Al Hanisim of Chanukah: Bonecha, Mesirus Nefesh, and the Father-Child Bond with Hashem

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Shiurim kavua for nusach tefillah, the last few shiurim and the future few shiurim are nusach tefillah, Chanukah. So let's do Al Hanisim. Let's learn Al Hanisim. The Rokeach has a whole peirush, Rokeach, to explain the entire Al Hanisim. Let's speak out a few ha'aros to understand and to bring out Chanukah through the understanding of Al Hanisim. The Chachamim instituted to the Yom Tovim two Yom Tovim: Pesach, Sukkos, and Shavuos is in the Torah. Chachamim added Chanukah and Purim, Chanukah and Purim. It's interesting, the Rambam, when he brings the halachos, he actually talks about Chanukah and Purim being almost as one. In Hilchos Megillah, Krias HaMegillah bizmanah mitzvas aseh, and in Hilchos Purim... I'm sorry, Hilchos Chanukah. He talks about it. It's like a mitzvah midivrei sofrim, like Kriyas HaMegillah. So you see that the Rambam puts it together to the point that if you look at the Rambam, he puts it as one halacha, Hilchos Megillah v'Chanukah. Doesn't even separate them. There's no Hilchos Megillah and Hilchos Chanukah separately. Aleph and Beis, perek aleph and beis is Hilchos Megillah, and gimmel and daled is Hilchos Chanukah. It's one. Doesn't even kovea. It's not even kovea Hilchos Chanukah for itself, Hilchos Purim for itself. Puts it together, Chanukah and Megillah, and he combines it. It's midivrei sofrim, k'kriyas haMegillah. Chanukah is like—Chachamim added these two Yom Tovim. What is the connection, the shaychus? What are these two Yom Tovim adding to the rest of the Yom Tovim that the Chachamim felt that these two Yom Tovim are needed? Now, be'emes, many nisim happened to Klal Yisrael throughout the doros. It was chosen, the story of Chanukah and the story of Purim, to be kovea Yom Tov. So what is Chanukah and Purim adding to the Yom Tovim, and what is Chanukah and Purim connected as almost two sides of a coin to the Yom Tovim? So all the years, we've spoken about a Bach that speaks about the chiluk between Chanukah and Purim. That Chanukah is the ruchniyus, was a sakana ruchni. Klal Yisrael was in danger spiritually, and the Yevanim, they tried to kill Klal Yisrael, the neshama. And so the Yom Tov is a Yom Tov more about ruchniyus, Torah, l'hodos u'lehalel, tefillah, and a little less about the seudah, about eating. Of course, we all know parties, Chanukah, latkes, it's all good, but klal in the Rishonim and the halacha, the ikar is not that. We should all have to have taka beautiful parties and simchas with the mishpachos, and the more the merrier, but that's not the ikar. The ikar is l'hodos u'lehalel. Mashenkein Purim. Purim was about the guf; it was a physical annihilation, a physical sakana. They tried to kill us physically. And mimeila, Purim takes on seudah, mishteh, simcheh, happiness, a physical simcha, physical Yom Tov.

Zei shteit in Bach, az ei shteit in all the Rishonim and Acharonim. I would like to discuss that over the years, I started to feel that maybe there's more, another nekudah, another angle of a chiluk between Chanukah and Purim, and that actually they complement each other, two sides to the coin, as we spoke. And that is, there's a very famous Kedushas Levi. The Sfas Emes speaks how each Yom Tov, especially Pesach, b'myuchad, it comes from two sides, from two angles: what HaKadosh Baruch Hu did for us and what we did for HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Pesach, Chag Hamatzos, and it's also Chag HaPesach. The matzos is us. We left. We ran. Like it says in the pasuk, Vatelech acharai bamidbar b'eretz lo zerua. We just left. Spoke too many times from the goyim, but the goyim learns the pshat by Pesach, shelo hispik b'tzeikam l'hachmitz ad sheniglah aleihem HaKadosh Baruch Hu v'גאלם. What does it mean, shelo hispik b'tzeikam l'hachmitz ad shenigah aleihem HaKadosh Baruch Hu v'גאלם? Sagt the goyim, the Haggadah, the Talmidei HaGra, the Ribono Shel Olam revealed Himself. The Ribono Shel Olam revealed Himself, and that itself made Klal Yisrael drop everything and run. That's pshat. Lo hispik b'tzeikam l'hachmitz ad shenigalu. It just should say, lo hispik b'tzeikam l'hachmitz v'nigalu, ad sheniglu aleihem HaKadosh Baruch Hu. They saw the Ribono Shel Olam. They dropped all the preparations and they ran. Meidike dayin, meidik. That's Lechteich acharai bamidbar, b'eretz lo zarua, and that's Klal Yisroel. That's the ma'aleh of Klal Yisroel. That's the Yontif from the greatness of Klal Yisroel. But then there's also the Yontif from the greatness of the Ribono Shel Olam, how He loves Klal Yisroel. Not only how we love the Eibishter, but how the Ribono... asher pasach al batei Mitzrayim. The Ribono Shel Olam also pasach. והוא מדלג על ההרים, מקפץ על הגבעות. The love works both ways. The love—every Yontif has in it, we love the Eibishter, and the Eibishter loves us. It's Yontif. Yontif is about we love the Eibishter, and the Eibishter loves us. Take a look, Pesach. We dropped everything. Lo hispik b'tzeikam l'hachmitz. Who goes out to a wilderness, doesn't have the final preparations needed for the food, for the way, for the derech? We dropped it. Lo hispik b'tzeikam l'hachmitz. They didn't wait. The Ribono Shel Olam, berunning, Lechteich acharai bamidbar. Asher pasach al batei Mitzrayim is that the Eibishter loves us also. מדלג—He was jumping. He was מדלג על הזמן, על הקץ. He protected us, v'chulei v'chulei. These are more or less the words of the Kedushas Levi, a little bit added, but we're adding on our own. V'ken zogt Rabbeinu, possibly that that's Chanukah and Purim also. Over the years I started to feel this more and more and see it more and more in the words of Chanukah, Chazal and the Al Hanisim. Chanukah is we for the Ribono Shel Olam. We for the Ribono Shel Olam. Purim, the Ribono Shel Olam to protect us, His love for us, to save us, to give us a yeshuah because He loves us. And I'll explain. In Al Hanisim, there's a lot of leshonos that need to be explained, but I'll begin with the end of the Al Hanisim, and then we'll go to the beginning of the leshonos. The famous lashon and question on the lashon is, V'achar kein ba'u bonecha l'dvir beisecha. Bonecha. Who are the bonecha? Who are they? Who are we referring to? You mean the Kohanim.

Kohanim, of course, have a close yachas with the Eibishter. It's true. Pashut, it doesn't mean only the Kohanim; it means Klal Yisroel, and represented by the Kohanim. Why the hadgasha? Why the emphasis, V'acha kein bo'u bonecha l'dvir beisecha? My ha'arah — Rav Hutner speaks about it. Hutner is atzal, and many before him as well. What's the bonecha? One thing is clear, and this I'll explain to you through the whole nusach of Al Hanisim. There was a special hadgasha, special emphasis, special feeling. Chanukah, they fought as banim. They were moser nefesh as banim, as children, children for a father. V'achar kach bo'u bonecha. It was a special nekudah pnimi in the milchamah. If you pulled away everything else, you would find that what drove the milchamah, mesiras nefesh of an av, of a ben l'av, that's what drove the milchamah. And I'll explain to you what I mean, lamed lamed. It's interesting, we're madgish in the Al Hanisim: כשעמדה מלכות יוון הרשעה על עמך ישראל להשכיחם תורתך. That's all we mention in the Al Hanisim. It was to make forget your Torah. להשכיחם — not even Torah, but תורתך. Famous diyuk, famous lashon, everybody speaks about it. But it's interesting, rabosai, when the Rambam brings... What Yavan actually did to us, it's a small nekudah in the entire evil, in the entire what they did to us. Read you the Rambam: Bayis sheini, halachah aleph, b'Bayis Sheini, k'shemalchu Yavan, gazru gezeiros al Yisrael, u'vitlu datam, v'lo hinichu osam la'asok b'Teirah u'mitzvos. Yes, that's true. But then he says, U'poshtu yadam b'mamonam. A pilgrimage, they robbed, they stole, they stole our money, u'vivnoseihem, raped. Tremendous, tremendous lachatz, tremendous tzaar they caused us. V'nichnesu l'heichal u'partzu bo, by pirtzos, v'timu... It was a tremendous eis, almost like a Holocaust, like a felach a zman. Yet all we mention in the Al Hanisim is what? Hashkicham Torasecha. That's all they wanted. It should say, Bimei Matityahu... Sham d'malchus Yavan rasha l'amchei Yisrael, l'hashkicham Torah, l'ha'aviram mechukei retzonecha. No, there was a lot more. It doesn't get drucked. It was a tremendous pressure, tremendous tzaar they caused us. Where is it? Why no mention? Now the truth is, we mention a little later, V'haTa b'rachamecha harabim amadta lahem b'eis tzarasam. Maybe that's what tzarasam means, all the other tzaros. Yeah, Rabbeisai, I was thinking. Avadah, we suffered terrible mamin, bones. They did terrible things to us. But what was the milchamah? What drove the us in the times of the Chashmonaim was lashkicham Torasecha. It wasn't about everything else that they did to us. Yeah, Rabbeisai, it's pashut. What was the milchamah about? What was it? Soon we're going to learn, the Aruch brings that actually they did five gezeiros. We'll get to it a little bit later, five main decrees in what they did. And the fifth one was, the fifth of the list, v'lo yilmedu Torah, that they didn't let us learn Torah. There were other things also. We'll get to it in a few moments. It seems like this was the goal. This was the focal point of the entire milchamah, that we were ready to be moser nefesh, that it was Torasecha. It could be that's pshat, beis sarasam v'al dases d'tzaref aneit. No, it's not referring to all the other tzaros.

To me, this might be the worst, the worst tzaar of all the tzaros: Hashkichem Torah secha, hashkichem Torah secha. You know, throughout the years, we always hear stories in the Holocaust. Even overlooked their physical matzav, the tzaros that they had, and they were concerned, mekayem Torah u'mitzvos. So many stories like this. Navad, they're very moving and they're very telling. But I always say over something that I myself saw, because the story that I was never there in the Holocaust; I just read about it. So this story, even though it might not come close to the level of what is said over by Yidden tzaddikim, amcha Yisrael, it's said over great stories, this gave me an insight of what a Yid felt, a Yid for the milchamah of .... Because that Yid was in my father's shul, in Mitzion Zigel's, .... Stop coming to shul, he couldn't. He was very sick. He was homebound, homebound. So I went to visit him, and he was deteriorating. So when I walked in and we were talking, he tells me the doctor was just here. He examined me. So I thought he would tell me that the doctor told him he's getting better or he's getting worse, something about his physical matzav. The only thing he told me was, The doctor said that I can come in Rosh Hashanah in shul .... That's all he told me. That wasn't his concern. That wasn't. He said, Isn't that from 500 years ago? This is 20 years ago. He had sitting, went to visit him. That wasn't even his... that wasn't even ... that wasn't his concern. What was? Wasn't them... What was his saga? Can't come to shul. Can't hear Krias Shema. What's gonna be with Krias Shema? And then not living too much longer after that. He came to shul ... and was avek nacht. He was deteriorating. He was deteriorating. But that wasn't, was his... Where does that come from? It's a special nekudah that a Yid has. It's a special nekudah. Only Yidden have this. ... That's what we think about. ... Rabim b'yad me'atim, teme'im b'yad tehorim, resha'im b'yad tzaddikim. You know, it's interesting, zeh l'umas zeh. You know, the ... it's interesting, it's, you have the Chanukah one and the Purim one, one next to the other. I always wondered, I mean, just coincidentally, the Chanukah one is very long. The Purim one is very short. ... Maybe. ... You destroyed his eitzah. Could you tell me about the tremendous yeshuah that came? What happened to the yeshuah? Okay, so, pashut, pashut. No, Bianca lives up, it's not pashut, no? Take a look. Let's look. Let's look. Al hanisim for Chanukah, it's a long ... and we went back and we... Then when it comes to Purim, ... You hear? ... You hear? What about all the gevaldige yeshuah and the tremendous ...? What's the pashut? Okay, so I think efshar, a hergesh. ... how it's נגד ... What do he thinks? He thinks from a different angle. You know, there was a ... ... Look what came back for you. Look, look what. This is what ... you got from the Yom Tov. Otherwise, why didn't it say by Purim also, ...

Something, something, I don't know, something. V'kavu yamim eilu, l'Yontif, yemei mishteh v'simchah, something, eppes. Purim says yemei mishteh v'simchah. We're happy, Rabbeinu Shalom, you survived, yeah. Aber l'hodos l'Hallel. It's all tzafdik, Rabbeinu Shalom. It's all about You. It's all about emes of You, Rabbeinu. Here, nu, Rabbeisai, kum, kum, lernen, lernen. I know it's a little tired, I understand. Chanukah, mitzvah, mitzachen, I get it. Trust me, מוסיף very tired. Stam, if I didn't have to say this shiur, I'd fall asleep too. I'll try, I'll try my best to keep you up, Rabbeisai. I made it. Here, v'salu oiso v'es banav al ha'etz, v'asu oiso yom mishteh v'simchah. That's not the main thing, Rabbeinu Shalom, but to take hargas Amalek, Rabbeisai. Rabbeinu Shalom, it's all about You. I think about You. That's what I think about. And that's, v'achar kach bo Bonecha. And if you think, Rabbeisai, lamadt chacham, u'lcha asisa shem gadol, v'kadosh ba'olamecha. That's what we think about, Rabbeinu Shalom, day and night. That's all we thought about. U'le'amcha Yisrael — when you, le'amcha Yisrael, us. Why are we speaking in third part, third? V'lanu — it's ours, no? U'le'amcha, like it's a third party, u'le'amcha Yisrael. Because even the hoda'ah to the Rabbeinu Shalom on this nekudah is what? It's le'amcha Yisrael, v'klal Yisrael, dain am. Das is nor bonecha. Nor a zun, tracht az eygen a tate. Ach, a bo, bonei. Tam zah mesiras nefesh. Nisht trachten ich. There's a meyredige Chazal. Chazal say, ... naaseh v'nishma. ... naaseh v'nishma. Der Boisher mit gezogt, Mi gilah raz zeh l'bonai? Mi gilah raz zeh l'bonai, shemalachei hashares mishtamshim bo. Why bonai? Rashi in Shabbos explains that there's a very big difference between a ben and an eved. An eved makes a cheshbon if he could do it. First he says, Ken ich dos ton? Let me see if I could do it. A ben jumps in. A ben jumps in, yeah, un er tracht nisht. Chashbonoy meid no cheshbon whatsoever. In cheshbon of a suicide, committing suicide. I don't have the time to go through it now. I don't know if l'halacha — there's a Rabbeinu Chananel about it, there could be when it comes to mesiras nefesh, megmen — I don't want to get into halacha, the chelek. Aber ein zach is klor: the hachlatah was bonecha. Er tracht nisht, on cheshbon, naaseh v'nishma. When you love, you don't make cheshbonos. Ribono Shel Olam, hot a lib. Bottom line is, hot a lib. Hot a lib, Ribono Shel Olam. Mitzvah chavivah yad meod. Why is the mitzvah of Chanukah — the Rambam says it's a mitzvah chavivah. It's tremendous chavivus, because it's not chashuv; chaviv. It's leap, leap up. Tremendous ahavah and nesef Chanukah. Bonecha, ki komu alt kinder, ma'aseh nefesh, afa atata. Rabbeinu shlolem, it doesn't make sense. I don't have ... on cheshbon. Migeit dos ton? We're going to do this because we're bonim. You know, this, rabboisai, efsher kemen zog a gishmake pshat. Something that you never heard before. It's very possible that a lot of what I said you heard before. Either you heard it from me or you heard it from others. Some others say it better than me. I'm happy that you heard it from somebody at least. Aber ein zach ken ich mechadesh zayn that I don't think you heard anywhere else. Something I thought about this year. Ready? Great. Great in Yiddish means ready. So it's a great. Okay, here, hera, rabboisai. One of the things that the Yevonim tried to stop, tried to be gozer against. So it says actually in the Rikeach that there were five things, and it's based on Midrashim. And some of them are very interesting. Some of them are known, and some are quite interesting. One: Aleph, gazru la'aver avodah zarah, velachkik b'keren.

שהעיד שאין להם חלק בלאקי ישראל, which we'll speak in two, three minutes. What's the chelek of the shor, the keren ha-shor, the horn of the ox, to write on it, שאין לכם חלק בלאקי ישראל, to talk about that, what, the horn of the ox? Pashut, whatever it is, אין לכם חלק, עבודה זרה, no eibishter, okay? ב׳. גזרו שלא ללבוש שעטנז אלא נידות. They were mevatel niddah. They didn't want that. They should have taharas hamishpachah. So זימן להם הקדוש ברוך הוא, the Ribono Shel Olam prepared for them מקוואות מים בסוך פתאים. You understand? Got that mikveh, gevaldik, huh? Unbelievable. זימן להם הקדוש ברוך הוא. Ribono Shel Olam prepared them mikvaos. It's a nes, a peldege nes. כן. מכה, מעשה דקרח. גזרו לאפר ברית מילה, that everybody knows, right? Bris milah. גזרו לחלל שבתות, that everybody knows, right? Shabbos. גזרו לבטל פסולים למלך. וכן השם שהם כרת, וכן ה׳ם כרת. That was five that have kares. That's five that have kares. Those are the five. And also there was five without kares. גזרו לאכול חזיר, שלא ידליקו המנורה. Interesting, huh? The Rambam never mentioned the menorah meyuchad. The Rambam just says, פשטו ידם ממונם. And they were metameh the taharos, menichnasu lheichel u'partzu bo pirtzos, v'timu es hatahoros. Rambam chlal doesn't mention miyuchad d'menorah. The Kehach mentions miyuchad d'menorah, and it's based on midrashim. V'lo ya'asu sukkos. They had an agenda against Sukkah, an agenda against Sukkah. V'lo yichtvu k'subah. Number four, they shouldn't write kesubah under a chuppah. V'lo yilmedu Torah. The last one is they shouldn't learn Torah. The last one, they shouldn't learn Torah. So, l'harbeh, interesting. First of all, Rosh Chodesh is not in here. The famous one is what? Shabbos, milah, Rosh Chodesh, yeah? Al hakinda feis. Okay, it's not in here. That alif, magidei shiurim, to say shiurim with them. Freg, okay, freg the Rabbanim. The pirush hakeach al hanisim, huh? Sukkah was lo yichtvu k'subah. The last one was lo yilmedu Torah. So it's lo yilmedu Torah. Good. Now the first five I get. It's inyonei kedushah. Shehem gadol v'kadosh. They were against kedushah, against taharah, bitul hataharos. They wanted Torah as a chochmah, as a knowledge, as a wisdom, right? But they didn't want the kedushah in the taharah. Good. Ashkichan Torah secha, al azogn shei dedik. Torah, yeah, aber Torahs Hashem, dos nisht. Good. So they wanted, yeah, chazer, yeah, good. Sounds good. Menorah is Torah. Right, Shechinah sheruyah b'Yisrael, and everybody also is mesameach Shechinah. I'm saying it very quickly, but everybody knows already all this information, yeah? Why Sukkah? It's sad that... Anybody heard this from before, that they had it in a jet? V'lo yaasu Sukkos. And on the bottom, one who brings the mekor, he says, Lo matzasi mekor l'davar zeh b'midrash. I don't know where it comes from. Keach, yeah? Keach, zogt. And there's a whole history to this, keach. He was mekabel ish mi'pi ish. If you look at the introduction here, it goes back from mamish, Aganza Maiseh. People were killed out, and he was mekabel it from people that survived, Aganza Maiseh. What's about the sukkah? Chaveisei, lamah nohagin ha'taich? Then I'm going to wish you a chag sameach Chanukah. You ready? One of the things about sukkah which needs to be understood, and then maybe we'll understand better the agenda against sukkos. In the tefillah, before we walk into a sukkah, Hareini muchan u'mezuman l'kayem mitzvas sukkah, k'shetzivani HaKadosh Baruch Hu, asu b'seishvu, kol ez b'sukkah.

So, manehitu, good, good, good, good, outs good, yeah? ... shetash shchinosecha b'neiseinu. Ul'hakif, oisonu, ... miziv k'vodecha, hakadosh v'hatahor, natal reisheinu milmaalah, k'nesher ya'ir kino. What is k'nesher ya'ir kino? Like the nesher wakes up, ya'ir. He wakes up, kino, his nest of birds. So the sukkah has something to do with the pasuk in Hazinu, pasuk perek lamed-beis, pasuk yud-alef: k'nesher ya'ir kino, al gozalav yerachef, yeah? But we only quote the beginning of the pasuk. It's only the beginning: k'nesher ya'ir kino. So where does this come from, the connection between this pasuk and sukkah? It's the Yalkut Shimoni on this pasuk. The Yalkut Shimoni says that the nesher, if he would come flying in every morning to his coop of birds, his children, they'd get scared. You know what a nesher is? It's like a 747 Boeing. A nesher flying in with the shriek, they'd get scared. So what does it do? It starts rattling the trees around, and it goes from one tree to another. It's a loshon of Yalkut Shimoni, offen art. And it goes mi-sukkah l'sukkah, which obviously means from one coop to another. Sukkah goes like from one room, one house, you know? And then after the kids start to wake a little bit... The chicks, the little children start, huh? Huh? Okay, so I'm asking, I made a mistake. I don't mind. But obviously the word sukkah is a soicha, it's something. But now you know where I got the mistake from at least, okay? The sukkah, the soicha, there's some connection there, okay? Again, I made a mistake. I'm sorry. I'm sure I make many more mistakes. I try my best. I try my best. But whatever it is, the vort is a good vort, and that I'm not making a mistake. Listen good. Derech Chaim says, What's the sheiches, the keneshiyah, kinoy, v'stutzachopa, what? He says the Ribono Shel Olam is not pogea b'Yisrael kaidem. He doesn't first go. He wakens you up a little bit with side remozim. He rattles you on other, on side, like the tree. I'm gonna have to fight with you after the shiur about this. I'm not so sure you're right, but all right. You see, this is what a Maggid shiur has to... You see, I don't know if you realize, I'm still going through all the different mekoros that I saw this medrash, the Yankel Tzemachi, as I'm continuing with this vort. But all right, now you see what goes through a Maggid shiur's mind when he says a shiur. I don't appreciate. I'm not such a good Maggid shiur. I'm not such a good Maggid shiur. When you come to shiur and appreciate, appreciate. You don't know how much... Maggidei shiur, we try our best. We really do. You don't realize how much. I heard Reb Shlomo Fiveish. I used to go Shavuos night to hear his shiur, to hear his shiur. This was when I was still in Brooklyn, and I was, so to speak, not committed. I didn't have my yeshiva at the time, which had to make me say shiurim all the time, and I had no shuls, no lunch and learns. I was still a free man, so I used to go Shvuos to hear his shiur Shvuos night. So I came to tell him, Rebbe, I came to hear your shiur Shvuos night. He says, Aaron, I'm trying my best for you. I'm trying my best for you. Then when we left the shiur, I told Rebbe the shiur was gevaldik. He says, I could try my best. I'm trying my best. That was the conversation that I had. I learned a lot from it. He was teaching me. Now, this and as the Rebbe tries his best was told me: you try, you try hard, you try to give you the best shiur possible, okay. Getting back to the Knesses Yarkinai, yeah, Knesses Yarkinai, the Ribono Shel Olam wakes not directly, but from the side to wake you up, and he sees if you—if not, then he has to come in and wake us up, unfortunately with much worse. What shayches that with Sukkah? Nothing, really. You take a look at the Zohar. The Zohar, which is interesting, why the siddur and whoever made up this nusach for the hakdamah didn't really actually follow what the Zohar. The Zohar actually says the shayches from Sukkah is at the end of the pasuk, Al gezalav yirachef, that he hovers.

It's over to protect his babies on top of the kup. This you'll have to speak to people, ask them, this is a kashya, it's a good Torah. Why do we bring, unless it means v'chulei, and it's missing in the siddur. I don't want to get into the actual technical of it, but it's really al gezul of Yerachem. And the Zohar says, Ima ila'eila, it's the mother from above. The mama, the mama protects. How many times we know stories. I with my own eyes saw. There was a car coming, I saw with my own eyes, a car was coming, and there was a child in the street. The mother jumped from the sidewalk on top of the child, that the car should hit the mother and not the child. That's ima. The mama protects from above. Kinesher, the Chazal say that the nesher protects in a way that when the cheitz, mutav sheyavo hacheitz bi, the cheitz should come in me. It's interesting, Anani HaKavod, the chitzim, right? The cheitz went into the Anani HaKavod, didn't go to the child. Ima. Now, of course, in Zohar language there's tifin yonim and imi ila'ah, but there's a kepshutoi, the Ari brings this down, kibonim, that the Ribbono Shel Olam protects like a... here it's a mother, because the mother's protection is even maybe more than a father, but it's parental protection, parental protection for a child. Sukkah represents tzela d'menusa, the parental protection special, the mother, the father, the child. Okay? The Yevanim, they wanted something. They want—what did they want? They wanted to batel Sukkos. What's the bitul of Sukkos? The kesher that Klal Yisrael has as banim laKadosh Baruch Hu. It's more than just kedusha. It's more than just taharah. Even Sukkos, that we're connected to the Eibishter, k'nesher ya'ir kinoi, that they also didn't want. I'll tell you where I saw this. You hear, rabosai? You ready? Kisvu lachem al keren ha'shor she'ein lachem chelek b'Elokei Yisrael. What's the keren ha'shor? Write it on the horn of the— I always thought, pashut, they used to announce. That was the form of announcement in those days: the trumpet, keren ha'shor. So announce it: she'ein lachem chelek b'Elokei Yisrael. Trumpet it: she'ein lachem chelek b'Elokei Yisrael. The Chasam Sofer, yadua, says that they used to use the keren ha'shor as a bottle to feed babies. That's how they used to give the baby to drink. Kisvu lachem al keren ha'shor, when the child, from birth, from kin vaysuf, in Yiddish, from kin vaysuf, as from the beginning, uproot she'ein lachem chelek b'Elokei Yisrael. That's what they wanted. The children—they went after, so to speak, the kefirah and the disconnect, the haskalah, the communism, any isms that you want to talk about, Yevanism. It should be from when? Cheilek, keren hashor. Now I understand there's a deeper meaning to it. Mama feeds the mother. That's the protection that the mother gives to the child. A mother and a child are connected by the feeding. Cut that. She'ein lecha cheilek b'Klal Yisrael. You're not protected. U'meileh, meileh, they went to fight. We are protected. We're protected. We're not afraid. You look at Megillas Chashmonaim. It brings that they started making calculations that the Parsim, other, they could have made internal UN mishmash, that they could find other ways to protect themselves. Azoi shteit in Megillas, that the... So Yehuda, one of the Maccabim, tells them, What are you doing? Forget that. We don't want that. Only the Eibishter, mi chamocha ba'eilim Hashem. It's only the Eibishter. You know how a ben has emunah in his father. He crosses the street with his father and he doesn't look right or left because he knows his father's holding his hand. I don't want any other protection. So the kid...

Kegam al imoi, kegam al imoi, kegam al imoi, kegam al imoi. It's the ultimate bitachon, the ultimate trust, the ultimate connection. Kegam al imoi. A mother feeds the child. Kegam al imoi. Kiss v'lachem al keren hashor. So we fought back with emunah peshutah and bitachon, v'achar kach bo'u bonecho, v'dvir beisecho. With emunah, we have a chelek, and it's chelek etzem. We're part and parcel. We're one connection, one piece, and you can't separate us, because banim can never be separated. It's a chelek. It's a part of the DNA. You'll never disconnect the ben from an av. It's impossible. That's v'achar kach bo'u bonecho, v'dvir beisecho. Now in your light, Chanukah licht at night, rabosai. Think, chavivah, my connection with the Eibishter, my kesher. Av l'ben, bitachon of kegam al imoi, kegam al imoi, kegam al imoi. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.