GIVING OVER vs.TEACHING--CHANUKA
by REB SHLOMO
From, The Holy Beggars Banquet ed. by Kalman Serkez

There is such a thing as teaching, and there is such a thing as giving over. 
  Giving something over to someone is  much deeper than teaching.  The Torah 
says that Moss received the Torah on Mt. Sinai, and he came down, but it 
does not say he taught the Torah to Joshua.  It says umesora, gave it over 
to Joshua.  This is the deepest depth there is.  Sometimes you meet with 
someone you can study with for ten years; they can teach you for ten years 
and they dont give anything over to you.  Sometimes you meet someone, and 
maybe they dont teach you so much but they give something over to you.
	Reb Mendele Vorker, the silent Rebbe, was a rebbe for forty years, and in 
those forty years he spoke only eight times.  Even at those times, on a 
teaching level he didnt say anything.  At one time he was sitting with his 
hasidim for fourteen hours, and at the end he said, Hashem Echad, G!d is 
one, and then he said, Happy is the one who knows that G!d is one means 
G!d is one.  On a teaching level he didnt say anything, but when he said, 
Hashem Echad, G!d is One, he gave it over.  We need someone to give over 
Yiddishkeit to us.  We need someone to give it over to us, not to teach us 
that there is one G!d.
	The Torah says Jacob (Yisroel) loved Joseph more that all his other 
children.  Naturally today, on the low level we are, if a father loves his 
son, he says to him, Man--oh no, he would never say man, that would be 
too far out.  He says, Son, I want to do something special for you--buy you 
a trip to Bermuda!  But what does it mean that Jacob loved Joseph more?  
Listen to what Rashi says:  all of the things that Jacob learned at the 
Yeshiva of Shem and Aiver he gave over to Yosef.  You see, he taught all his 
children the same information, but to Joseph he gave it over.  The Beis 
Yaakov says the most unbelievable thing.  Sometimes the holy prophets knew 
everything, but it wasnt clear.  The Midrash says,  Jacob loved Joseph 
more than all his children, and it also says that G!d says to Israel, I 
love you.  Knowing that G!d loves you is something you cannot get via 
teaching.  It has to be given over to you.  So the thing is like this.  
Jacob didnt have clear prophecy, because he was not to know that Joseph was 
to be a slave, but Jacob knew that Joseph needed something special, because 
he was the first Jew in exile.
	Chanuka is the one holiday that has no tractates in the Gemora.  Every 
other holiday has a long tractate, even Purim, which is a minor holiday.  
Chanuka has only about a page and a half in the Gemara.  Why?  Because 
Chanuka is not a holiday of teaching.  Chanuka is a holiday of giving over.  
It says in the Shema that you should teach your children when you sit in 
your house and when you go on your way.  Teaching is at home and giving 
over is on your way because there is no time for teaching on the way, only 
time for giving over.  Chanuka is when teaching and giving over become one, 
because on Chanuka I have to put lights at the door of my house so that the 
light of the house (teaching) shines into the street (giving over).
	When you teach someone youre not sure his light will increase, but when 
you give over to someone you know his light will grow.  That is why each 
night of Chanuka we kindle one more candle to shine into the world, until 
all the streets of the world are full of light.