Chanukah’s Light and Warmth: The Sweetness of Torah and the Power of Kind Words

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Shalom aleichem and bruchim haba'im. As we approach Chanukah, let us talk about Chanukah, the essence of Chanukah. What is Chanukah? The Rambam tells us, mitzvas ner Chanukah, mitzvah chavivah hi ad me'od. The mitzvah of ner Chanukah is very chaviv, chavivah ad me'od. Rambam doesn't speak by all mitzvahs this way. Specifically by Chanukah, the Rambam goes out of his way to tell us how chaviv, chaviv ad me'od, the mitzvah of ner Chanukah. When we say Haneiros halalu, you'll notice something interesting: the wording, Va'achar kach bo'u banecha, banecha, lidvir beisecha, v'hidliku neiros bechatzros kodshecha. Banecha, love, a child. You see the chavivus. It's a mitzvah, Chanukah, the Yom Tov is about chavivus, as if the chavivus of a father to a child. Va'achar kach bo'u banecha lidvir beisecha. It's a mitzvah, it's a Yom Tov that has a lot of love, chavivus. Why? What is so unique about Chanukah and ner Chanukah that it's so chaviv, that it's so dear and endearing and warm? So there's a lot of pshatim, there's a lot of Torah on this. Chanukah, a lot of Torah on Chanukah is revolved around this question: why is Chanukah and the ner Chanukah mitzvah chavivah? I would like to tell the olam, to share with you a pashut pshat, simple. The menorah represents Torah. That's the whole idea of the menorah. It's Chochmas haTorah, Torah shebaal peh. The Gemara tells us in Bava Basra, the Gemara says that the menorah represents Torah, that if Moshe Rabbeinu had a question about something in learning, when Moshe Rabbeinu had something that he didn't understand, he went to the menorah and he would gaze at the menorah, and the menorah would give him the light, the pshat, to understand what he needed to know in learning, because the menorah is about Torah. And it follows the whole story of Chanukah. What was the story of Chanukah? The Yevanim wanted l'hashkicham Torasecha, that Klal Yisrael should forget Torah, Hashem's Torah. Torah, it's a chochmah, it's a knowledge. But that it should be Torahasecha, your Torah. You know, there's Torah shebiksav and Torah shebaal peh. What's the difference between Torah shebiksav and Torah shebaal peh? The written Torah, the goyim also accept. Scriptures. The Torah shebaal peh, this is special, unique Klal Yisrael, that the Ribono Shel Olam gave directly, Moshe to Klal Yisrael, lashkicham Torahasecha, to forget the Hashem's Torah, the Torah shebaal peh. And therefore, we came back to the Beis Hamikdash and we lit a menorah, which represents—it's the semel—it represents Torah shebaal peh. This is the essence of the Yom Tov. When someone asks you, What is Chanukah? This is Chanukah. Chanukah is the Yevanim lashkicham Torahasecha. Klal Yisrael fought for Torah. They fought for Torah shebaal peh, and they were zocheh to a tremendous nes.

The Chanukah menorah, which is Torah, the light of Torah. They want to bring darkness, lashkicham Torasecha. In return, the Ribbono Shel Olam gave us back the menorah, the light of Torah. Torah is chaviv. Torah is ahavah. Torah is warm. Torah is ne'imus, sweet. I came here tonight to give you this message. We have a tremendous gift, tremendous matanah that Hashem gave us, and only we have it. V'nasan lanu. Hashem chose us to give us a present that no other nation has, and that is the Torah, which is chaviv, which is ahavah, love. It's dear. It's warm. It's sweet. And this is what the Rambam means, that the ner Chanukah is a mitzvah chavivah, chavivah ad me'od. It's warm. It's sweet, because it's about ahavah. Torah is all about love. It's all about ne'imus. The pasuk tells us, you know what Torah is? Deracheha darchei noam, v'chol nesivoseha shalom. Torah is darchei noam. It has to be the way of sweet. Here, listen carefully. Which the halacha seems to be one way, the Gemara and the Rishonim will tell us that's not the halacha, because it has to be דרכיה דרכי נועם. It has to be sweet. It has to be na'im. If it's not na'im, it can't be דרכי התורה. Torah is sweet. Torah is chaviv. It's warm. I want to show you an interesting halacha in Hilchos Chanukah. Interesting halacha. Haya lefanav ner Beiso v'ner Chanukah. A person has to make a choice. He doesn't have money for both the Shabbos candles and the menorah. Today we don't have these issues, Baruch Hashem, we're not poor. But there was a time where a person had to make a decision. He didn't have enough for both. Says the Rambam, it's the last halacha in Hilchos Chanukah: Ner Beiso v'kiddush hayom, Ner Beiso kodem, mishum shalom beiso. If it's a question of which candles are more important, that they take preference over, it's ner of Shabbos, which is called ner beiso. Why? Mishum shalom beiso, because of the peace in the house. The Shabbos candles are about the shalom, the peace in the home between husband and wife. Says the Rambam, Hashem nimchak laasos shalom bein ish l'ishto. Hashem even erases His name to make peace in the home. The seita, Hashem erases His name in the waters of the seita. Gadol hashalom, shekol haTorah nitnah la'asos shalom ba'olam, because the whole point of why we have a Torah is to have shalom in the world, should be peace. Shenemar, nu, which pasuk does the Rambam finish Hilchos Chanukah with? Shenemar, Deracheha darchei noam, v'chol nesivoseha shalom. How did this come into the Rambam in Hilchos Chanukah? The Rambam is telling us, Hayu lefanav ner beiso v'ner Chanukah, o ner beiso v'kiddush hayom, Shabbos candles take precedence. First come Shabbos candles, because it's shalom bayis and it's deracheha darchei noam, v'chol nesivoseha shalom, because that's what the Chanukah, which is about Torah, that's Torah. When we light the candles, you know what we're lighting? We're lighting deracheha darchei noam. We are kindling the love, the shalom, the ne'imus of Torah, and that means—

Shalom, shalom bayis comes first. It's a beautiful Rambam. You know, there's a whole question in halacha: you light candles, that there's a time, Misha tishkach hamah. What happens if the wife is not home? Today, the women work. For whatever reason, she's not home yet. Should you wait, or should you say, the zman is the zman, the time is the time? It's a big discussion in the poskim. And many poskim say you must wait for your wife, based on this Rambam, because you see clearly it's about shalom. It's about shalom bayis is more important than ner Chanukah, and because that is ner Chanukah. Ner Chanukah is about darkei noam. Torah has to be shalom and darkei noam. So we have a very nice pshat: mitzvas ner Chanukah, mitzvah chavivah. Ner Chanukah is about chavivus. It's about warmth. It's about love. It's about darkei noam. And when you light the menorah, you're tapping into, you're taking, you're being neheneh from this ohr haTorah, this beautiful warmth, this beautiful ne'imus, which is Torah deracheha darchei noam v'chol nesivoseha shalom. I'll tell you where I learned this from. Where did I learn this from? How do I know this pshat? In Mesechtes Sofrim, perek chaf, halacha hei, the pasuk says, Mayafis. U'ma na'amt, ahavah ba'tanugim. It's a pasuk in Shir HaShirim. Mah yafis, how beautiful. Ma na'amt, how sweet. Ahavah ba'tanugim, the love, Hashem klal Yisrael. Says the Gemara, mah yafis zu mezuzah. It's referring to mezuzah. U'ma na'amt, sweet, what is that referring to? Nu? Ner Chanukah. Gemara Maseches Sofrim. Sweet. Yafeh, mezuzah. U'ma na'amt, ner Chanukah. Gemara Maseches Sofrim. You know, the pasuk, Vayar menuchah ki tov, v'es ha'aretz ki na'eimah. It's a pasuk in, in Zinu, right? Vayar menuchah ki tov, v'es ha'aretz ki na'eimah. So the Chazal say, menuchah is Torah shebiksav. Ki na'eimah is Torah shebaal peh. You hear? You're listening? Sweet. You know, when they said that they're going to give out sweets tonight, I'm sure they meant the shiur, mistama, because the Torah is the sweetest thing possible. There's nothing sweeter. It's a pasuk. Mah yafis u'ma na'amt. There's a pasuk, v'es ha'aretz ki na'eimah. What's mah yar menuchah? Menuchah is rest. Torah shebiksav does not need ameilus. You read the pesukim, and that's menuchah. Torah shebaal peh needs ameilus. You need to toil. You need to work hard. It's not easy to learn a Gemara, but yet it's called na'eimah because it's sweet. Vayar menuchah, zu Torah shebiksav. This is a Zohar HaKadosh. Chelek Aleph, siman reish mem beis, here, os reish mem beis. The Zohar says, Vayar menuchah, menuchah is Torah shebiksav. V'es ha'aretz ki na'eimah is Torah shebaal peh, sweet. There's a custom, it's brought down in the siddurim. The Yaavetz brings it in his siddur. What pasuk do you say right after you light the candles? What pasuk do you say? V'noam Hashem aleinu, u'ma'aseh yadeinu konenah aleinu, u'ma'aseh yadeinu koneneihu. And many understood that why do you say this pasuk? Because ma'aseh yadeinu koneneihu, which means we want l'chaven that we should be matzliach in our actions of mitzvah. And I would say that the reason why we—

Say this pasuk is because of the beginning, the first few words in the pasuk, and that is, V'hinayam, Hashem aleinu, the sweetness of Hashem, the menorah. When you light the menorah, it's a chavivah mitzvah. It's sweet. It's a very warm mitzvah. You know, the Medrash, Chazal, they speak about the menorah, kiner mitzvah v'Torah or. That's the pasuk that is used to describe hadlakas hamenorah: kiner mitzvah v'Torah or. Torah is light. The menorah is light. Now what does or mean? So or means it's light in darkness. When it's dark, you could see. Yes, Torah gives light in the darkness. But there's another factor to or, and that is warmth. Or, fire. Fire gives warmth also. The menorah is light, but the menorah is warm. It's mitzvah chavivah ad me'od. It's very warm. It's a lot of love when you light a menorah, Hashem, to Klal Yisrael, to the point that, as we pointed out before, v'achar kach ba'u banecha, the Chashmonaim felt like they were loved like children when they had the menorah. Hear, rabosai, when you say Haneros Halalu this year, think of the words. Imagine the times that they were living in. They were living in a situation where it was dark and they were being persecuted. Yet when they were fighting and they came back to the Beis Hamikdash, they felt so much warmth, bonecha, as if they were children of Hashem, like a father who loves a child. And when you light the menorah, you have that. You're able to connect to that, v'achar kach bou bonecha l'dvir beisecha, v'hidliku neiros b'chatzros kodshecha. Chassidish sefarim say a nice pshat, very interesting. Halacha is, as the Gemara states and is brought in Shulchan Aruch, the mitzvah of Ner Chanukah is mishetishka hachamah, the sun sets, tishka shekias hachamah. Chassidish sefarim farteitch, they explain tishka hachamah means when the warmth, the chamah, as the sun goes down, it becomes cold. So the idea of the neiros Chanukah is when there's cold and this brings warmth, mishetishka hachamah. We live in a cold world, rabosai. You go outside, and I don't mean physically, I mean spiritually and emotionally. There's so much problems. Wherever you turn, it's cold. Torah. And the menorah, which resembles the Torah, infuses warmth. Torah is chaviv. Torah is cham, chamim. It's hot, it's warm, and it's na'im, and it's sweet. You know, there was a great gadol, Reb Leibla Eiger. He was a grandson of Reb Akiva Eiger. He wrote a sefer called Torahs Emes. That was the name of his sefer. And in it, he has a full, let's say, a siman, a whole discussion: why is Amalek, Zachor, always read in Parshas Tetzaveh? Usually, I mean, I say always, but more or less most of the time they coincide. Parshas Tetzaveh, Mechiyas Amalek. Is there a connection? Yes, the connection is the time of the year. That's when Parshas Tetzaveh, and it happens to be before Purim. He says, no, there is a connection much more than just the calendar. Specifically, Tetzaveh—what is Tetzaveh? Tetzaveh talks about the menorah, and that Moshe Rabbeinu had to get the oil, the ikvei lecha.

A shemen zayis zach to light the menorah, it has a direct connection to Amalek. What is the connection to Amalek? Chanukah and Amalek? I thought it's Yavan. What's going on here? Sforim explain something very interesting, something very unique. What is Amalek? You see, Amalek, of course, is the goy that comes to kill us. That's true. But there's also something what they call a klipah of Amalek, which means the ideology of Amalek. What is Amalek? Asher korcha baderech. What is the word korcha? Simply it means that they fell on you. They came and they attacked you baderech, on the way when you were leaving Mitzrayim. But the mefarshim explain, korcha also means cold. When it's cold, you ever see, what is ice called? Kerach. Asher korcha baderech. Amalek makes cold. And what is the response to Amalek? Vayikchu eilecha shemen zayis, the Torah, shemen, the menorah, because that's warmth. I could tell you that in cold days, and I don't mean just because the temperature was cold, I could say for myself, and I could say for most people who learn, they find warmth. In the Torah, that's where they fight. As they say in English, you're looking for a warm shoulder to lean on? The Torah is the warm shoulder. And the menorah is the semel. It represents this Torah of warmth, of light, of ohr. I see here there are those that are still in school, and they learn Tanach. Shmuel. At the end of Shmuel, we find that Shaul and Yonason were killed in war. Dovid HaMelech is broken that Shaul and Yonason were killed. Yonason was Dovid HaMelech's best friend. They were so united. And Dovid gives a hesped. Dovid is eulogizing Shaul and Yonason. Let's see the words. Let's listen to the words that Dovid says when he tries to give a picture of who Shaul and Yonason were. Haneehavim v'hane'imim b'chayeihem uv'mosam lo nifredu. Haneehavim means they were loved. Ne'imim, they were na'im, sweet. Really? That's how you talk about the two great giants of Klal Yisroel? You continue the pesukim further. It says, Na'amt li ad me'od. David says, You, Yonason, were so sweet. Na'amt li, you were sweet to me. That's how you talk about a gadol hador. They were the gedolei Yisrael. Imagine someone would get up and speak about—we have a diverse crowd—and speak about Rav Elyashiv, zecher tzaddik livracha, or Rav Ovadia Yosef, zecher tzaddik livracha, and he would say, What are you talking about? That's what you... Hayah saraf, hayah gedolei olam. They were giants. You know what you say about a simple guy? You say, Hu ish nechmad, hu na'im. That's what... You hear the question? It's a great question. You hear the she'eilah? Zeh kol ma sheyecholim lagid al gedolei Yisrael, shehein ne'ehavim v'ne'imim. My zeidy, Rav Shlomo, welcomed at Tzala, showed me a Malbim. The Malbim says, Yes, to be a na'im is a tremendous attribute. Derech eretz darkei noam. It means you're a ben Torah. Na'imus.

But someone is sweet. Someone is kind. He's gentle. He's warm. It's a sign that he was kaina. He has in himself the Torah, and therefore, דרכיה דרכי נועם. It's a sign that he's a real gadol baTorah. He's a real talmid chacham, because Torah means na'im. Torah means דרכיה דרכי נועם, וכל נתיבותיה שלום. You know, the imut, it's not something that people talk about. I'm sure that someone's going to come and say, What did Rav Wolkin come from Queens? What did he speak about? He spoke about Torah and learning? No. He spoke about to be na'im, to be na'im halichot. That, really? That's what Rabbi Wolkin spoke about? And the answer is, if Dovid HaMelech could speak about it, I could also speak about it. What does it mean to be na'im? Na'im is not an external thing. Na'im is pnimi. It's something very internal, something deep in a person, and he radiates the imut. He radiates it. Remember the pasuk that we mentioned: Ma yafis uma na'amt. Ma yafis is mezuzah. Ma na'amt is Ner Chanukah. The Bnei Yissaschar, Chassidim say the heilige Bnei Yissaschar. Bnei Yissaschar is classic sefarim from the Sifrei Chassidim. What's the difference between yafeh and na'im? Ma yafis mezuzah, ma na'amt ner Chanukah. And he says something very, very, very beautiful, very chadiv. He says, yafis is external. It looks nice. The mezuzah is external. Na'amt is internal. It's pnimi. It's something from within. Ma yafis mezuzah, ner Chanukah speaks to the inside of the Yid. It's such a beautiful pshat. Ner Chanukah brings out the inner, the ne'imus, the chavivus, the love that a Yid has for HaKadosh Baruch Hu and for Torah. Ma yafis, external, that's mezuzah. U'ma na'amt, na'im is internal. It's something that you convey. It's not something that you could say. It's not an external expression. It's an internal thing. And I want to show you where I believe this is clear, that we say during davening, it's very obvious. Lakel baruch ne'imos yitenu, laMelech El chai v'kayam zemiros yomeru, v'sishbachos yashmi'u. So zemiros is yomeru. Tishbachos is yashmi'u, but ne'imos is what? Yiteinu. It should say about speaking, now you're davening. So it should be ne'imos yemeiru, yashmi'u. Now zmiros is yemeiru. Tishbachos is yashmi'u, but ne'imos is, nu, yiteinu. You give it, because it's something that you're conveying; it's not something that you're saying. You cannot say ne'imus. You can only convey it, yitein, you can give it. It's something that you are conveying, a ne'imus, a warmth. Could someone say warmth? No, he could convey warmth. The Torah changes a person. A person has in himself a lot of quality, a lot of tov. How does a person bring that out? And the answer is Torah.

I'd like to share with you a few stories. I see by this point already, na oylam listened to the dvar Torah that I wanted to convey, and that is, Chanukah is about love. It's about a ahavah. It's about a passion from within that every neshama, every Yid has for the Ribono Shel Olam, to the point that he's moser nefesh. You know, a person cannot be moser nefesh unless he really, really deep down has that fire of a ahavah. The Chashmonaim had it, and the menorah tries to convey it, and that when you light the menorah, you're getting this ahavah, ahavas haTorah. A Yid loves Torah. A Yid loves HaKadosh Baruch Hu. A Yid is able to love. Ahavah is not an easy thing. It's talked about a lot, but to really feel it, Torah. Torah is the emtza'i on how to reach that hergesh. How do you light? How do you kindle a ahavah for Hashem, for Torah? The menorah can help you with that. Torah kindles ahavas Hashem. I want to tell you over, I'll start with two stories, and maybe I'll say even three, depending on how much the crowd was interested. When I was in Eretz Yisroel, I would say some 20 years ago, the yeshiva sent me to— Gives shiurim in different yeshivas, and this was to recruit bachrim. I would give the shiur, the bachrim would, you know, see the Rosh Yeshiva, and they would follow and try to, you know, like this. They were in America. When they came back to America, they would come to the yeshiva. The yeshiva arranged all the traveling to the different moisdos and yeshivas by taxi, which means from here they would call the taxi service there and say, Pick up Rabbi Walkin from this and this and bring him to so-and-so yeshiva. One morning, I was there for about a week, a week and a half, one morning I come out, the taxi is waiting for me like we've done, you know, we've set up. I wasn't happy when I entered the taxi. The taxi driver didn't look like he was—I'm sorry, he didn't look Jewish. He looked like he was from the shtachim, the territory of not ours, okay? He looked like an Arab. Dark face, you know, the hair was— and there was a lot of terrorist attacks at that juncture, at that time, and it was very uncomfortable. We're traveling, and the yeshiva, the particular yeshiva we were going to was on the outskirts of Yerushalayim. Today, Yerushalayim is built up, and the outskirts are full of houses, but it was a remote area. And as we're traveling, the taxi driver turns to me and he says to me, We're lost. Yeah, you see, we're lost. I don't know how to get to this place. Do you know how to go? And I said, No, I don't. I don't know how to go. But I started taking out my Tehillim already because I was a little bit... And I'm looking around, is there anyone that we... There are no yidden around. It was scary. It was scary. I also didn't understand why he couldn't radio in. You know, today we have Waze, we have all the... you can't really get lost, right? Even though today they're more lost than they were years ago, but all right, that's for a different conversation for a different time. I couldn't understand why he had, you know, this confusion of where to go, and it bothered me. I was a little nervous. So he asks me, Sheneilech, yemina o smola? Everybody knows the question, yemina o smola. So I said to him, Achi, ulai lenech yemina, because I always thought the Gemara says that whenever you have a doubt, a Jew always goes to the right. So I told him, Yemina. He stopped the taxi abruptly.

And he turns around to me and he says, Ma amarta? Ma amarta li? And he's raising his voice, and I'm like, Oy vey. Now I'm really in trouble. So I tell him, Yemina. No, no. Ma amarta li lifnei she'amarta yemina. So I tell him, No. And he says, No, no, amarta mashu. So I said, קראתי אליך אחי, you know, ככה אני מדבר. That's how I talk. That's how I talk. And don't forget, there was no sign of Mogen David anywhere, and I really didn't believe he was Jewish. All of a sudden, he opens up his glove compartment, and he takes out a yarmulke, a white yarmulke. The yarmulkes that they give out by the Kosel, and he puts it on. And he says to me something that changed me forever. He told me something that I learned so much from, and I realized the Ribono Shel Olam put me in that position, and he put me in that cab, in that taxi, to learn this. He says, I'll say it first in Hebrew, because he spoke Hebrew, and then I'll repeat it in English. I can't. I could do it in Yiddish also if the crowd wants, and okay. כשקראת אותי אחי, פעם לי בלב, כמו שפועם לי הלב כשאני הולך לכותל. נתרגשתי, אז לכן אני שם את הכיפה. כשאני לובש כשאני הולך לקאיסל. You called me achi, pa'am li balev. I'll translate it. When you called me brother, my heart jumped. I got a tefikah, which means a push, a shove. And I feel that way when I go to the Kaisel. That's what I feel. So I told him, על זה נאמר, כל דודי דופק, פתחי לי. Hashem is knocking on your heart. Open, open up. He took one word, the word of achi, one word. דרכיה דרכי נועם, וכל נתיבותיה שלום. A good word, a word of ne'imut. We lost the art of ne'imus. Torah is ne'imus, and Torah, you want to kindle a neshama? It's through ne'imus, and that is the menorah. I want to tell you—actually, I see the crowd is listening, I'll tell you. It's a fair deal. You listen to the beginning, the Torah, you'll get the stories, I'll tell you. And as you know, I've been, Baruch Hashem, I was zoche, the Ribono Shel Olam gave me this zechus to teach Torah for many years. I have many stories over the years. Let me share with you another story. A talmid of mine in the yeshiva got up at a Chanukah party two years ago, and he said, I wasn't planned to speak. I wasn't asked to be the speaker. But I need to tell the crowd something that's, that is on my heart that I want to say. And I hope the Rosh Yeshiva, meaning me, he won't be upset that I'm saying this. I said, Speak, speak. Your mind, speak your heart. I grew up as an atheist, and I'm not ashamed to say it, he said. He said, Berabim, he says, I grew up as an atheist. This talmid in the yeshiva. Now I want to just tell you about this talmid. This talmid today gives shiurim. He happens to be on Torah Anytime. He's one of the maggidei shiurim on Torah Anytime, so Torah Anytime yasher koach. I will not tell you the name. I could tell you the first name and not the second name. Let's do it that way. Or maybe, you know what? Let's leave it nameless, all right? You'll go through all the list of all the people on Torah Anytime, you'll say maybe it's that one, maybe, maybe, maybe. By the way, there's a lot of my talmidim are on Torah Anytime, Baruch Hashem. Chasdei Hashem, I thank the Eibishter for that. I was zoche. I was an atheist. I grew up in a home that my grandparents were Holocaust survivors, and because of that...

Had a lot of complaints, you know. Unfortunately, a lot of people came back from the Holocaust, had a lot of pain, and they didn't believe. They lost their emunah. And it's not just we lost our emunah that we weren't religious, but we were anti. We were atheists. Didn't believe in Hashem. I got married, and I had a child, and something awoke in me. And I realized I was wrong. I was making a mistake. I got an his'orerus to do teshuva. But I knew nothing, and I couldn't even read Hebrew, which means I couldn't even daven. I couldn't say the words of the tefillah because I never went to school. I never learned. What do I do? Someone told him, Go speak to Rabbi Wolkin. He comes to me. He walked in with jeans. He walked in with a polo shirt, a white yarmulke with stars on it, and I believe teddy bears, if I'm not mistaken, were on that yarmulke as well, okay? And he says to me, Rabbi Wolkin, this is my life story. What do I do? I said to him, What do you mean, what do you do? I have a yeshiva. I accept you in my yeshiva. That's what I told him. I accept you in my yeshiva. He says, But Rabbi Wolkin, I'm already older, and I know nothing. Is it too late for me? Is it too late? Like, he doesn't know what it's all about. He doesn't even know what it is. And he says to me, But there's something in my heart that tells me... I want to be a rav. I want to be a rabbi. Is it too late? I said, No, it's not. And this is what he said, because it's interesting. I had a long conversation with him, and this is what he remembered, which changed his life. He says, Rosh Yeshiva, you took my hand, and you told me, I believe in you. You can do it. He said, That changed my life. Four words. Four words. Derech noam. When you say a kind word, Torah is deracheha darchei noam. I want to tell you a third story as well. I was just recently in Eretz Yisrael, and I was at a bar mitzvah, a relative. All the waiters, I guess it's a rule there in that hall that they all have to wear yarmulkes. If they're religious, they're not religious, they make them all wear yarmulkes. One of the meltzarim, one of the waiters, was a, I mean, he had dark skin. He had a few earrings, and he had tattoos, Chinese letters. I guess it must be a style of tattoos, all the way up his neck. And I'm looking at him, I go, Wow, this is, I mean, how far can, you know, what is, I mean, maybe he's not Jewish. What do I know, you know? The minute they started dancing, they dance with the bar mitzvah boy, the music, he jumps in and he dances with everybody as if he was part of the simcha. And I'm watching this, and I'm moved by this neshama that's moved to be part of Klal Yisrael, to be part of a simcha in Klal Yisrael. Maybe it's the right time to point this out. You know, we have unfortunately a lot of tragedies. Every day we hear terrible events. The neshama of a Yid needs to feel for those tragedies, and מצד ההפוך, מצד השני, when there's simchas, you go to a simcha, you should be happy deep down. It should be something that the neshama should express love and ahava, and we're capable of it. Most goyim can't do this. One gentile to another has no connection. Might be his friend, but if he's not his friend, okay, what does it have to do with you, right? The neshama of a Yid has ahava, has love, and that's because we're the am haTorah. The Torah gave us something unique that we're able to have feelings, hergeshim, and that means even if we don't know them.

person. We should still feel for him, sad for his tzarah and happy for his simcha. When I was a bachur, and I'm going to get back to the story of the waiter, when I was a bachur, when I was in Eretz Yisrael, so I used to hang around kollel Torah yeshiva by Dvagan. My grandparents lived there, so I would stay in kollel Torah, learn there. And I wasn't a talmid of the yeshiva. I learned in the Mir, but every, you know, time I would go to my grandparents, I would come to kollel Torah to hang out, so to speak, and learn there. I once went down to get a coffee. I was tired, so I went to get a coffee, and there happened to be a sheva brachos going on in the lunchroom of the yeshiva in kollel Torah by Dvagan. Who was the rosh yeshiva of kollel Torah at the time? Reb Shlomo Zalman Orbach, the famous gaon, the famous gadol, the posek hador, Reb Shlomo Zalman Orbach, and he was in attendance. He was attending this simcha. Me, I'm not part of the simcha. I just came to get a coffee, right? So I get my coffee, and I'm making it, and I'm, like, ready to walk upstairs. Reb Shlomo Zalman calls me over. The gadol hador calls me over. So he says to me, Why are you not part of the simcha? Why are you not? I says, Because I'm not. I have nothing to do. I'm upstairs. I just came down for a coffee. He says to me, You think it just happened that you should get a coffee while there is a simcha going on over here? HaKadosh Baruch Hu put you here to see if you'll be happy for another Yid that has a simcha that has nothing to do with you. You hear a story from a gadol hador. Hashem is testing you. Are you happy for someone you don't know? You need to show simcha as if you knew and as if you were invited. And he made me dance with the chassan in the middle of the circle together with everybody else. This is Torah. This is deracheha darchei noam. Not something people think about, but it's an internal lev of a Klal Yisroel that loves, and we have this from our Torah. So when I saw this stranger, the waiter, he had nothing to do with the simcha, he jumps in and he starts to dance. So I called him over. I said, I see sheyesh lecha lev Yehudi. You have a Jewish heart. Why? Nitragashta, hitorarta. When you saw they were dancing and they were happy for this bar mitzvah boy, it moved you. You have a Yiddishe heart. I didn't say it in Yiddish. I told him in Hebrew, lev Yehudi. He hugged me and he kissed me, and he said, Sharav teida, ani lamadeti byeshivat Porat Yosef. Rachakti meod. I became very, very... aval k'she'amarta li... I told him he's a tzaddik. That's really what I said, that tzaddik yesh lecha lev Yehudi. That's what I told him. He says, When you told me I'm a tzaddik and I have a lev Yehudi, you don't know what you did for me. The chizuk you gave me was unbelievable. אני עכשיו נעבוד. I will. שאני יתעורר מזה, ואני אתחיל אולי לעשות תשובה, ואני אעבוד על זה. אני דוד מאיר, אני דוד מאיר. דרכיה דרכי נועם. Torah is warm. Torah is chavivut. Torah is ahavah. נר חנוכה is v'hinoam Hashem aleinu, ma'aseh yadeinu konenahu. When you light the menorah, it's the ohr haTorah, the light, but it's also the chamimut, the warmth. Chanukah is warm, because Torah is warm. And true bnei Torah is ha-nehavim v'ha-ne'imim b'chayeihem. I wish you all Chanukah na'im, okay? People have different ways of saying Chag sameach and Chanukah. I think tonight we're gonna rephrase a new phrase, all right? Everybody's together with me on this? Chanukah na'im. Have a sweet Chanukah, because the neiros of Chanukah...

Here's about chavivus. It's about, and remember, where do I get? Chazal tell us, Mayafis, mezuzah, man'amt, ner Chanukah. Chazal already told us in the emes, V'yedam Hashem aleinu, u'ma'aseh yadeinu konenah aleinu; Hashem should always bestow His sweetness, and you should see metikut haTorah. And remember, kind words. One word doesn't take much, l'orer lev, sweet word, good word. Yiddish should be zocheh, Chanukah should be haschalas nisim v'ge'ulos b'klal Yisrael. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.