Hi everyone, Sabbath on Parshat Tzav is very close to Mishnat Bava Kama which says that if a camel is going along in a Reshut Harabim with a bundle on its back, if the bundle catches fire because the Chenveni left his Ner in the Reshut Harabim, so then the Chenveni is at fault and he has to pay. רבי יהודה אומר בחנוכה פטור. If however it was a Chanuca which set the bundle on the back of the camel on fire, so then the Chenveni is Patur. אמר רבינא משמיה דרבא זאת אומרת חנוכה מצוה להניחה בתוך עשרה.
We can infer from this din that the Mitzva Lechatchila is that the Chanuca should be low, should be within Asara Tefachim of the ground. דאי סלקא דעתך למעלה מעשרה לימא ליה היה לך להניח למעלה.
So clearly the best place for the Chanuca is within Asara Tefachim of the ground. That's what the Gemara infers from this Mishna. But what does the Halacha represent Al Pi Agada that the Chanuca has to be within Asara Tefachim of the ground? So the Gemara says in Sukka in the first perek in discussing what the Makor is that in Hilchot Sukka as well as in Hilchot Shabbat that Mechitza is Asara Tefachim. So the Gemara says that לעולם לא ירדה שכינה למטה מעשרה. That when the Shechina comes down it never comes down within Asara Tefachim on the ground. So what does that idea mean that the Shechina there's some kind of not a sound barrier but there's some kind of invisible barrier as it were that the Shechina doesn't penetrate Lemata Me'asara? So clearly the idea is that Lemata Me'asara is where we are in all our Gashmiut, in all our materialism, in all our physicality. That unless there's some Itorerut on our part, unless there's some initiative, some kind of pursuit of Kedusha on our part, so no matter how great and no matter how powerful and no matter how overwhelming the Gilluy Shechina is, it's not going to reach us, it's not going to register. So it has to be within Asara Tefachim means again where we are in all our Artsiut. There has to be some kind of again pursuit of Kedusha, there has to be some kind of desire to elevate ourselves and that's what it means that Shechina doesn't come Lemata Me'asara. The Mitzva of Chanuca Bedavka that a person should light Betoch Asara again is that there should be that pursuit of Kedusha, is that a person has to be Mekadesh that realm of Betoch Asara that there should be a pursuit of Kedusha and then he'll be open to all the Siyata Dishmaya and all the Shefa which is available Lema'ala Me'asara. In a few minutes we'll come back to one element of what it means to pursue Kedusha. For the moment let's shift gears and focus on the Nes of the Shemen. What does the Nes of the Shemen represent? What does the Nes of the Shemen teach us? Again it's not at all clear as you're all familiar there's a big din in the Achronim why the Nes was at all necessary Al Pi Halacha, if טומאה דחויה הותרה בציבור, why was there even any need for the Nes of Chanuca which only sharpens the question of what what are we to learn what are we to derive from the Nes of the Chanuca, the Nerot in the in the Beit Hamikdash? One of the major points of conflict between Greek culture and l'havdil, Torah haKedosha, was in the attitude to physical things. Greek culture in many respects worshiped the body, worshiped physical things. The Olympics in ancient Greece was a religious event, but a religious event that centered around physical accomplishments, physical achievement. And that was a religious occasion in ancient Greece. They worshiped the body. A major focus of the culture was the human sculpture, again to show the beauty of the human body. They worshiped the body. The body was an end unto itself. By contrast, the Torah obviously doesn't preach any kind of asceticism. The Torah doesn't negate the body. But the Torah says that we have to use things physical and material as an end, as a means to achieving religious ends, spiritual ends. A person eats, but that eating can and should be a mitzvah, whether it's a mitzvah of achilas matzah the night of Pesach, or whether it's part of בכל דרכיך דעהו וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים. So a person is supposed to use the physical but not chas v'shalom as an end unto itself, but as an instrument for kedusha, for achieving again a religious end, as part of his avodas Hashem. Now there's something very paradoxical about the Torah's position here. Because what the Torah says, what the Torah tells us is a tremendous chiddush, a tremendous chiddush. And that is something which by nature seems to be very transient, very ephemeral, doesn't seem to have any nitzchiyus, doesn't seem to be able to endure, so the Torah says that that can and should be used as a gateway to nitzchiyus. That that can and should be used in one's avodas Hashem. Now this was symbolized by the neis hashemen because what happened in the neis hashemen was you had a small quantity of oil, which again logic dictated, laws of nature dictated, that at most it should last one night. Just as logic and laws of nature would seem to indicate that any physical or material or mundane involvement that we have in olam hazeh can't be anything enduring. And yet the neis hashemen, the Ribono Shel Olam performed the neis that the shemen just lasted and lasted and lasted, and that it had a kiyum beyond what logically or according to laws of nature should have been. Again symbolizing this idea that what the Chashmonaim recognized, what the Chashmonaim were moser nefesh for was neither, neither should the body be an end unto itself, but nor does it mean that it should be negated, but rather everything should be employed as an instrument for kedusha. That what itself seems to be only temporary and temporal, when a person integrates that into his avodas Hashem, again it's a bridge to nitzchiyus. It's a bridge to eternity, and that's what was symbolized by that little quantity of shemen just continuing to burn and to burn and to burn, exceeding all logical expectations and understanding. But let's backtrack to the first theme we spoke about, about pursuing kedusha. How does one pursue kedusha and what does it mean practically? One of the recurring themes in the parshios is that of dreaming. In Vayetzei with Yaakov Avinu's dream, subsequently with Yosef HaTzaddik. So the Torah portrays Yaakov, Yosef as dreaming. What's the idea of dreaming? We usually associate dreaming with being idle. It's a very passive kind of thing to do, right? It's an idle dream. And duka אין חלום בלא דברים בטלים. But what's the idea? Obviously that's not what the idea of dreaming is when we see that the Torah portrays the Avos as dreamers. What does it mean to dream? So to dream means to have a plan for the future. It means to anticipate nisyonos which a person is going to encounter and therefore be prepared to deal with them. When do we find Yaakov dreaming? So we find Yaakov dreaming, Chazal tell us, Vayishkav Bamkom Hahu, that for the 14 years ששימש בבית מדרשם של שם ועבר so he didn't lie down. He fell asleep over the Gemara. But this night when he was on his way to Charan, so then he laid down and he went to sleep. So the kasha is if for 14 years he was misgaber and he overcame that natural desire to sleep which we all have to such an extent that lo shachav, so all of a sudden tonight he got so exhausted that he had to go to sleep? So the answer clearly is that he went to sleep to have the dream. Vayishkav Bamkom Hahu, that the reason Yaakov went to sleep was not he went to sleep and then once he was sleeping he had the dream. He went to sleep because he knew he needed to take time out to dream. What did he have to dream for? Because he knew that he was going into a different environment, that he was going into an alien environment, that he was going לגור עם לבן הארמי. And Yaakov Avinu understood that if a person goes without thinking, without a plan, without a blueprint, and encounters nisyonos, so inevitably the person's going to succumb to those nisyonos because he's not prepared, he's not equipped to deal with them. And it was only by dreaming about the future and by having a blueprint for the future, so that's why Yaakov Avinu in the next parsha was able to say עם לבן גרתי ותריג מצוות שמרתי. And the same with Yosef HaTzaddik. Yosef also dreamt about the future. The Rav darshans the dreams very beautifully in the Chamesh Drashos. Again, it was a blueprint for the future. Sometimes when one meets bogrei ha-Yeshiva, that meeting can be tremendously inspirational, but occasionally it can be terribly demoralizing. Sometimes you meet guys who had been in the Yeshiva, now they're at a different stage in life, whether their path took them into chinuch or rabbonus, or whether their path took them into a profession, but either way they've maintained if not enhanced their level of avodas Hashem, their level of kedusha, they remain makpid on tefillah b'tzibbur and krias hatorah. They're sensitive to all the nisyonos in the workplace: the lack of tznius, the lack of honesty. They're sensitive to it. They realize the danger of adopting those habits and of being influenced by those values. And because they're aware of that, those nisyonos, they prepare themselves for those nisyonos. And when a person is prepared for a nisayon, so we're muvtachim anu that the Ribbono Shel Olam doesn't give us nisyonos that we can't handle. So why is it that sometimes we have nisyonos and we don't successfully handle them? So the answer is that the problem was not with the magnitude of the nisayon, but rather with the degree of preparation that we had. for that nisayon. That if a person goes from Beis Medrash of Shem V'Ever to Lavan HaAramei without stopping to dream, to have a blueprint of knowing what the דמות דיוקנו של מעלה is that has to be maintained and thinking how a person's going to maintain it. How is a person going to maintain it? So then inevitably, again, not because of the magnitude of nisayon, but rather because of the inadequate degree of preparation, a person is going, a person is going to succumb to those nisyonos. During our years in Yeshiva, it's very important to learn as much as we can, very important to work on tikkun hamiddos, but certainly one thing which has to be a constant is we have to be planning for a time when we're not going to be within these koslei Beis HaMedrash. And again, wherever one's path in life is going to be charted, it's only the degree to which a person prepares for those nisyonos that a person will not only be able to overcome them, but on the contrary, it will be a stimulus to more kedushah. Because the more a person's moseir nefesh, the stronger the kesher to Torah becomes. So it's not only a question of neutralizing a nisayon, but of converting it into a stimulus, a stimulus for further growth. But what's crucial for that pursuit of kedushah, again, is that degree of preparation. And it's only according to the degree of preparation that we engage in during these formative years that a person can hope with siyata d'shmaya to have continued hatzlacha even beyond these years. It's interesting just to conclude that the braisa in Megillas Taanis tells us that the Yom Tov of Chanukah was not immediately introduced. It was only לשנה אחרת קבעום וקבעום בהלל והודיה. Apparently, Chazal so why didn't Chazal immediately introduce the Yom Tov of Chanukah? What did they need this to be somewhat removed? What perspective was afforded by the passage of time lishana acheres? Oh, the Rambam says it was in the within the same generation. I'm not sure exactly how long it was. So maybe Chazal were looking to see in terms of whether or not this neis should be perpetuated, commemorated l'dorei doros. They wanted to see whether or not the neis had any kiyum in Klal Yisrael. Was it something which just at the moment made an impact upon them, but then that very quickly dissipated and was lost, or was it something they retained? Was it a neis which was not just l'sha'ah but it was a neis l'doros? Lishana acheres, so Chazal had that perspective and they saw that what happened was not only l'sha'ah but was l'doros. Oh, if that was a neis, so then that deserves to be nikva betoras Yom Tov l'doros. So that's the avoda of Chanukah is that again, that the pursuit of kedushah which a person has during his formative years in kedushah in Yeshiva should not just be l'sha'ah but it should be l'doros and that lishana acheres we should be able to look back upon these years and recognize that not only at the time were we involved with, immersed in kedushah, but it laid a foundation for pursuing kedushah again when tefillah b'tzibbur is not, is not downstairs in your dormitory, when keviyas itim is not factored into your schedule for you, when be it shmiras einayim, be it simple, basic honesty, lack of false advertising, that all these things become major nisyonos, a person looks back and sees that he prepared for these things, he thought about these things, he reinforced his absolute commitment to all of And because of that was equipped for those nisyonos. And how many of us can look back on the last hundred and fifty-four days, since the beginning of Mesechta Gittin, and say that we did everything we could to make sure that we were prepared for those nisyonos? Did we take the time, daf after daf, amud after amud, to think about how this is going to make me a different person? How Mesechta Gittin is going to make me a person that's more careful in devarim shebeini l'chavero? A person that's more careful in shmiras halashon? A person that's more careful in shmiras einayim? Did we do that? Or was it just another Mesechta? Just another ninety blatt of Gemara? Or did it change us? Did it make us into something different? And that's really the she'eilah that we have to ask ourselves as we finish Mesechta Gittin. That's the she'eilah that Chazal are asking us at the very end of the Mesechta.