddishkeit is?" She said, "The essence of Judaism is that there is nothing but G-d. " Gevalt. So deep.
The world is beautiful, but sometimes it is just a cover up, a little wall between people, a wall between me and G-d between me and what I have to do. There are certain things that are so deep that you can only whisper them. Aharon HaCohen did not utter words in the Holy of Holies. He whispered them. Whispering is saying something, and yet not saying it.
Loud prayers do not bring Mashiach. Whispered prayers do.
The Arizal says that every month has a certain letter. The letter of Kislev is "samech". And every month has a trait that has to be fixed.
In Kislev it is "sheina", sleeping, that has to be fixed. When are a husband and wife closest? When the world ceases to exist for them. I want you to know that in the Zohar, the Holy of Holies is called "Chadar Hamitot" - the bedroom, the inner chambers between us and G-d. And what is samech? AU the rebbes say samech is completely surrounded. Nothing can get closer. There is no world. There is nothing. You are completely surrounded by G-d. Why do people run away from their home? When the house stops being infinite. A home is supposed to be "the bedroom", the Holy of Holies. If a house has everything except the Holy of Holies, then it is just a vessel. It is really nothing. Since the time of the Hashmonaim, our children left our homes because they were not infinite. Yiddishkeit was not infinite any more. Therefore, when the Greeks say "We have something beautiful for you" our children run to them.
Beauty has to be seen. However, something holy cannot be seen.
Purity caimot be seen. It is hidden. The light of Chanuka, the "ohr haganuz ", is a hidden light.
Chanuka is "ish ubeito", a person and his family. The deepest fixing between a husband and his wife, between parents and children.
Akedeat Yitchak did not really take place. Chanuka is the first time that Jews were really dying for G-d. The Hashmonaim were the real Akedat Yitzchak. Seventy Jews ready to drive out a world empire!
That was a real Akedat Yitzchak.
This is Reb Lelbele Eiger's Torah. Everybody knows that Rivka's birthday was the day she became engaged to Yitzchak, the day she told Eliezer she would marry Yitchak. On that day, she was three years old. She went to the mikva. The waters covered her, they actually went over her head. So, everybody asks, why did Eliezer have to test her? Couldn't he see how holy she was? The answer is that being holy is not the same as being infinite. A Jew can be holy. He can do everything right. That does not mean he is on the level of Yitzchak.
Sometimes you meet very holy people and they can perform miracles. G-d performs miracles for them. But that does not mean they are infinite. That is not Akedat Yitzchak. Rebbes give blessings.
They perform miracles. But, they are not on the level of the soldiers who die for Israel. Those soldiers are on the level of Yitzchak. They are experiencing Akedat Yitzchak.
Aharon HaCohen was so broken because he didn't bring a sacrifice to the Tabernacle. So G-d said to him: "Your children will do great things," Aharon HaCohen's whole worry was his children, what will happen to his children? The essence of Chanuka is what will happen to our children? So G-d said to him, you have both beauty and infiniteness. This is what keeps Jews going forever, I want you to know the deepest depths. Moshe Rabbenu is the written Torah. Chanuka is the beginning of the oral Torah, The written Torah always has a problem. We made a golden calf, right after we received the written Torah, because it has so many vessels.
When did Moshe Rabbenu break the vessels? When he said "Write me out of Your book." Who gave him strength to break the tablets?
You know what he was doing when he broke the tablets? He was saying: "Ribbono Shel Olam, give me an infinite Torah. "The letters were fluttering in the air. Moshe said "I don't want the letters even written on parchment. That is too finite. " Torah she be'al peh (oral Torah) is so deep. Chanuka does not have even one page in the gemara. We cannot bear even to write it down. It is only whispered about.
I want you to know that there is whispering while you are awake.
That is the month of Cheshvan. Then there is whispering in your sleep, the "sleeping" of Kislev, what we talk about in our dreams.
Gevalt are we pouring out our hearts before G-d on Chanuka. This is even deeper than Yom Kippur. The heights you can reach when the Chanuka lights are in front of you, even Yom Kippur doesn't reach.
So I want to bless you with a G'mar Chatima Tova. First of all I bless you that your children shall kindle Chanuka lights in your house. Chanuka is the only Yom Tov where every night is more.
Vessels cannot become more. Only light can become more. I bless you that your house should be so good that your children will want to kindle Chanuka lights there. And even more. The walking of "And they both walked together" is still on the streets. A lost generation. They don't know where they belong. I want to wish you that you and your children will "walk together," as Avraham and Yitzchak "walked together." There are so many tractates in the Tahnud. Where is the tractate of Shalom Bayit? I want to say that Chanuka is the tractate of Shalom Bayit. We should all be privileged to kindle lights, and to watch our children kindle lights. Good Yom Tov.
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