Someone mentioned Chanukah is a special time, special opportunity in avodas Hashem. It's a major, major principle in Moadei Hashana that in the Torah there are no yamim tovim which are historical. There are no yamim tovim which simply commemorate past miracles, past happenings. Yamim tovim are coordinated with the historical events. Pesach is coordinated with Yetzias Mitzrayim, but in every Yom Tov there is—well in Chanukah it's not technically true, but the same idea—not in a technical sense, but in every Yom Tov there's a Kedushas Hayom which captures that which was present. So on Pesach there's a Kedushas Hayom, it's not just that so many thousands of years ago there was a Yetzias Mitzrayim which we commemorate, but the Kedushas Hayom of Yetzias Mitzrayim is present every year when we sit down to the Seder also. And it's that more than the historical event is significant in that it gives us insight into what the Kedushas Hayom is. The historical event is significant in that it gives us insight into what the segula of the zman is. What the special quality or property which the zman has, but it's not—they're not historical yamim tovim and they're not commemorative yamim tovim. So thus when we say in Pesach that חייב אדם לראות את עצמו כאילו הוא יצא ממצרים, so what does that mean? That a person is just supposed to have this wild flight of imagination כאילו הוא יצא ממצרים but he didn't? The answer is but if the Kedushas Hayom which was the catalyst for Yetzias Mitzrayim, if that special segula, that special intrinsic quality of the day which was present in Mitzrayim so many thousands of years ago, that same segula is present on Tes-Vov Nissan when we sit down to the Seder, so then it's taka possible that a person should re-experience Yetzias Mitzrayim. When Chazal say again just using this by way of introduction, that the night of Pesach is a leil shimurim, so the Gemara in Rosh Hashana says משומר ובא מששת ימי בראשית. That from the time Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world, so it wasn't that Tes-Vov Nissan became a significant date on the calendar because Klal Yisrael left Mitzrayim on that day. No, it was משומר ובא מששת ימי בראשית. When Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world, when he created the world there was time. There was no time before the world existed. Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world, he created time. When Hakadosh Baruch Hu created time, so he didn't create time, time is just something uniform, time is homogeneous. The same way in the natural cycle there's a time which is conducive to planting, there's a time which is conducive to harvesting, and if you plant off-season so it's not going to yield the same result. So too in terms of the spiritual qualities of time, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu endowed different times of the year with different qualities. And that's what it means that it was משומר ובא מששת ימי בראשית, that it had this intrinsic quality. So when in anticipation of any Yom Tov, Chanukah in particular, so the idea is to try to understand what the opportunity is in terms of avodas Hashem in the coming days. At the very first sugya of ner Chanukah, the Gemara has a machlokes about it, but the Gemara presents the opinion which we accept l'halacha that the ner Chanukah is assur l'hishtamesh l'orah. We're not supposed to derive any benefit from the ner Chanukah. We're not supposed to use it for any of our own purposes. It should only serve as a ner Chanukah. There is a machlokes as you all know, Rashi on the Gemara says because if you use it for other purposes it would detract from the heker of the ner Chanukah. The ner Chanukah is supposed to accomplish pirsumei nisa. It doesn't accomplish pirsumei nisa if I sit and read a book to the light of the ner Chanukah, so it just looks like the ner Chanukah is there to provide me with illumination. It doesn't look as if it's m'farsem any neis. And the Ba'al HaMaor of course says no, that what underlies the issur l'hishtamesh l'orah is the fact that the ner Chanukah is zecher to the ner of the heichal. It's a zecher to the menorah in the Beis HaMikdash. And in the same way there the shemen and hence the light was assur to derive personal hana'ah from it. the Ramban again with which with which we're often familiar in Beha'aloscha goes even further. The Ramban says it's not simply a zecher, but it's an actual extension of the מצות מנורה שבמקדש. And that's what HaKadosh Baruch Hu says that shelcha gedolah mishelahem when he reassures Aharon that that his his share in in the chanukas in the chanukas haMishkan in the chanukas haMikdash is going to be greater than that of the Nesi'im of the 12 days, it's because he's his his descendants are going to are going to be the occasion for mitzvas Ner Chanukah which will remain, the mitzvah of hadlakah shebaMikdash will remain. It will it will outlive, it will survive beyond the churban haBayis. So basically, what happens, especially according to the Ramban, is that the the greatness and exactly totally unique, but but special quality of mitzvas Ner Chanukah is that basically it's it's a Mikdash, it's a mitzvah of Mikdash that that we have the zechus of fulfilling anywhere, even outside of Mikdash, and even in any historical time, even in a time of churban. A mitzvas Mikdash, to light the Ner Chanukah is basically, according to the Ramban, it's an extension of mitzvas Mikdash. So Chanukah is is a Yom Tov is a Yom Tov of of of Mikdash and again, coordinating it with the historical event, so the historical event gives us insight into into the quality of the Yom Tov. The historical event centered around Mikdash, centered around Mikdash and Chanukah is a Yom Tov of Mikdash. The mitzvah of Ner Chanukah is is a mitzvas Mikdash that that Chazal give us outside of Mikdash, even in the time of churban. This is the beginning of an explanation, more is necessary for the for the explanation to be complete, and makom haniah, but this is the beginning of the explanation when you learn the sugyos of Chanukah so the one of the questions with which we all grapple is what are the two reasons that Beis Shammai gives for being poches veholeich, for lighting from eight in descending order down to one, is keneged parei hachag. Just as the the number of of parim on Succos went down from 13 to seven, so too the neros Chanukah go down from eight to one. So what's the connection between Chanukah and Succos that that Succos should be the the paradigm for Ner Chanukah? That's one question. Then the other question, less of a clearly a less difficult question, is מעלין בקודש ואין מורידין in general. So how does Beis Shammai understand, why is it that in these two cases we sort of go against the rule of with which Beis Hillel counters of מעלין בקודש ואין מורידין? So the the beginning of an answer is that Succos also has this quality of basically being in terms of its its the character and in terms of the substance of the day, it's basically a Yom Tov of Mikdash which we're privileged to be able to observe even outside of Mikdash, even in a time of churban. The Gemara in Sukkah says מנין שחל שם שמים על הסוכה. The same shem shamayim which is associated with a korban chagigah, which is something that you can only have, you can only experience in Mikdash, so the Gemara says מנין שחל כשם שחל שם שמים על החגיגה חג הסכות שבעת ימים לה' כך חל שם שמים על הסוכה.
According to the Rishonim, it's it's a big machlokes in the Rishonim, but according to the Rishonim that the mitzvah of lulav bamedinah and beMikdash is really one mitzvah, it's just that beMikdash it's shiv'as yamim and bamedinah it's yom echad, so it could be, again al derech aggadah, that the perspective to have is that basically that too is a mitzvas Mikdash. Also, it's it's a mitzvah which is really associated with with Mikdash and just as the Torah gives us the shem shamayim and the Torah allows us to have that and experience that outside of Mikdash on Succos, so too, so too on so too with regard to mitzvas lulav. So there is this common denominator between Succos and Chanukah that they're basically yamim tovim of Mikdash which the Torah says can be observed, can be experienced, and more importantly, can be absorbed, the kedusha can be absorbed even outside of Mikdash, even during a time of churban. Why is it poches veholeich in both cases? Why why is it? The trend is towards one. In Chanukah Beis Shammai actually reach that in the parei hachag, so in Shemini Atzeres we also ultimately reach it. But the trend in terms of poches veholeich is to go to one. So what's the pshat? So the pshat is like this. Mikdash, Mikdash represents a clear understanding of Yichud Hashem. A clear understanding of Yichud Hashem means that the way we see the world, the way we experience the world, so we see all kinds of ribui within the world. We see all kinds of ribui kochos, all kinds of multiplicity, and of course its crudest form is in the form of avodah zarah. Each nation has its own god, its own belief, its own religious system. So in the world, the reality of Ein Od Milvado, the reality that there's only one koach in the world, which is Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the reality that everything comes from Hakadosh Baruch Hu is not a reality we perceive, certainly not with any clarity or any vividness. And that's why the din is that we can't pronounce the Shem Hamiforash outside of Mikdash. זה שמי לעולם וזה זכרי לדור דור, לא כשאני נכתב אני נקרא, אני נכתב ב-י' ה' ואני נקרא ב-א' ד',
because we can't pronounce the Shem Hamiforash as long as there's this discrepancy between the reality of Hashem Echad, the reality of Ein Od Milvado, and the perception of ribui. In Mikdash, in Mikdash it was possible to recognize, to glimpse that reality of Ein Od Milvado. That was the ner maaravi, עדות היא לכל באי עולם שהשכינה שורה בישראל. Why is it that on a daily basis there was a miracle with the ner maaravi? And then the Mishna in Avos and in Yoma lists all the miracles which were commonplace in the Beis Hamikdash. What was the point of this? To strip away the facade of teva and to show that everything, everything comes from Hashem. Everything comes from Hashem. So the trend in Mikdash, when you have a Yom Tov of Mikdash, it's poches veholeich. When you have a Yom Tov of Mikdash, so the trend is the closer you get to one, the closer you get to exposing the reality and introducing people to the reality of Echad. That's the ultimate. So the ultimate is not to get more and more. No, more and more, the more we perceive diversity without realizing that there's an underlying unity in terms of chochmas Hashem, in terms of ratzon Hashem, in terms of hashgachas Hashem. We see the diversity without seeing that unity, so that detracts from our understanding of Ein Od Milvado. That's why the trend in Sukkos and in Chanukah, both of which are Yom Tovim of Mikdash, so the point of Mikdash is even before keitz hayamim, when ה' אחד ושמו אחד, in Mikdash one perceives it. Hence, on Sukkos it's poches veholeich, says Beis Shammai, so the same way that's the trend on Sukkos, which is a Yom Tov of Mikdash, that you move towards one, you move towards Echad, so that should be the pattern on Chanukah as well, poches veholeich. Parenthetically, just to digress for a moment, this idea, to recognize that whatever diversity that exists phenomenologically in the world, in terms of our experiences, in terms of different what appear to be different branches of chochma, but underneath it, underneath, it's all Hashem Echad, they're all reflections of one, of Hashem Echad, hu vedaato. So I think the Maharal comments what's the significance of the number of ten? Right, בעשרה מאמרות נברא העולם, right, that the world could have been created bemaamar echad, but ולתת שכר לצדיקים ולהיפרע מן הרשעים, so the world was created with ten. What's the significance of ten as opposed to eight, nine, eleven, twelve? So the answer is that working with the base ten system, right, which is what the Torah is, which is why that's the convention, same way the convention all over the globe is that you have a seven-day week, because that's what the Torah operates. So in base 10, the number 10 is unique that on the one hand it indicates ribbuy, but on the other hand since at that point you switch to the tens column, so the ribbuy is represented by one, it's represented by a one in the tens column. 7, 8 or 9, so that's still represented by a number which only indicates ribbuy. But 10 within the, obviously only within the base 10 system, so 10 represents, on the one hand it acknowledges the apparent ribbuy, what we experience on one level as ribbuy, but yet it calls attention to the fact that all this is really from Hashem Echad and that ultimately Ein Od Milvado. So that's what Mikdash is and Chanukah like Sukkos is a Yom Tov of Mikdash. There is another very theme of Chanukah, Rabbi Orlean mentioned it briefly, that we all know that Chanukah is a Yom Tov of Torah she-be'al peh. It's a Yom Tov of Torah she-be'al peh. The mitzvah of ner Chanukah specifically the berachah אשר קדשנו במצוותיו וציוונו, so the Gemara in Shabbos says that more than the earlier mitzvot derabbanan, more than mikra megillah, more than eruvin and netilat yadayim, all the mitzvot which preceded ner Chanukah, so this is the test case for the authority of the חכמי תורה שבעל פה to introduce something that not only we have to listen to but becomes a cheftza shel mitzvah, a cheftza shel mitzvah which warrants a birkat hamitzvah. The agents for the miracle again coordinating it with the historical event of Chanukah, the agents for the miracle of Chanukah is זדים ביד עוסקי תורתך. In the Gemara, a person sees olive oil in a dream, yitzappeh lema'or Torah. If a person sees shemen zayit in a dream, so he should anticipate the light of Torah, shene'emar ויקחו אליך שמן זית זך, the pasuk from the menorah. So Chanukah is a Yom Tov of Torah she-be'al peh. Now these two ideas that Chanukah is a Yom Tov of Mikdash and that Chanukah is a Yom Tov of Torah she-be'al peh are really one and the same, really one and the same. Kedushas Mikdash and Kedushas Torah are intertwined. You can't have either in its completeness, you can't have either fully independent of the other. Mikdash is lacking its full kedushah without Torah and Torah can't be revealed in its fullest glory and its fullest power without Mikdash. The Rav zecher tzadik livrachah used to say the fact that the Sanhedrin HaGedolah was situated in the Lishkas HaGazis in Mikdash was not only a din and a kiyum in the Beis Din HaGadol, that the Beis Din HaGadol didn't enjoy their full status if they were outside of Mikdash, hamakom gorem, there was no din of zaken mamre, you couldn't be dan dinei nefashos anywhere if the Sanhedrin weren't in their place, it was not only a din in Sanhedrin but it was a din in Mikdash also, that Mikdash was supposed to be the home of the Sanhedrin HaGedolah. Why? Because Kedushas Mikdash and Kedushas Torah are intertwined. The Ramban says that at the time of Ma'amad Har Sinai, Har Sinai and its environs had a din of Kedushas Mikdash, that same hashra'as haShechinah which the Torah then seeks to perpetuate in the Mishkan and ultimately in the Mikdash, that's what the kedushah which existed at Har Sinai at the time Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave the Torah because again to have Matan Torah, to have kabbalas haTorah, you needed Kedushas Mikdash, these two kedushos are tsmudos. The, some of the sefarim, I think the Avnei Nezer refers to the Gemara in Bava Batra on daf daled where Herod, the Gemara says how Herod killed almost all the rabbanan. Then later when he realized what he had done and wanted to know what he should do for teshuvah. So he's advised that hahu gavra meaning he, he Hordos, שכבא אורו של עולם, he extinguished ohr shel olam, deksiv כי נר מצוה ותורה אור, by killing the Chachamim he had extinguished ohr shel olam, ילך ויעסוק באורו של עולם. So let him go and let him and let him attend to ohr shel olam, meaning the Beis Hamikdash she-ne'emar ונהרו אליו כל הגוים. So again, there is this coupling of kedushas mikdash and of Torah. Again we explained how mikdash is to reveal the reality of Hashem echad in the world, throughout the world, throughout the entire briyah, that that's revealed in Mikdash Hashem Echad. Similarly, this too the Maharal discusses in at least one place, maybe other places as well, all of Torah, all of Torah again, hu v'da'ato echad, so basically all of Torah, all of Torah is telling us about Hakadosh Baruch Hu, all of Torah also is revealing Hashem and Hashem echad in the world. And hence Torah, Torah needs the hashra'as hashchinah of mikdash and mikdash needs the giluy of Torah. So these two ideas, that Chanukah is a yom tov of mikdash and that the mitzvah of ner Chanukah is really an extension of the menorah she-bamikdash and that Chanukah is a yom tov of Torah she-ba'al peh are really one and the same because those two kedushos, kedushas ha-Torah, the ohr shel Torah and the ohr ha-Beis Hamikdash go together. Just take a couple of minutes the implications, the implications connection or the intertwining of kedushas mikdash and Torah. I think the Maharal also points to after shemoneh esrei we say based on the Mishna in Avos יהי רצון מלפניך שיבנה בית המקדש במהרה בימינו ותן חלקנו בתורתך,
because the pshat is that it's only with the Beis Hamikdash that one can attain one's full cheilek in Torah. So hence she-yiboneh Beis Hamikdash and then when Torah will be together with mikdash then it will be possible v'sein chelkeinu b'sorasecha. So in order for a person to to attain, in order for a person to aspire to v'sein chelkeinu b'sorasecha, there has to be a kedushas mikdash. Okay, so in in its most basic ultimate level, so it means pshuto k'mashmao that the Ribono Shel Olam should that we should do our share that zachu achishena that the Ribono Shel Olam should restore the Beis Hamikdash. But what does it mean also? It has implications also for every yachid, for every ben Torah, every ben yeshiva, every every oved Hashem as well. The Ohr Hachayim Hakadosh, and again this is a mareh makom known to all of you on ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם, so the Ohr Hachayim quotes, I think it's from the Zohar Hakadosh, that the pasuk should have said the antecedent should be besocho, right? The antecedent of I will dwell in its midst meaning the Beis Hamikdash. The Torah says veshachanti besocham. That v'asu li mikdash, what it means is that every person is supposed to make himself into a mikdash. Every person is supposed to so sanctify himself, m'kadesh himself, elevate himself that v'asu li mikdash, the mikdash will be every yachid v'yachid. And that's what the pasuk says not just veshachanti besocho in the physical structure of the Beis Hamikdash in Har Habayis, veshachanti besocham, Hakadosh Baruch Hu will dwell amongst us, each and every one of us, veshachanti besocham. A person is is is striving, is aspiring for v'sein chelkeinu b'sorasecha, so it means that we have to try to fulfill the pasuk of ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם, that we should be a we should be worthy of a veshachanti besocham and in that way we can attain our cheilek in Torah. So what does that mean besides on its most basic and important level of הוי זהיר במצוה קלה כבחמורה? Just simple simple dikduk b'mitzvos. So maybe just to mention two particular points. First of all, in an attempt to fuse Kedushas HaTorah with Kedushas Mikdash, even bzman hazeh, and Chanukah is a time which is mesugal for this avodah. So first of all, again, it’s things that we do, we’re required to work on all year long, but it’s especially, especially conducive now to make headway in this avodah. So first of all, the Nefesh HaChaim says that anytime a person sits down to learn, the Nefesh HaChaim writes is that it's ראוי לאדם להתחשב מעט עם קונו יתברך, halev b'yiras Hashem, ולהיטהר מעונותיו בהרהורי תשובה. Before a person sits down to learn, at the beginning of every Seder, maybe it means standing outside the Beis Medrash for a minute or coming in, but at the beginning of every Seder, the Nefesh HaChaim says to think a little bit, machshavos of yiras Hashem, and to be misvadeh. It doesn’t have to be b'peh. In this context, the person is not looking for the kapparah, he’s looking for the taharah. It doesn’t have to be b'peh, but to be misvadeh and to do teshuvah before, before, before learning Torah. The other area in which we can try to, again, create this connection, this fusion of Kedushas HaTorah and Kedushas Mikdash, the nosei keilim in Shulchan Aruch quote a similar idea from the seforim with regard to Erev Shabbos, that on Erev Shabbos there’s also a special inyan of doing teshuvah. Again, Shabbos L'Hashem, Shabbos is the day when Hakadosh Baruch Hu is revealed in the world more than the sheshes yimei hama'aseh. It’s a day when a person can come closer to the Ribono Shel Olam, so to approach that special time and that opportunity, so the seforim say that we should do teshuvah on Erev Shabbos. The Nefesh HaChaim says something similar with regard to talmud Torah. The other area is to try to be makpid, to try to be makpid in making ourselves into ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם so that we can connect Kedushas Mikdash with Kedushas Torah. To try to be makpid, and in our, in our society, it’s a very big avodah, shmiras einayim, taharas hamachshavah. It’s very, very difficult to retain these things. These avodos of shmiras einayim is just so, everything is just so so parutz, and it’s so difficult that without a very conscious effort, it’s not going to happen. And these things, shmiras einayim, taharas hamachshavah, again, one of the ideas which emerges from the Nefesh HaChaim is that even though by and large in dinei adam, so dinei adam relate more to a person’s ma'asim, which ma'asim are tangible. So dinei adam in terms of what Beis Din responds to, Beis Din doesn’t monitor our machshavos, how can they? But in terms of registering in olamos elyonim, so machshavos can register and do register even in higher realms in the olamos elyonim, the Nefesh HaChaim says, than simple ma'asim without, without machshavos do. And to try to work on, on these, in these areas of shmiras einayim and taharas hamachshavah is crucial in our attempt to try to fuse Kedushas HaTorah with Kedushas Mikdash. Chanukah is a time, is a time for this avodah, and halevai, we should all have the Siyata Dishmaya to take advantage of the opportunity.