The History of Chanukah - Rabbi Reuven Lauffer

let's have a look and see what have we got about about Chanukah first of all hanukkah's are very very beautiful it's a very beautiful young when I was a kid growing up cannock important were the two festivals that were called minor festivals because they're not from the Torah not being very literate when I was a kid I was under the impression that my know you know something to do with people that dug coal out of the ground not realizing that you know whatever ease and O's are interchangeable with each other but the Chanukah is a it's a rabbinic mitza it's not a rabbinic yomtov it's not a haunted that appears in the toilet or because the whole story of Hanukkah of course appeared it occurred much later on and let's a look and see what we've got what was the story so in short the Greeks had invaded the land of israel they'd conquered the land of israel the they came the greeks were very clever actually they were a lot of a lot of their conquests you know they had an enormous empire at one point a lot of the success of what they did was because they didn't try to physically conquer you know and just overwhelm the different nations but rather they try to what was called Helen isaam which means that they introduce Greek culture and they wanted you to carry on why did you carry on having your own identity but they wanted your national identity to blend together with Greek identity with the Greek culture as well so you know you could you could be a an American like I know how we said an american an american greek or a greek american or british Greek row and whatever it is right and that's what they try to do they were very clever because at the end of the day what they did was national identities starting to become less important right the minute you know what makes national identity is so important is because it's a unit of people that all share the same culture and that gives them a certain that gives them a certain connection that they don't have with other people and you know that's one of the reasons for example why different countries that speak the same language so the language is basically the same but each country has got its own form of speaking it so for example American English and British English different different forms of Spanish that have spoken throughout the world you know somebody knows exactly where somebody's coming from by listening to the way that they speak and that very much defines who the person is what the Greeks did was very clever and it was very subtle as well they introduced Greek culture and that way your national identity is slowly but surely you know becoming less pronounced and then it means that you can eat you can integrate yourself into the greater Greek Empire and it doesn't matter where you go you can go into any country whether it's for commercial reasons or just for travel and you'll feel at home over there because lots of things are going to be very similar and that's what the Greeks who came to Israel that's what they wanted to do right that was their idea they were going to take the they were going to take the the you know the Jewish culture and they were going to dilute it with a little bit of Greek culture as well and they almost succeeded they were very successful with Greek culture in his day was the most modern culture they were at the vanguard of architecture of literature of philosophy they were you know were considered to be an extremely extremely cultural in their day and they came to Israel and they had a lot of people were very interested in being you know becoming Hellenized and things are very bad actually for the Jewish people the Jewish people were in droves were you know not not converting per se but they were converting their mindset into becoming you know cultural Greeks and until along came a small band of Cohan in which in and of itself is something which is rather odd we'll talk about that as well in a moment but along came a small band of priests and they decided that enough was enough something happened the Greeks can't try to put up a statue in the temple and the the one of the priests killed the person who was doing it and sparked off the beginning of a rebellion a rebellion which ultimately was successful and drove the Greeks out of Israel for a little while not for too long unfortunately but it did the job and those those people were called the hash Mona in or the knack of these we're talking about afterwards yeah for sure afterwards because I've dragons and the great died that's when the Greek Empire was split up and that's when people started fighting over Israel he had that you had the Syrian part of the Greek Empire and the Egyptian part of the Greek Empire and they thought they wanted to get their hands on Israel because obviously Israel even in those days was famous for its delectable falafel balls and you know everybody wanted them I think they were going to be good for their catapults and you know their war machines there was it there was a there was a battle a war took place and believe it or not these kahani these priests were victorious now this is a extraordinary thing first of all the priests and everybody here is anybody here nobody here is a coin right but the the priests are they didn't really got a war right it was forbidden for them to come into contact with dead bodies they had to serve in the temple they had to stand a certain level of spiritual purity and for them to go to war with something really quite extraordinary aside from that they were fighting against the largest and most successful war machine in the world at the time and yet they managed to succeed in pushing the Greeks out of Israel and temporarily for only for a couple of generations and then everything started falling apart again because Jews really can't Jews don't get on very well would use so what was going on was it was there was rampant rampant assimilation the Greeks came along and they were very clever so they decided that they were going to make a few decrees to stop people from being so overtly Jewish the things that they may decrees about were they made a decree against making a brittle against making a circumcision no first time around right when they will they conquer the land the first time before that before they were expelled they made they made a decree that Britt you shouldn't you shouldn't make a Britney LA they made a decree that you shouldn't keep Shabbat and they made a decree that you shouldn't read from the Torah now if you if you understand anything at all about you know Jewish Jewish theology and Jewish culture you'll understand that the connection between brit milah that's the individual sign that he's Jewish by stopping people from doing that then they're taking away the child's ability to identify himself obviously as being Jewish the idea of Shabbat is the same kind of a thing that's more of a communal thing where everybody comes together and celebrate Shabbat together that's being taken away from them as well and the reading of the Torah is something which is that's at that's the educational dimension of who the Jewish people are and what they were doing was in effect they were trying to dampen down the individual communal and educational dimension of Jewish life knowing that if they did that then at some point it wouldn't take very long before the integration of the Jewish community into the more Hellenistic lifestyle would take place it would all be very it would be painless like they wouldn't have to fight for anything what is fascinating is if you if anybody here is familiar with it with a shawl service on Shabbat in the morning so you'll know that we read the Torah right after you put away the Torah then they read what's called the haftorah like the haftorah is normally something which is taken from the prophets and it's normally got something to do with whatever's going on either in that week's Torah reading or to do with the time of the year the Greeks interestingly enough allowed the haftorah to be read in they allowed the prophets to be read they didn't allow the toyota be read and that's where the custom came from to read the rabbi's got together and said okay here's what we're going to do we'll introduce tar readings from the profits instead of for the tour itself and that way we'll have some kind the resemblance of what things were like before the Greeks came along and that's why the idea of reading something which has got a connection to the week's parsha to the week's torah portion or two what's going on during the year that's where it came from but the question really needs to be asked is what possess the Greeks to allow them to do that which means everybody here I would imagine knows that the Torah is made up of three sections as Torah which is the Bible there's an a vm which is a prophet and then there's silver which are the writings it's all together that's called tanakh right and that was something which existed at the time of the Greeks as well what on earth possessed the Greeks to say okay you can't read from the Torah but you can read from the prophets why didn't they just outlaw everything and to the idea is actually something very deep the Greek the Greeks were very they were really very clever they understood that if they outlawed Tanakh in its entirety right which is a torah and the prophet and all of the writings they get if they wouldn't allow any of that to be read then what were the Jews do that we just go underground that's all right they'll start having they'll start having underground services somewhere and you know they won't be able to eradicate it won't be able to push into the Jewish educational system will remain intact so what did they do they took out two and they said you're not allowed to read from the Torah but you can read from the profits instead why is that and because the Torah itself is something the Bible the five books of Moses is something that we can't understand that without the Oral Torah as well right without the Oral Torah we're stuck and just understanding basics of what it is that the Torah is talking about so right now in burr a it's a little less complicated because that's a whole series of stories but the minute we get into you know from pacha swish potting onwards we get into all of the laws and the various things that we need to know so without the orator oh we're stuck so for example God says I want you to eat kosher animals but he doesn't explain what that means but how how is an ad as an animal get onto my plate right how does a how does a meatball get onto my plate and be kosher right that's not explained in the touch of yourself in the written tone only appears in the oral term the Greeks understood that and they understood that what they're really trying to do is undermine the educational dimension which is going to come from the written and the old Torah together so they said here you can read for the prophets reading from the prophets was like giving them a little bit of a little like throwing them a bone right why were the prophets okay to read front because if you read through the prophets even though it helps to read through them with the commentaries but nevertheless if you read through the prophets what do you see that the prophets normally the story has got a beginning a middle and an end a story that can be followed which means that you can read it in you can read the prophets in shul on Chavez morning and come out and it hasn't it hasn't you know it hasn't peaked your interest and got you to start looking around and investigating and studying because it's a story in and of itself so along came the the Greeks and they that's what that's what you know that's what they tried to impose upon us interestingly enough after all of this was taken away after the decrees were taken away the haftorah the custom of reading the after remained that's where the custom comes from which means that even though we read the regular Torah portion each Shabbat we also read the haftorah that's affiliated to the Torah portion as well even though we don't really need to do it anymore because we're already reading the Torah portion itself but nevertheless the rabbi's left it in as some kind of a some kind of a Zeta some kind of a remembrance to what took place along come the Greeks again very clever you want to be Jewish be Jewish there's no problem being Jewish whatsoever but just be Jewish with a Greek flavor so I would imagine and again I don't know this is true historically but I would imagine that if the Greeks were successful which they were over here then you probably had the very first kosher style restaurants here in Eretz Israel because that's exactly what the Greeks were happy to do right yet you want to retain your ethnic identity right you wanna you wanna your culinary identity you want to eat charland on on Shah this morning that's fine you know just it shouldn't be kosher that's all and you want it you want to you know eat Jewish style foods and and you know even even for example you know the Jewish history there have been very very assimilated very secular Jewish playwrights and and you know Jewish Jewish novelists and and that their their works are incredibly Jewish and the Greeks would have been thrilled with something like that which means that again to to retain your Jewish flavor right to retain your Jewish identity and to read novels and plays and and all kinds of things that have been written by people who are completely secular but they just got that joy that's exactly what Greek that's exactly what the Greek philosophy was that's what they were trying to teach which beat be Jewish but just be Jewish with a Greek flavor and along came the Cohan in the priests and they said we can't do this anymore we have that we're going to have to go to fight we're going to go to war since the run band that manatees for the first and last time in Jewish history the Jewish people went to war in order to be able to learn Torah a later commentary right but he's saying he's explaining what the significance of Chanukah really is it's a very strange time in Jewish history Jewish history is normally very simple people come along and they try to kill us right it just repeats itself over and over again the Greeks weren't trying to kill us physically they were trying to kill us spiritually and the and sensor ambarnath maladies that this is the first time that the Jews had to go to war not to defend themselves physically we've done that on many occasions in the past and we did in many occasions afterwards as well but to go to war in order to be able to learn Torah if you were prepared to become a hell of a Hellenized jus you were perfectly safe no one was going to try to kill you quite the opposite they want they wanted things to flourish over here they really did they just wanted it to flourish in their way and in many respects that's a yeah that's a very that's a very dangerous place to be when you've got an identifiably when you've got an identifiable enemy who's physically trying to annihilate you so however terror that is however terrifying that is but at least you know who they are like when you've got people who are trying to get rid of your spiritual identity in a very subtle in a very a very year in a very what are we going to say in a very a very quiet underhand way then that's much more dangerous because it's difficult it's difficult to recognize who's your enemy and who's not here it says in this week this week's torah portion it says that before jacob meets a sub haven't met each other for the last 22 years they haven't met and he's understandably a little concerned about this because he ran away because they supported a killing and now he's scared that maybe you know maybe things haven't changed so he prays to god and he says had seen a lean hat seal a nena saved me please me add our heat me add a south from the hand of my brother from the hand of a sub ask the brisker of you know jacob only has one brother well what's he gonna say save me for my brother saved me from asa but if you'd asked me to be safe from his brother he's being asked me said to me so he asked me safe myself he's been asked me safe from his brother so the bris Quran says exactly exactly that idea he says a son appears that he says he has appeared like dance around history as well ASA has appeared sometimes as a physical enemy and sometimes as a spiritual enemy and when he's a physical enemy that time today Nene add a sub from a sub that you know the the physical enemy that I have to be concerned about but what Stan's even more concern is hudson lady naam yaad a key when he behaves like my brother and he wants to draw me close and he wants to you know he wants to you know in an underhand way he wants to undermine my connection my spiritual connection that's even more of a concern than the physical danger that a person might be in and I thought I thought you know I had this idea I thought like this and says it says that they have this rather straw after they meet each other that is rather strange dialogue where asus has come on let's go let's go let's go together well travel together to wherever we need to get to and and ASA and jakub says to a thug he says now he says I I you know what I've got small children with me and I'm scared that you'll go too fast and they'll end up you know it'll be too difficult for them and maybe something terrible will happen you go on ahead and we'll meet up like I thinking I'm sure I saw this one somewhere but I think like this maybe the dialogue you know sometimes you have a dialogue on parallel lines which means that that a seventh saying come on let's travel together and yaakov is saying i don't i don't want to travel together with you because i'm scared that my children will be influenced by what they see right a sub a sum is not this real righteous pious guy right and you know he said I'm scared my children are young they're very impressionable and and you know maybe maybe they'll see something that they shouldn't see over there do they do then that's gonna that's going to end up it's going to end up doing something terrible to them so you say that you go on ahead I don't you know it's I can say its lack of a saying I'm okay with you I can travel with you nothing's going to happen to me I especially after having spent 22 years with love and right nothing's going to happen to me but I am scared for my children which is cute so I think he's scared over the scare over here the fear over here is that they're going to be influenced by you know ASA a service is this larger-than-life figure right very very successful very physically successful you know and and yeah what can I tell you it's like if like like the rabbi you know the rabbi's children living next door to some humongous T successful multi-millionaire with with fancy cars parked outside and maybe they'll say to themselves you know what wow this is a this is a neat lifestyle you know I wish I wish I could do that I said that the rabbi himself who lives next door he's not bothered it doesn't bother me he's not he's not bothered by what he sees but the children are very impressionable and the children were young I didn't know at that time the children were young and he didn't want he didn't want him to be influenced by a 70 South anti anti tura ideology interestingly enough the Greeks are the continuity the Greek Empire is the continuity of the of the Empire of Adam which is then superseded by the Roman Empire and is you know that's really what's Watson what sir and we're living inside of today Western culture is something which very much revolves around this Adam and this idea of what it is that the Greeks were trying to do there's nobody there's nobody today standing over the Jewish people and telling them here in America for example is not really telling them that they've got to you know they've got to to to integrate themselves into American society in the way that you know in this particular way no one's telling them that today but that's exactly what they're doing right the Jewish communities all over the place to join Jewish individuals all over the place that's what that's what's happening right this being influenced by the culture were being influenced by the environment and the atmosphere and it's taking its toll and for sure Aristotle was without a doubt one of the most enormous influences on thought on philosophy in general in many respects Aristotle is considered to be the Zaidi the you know the grandfather of philosophical thought and the rambam my mana DS who's considered to be one of if not the greatest Jewish philosopher who you know in Jewish history was very much influenced by Aristotle Aristotle's philosophy is very logical very rational very analytical and the the rambam I'm ologies was very much influenced by that Aristotle he didn't believe in didn't really believe in God I mean it it's the jury's out a little bit about whether whether or not there was a God which had no connection whatsoever because God God of course is perfect and human beings are not perfect so God doesn't have any connection with human beings really Aristotle's belief system was such that the the more brilliant you were the closer you were to being like God and you might be absolutely flabbergasted and I used to hear that Aristotle looked at himself has been the most brilliant person and therefore he was the closest to some kind of a god-like figure what a surprise that Aristotle did believe interestingly enough in the concept of accumulation of knowledge which was each generation is going to accumulate more and more knowledge they'll build on the you know the individuals inside of the generation until at some point that perhaps somebody is going to know everything he very much he very much believed in the in the religion of the intellect Aristotle and of course Greek you know Greek philosophy is very much built upon he wasn't he wasn't the first of the Greek philosophers but he was definitely I think the most certainly the most the most the most dominant of the Greek philosophers and his again I mean his philosophies are still being felt up to and including today what happened to the Jews came back they finally they ant managed to drive the Greeks out of the land of israel they drove them futsal out of Jerusalem and they drove them out of the temple area that was a big thing right when did that happen on the twenty-fourth of kislev out of the 24th of kiss legs they drove out the the Greeks from Jerusalem and they wanted to come and rededicate the temple and on the twenty-fifth of kislev that's when the rededication took place that's when they began to relapse when they lit the menorah a new they started relighting women are again on the twenty-fifth of kissing that's an important date why is that we're not commemorating the end of the war right a few days ago it was armistice day when was it now over the 11th no right never the 11th was Armistice Day in Europe it's very important days a day that they commemorate the end of the ownership was the first world war that's both both world boards together as it still just first of all we'll hit me whatever but I rigid originally it was it was a lot another like it was a victory day of the First World War and then they had a second one for the Second World War victory day for the second world war in in Judaism we don't normally have a victory day but rather the day after is considered to be the important day because that's when we go back to being able to do what we can do which means that the battles over Jerusalem and the Temple came to an end on the twenty-fourth of kislev we don't commemorate on a 24 to kiss lathe but rather we commemorate on the next day on the twenty-fifth and the word Chanukah which is felt het neun valve half hey a new car so the country's explained is comprised of towards a no which means to rest and car coffey on the twenty-fifth actually again what we're commemorating over here is the ability to be able to go back and two to connect together with a college park with God in the way that we're supposed to not not threw not through upheaval and not through war and not some victories but rather coming back to the temple and being able to connect together with Jordan with God in the right way channel car and it's interesting that the word hamilkar also means to inaugurate because they were again they were rededicating the temple and chanukah comes from that from the word he look it not please educate education right they're very it's a very it's a very fundamental idea early is that the concept of Chanukah is a concept of rededicating the temple it's a concept of returning back to God and the fundamental dimension of Chanukah is phenyl right that we have to educate how we got how we're going to do is how we're going to gain that connection back to God again we're going to do it through education there is a verse King Solomon says anak lennar LP darko that every child should be educated according to his abilities to who he is right there's that you know only I don't have you familiar with with that with the you know Jewish Jewish personalities but there was a very very important personality called Roush unction rafal Hirsch who lived in German units in Frankfurt a 100 100 plus years ago 180 years ago whenever it was and he he he was a master education educationalist and he writes an interesting critique I think all you I've her she could ever do this he writes an interesting critique against Isaac because jacob and esau the the the the the Midrash says that jacob and esau were pretty much the same until they were 13 years old you couldn't really differentiate between them not talking physical he's talking about you know the way that they were brought up and and and rehearse says how can you do that there were very different personalities right how on earth could you ain't true that they were twins right but how on earth Jacob and Esau not physically he's talking about that you know their personalities right and that's exactly exactly what a her she's saying like how on earth can you treat them equally nice send them off to the same schools and expect the same things from them if they're so very different Kanaka landau peduncle means that you should we need to educate every child according to who he is right some children a more studious some children less studio some children have a greater ability to understand some children have less of an ability to understand it's our job as parents in it's a shame you'll also have this job as well right but the job of the parent is to identify each child what their strengths and the weaknesses are and allow that child to flourish according to who they are and not not to not like cookie cutter right not not to have everybody coming out exactly the same and i heard once from replace our chrome the most astonishing idea it's really very very beautiful he said it in the name of one of the hasidic rebbes that the word can knock in canola nah rapida cool we should educate every child according to his ability the word can knock should really be spelled het neun valve cough cannot however malith spelled a knock without a valve head noon half it's a little bit like spelling education with a k it's so David news from England he thinks that's funny and the Americans don't really understand what the big deal is it it's not how you spell it right actually you know we know where they hope through it where they're really holding is it spell spelling and off without above it seems like it's a spelling mistake like what would possess somebody did what would possess King Solomon to spell you know education the wrong way and so pesach chrome said in the name of in the name of one of the Hasidic rebels I can't remember who it was he said that the valve is missing in cannot to teach us at every single one of us in education every single one of us is missing something but don't ever imagine that you know everything and don't ever imagine that you you know that you're perfect and that's a real lesson that show America's giving us King Solomon is that we need to know that if I'm not perfect I can't demand perfection with my children either what how nice for now padharo you should know first of all it's a fossil initially in Proverbs it's an astonishingly powerful verse right each child should be educated according to his it's giving is giving parenting parenting classes it sounds incredibly obvious right I don't know how many of you over here about how many siblings you've got but you know families are really extraordinary things because siblings you all come from the same parents you've all got the same DNA you all brought up in exactly the same environment and yet all siblings are different if we want their own personalities they've all got their own it really it's something absolutely incredible and King Solomon is say cannot an alpha darko that you should you should know that right there as a parent you should know that every child is different and what's good for one child is not necessarily good for another child and what's good for the other child is not going to be good for the first child and you've got a you've got to know that and identify that and the more in tune you are with your children's different personalities the better is your ability to the Alberta to do you know to help them and to educate them the end of the verse is even more important in the beginning of the verse the beginning of the verse San Oakland Apodaca we should educate every child according to who they are but the end of the verse says why ki gunky as kin no you saw me metal that when the child gets wiser when the child gets older what you've taught him shouldn't disappear from him Jewish education here maybe just a little bit of an aside but it's something terribly important Jewish education is not defined by how many degrees you've got Jewish education is not defined by how many exams you took and how many tests you took and what what you know what does what percent did you get in the various exams that you took Jewish education is defined by being able to give over information from one generation to the next in order than that generation the new generation should have the information to be able to give it over in their own way to the next generation that comes after them second like a relay race right in a relay race you're passing over the baton from one person to the other in the hope that it's going to go from you know just keep going all the way through to the end and that's what we're doing as well we have the baton our generation as a pattern of Education and we have to give it over to the next generation that's coming after us how are we going to do that that's watch like I'm marathons walking Solomon's talking about and that's really what Chanukah is all about as well kanika this idea of revolving around the concept of a phenyl of Education revolving around the idea of the rededication of the temple that what what is important for us is it's not not the physical dimensions it's interesting in chanukah we'll see him in to share with the mitzvahs of Chanukah that there aren't there are no real physical mitzvahs over here there is no meter to have a meal there is no Mitzvah to make kiddush on can occur every night of Chanukah there isn't there really isn't any meter to eat latkes and don't have some kind of her either there really isn't that you hear the idea that the Mitchell can occur is what is to light the menorah right and the menorah represents a clarity the clarity of the light the clarity of the Torah the idea of going to war in order to to be able to learn Torah and there's a most astonishing thing again the rubber knife manatee says when they came back to rededicate the temple the 25th of kislev the temple was the most terrible state the Greeks have been in there they ransacked the place I mean this is a famous story where they couldn't find a little picture of oil and they you know that there were there were underground storage rooms that the amount of olive oil that was used was enormous inside of the temple because there were there were menorahs that were lit there was lights that were lit all over the place there was Oliver that was put onto libation offerings and into meal offerings of you yeah I mean the amount of oil was just extraordinary and they'd managed to defile everything and they found one little picture of oil that still had the the stamp of the kohen gadol of the high priest and that's the pot that's a picture of all that they used and that's where the story of Hanukkah comes from this idea of kosher oil right real real Deluxe super deluxe kosher oil again it was as pure as can be I don't anybody here know anything about olive oil olive olive oil is is the most astonishing stuff it really has but it really is but it comes in so many different grades and you can have olive oil which is you can't eat but you can use it for light you know for for lighting up up to the highest highest grade of cold-pressed extra virgin you know it's and this stuff has got no sediments in it and everything depends on what kind of Olives you using what kind of color it is and what kind of taste it's going to have it you know something there are connoisseurs in olive oil who you know some olive oils are hundreds of dollars per bottle and if you you know if you understand from this stuff it's exactly it's exactly these people get as much enjoyment from olive oil as I do that you know kind of says get from wine for example the same the same kind of thing and the olive oil that was used to light the menorah in the temple was the coldest precious virginius virgin extra super deluxe olive oil that you could imagine because what was it they took the olives and they poured huge amounts of Olives on top of each other so there was the weight of the olives that was pushing down on the olives at the bottom it wasn't using something you know normally when you press olive oil how do you do that you have a great big stone there and a trough and you put the olives in the trough and you put the stone on top and it pushes down and that's how the oil comes out but the olive oil that was being produced especially for the menara only for the menorah you didn't use a stone but rather use the weight of other olives on top of it huge amounts of all is pushing down and only the first drops that came out were used for the art for the menorah everything else was used for other things instead because the very first drops are come out of the purest drops they have no they've got no no dress no sediment no nothing inside of them and they were considered to be only that was considered to be worthy to use for the menorah and again that's the oil that we're talking about again in the Inner Temple there were huge amounts of oil right huge ever probably like a football fields worth of storage rooms with with pictures of oil of different grades being used for different things but there was very very little of this very special oil that was used for the menorah and that's there looking everything's being defy of the few of the few you know pictures that they have have been broken open which means that they can't be used and they found one small little picture of oil which was going to be good only for one day and they used it and it kept alive for eight days and that's whether the miracle of hanukkah comes from it's like deer of lighting for eight days and every day adding more and more light as we go along if it's a sham we'll talk about it but that's that's where the origins of the of the of the festival comes from that's what we're commemorating over you and that there's just one one thing 11 detailer I'd like to just mention over here which is that the Gomorrah says that when the when the hash man IM when they finally dedicated the temple of course the various you know gold and utensils weren't they couldn't find they weren't there they needed to be rededicated as well in the meantime what did they do they built a menorah made out of iron schiphol didn't show basel that's a way that the gomorrah describes it they took pieces of iron and they stuck them together welded them together you know one piece in the middle and then pieces coming out on the side in order to make a new menorah and the romantic melodies points out a very fascinating thing that a locker is a Torah says that it's completely forbidden to use iron or steel in the building of the temple the temple was a place of peace these were things that were used for warfare and subsequently no no metal was supposed to be used except for precious metals like gold and silver bag and copper but none of the things that were used for war says there are man hath manatees out of all the things that the Maccabees could have used in order to build the menara again when earth did they use iron which is forbidden right shipbuilding shall Basel that that's the word that it uses right so answers in a van because it's absolutely apt that the only time that the Jewish people went to war in order to be able to learn Torah was on chanukah that the rededication of the menorah which represents a light of Torah should be built with something that you make weapons of war with because they use their weapons of war in order to be able to learn tower in order to be able to bring Torah back to the Jewish world so it was very apt that they use those that's that same material be used in order to fabricate the menorah in order to begin the the avoiding the worship inside of the temple again mechanical is all about the concept of continuity clinic is all about the concept of light of clarity of purity there's an incredible 11 of it one of the later authorities rabbi akiva eiger rebbi akiva eiger says like this that the halacha says that if everybody is impure then it's okay to use in pure oil in the temple right if everything is impure anyway so it's okay to using pure oil so he says why do they go to such trouble in order to find the pure oil and in order to have a miracle come by that it should stay alive for a daisy said because what are they doing they're rededicating the temple all their starting all over again right when you start something from the beginning you want to start in the very best way that you can it should be as pure as possible in order that that purity should be the foundation of everything that's going to be in the future it's two to two different concepts over here which means that the metal is being used in order to reinforce this idea that they went to war only in order to be able to learn to continue to learn Torah it's interesting that really that really is a little that's really is Judaism right mixing things together taking taking that the spiritual purity and applying it to something which is physically imperfect it really it's the truth is it's a very it's very it's a very interesting symbol is entirely what was the shot of impure oil and a minute the minute that the Greeks broke open all of the pictures then they're now in pure up until up until then everything was stored in the temple the only the only difference between the oils was a grade right how clean was it again if you look look at look at you know if you got if you don't like a fancy store you'll see oil hopefully they've got it set out according according to the different grades and you can see clearly inside of the bottle itself right that you know that the less expensive oil has got a lot more there's a lot more sediment inside of it and that the real expensive oils are perfectly clear and you know that that's the idea the idea of the you know the different grades of quality of oil not not that they were all pure presumably all of the oil that we're sitting in the temple have been dedicated for temple use and that means that you can't take it now and use it for cooking with outside of the temple the problem is you can't be used in the temple kids being defiled have the Oracle er has sure got one of that one of the great later authorities just picture from just before the Second World War he writes that the the miracle that there are many many different explanations of what exactly how to define exactly the miracle of hanukkah and he says that the miracle of hanukkah is really the fact that the Jewish people drove out this incredible mighty war machine and was something which was completely completely and absolutely unexpected and you know only only because God you know they had got on their side so I guess it helped in the end right so the moral of the story is it helps to have gone on your side right there you go ok we're going to stop over with Natasha