The Yanuka Rav Shlomo Yehuda-יוסף הצדיק - שורש הגאולה מעמד האלפים בעיר אשקלון השיעור של הגאון הינוקא נר חמישי של חנוכה תשפ＂ו

9:39 "Give thanks to Hashem, for He is good," "for His kindness endures forever." This is for the miracles of Chanukah. Fortunate are you, Israel, that your city is a city of Torah, of kedushah, of Torah scholars, Geonim, holy ones and tzaddikim, who draw down Torah here, in this holy city of yours.

10:20 For all that you do here in the south, I bless you — your whole community, the whole city, the mayor — for all that you do here. May Hashem, blessed be He, bless you with every blessing, with all good bounty, with good that is seen and revealed, in joy and gladness of heart. May you have miracles and wonders from Heaven. With the permission of our masters and teachers, all the holy and honored rabbis, each and every one according to his honor and his stature, with the permission of the whole holy congregation — may Hashem, blessed be He, save you; may we merit miracles and wonders from Heaven, a good life, and to draw close to our Master, the Creator, blessed be He.

11:14 We know that the little holds the much. All the miracles and wonders that Hashem, blessed be He, did for our forefathers, in every time, at every season — there was a revelation of light within darkness. The Jewish people were in a time of darkness and gloom, and there was a great and mighty revelation of the light of Ein Sof, which burst through from above to below.

11:49 And so His miracles and wonders were drawn down — those of Hashem, blessed be He, Who went on and saved, and did not abandon a single Jew in the world. We find, with the holy Tribes who took Yosef — the Torah says: "One who steals a man and sells him, and he is found in his hand," in the Book of Shemos, chapter 21, verse 16, "shall surely be put to death."

12:24 By the strict law, this would not be a sin. In Tractate Sanhedrin, page 96 — page 86 — the Gemara says that in fact, the whole matter of the sale, at its root — we find that by the strict law, it was an exactingness of Hashem, blessed be He, with our forefathers: He was exacting with them, with the Tribes. And because of the whole chain of events, they had to pay double payment through those martyrs slain by the kingdom, those holy and pure ones, for the robbery and the theft that carried on.

13:03 So Hashem, blessed be He, says: for theft, you shall pay double payment. "He shall return the robbed thing that he robbed" — robbery is done brazenly, theft is done in hiding. And Hashem, blessed be He, was very, very angry, and pained, that they sold Yosef HaTzaddik. And to this day we weep and grieve over the year of the sale of Yosef — 2216 — the time of the sale of Yosef.

13:39 The secret of the times, and the whole exile of the Jewish people, which began at the time the Jewish people went out of Egypt — and every single day we weep, and all the Jewish people are in sorrow from all the troubles and from all that has followed because of the sale of Yosef. The root of robbery, of theft — Hashem, blessed be He, hates it very much.

14:09 When a person steals, when a person robs, he acts against Hashem, blessed be He. Hashem, blessed be He, set things this way in His world, and that person says no — that it need not be this way in the world. He acts against Hashem, blessed be He. But the root, with Yosef, is that they took Yosef and put him in a pit, and brought him down below — this holy vessel, the pure Menorah, the light of the Jewish people, the root of kedushah, all the bounty, the Menorah of the Beis HaMikdash, the Holy Temple.

14:41 That was Yosef HaTzaddik. Yosef is the Menorah that stood in the Beis HaMikdash, which was of pure gold, eighteen handbreadths — chai, life; kedushah. There was not a single stain in Yosef HaTzaddik. He was very, very holy and awesome. We find: there is robbery of an individual, and there is robbery of the many. In the Tosefta, in Bava Kamma, chapter 10, it says that robbery of the many is far more severe than robbery of an individual, because with robbery of the many, teshuvah is much harder.

15:13 How can one do teshuvah toward the many? A person who robbed, Heaven forbid, and harmed one person, an individual — he can return it to him. But the many — how will he return to them what he robbed from them? That robbery will be much, much harder. He will have to do many more things in order to return to them what was robbed. The Sages teach in Tractate Bava Kamma, page 94b, that one repairs the roads, and things like that, which have in them benefit and what the many need — to better for them all their doings, their roads, so that they can draw close and do good acts and good things. And so it comes around from Heaven — what they must make good to the created beings, those who were actually robbed.

15:54 So the merit of the many, done on their behalf — this will come around and bring them to some good, or some benefit. But interestingly, our master the Bayis Chadash, in siman 366 of Choshen Mishpat, writes that this will not always work, because sometimes this thing that we do will not always be of benefit and always come around, because it depends on how the Holy One, blessed be He, brings it around from Heaven; and we rely on Hashem, blessed be He, to bring it around from Heaven.

16:20 But with Yosef HaTzaddik, it was not robbery of an individual. Yosef HaTzaddik — that is robbery of the many. "He who takes souls is wise" — they took Yosef to the pit, and Yosef was robbed. Every day we must make a Tikkun for the sale of Yosef and do teshuvah, for in every generation Hashem, blessed be He, sends us holy and pure souls who can bring the world to its Tikkun, and instead, Hashem, blessed be He, hides His face from us, and we, instead of looking at the purpose, at the true and eternal light of Hashem, look at all the margins and all those things, and lose the purpose — what is true.

17:02 And so one must do teshuvah at every moment and at every time for the sale of Yosef, for the great blemish and the departure of Yosef HaTzaddik. We know that true judgment — when a person alters it, Heaven forbid — in Tractate Shabbos, page 31, the Sages teach that when a person comes to the court on High, they ask him: "Did you deal faithfully in business?" "Did you set fixed times for Torah?"

17:27 "Did you await the salvation?" Rashi explains: Did you await the fulfillment of the words of the prophets? Did you await, and believe, that the geulah would come in your days? Do you believe? Do you await it? Do you yearn? Do you hope? Do you long, crave, pine for it? How much do you desire the revelation of Hashem's kingship? But when a person perverts judgment, Heaven forbid, and the sin of robbery is found in his hand, and he is very, very far from Hashem, blessed be He, then he does not truly merit to carry out judgment as it should be, and through this he goes on drawing very, very far from Hashem, blessed be He.

18:05 The Shulchan Aruch, in Choshen Mishpat, siman 231, se'if 19, brings, about one who has weights and measures in his hand and, Heaven forbid, tilts them and robs: the sin of robbery is in his hand, and he cannot truly atone for this sin. So the very same thing, the very same measure, is truly the sale of Yosef. The weighing, and what the Tribes did — and of course through Reuven, who saved him — did not come to a true judgment, because there were those, Heaven forbid, who reasoned over what should become of Yosef: "and Yosef brought their evil report to their father."

18:37 But of Yaakov Avinu it says: "and his father kept the matter in mind." Yaakov Avinu always knew, at the root, that Yaakov — that Yosef HaTzaddik is the root of Rachel, the continuation of Rachel in the world. He knew that Rachel — for whom he gave his very soul — Rachel is the one who will bring the Tikkun of the geulah. For from Leah came all the idolaters in the world, and from Rachel, the whole root of the kedushah of Jewry; and from Leah came about this whole matter of Esav and the wicked.

19:09 And therefore, "and Leah's eyes were tender" — "Leah's eyes were tender" — that is tefillah: one must pray a great deal in order to nullify the tears of Esav. So from Leah, we must nullify all the idolaters; and from Rachel we draw down the root of the kedushah of Israel. And so, when we draw close and atone for the sale of Yosef, and complete teshuvah is done, through this, converts draw close and convert.

19:34 And therefore the Sages teach that one must make known and reveal G-dliness within all created beings, and teach the idolaters the seven mitzvos of the children of Noach. To go and teach each and every one of the nations of the world, to rise up and act, and begin to reveal among them the seven mitzvos of the children of Noach. Tractate Sanhedrin, page 56a: the Sages teach the prohibitions of forbidden relations, bloodshed and idolatry; "blessing the Name" — cursing the Name, which is forbidden to them, Heaven forbid; the whole matter of forbidden relations — that for them too it is forbidden, Heaven forbid, to come upon close relatives or an animal, a man with a man, or other things that are forbidden; to appoint judges — they must carry out justice; the prohibition of a limb from a living animal,

20:15 as ruled in Yoreh De'ah, siman 62, and what the Chinuch brings in mitzvah 452: that the reason is that we not be cruel. If we eat a limb from a living animal — there is cruelty when a person eats a limb from a living animal. He reveals cruelty in himself. And that was the secret of the sale of Yosef, all the report that he brought about them. So we act, and reveal G-dliness, and bring back all the created beings, all of them, and we turn to the nations of the world and say to them: Arise, and learn, and engage in the seven mitzvos of the children of Noach, and begin to keep and to understand what Hashem, blessed be He, has done.

20:48 Now, the Rambam differs from the Ramban — there is a dispute between the Rambam and the Ramban on this very thing, this matter; it is not the same view at all. For the Rambam reveals that one must reveal those six mitzvos of the children of Noach, which they must keep, all of them, in full; and in the Ramban's view, they must be enforced, by our setting up a beis din to prevent among them damages, robbery and every matter of money — and that they return in teshuvah, so that there not be even one of the nations of the world who acts against Hashem.

21:19 That is the Ramban's view. That is the Ramban's view; whereas in the Rambam's view, they must keep all seven mitzvos of the children of Noach, and enforce them — that they have a beis din to uphold all those seven mitzvos of the children of Noach. And so this difference still stands, to this day, in our times — in our times, when we find that the nations of the world are very, very far from the seven mitzvos of the children of Noach. And not only do they not keep them — they come and do whatever they please, and they act against Hashem, and they act against what Hashem, blessed be He, commanded; and there is much baseless hatred among them, and they carry out pogroms in the world — and what they did — the pain and this bloodshed a few days ago,

21:57 when they spilled innocent blood. They do not know at all the prohibition of a limb from a living animal, which is cruelty; what's more, they are trained and accustomed to this thing of murder, and so they hate the Jewish people, and this caused very, very great pain. And this whole root flows from the blemish of the sale of Yosef — for if there were unity among us… For every time the Jewish people speak lashon hara about holy ones, through this the nations of the world are raised up, and there come pogroms and bloodshed.

22:26 So the Komarna writes that whoever speaks ill and lashon hara of holy tzaddikim causes there to be orphans and widows in the world — all kinds of orphans, all kinds of widows, all kinds of harsh judgments and sufferings that come to the world — and only because of those talebearers, who speak and spread slander against holy ones and speak ill of Hashem's holy ones; through this they hold back the geulah. And so, Yosef HaTzaddik — all that was drawn forth — for he was the very image of Rachel, the love and affection of Yaakov Avinu, the root of wholeness and Tikkun, for whose sake Yaakov Avinu prayed — the secret of Yaakov and Rachel at the time of Malchus, at midnight, when she rises and ascends.

23:07 For one who learns Torah on that night — Zohar, Emor, page 91 — one who learns Torah at night strengthens and raises Malchus, and Malchus rises and is elevated, until a yichud is made at the time of sunrise — she rises and ascends, and a great yichud is made between Yaakov and Rachel, in which they rise and unite — the yichud of Yisrael Sava and Tevunah, bringing the yichud of Ze'ir and Nukva, and complete teshuvah is made. Malchus rises to Keser, and all created beings return in teshuvah before Hashem, blessed be He.

23:34 The true, complete teshuvah — when they return, when they begin to reveal in all created beings His G-dliness, blessed be He. And then, through this, converts come to be, as it was in the time of Mordechai the Jew and Queen Esther, who returned in teshuvah to Hashem. They had to reveal sparks of kedushah within the heart of Achashverosh. For one who reads the Megillah backward has not fulfilled his obligation, because it would come out that Achashverosh is a tzaddik. So we read it from beginning to end; and one who reads it backward has not fulfilled his obligation — for if we read it backward, we reveal in it that Achashverosh was a tzaddik from the start, when in fact he was far worse than the wicked Haman.

24:09 [unclear] … for twenty-two years, and he persecuted the Jewish people; and all his plots, all the thoughts and schemes of Achashverosh, were greater than those of the wicked Haman. But because within Achashverosh there were those sparks that were subdued before Esther, and the root of the kedushah of Queen Esther caused her husband to weaken, and subdued him — and from this, converts are drawn into the world.

24:33 As we see with the Queen of Sheba and Nevuchadnetzar — as is explained — that in fact Nevuchadnetzar was of the seed of King Shlomo, and only because he was of the seed of David and the seed of Shlomo could he lay a hand on the Beis HaMikdash; had he not been of the seed of David, he could not have raised a hand against the Beis HaMikdash — the wicked Nevuchadnetzar. And Shemayah and Avtalyon — descendants of Haman learned Torah in Bnei Brak, And Shemayah and Avtalyon came forth, and all those holy ones — Rav Shmuel bar Shilas as well; he said, "When Adar enters, we increase in joy," and he was a descendant of the wicked Haman.

25:05 And you find that those converts who did teshuvah, who were of the seed of those wicked men, in the end come and reveal G-dliness. For the immense revelation of G-dliness, when the Jewish people do teshuvah, is only in the merit of Yosef HaTzaddik, for the Jewish people left Egypt in his merit, and in the merit of Yosef's kedushah, who was the root of the kedushah of the Jewish people, the Jewish people do teshuvah, and the Divine revelation and the light of the geulah are revealed.

25:32 Therefore, in Tractate Yevamos, page 47, the Gemara says in the name of Rabbi Yehudah that a person who wants to convert must convert before a beis din. There is a beis din; a person stands before the beis din and converts. So it will not help a person to convert just like that, between him and himself; he has made no conversion at all. But if he converts before a beis din, he goes before three, then that conversion counts for him; he becomes a ger tzedek, a righteous convert, it is done as it should be, and he keeps the mitzvos.

25:58 Tosafos say it means that the person's acceptance of the mitzvos must be done before three, and of course it is needed for the immersion too, though there even one suffices. But Rabbeinu Peretz innovates that if it was not before three, then at least the immersion should be before three. But today we see people who come wanting to convert not for the sake of the root of kedushah, not for the love of Hashem; they want to convert for the sake of marriage. And in Yevamos, page 24, the Gemara says that if he converts for the sake of — for the sake of marriage, that conversion counts only after the fact, because he is not sincere.

26:29 That is the view of the Ritva and the view of the Ran: that this conversion does not truly count; it is only after the fact, it is not the way from the outset, because at the root of his inner self he is drawn after a foreign love. There is no love there that connects him to the Creator. But when a person converts in order to reveal G-dliness, in order to be a real ger tzedek, he wants to be entirely in kedushah. Or the other way: a ger toshav, who takes upon himself and keeps the seven mitzvos of the sons of Noach.

26:53 As the Rambam writes in Hilchos Melachim, chapter 8, that if they are under our hand — I do not want to go on to what the Rambam says there, that if they are under our hand and do not keep the seven mitzvos of the sons of Noach, then, and so on. But the Yerushalmi, Pe'ah, chapter 1, halachah 1: they are destined for the life of the World to Come, and are among the pious of the nations of the world, only when they keep the mitzvos not because he reckons in his own mind that this is how one ought to think, but because Hashem, blessed be He, commanded it.

27:20 He keeps what Hashem, blessed be He, commanded, and his status is that of a ger toshav. And then G-dliness is revealed in the outcasts, in those who are far, in the lowly, in the despised, in the farthest ones in the world. And then the highest light there is gets revealed: King David, Rus the Moabite, those converts. "A convert who converts is like a newborn child." It does not say "a non-Jew who converted." What is "a convert who converts"? "A convert who converts" means that those converts — the souls and the levels they can reach will be far higher and greater than another person who is already close.

27:57 They rise and climb to the highest levels. King David felt himself to be like a convert. He was rejected. A convert is a person who feels rejected and very far away. Yosef HaTzaddik was rejected, more and more downtrodden and distant among the Tribes. "The stone the builders rejected," as they said about King David in Pesachim, page 119: what King David's brothers said, and King David, and Yishai, who said it about David: "This came from Hashem; it is wondrous in our eyes."

28:23 They all said this about King David — how in the end Hashem chose David. They had all rejected him, they did not want him. For what King David went through is what Yosef HaTzaddik went through. This one had beautiful eyes; this one was good-looking and that one had beautiful eyes. This one was pursued; this one was scorned and that one was pursued and scorned. That is what Yosef HaTzaddik and King David went through. And Yosef — King David comes — that is why we say Mashiach ben David, and we say Mashiach ben Yosef.

28:47 The matter of the geulah is assigned to King David and to Yosef HaTzaddik, for they brought about the wholeness and the Tikkun that there is in the world, for the revelation of the kingship of Hashem, blessed be He. And therefore Hashem, blessed be He, said: "You shall not make with Me gods of silver." Hashem, blessed be He, did not want us, Heaven forbid, to make the likeness of His attendants in kedushah, so that we should not be, Heaven forbid, like those who rob Him, blessed be He.

29:14 For Hashem, blessed be He, made in the Beis HaMikdash — we see that the vessels of the Beis HaMikdash, especially the Menorah — for now we use a Chanukah Menorah, a Menorah of eight branches, and we do not make one of seven; we make something that will be different, so that no one should think, Heaven forbid, that we are trying to make the likeness of the Menorah in the Beis HaMikdash. The Sages learned this in Tractate Avodah Zarah, page 43a, in the Rambam, Hilchos Beis HaBechirah, chapter 7, halachah 10, and Yoreh De'ah, siman 141, se'if 8, and at the end, what Rabbi Yitzchak of Corbeil brought there, in siman 162, and one more authority writes on it there, and so on, and many others who wrote about this.

29:57 But we see that the prohibition of making the Menorah is that the Holy One, blessed be He — Hashem, blessed be He — did not want them to make the likeness of His attendants. The pure Menorah, especially the symbol of the Menorah, through which the miracle is revealed in the Jewish people, by the revelation of this Menorah. On Purim the revelation of the miracle comes about through the Megillah. We shake this "letter," we shake it, and the revelation comes about through the Megillah, whereas on Chanukah the revelation comes about through the Menorah.

30:27 We make the likeness of the Menorah, but we make more branches. We make fewer or more; it depends. In practice, even if it was made of wood, then seemingly one may keep it with seven branches of wood; but of other metals, or if a non-Jew made it, as in Tractate Yoma, page 54, as is implied in Tosafos. But if it was made by a non-Jew, that is something else. And if it was made of wood, then one may certainly keep it.

30:52 But of course, not to make seven branches in the first place. To make seven branches is something forbidden — to make seven branches in the first place. So what we do is alter the Menorah: either a branch is added to it or one is taken away from it, so that it should not be the likeness of the attendants of Hashem, blessed be He. This Menorah is the symbol, and it is the secret, of Yosef HaTzaddik. Yosef HaTzaddik is the symbol of the Jewish people; he is the Menorah in the Beis HaMikdash, he is the light of the Beis HaMikdash.

31:19 That is why oil had to be added each time. That oil is the Shechinah, that oil is the mochin, it is the fire: "And the house of Yaakov shall be fire, and the house of Yosef a flame." "The house of Yosef a flame" — that is the secret of the Menorah. For all that we ask of Hashem, blessed be He, is that the house of Esav should become straw, that nothing at all should remain of the house of Esav. And so, "the house of Yosef a flame" — we mention Yosef, the flame, because that is the secret of Chanukah. That is why Yosef is always mentioned on Chanukah. Always, the Torah portions — always, always, from time immemorial and forever, Yosef will always be mentioned at the time of Chanukah.

31:52 We always read of Yosef at Chanukah time, we always speak of Yosef at Chanukah time, because Yosef is the secret of the Menorah, Yosef is the secret of the flame, Yosef is the secret of hislahavus, burning fervor, he is the root. Hashem, blessed be He, is a consuming fire. A consuming fire is kin'ah, zeal. Kin'ah has the same numerical value as Yosef: 156. Yosef has the numerical value of kin'ah, and kin'ah is Yosef. And so the fire is Hashem, blessed be He, being zealous, so He burns with fire. Eliyahu, the angel of the covenant, is zealous for Hashem; his body was turned into something like the orb of the sun; he is fire, and zealous for Hashem.

32:24 The whole root of this zeal is a flame; it is Yosef, it is the secret of the Menorah, it is the secret of what we do. Therefore, at this time, when the Jewish people recall and reveal the oils, recall and reveal the miracle that was done for the Jewish people, the root of the kedushah of the Jewish people, we do teshuvah over Yosef, and we read Parashas Vayeshev, and then we come to Parashas Mikeitz. They see the level of Yosef, and speak of Yosef, and understand that Yosef was not like the other holy ones, was not like the other tribes.

32:56 Yosef — his aim was the ultimate purpose, reaching much farther, more than all the holy ones and the tzaddikim. Yosef HaTzaddik understood that his self-sacrifice, that the da'as he would pass on, would reach far. How do I bring change and reveal G-dliness in the farthest ones, in the most cast-out, in the lowliest, those who have no ability at all to come close to Hashem, blessed be He, those converts who need to be brought back, those far ones, those lowly ones, those downtrodden ones, those who have given up hope, the brokenhearted, who have no hope at all and no opening to get out of their exile.

33:33 So Yosef HaTzaddik sees this, and looks at them, and reveals G-dliness in them, and brings out all that is precious from the worthless, and the Holy One, blessed be He, brings all the Jewish people back in teshuvah. So we know that we do this teshuvah, for the Holy One, blessed be He, is strict about robbery, is strict about the theft that was done in the sale of Yosef, and we make this Tikkun specifically through the blessings. Therefore in Tractate Berachos, page 35a, the Gemara says: a person is forbidden to benefit from this world without a blessing, and whoever benefits from this world without a blessing has committed me'ilah.

34:03 "Committed me'ilah" — Rashi explains: like one who benefits from what is consecrated. When a person commits me'ilah, Heaven forbid, he transgresses the laws of me'ilah; when he eats of this world without a blessing, then he is robbing the Holy One, blessed be He. He is robbing the Holy One, blessed be He — and once again robbery comes up. This robbery recalls to the Holy One, blessed be He, that same thing that happened in the time of Yosef HaTzaddik: that we robbed the blessings. Those blessings were meant to reach Yaakov — both those of this world and those of the World to Come — and from Yaakov they were meant to reach Yosef.

34:33 But because of Esav, who wanted to take the blessings from Yaakov — that is, Yaakov went after Esav to take it from him; he wanted to take the birthright from him, and he sold it to him. But that was by the law of situmta, as things stood; it could not yet have come into the world, and he transferred to him something that had not yet arrived. So this had to be weighed: if the blessings had not yet taken effect, he could not yet reach the secret of the highest level, as he merited it in full — Yaakov Avinu. For the wicked Esav would come in with the precious garments, the garments of Adam HaRishon; there were pictures drawn on them. He wanted to come in before Yitzchak Avinu, so each time he would dress in the most magnificent garments.

35:09 This secret of honoring father and mother — with it he brought thought to a complete Tikkun. And so Chushim ben Dan cut off his head, and that head rolled to burial in the Cave of Machpelah. For this secret of the head is what is said of Yaakov: "And his father kept the matter." Yaakov Avinu knew — he "kept the matter"; "the matter" is speech, it is thought — Yaakov Avinu knew that only one who would be holy in the covenant, completely — the one who can reveal my kingship is only Yosef HaTzaddik, no one else.

35:39 And Yitzchak Avinu knew that it would be Yaakov Avinu, because Yaakov Avinu is holy, and the kedushah must continue and never cease. So how did Esav want to take the mochin from him — and he was also angry at Yaakov Avinu, and he pursued him with 400 men, and all he wanted to get out of Yaakov Avinu was to wear down Yaakov Avinu's strength. So that is why Yosef HaTzaddik comes and asks: "The house of Yaakov shall be fire, and the house of Yosef a flame, and the house of Esav straw" — that in the end Esav is left with straw, and nothing remains of him, and the Holy One, blessed be He, takes — and the Jewish people pay back the double payment for that theft of Yosef HaTzaddik in those generations when we receive Torah from the holy ones, from the tzaddikim,

36:22 and reveal the revelation of G-dliness in the mochin — mochin of gadlus, of greatness, in the head. That is why the head of Esav — the wicked Esav honored Yitzchak Avinu, but that honor was only in his head, at its root, from the side of honor, from the side of the intellect; but there was no life in it, there was truly no hope in it. He did not truly honor the root, the true way of Yitzchak Avinu. The honor was to Yitzchak, but the true honor was revealed specifically through Yaakov.

36:49 Esav honored Yitzchak in his person, in his body; that is how he honored him. But Yaakov Avinu honored Yitzchak in all that would continue on from him, in all the generations, in everything that was to come forth from him, by bringing Yosef HaTzaddik into the world, by being able to reveal His G-dliness, His words, in the whole entire world. That is the secret. The kingship and the honor rose far more through this. Therefore, with Yosef HaTzaddik there was a Tikkun. This is the secret of why we always do pirsumei nisa, publicizing the miracle.

37:16 This is the secret of why we always do everything by open declaration, why we always do everything with a minyan, why we always proclaim every matter of kedushah in public, to make Hashem, blessed be He, known, to shine the greatness and the kingship and the honor of Hashem, blessed be He, in the world. So this is the secret of what we say: we always act with "In the multitude of people is the King's glory," and we talk of the greatness of the Holy One, blessed be He, and speak of the honor of the Holy One, blessed be He, and tell the praise of the Holy One, blessed be He; we always want to speak in praise of the Holy One, blessed be He, and to make a blessing.

37:48 And everyone comes and blesses, and each one comes to take up the blessing. So they say: who makes the blessing? Blessings are made. And then one comes — one takes it and makes the blessing for everyone. Berachos, page 43. The Gemara says that a blessing is made; one discharges the obligation of the others. The Shulchan Aruch and the Rema disagree. According to the Shulchan Aruch, the blessing should be made by one, who discharges the obligation for everyone. And the Rema says that each one should make the blessing for himself. Of course, one who intended to fulfill his obligation does fulfill his obligation.

38:14 And in siman 298, se'if 14: when the fire was brought before them on Motza'ei Shabbos, one makes the blessing for everyone, and everyone answers Amen. That is "In the multitude of people is the King's glory." This comes out in Berachos, page 53, in the name of Beis Hillel, that they fulfill their obligation — Beis Hillel — Beis Hillel or Beis Shammai, whether each one makes the blessing — though according to Beis Hillel, the blessing is made, and then one answers for everyone, and they fulfill the obligation of the blessing, because it is a blessing that includes everyone, and everyone fulfills his obligation with that same blessing, the one made over the fire.

38:42 And seemingly it comes out from here that the whole matter of the blessing and the honor that is drawn to Hashem, blessed be He, is one blessing that counts for everyone, with everyone giving praise, as it says in the Tosefta, Berachos, chapter 6: when they are doing one mitzvah — ten doing a mitzvah — one makes the blessing for everyone. And so the Rosh brought in Pesachim, chapter 1, siman 10. So we see this again and again, when we see that the Holy One, blessed be He, made it so that there is a mitzvah of "In the multitude of people is the King's glory," that everyone speaks of the honor of the Holy One, blessed be He, and speaks of the greatness of the Holy One, blessed be He, and they have fulfilled their obligation.

39:17 So that is "In the multitude of people is the King's glory." When we keep the mitzvos, it is always in the multitude of people. One makes the blessing for everyone. It is not only on Shabbos, it is not only on Yom Tov. Every time there is an opportunity, and there is one who is great, who can have in mind to discharge and exempt the others from their obligation, when a blessing is made, then one makes the blessing and everyone answers after him: Amen. It is interesting that in the Beis Yosef, siman 8, on the blessing over the tallis, it comes out — the Shulchan Aruch writes that if several wrap themselves in a tallis, then they all make the blessing, they make the blessing; after that he says each one blesses for himself.

39:45 One of the commentators there brings the novel point. But seemingly this needs some thought. That is only as far as the halachah goes. But one who reflects and understands what Hashem, blessed be He, says in the world: that we bring Him pleasure, that we make before Hashem, blessed be He, a revelation of light, that all are equal before Hashem, and all crown the Holy One, blessed be He, as King, and do teshuvah before Him, blessed be He — the true teshuvah: "so that they will come to know Him" — that everyone makes Hashem, blessed be He, known in all the world.

40:13 And everyone brings pleasure before Hashem and crowns Him King. So then come the mitzvos: the reading of the Megillah — we see it there: "In the multitude of people is the King's glory"; we make Kiddush with "In the multitude of people is the King's glory"; the mitzvah of Chanukah: we light the candle, pirsumei nisa, publicizing the miracle, but we want "In the multitude of people is the King's glory"; we want a large minyan, "In the multitude of people is the King's glory." Which King? Whom are we crowning? After all, we are in exile. What glory does the Holy One, blessed be He, have?

40:39 The glory that is revealed to Hashem, blessed be He, is the glory that rises and is exalted when we remind Him, blessed be He, of the path and the continuity of the Jewish people — when we all appear together, a multitude, we remind the Holy One, blessed be He, of the geulah we had in the time of the Beis HaMikdash; we remind the Holy One, blessed be He, of the Revelation at Mount Sinai; we remind the Holy One, blessed be He, of all the Tribes together.

41:04 We remind the Holy One, blessed be He, of forgotten things. When the Jewish people are united, and when the Jewish people gather in great numbers and sit together as one, we recall and awaken before the Holy One, blessed be He, what once was. This is the secret of "In the multitude of people is the King's glory": that we crown the Holy One, blessed be He, as King. It is not just that lots of people are now standing and praying — not for some reason of there simply being a lot of people. Everyone must remind the Holy One, blessed be He. Why is there this matter of "most of Israel on their land" — the view of the Behag, in Halachos Gedolos — that when we mark a miracle, pirsumei nisa, publicizing the miracle, that we do — as in the view of the Chasam Sofer, it is from the Torah —

41:38 now, the Chanukah miracle that we mark... But in the Behag's view most of Israel must be on their land: the Jewish people must be on the Land. What is settling the Land of Israel? That most of Israel be on their land. What is the plain meaning of this? The meaning is that for things so exalted and so lofty, exalted at their very highest level, most of Israel must be on their land. When we speak of a great miracle, so that we can say Hallel over it with a blessing — as there are those whose custom is to make a blessing over that time and date when the national revival took place, so they make a blessing over it. But in truth, at the inner root of the halachah it would be hard to make a blessing, for most of Israel were not on their land,

42:18 and the miracles were not open; they were miracles in concealment. For even on Purim we do not make that blessing for that time. So seemingly, how could they say that Hallel with a blessing at that time? After all, on Purim no miracle was performed — the miracle was hidden, and there was also Megillas Esther. So they only do it for the sake of the ways of peace. But at the root of the halachah, in the plain sense, we see that it is impossible so long as most of Israel are not on their land.

42:44 Most of Israel would have to be on their land, with none dying and none murdered, and no hidden miracles, but open miracles, and no sorrow for the Jewish people. For how can we say this Hallel when the Jewish people have troubles, and there is sorrow, and there is anguish? On Chanukah we say Hallel with a blessing, for everyone was victorious and there was no death among the Jewish people. There were mighty ones — the mighty were delivered into the hands of the weak, and those wicked ones were delivered into the hands of those who toil in Your Torah.

43:09 The weak Jewish people defeated the mighty; there was a downfall, and so we say Hallel with a blessing — joy. But here, when we are in this exile, we look forward to the revelation of Hashem. We always come and say to the Holy One, blessed be He, "In the multitude of people is the King's glory": we want to crown You as King, we want to praise You, we want to thank You, we want to crown You as King. The root of Hashem's kingship is revealed only when the Jewish people crown Him as King and recall before Him those burnt offerings, those korbanos.

43:42 Hashem, blessed be He, loves to hear that voice, when we recall before Him the time when the Beis HaMikdash stood. He hears the Kohanim, He hears the Kohanim giving the Priestly Blessing, He hears those blessings, He hears those tefillos. He says: Who is speaking to Me of this? Who reminds Me of My House? Who reminds Me of all that I had in the time of the geulah? "My children, where are you? My Kohanim, where are you?

44:07 My Levites, where are you?" So said the Shechinah on leaving the Holy of Holies — in Midrash Eichah, where it is written that She went along weeping and asking, from one to the next, until She parted and left; the Shechinah spread Her wings, rose up on high, and departed higher and higher. Rabbi Yonasan said: For three years She sat and proclaimed and cried out; for three years She sat and waited: perhaps they would do teshuvah, perhaps they would be redeemed.

44:34 Since they did not, She rose and departed on high. That is how the Shechinah departed from us. And see how much Hashem, blessed be He, waits for the Jewish people to be a multitude — just as we are here together now, seeking Hashem, blessed be He, and knowing that we pray to Hashem; and we return in complete teshuvah and are careful with the honor of the Holy One, blessed be He, whose honor is made known through Torah scholars, through holy ones, through tzaddikim — that is the honor of Hashem — to keep the path and the tradition and the root: that He took us out of Egypt.

45:06 The Jewish people: "The sea saw and fled; the Jordan turned back." When we come to fulfill the mitzvah of the Chanukah light, everyone comes and prays. Usually we must fulfill our obligation. When do we ideally pray Arvis, the evening prayer? When the stars come out. The secret of nightfall is that the tefillah is said when everything is dark, when there is no light, no hope, no remedy; we see darkness. And then we begin to recall the matter of Yaakov Avinu, for Yaakov Avinu instituted the Arvis prayer, and we pray Arvis to the Holy One, blessed be He.

45:39 But on Chanukah — this is the only time of the year when so many pray Arvis before the stars come out; they pray it even after plag haminchah. Now, that is to say, this follows the view of Rav Hai Gaon, and the Ohel Moed, derech 2, nesiv 2, who wrote so; and such is the view of many poskim: the Magen Avraham, siman 672, se'if katan 5; the Mishnah Berurah, se'if katan 6. We see here that there is great merit in praying. Yet even so, when one prays then, one fulfills the obligation only after the fact — for in order to light the Chanukah lights one fulfills the obligation after the fact.

46:09 But ideally, Arvis is said when the stars come out. We pray when the stars come out; the Shema is recited when the stars come out — that is the view of Maran, the Shulchan Aruch. But today we come and pray, wanting to pray to the Holy One, blessed be He, wanting to pray, and we want to light the Chanukah light on time. So this time everyone prays Arvis early, revealing the light of Hashem, blessed be He. There is no darkness; there is light at once. We pray Arvis before its time, and at once we reveal the light before Hashem, blessed be He.

46:42 There is the hidden light, revealed more and more, with ever greater strength, breaking through all the worlds, and there is no darkness, no gloom, no blackness and no dark at all, and all delight in the hidden light that is revealed at this time, when the stars come out. This secret of the hidden light, revealed precisely at this time, precisely in the hardest times of the Jewish people, in the time of exile, of darkness: the Jewish people go on increasing, and the little holds the much.

47:15 This time, this miracle, which was done through a Kohen, done through a Menorah, done through a small jug, done through oil, done in the merit of Yosef, who was one, who was in the pit, who was alone, who came from Yaakov, who gave his very soul, who was alone, who fought for Rachel, who was alone and solitary — Rachel Imeinu. This is the secret of all those holy ones: that you go on even if you are alone and the whole entire world is against you.

47:42 But you will be with Hashem, blessed be He, and whoever believes in you, that you are with Hashem, blessed be He, and goes along — he will be victorious. Therefore: the little that holds the much. Chanukah is the secret of Yosef, the secret of the one who was in the pit, of the one who was locked up, of the one who was choked, of the one the whole world was against. Yosef was alone in the pit, and he defeated the whole world. To this day we, the Jewish people, defeat the whole world.

48:08 We are alone, solitary among all the nations of the world, and we can. The secret of Chanukah is to remember always that the weakest, the lowliest, the poorest, the neediest, the most wretched, the most despised, the most scorned — if Hashem is with him, he will defeat the entire world. Whereas the whole world, who are strong, who are mighty, who are trained for war, who are the strongest — if Hashem, blessed be He, is not with them, they will all be dead corpses.

48:37 The army of Sancheriv, when he came to wage war on Chizkiyahu — 180 million in it, legions, officers, dignitaries, men trained for war — surrounded all of Jerusalem in war, to fight and lay siege to it. And they only heard the song of the angels and they all fell, dead corpses. And from his descendants came forth Shemayah and Avtalyon, who revealed G-dliness. In the end there was once again a revelation of G-dliness, for with them too Hashem, blessed be He, revealed His kingship, and through this all return and convert and return to Hashem, blessed be He. And so, at every time that Hashem, blessed be He, made, in which His will is revealed — on Shabbos, on Yom Tov — we recall the miracle and the wonder that Hashem, blessed be He, did and chose. For example,

49:23 on Chanukah we recall the miracle of the deliverance, the miracle of the Chashmona'im's victory, and the miracle of deliverance of the jug of oil — these are the mitzvos and the remembrance that we do. On Purim: for that feast, for the wicked Haman, all that they wanted to do to us; the wiping out of Amalek, which we do as a remembrance; all that was done to the Jews; gifts to the poor, the half-shekel — all the mitzvos we do on Purim. Pesach: we were saved from Pharaoh.

49:48 On Shavuos, we received the Torah. Sukkos: in remembrance of the Clouds of Glory. Those are the mitzvos by which we come to fulfill His commandments, blessed be He. These are the Yamim Tovim, these are our festivals. But Shabbos — Shabbos is the revelation of Hashem's will from the creation of the world. It is greater and higher than everything. Yom Tov, which we commemorate, is less than Shabbos. That one is from the work of Creation; it is something higher. Yom Tov is for the miracles — the Yamim Tovim.

50:14 Shabbos is above everything. And Rosh Chodesh corresponds to it; it is like the holy Shabbos. Rosh Chodesh on Shabbos: it is not for nothing that there is siman 419, on Shabbos, in the laws of Rosh Chodesh. It is a siman all its own, only about its greatness and importance. The Aruch HaShulchan, in this siman 419, writes about this: that in truth, we have not seen why people are not really eager and careful to do something, especially when there is Shabbos and Rosh Chodesh — to make some sign of distinction, some dish, something special, to honor and cherish it, for it is both Shabbos and Rosh Chodesh. And there are the expenses of Shabbos — in the Be'er Heitev, siman 242 — the expense of Torah study, Shabbos, Rosh Chodesh, making the Yamim Tovim — all these simanim, this siman — this is the Holy One, blessed be He:

50:57 "Borrow on My account, and I will repay" — Beitzah, page 16 — where the Gemara says: "Borrow on My account, and I will repay." When we act with yearning, and do a mitzvah, for the honor of Hashem, blessed be He, then all the mitzvos, everything they want to come and give back — Hashem, blessed be He, repays them. For you are above nature. I raise you above reason. If all the nations of the world are within reason, you are above the bounds, you are above nature.

51:22 Therefore Rabbeinu Bachya writes in Chovos HaLevavos, in chapter 4, in the fourth gate — he writes that if a person trusts in anything other than Him, blessed be He — if he trusts not in Hashem, blessed be He — then Hashem, blessed be He, hands him over to the one he trusted in. Hashem, blessed be He, says: You trusted in someone, you did not trust in Me. Very well — keep going after him. Go to that one you trusted in. Unlike one who trusts only in Hashem, blessed be He, alone. That is what it is telling us. And so writes Rabbeinu the Rashba, in part 1 of his responsa, Rabbeinu the Rashba writes that one who believes in the stars and constellations and goes by them is then ruled under them.

52:01 Therefore the star Shabtai — Saturn — which is appointed over ruin and destruction: the time when it rules is exactly those times of the holy Shabbos. Therefore, right at Motza'ei Shabbos — Tractate Pesachim, page 54 — the Gemara says that light was created on Motza'ei Shabbos; fire was created on Motza'ei Shabbos. That is why it is the most dangerous. What we do is exactly teshuvah, and we pray, for the Holy One, blessed be He, provided for Adam HaRishon — in Berachos, in the Yerushalmi, Berachos, chapter 1, halachah 8, where the Yerushalmi says exactly the same thing, the other way around; and in Midrash Shocher Tov, siman 92 — there it says exactly the same thing: the Holy One, blessed be He, provided him with stones, provided them for him, and he struck them one against the other,

52:44 until this fire came out, which was created on Motza'ei Shabbos — in Pesachim, page 54. We make that same remembrance, of that same time, and that is why we bring this light. Therefore — exactly what the Shulchan Aruch said in siman 298, in se'if 14: that the light is brought on Motza'ei Shabbos and one makes the blessing for everyone — for it is that same secret of "In the multitude of people is the King's glory," as in the view of Beis Hillel: that as soon as that blessing is said on Motza'ei Shabbos, when one makes the blessing it counts for everyone, so that all fulfill their obligation — for this is the secret of the light: so that all do teshuvah and are redeemed.

53:16 Therefore on Rosh Chodesh, when we make a sign of distinction, a great one, and honor, for the honor of Hashem, blessed be He, and in honor of Rosh Chodesh — when we cherish those times and festivals, Yamim Tovim, Roshei Chodashim and Shabbosos, and Torah study — we are saying to Hashem, blessed be He: this is the highest thing for us. This is the matter of "Borrow on My account, and I will repay." When Hashem, blessed be He, says, "Do it for Me" — it is a very great thing. In Midrash Rabbah, at the beginning of Parshas Emor, parshah 30, and Pesikta d'Rav Kahana, parshah 27, we see the greatness and the importance of the Rosh Chodesh meal: there is no measure to its greatness, how important a thing it is, which one must honor and cherish —

53:57 especially when it falls on Shabbos, higher and higher still, and falls now together with this time as well. This secret of Rosh Chodesh, this secret of Shabbos, of those times that are a remembrance of the work of Creation — it has nothing to do with miracles. The remembrance of the work of Creation is what the Holy One, blessed be He, was at the creation of the world, when the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world. It says: "In the beginning G-d created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was tohu vavohu, formless and void."

54:24 Tohu vavohu is the kingdom of Greece, that of Chanukah. When we now return to the hidden light on Chanukah, we return to the hidden light, we return to the kosnos ohr, the garments of light; we return to the kesones of Yosef. Yosef's coat, which had been Yaakov Avinu's, goes back to the garments of Adam HaRishon, goes back to the Torah scroll of Rabbi Meir: kosnos ohr with an alef, "garments of light," not kosnos ohr with an ayin, "garments of skin." And we reveal the revelation of the light of Hashem, blessed be He, which is the secret of the hidden light that shone from the time of the creation of the world.

54:56 This is the secret of the hidden light: the tohu vavohu of the kingdom of Greece is nullified and subdued before the luminaries of light; those who contest are nullified before them, and the light of Hashem is revealed, and then there is "In the multitude of people is the King's glory," which is the secret of "the sixth day. And the heavens and the earth were completed": that a person becomes a partner with the Holy One, blessed be He, in the work of Creation, and all created beings give thanks to the Holy One, blessed be He, and return to the Holy One, blessed be He. And may it be His will that we all merit to bring pleasure to Hashem, blessed be He, to cleave to Hashem, blessed be He, to reveal the kingship of Hashem, blessed be He, to merit to crown Him as King, blessed be He,

55:31 to merit complete teshuvah, to merit to cleave to Him, to bring pleasure before Him, that the lack of the Shechinah be filled, that Binah be established and the Shechinah be established, and our Master the Creator, blessed be He, our King, at our head. Amen, and Amen. Thank you very much to our honored teacher and rabbi. One moment — music. Friends, we ask everyone to sit in their places. The Rav is with us for a set of niggunim for the days of Chanukah. Are we rejoicing? Please.

55:57 Friends, please be seated. Give thanks to Hashem, for He is good, for His kindness endures forever.

1:16:31 Give thanks to Hashem, for He is good, The orchestra! Applause, applause, applause, applause, friends! Applause!