The Stories of Chanukah Past and Present with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz

[Music] okay uh we like to dedicate this she in the memory of Mrs Ruth Levy of Detroit Michigan Whose y site will be this m chabis and uh the family is a very prominent family from Detroit area uh many Benet Torah professionals uh in fact a very famous shatan Pathologists podiatrists but most importantly Benet Torah and and she left to Legacy not only in the Detroit Community but in all the communities where their children are all the way here to shalam and bemes and um we'd like to honor her memory by dedicating this she in her behalf okay um the the um overlapping of Kaneka and the paros of yose is something that has been dealt with by maim for um many hundreds of years and the question really is let's take a deeper dive into what the Yosef Yehuda connection is but I don't mean Yehuda I mean Yehuda hamaki so this is about Yosef and Yehuda the makabi so let me explain and there's tremendous lessons that can be learned that are very very very applicable today in fact mosha Fein said that's why a lot of times um mikat is read on Kaneka as we will this year babis khah and um it's because it's the Cliffhanger you know the Jewish history is always a cliffhanger we don't know the end result but we are with we're in the the uh process of figuring it out of understanding and we need to draw lessons that can guide us as each and every opportunity our history comes because the pathways are always are always similar and similar decisions need to be made okay what do I mean to say first connection between the paros of Yehuda and kanah probably the most famous one comes from theab on the bottom says the name they taught two things Pula a Han candle cannot be way up 20 almost in the sky it is not acceptable and uh and and that's a very similar to law of in a or what we would call um making a m kosher a Kora is a board that goes across the top of two walls B board if it's visible it's Le less than 20 amamos High a person will notice it but otherwise they may not notice it and similarly it's not only height but apparently it's depth also because here rahana continues on and says here in chabas notice chabas is where the Kaneka story is that's also a curiosity there's no M Kana it has no separate identity it's not like Milla that a even incorporated into Milla and khah the way the rambam did the r wrote Hil KH Milla and he made it one year so that could have been done I mean the rambam's kind of hinting at that that might have been an appropriate thing to do for the mishna but we don't have it we only have an insert into H appears in the context of Hil shabis which itself is part of the question about what is this what telling us by all these various obvious things that we know but we need to put the picture together to get a message what trying to tell us so here's another hint so says same author it says in they threw here we go Y and khah connected they same this Bor what rather why why because they threw into what they considered to be an empty pit but the reality was there were snakes and scorpions and yoseph should have by Nature died from the bites of the snakes and scorpions as the other places explains when you provoke a Viper or provoke a scorpion it will it will bite you and there's no bigger provocation than falling on them so by all natural means yoseph should have died and the brothers didn't even know about this miracle because it was 20 amamos deep that's that's what some shot here I like to suggest 20 amamos 20 OS one was high one was low and they couldn't detect it which means that there is a connection between yoseph shabas and kanah somehow in the terms of vision being able to see whether there's light or no light noticing not noticing okay that's number one so what what is what aaz really doing you want to take this a step deeper and take it not just literally that this teaching was put here with h khah inab because we want to make a y kanah connection obvious y connection that's number one here's another connection okay um braus robber 225 peric B says something that's a part of the kanah lore which you may have heard but it's curious but it's also connection to Yosef What did the what did the uh Greeks forced the Jews to write on their oxen a very strange thing on their horns of their oxen they said right over there the words as follows B Isel I guess there were no uh Billboards back then or you know this was like a kind of a a you know license plate kind of message we we have no KH in the god of Israel so why do they want oxen running around that way or maybe because they were those the the trucks of the day so they were very visible but it may be something deeper so the uham suggest here that it's a reference to ysep Ys is known as a Shore theous RAB says and not only that but this is a the sale of Y J okay was was repaired by Kaneka what's the connection what does the sale of ysf have to do again with the Kaneka Miracle so so far we see thear shab's connection then we see a more midic connection kiss right on yose's so to speak horn the Horn of Yosef what's the what what's the connection here what's the what is the message okay and that's B in his perim says an inter gatria he says that Y is gatria anti and not only that but his gatri so to show that the m y was repaired by the torments that they suffered under antios who was M the Syrian Greek King my high where do we see any connection between Yosef and antias okay let's go a step further all right um when yose is uh meates which will we read he he has been suffering from what has been a 2-year torment in jail more than he was anticipated to be why is that why did Joseph have to stay in the boore more than boore meaning the prison an additional two years why what is that we all know what's the reasoning right because he put his trust into the sarkim okay he put his trust in shkim and he was punished why should you also be punished before ask shouldn't you do speaking of Miracles it's not always a miracle like a pH Miracle right so yoseph was not relying on a miracle and yet he's he's roundly criticized why what's wrong what did Joseph do that was AOS that that seems to be perfectly legitimate all right okay so in order to understand these things I wanna I want to show you another insight about Yosef okay Yosef was sold down to mitzraim as we know and Yehuda not Yuda makab but his brother Yehuda was the one who was responsible and he said the words MAA ironically it's highlighted in today's doomi as we approach Hanukah MAA what value you get AB betsa is like AAR means like everybody gets a piece you get some I get some when you're you get a half and I get a half so instead of going to a din to a judgment you tell the parties it's a the tells us in the beginning of Sedin here better you should better you should break off a piece and share it around okay that's the that's the idea Ma so Yehuda was trying to make some sort of sh or compromise he said listen there is no out that was pined by the brothers with hashem's consent that yoseph needs to be moved out of CLA Israel that's it he is a non not a member of the team going forward he had to be released but at the same time he's our brother and he's our flesh so I have a great idea we'll sell him to the yesim sell him to isim if he's your brother and what kind of what kind of is this okay so in order to understand this they understand what's go behind yehuda's logic here so what we find is is that yudas yehuda's words happen after they've already thrown Yosef into the boore they don't know whether he's they they they seem to have believe that he's alive obviously they wouldn't be able to sell him um and they they're not cognizant of the fact that a tremendous Miracle taken place for Yosef tremendous Miracle so why should we do this I'll give you an alternative his brothers listened now look what happens here it says what happened to the isim miones come sales people make up your mind it's they were sold a number of times apparently and and what what did what why all of a sudden did you say because backtrack the and here's the key it says this is right immediately after the of Bor the Y shabas and khah connection they sat down to have a meal that they were satisfied with their judgment right look what's coming you're gonna have a reference in this P to every single other person or personality that was removed from the Jewish people in the course of the book of barus number one is was removed by BYU mad gillad is the place where as where Yakov encounters lovan who tried to be Lan lck a to dominate the entire Jewish people we got rid of him it wasn't easy and he came back even in the days of the sh Man by the way we never really ever get rid of these Rivals it's just we know that they're not part of the sh gimam they came with their camels of all the people in gracious who do we associate most with camels well it's the story of elzar EV who took 10 camels Etc made shus on the camels tested Rifka through the camels he wanted to marry uh aram's daughter he wanted his son to marry Aram son excuse me his daughter to marry a son you took but he's got he's out told him I'm sorry your roots are not they have to come from the lineage of Shem and then through us the lineage of Amel sorry noos is a is a spice but it's also seems to be a reference to the name of Noah who also unfortunately failed in his mission to save the Free World and his descendence had to rely Shem for example had to give over that job to the AOS sorry sorry is a type of spice but it sounds often like the word is who is is descendant of as so here we have a reference to ASV too V the next spice is identical with the name lo lo literally Lo here we remember the idea that this is the pathway to Gus where CLA Israel will be enslaved but also will find their way towards being the chosen Nation so a remarkable remarkable thing that Yehuda and and his brothers make a statement saying Yosef is outside the realm in fact of all of the people referred to here who do they most uh link him to and it makes a lot of sense the Rival of their very father known as asov asov and Yakov battled in Udo asov and Yakov confronted each other in person and they said to themselves yovino got rid of Asa said see Andia so let's do the same to ysep we see him as a mortal threat we see him as an is BOS focused on beauty like Y which we later associate Edom as the progenitors The Heirs of the Greek culture and in fact I can show you his the history which I'd like to get to shortly of the Roman regime affected the entire entire Hanukah story let me explain when Alexander the Great dies which is simultaneous with the death of Shimon of uh of Ezra hoper who manyal identify as the na Mal the final the final of all the prophets the book of Ezra and is is really the same thing as the the book of Mali it's the same person it's the end of the cannon it's where we sealed the cannon the 24 books of n therefore on that date on that historical date when Alexander the Great marched through ER Israel we see the rise of P the end of Prophecy is immediate okay and shimad the great last member of the great August body known as Anessa Zola is the one who confronts Alexander and makes concessions to Alexander very big concessions as a matter of fact he convinces him after Alexander notices his appearance it says the Coen GLE you're the Coen GLE now right aren't you well the Coen GLE I see an image in a dream before all my battles that I'm successful because of you why am I successful because of you he says well we've been offering carbonos on your behalf in the B mikash okay um by the way if you go through the history carefully the wonderful book called Inside Kaneka by my by my congregant from Young oce side AR pinov you'll see that in in the that Ezra was immediately followed by shimad there's some who say suggest otherwise but the numbers work out that he's right there and it's all simultaneous Alexander appears and N recedes but what happens next six years later Alexander finishes his Conquest that's the Jewish year 3448 okay and that is uh synonymous with the year uh well 319 before the Common Era was that date when uh when Ezra dies on a on on test tavas by the way and then six years later okay in 313 before the Common Era Alexander six years of Conquest conquers all the way up to India like miodu literally and we start something called Minos Minos means that shimad sadic made a rule that to honor Alexander so he should not destroy the B mikdash what honors could they give him they gave him two honors really one they would name all the children Alexander of that year now this could be a fulfillment of what it says eloh sh Yan is one of the children of Y sh it's clearly the the lineage empiric of gracious outlines that that uh yavan is a direct descendant of yaes so what does that mean some say well yeah you know Alexander the Great will conquer the world the by ya means to spread worldwide not only territorially but their their theology not their theology so much is their philosophy their way of life the external beauty the the Healthy Mind and healthy body the Reliance on on human w nationalist philosophy which does not allow for anything Lala Min to exist and that is the darkness of yavan but wait but wait six years later after Alexander does his job to clear the playing field and turn everybody into a student of Aristotle and Greek wisdom something else happens he dies he dies six years later and who takes over after the Jews had conceded these two things which were naming their children Alexander and marking the conquest of the world of Alexander the Great in every Jewish document Cuba gonos of mear money anything whenever a Jew does anything of any importance Alexander the Great's name is on top of there in the year of his from the year of his as tendy to be the emperor of the of the really what was the entire world ancient world that's called Minos up until only 700 years ago and even more recently Jewish communities around the world follow this you put uh you dated your documents not from creation but from the well not only from creation but also from the ascent of the alexandrian arist Ian monarchy to World stage can you imagine this was the concession of shiman sadic not a small thing but what happens more immediately is even more important the world is divided among his four generals and as uh Alexander said who should get what and he said to the strongest it doesn't really matter if you can handle it it's yours exactly the opposite of the makim who said right is um is also a rem that their K is only from Hashem okay that's a hint so wait a moment what happens then is Tom me takes charge of Egypt and rests the power from his rival to control ER Israel the cusd okay are where anus comes from were based in Antioch but Alexandria was ptoi Tomy is the one who wrote the septu aent not that many years later and they start to influence the Greek influence starts growing deeper and deeper but it's it's on its way in fact there's the famous uho who was a descendant of shim who built a replica of the bdash in Alexandria do you understand what's going on here that's it's that in that case in their rad most radical sense they actually took the O of sham they took the B mdash and recreated it with a legitimate cohain by the way in Alexandria and that b mdash stood where non-jews you see it was prepared for non-jews could offer sacrifices and so on up until the Romans destroyed it alongside the B MDES according to historical sources so this takeover was almost absolutely incomplete but who influenced us when it got bad Rome it wasn't Greece Greece started the problem Greece released the the genie from the bottle but who tormented us with it not so much Alexander Alexander allowed us to have the Bas of MDES he just asked for these guess these certain concessions but then what happens what happens is as they press upon us the Greek culture more and more finally anti the one of the Kaneka story marches towards Egypt and says I want Egypt why should I why should I be suffice myself with Antioch and Syria and who kicks him out of out of Egypt none other than the early Roman Empire and they say out of here we are not allowing you OFA Fame that happens in the year 169 before the Common Era and by the way the Kaneka Miracle itself is going to happen only four years later in 165 BC that pushes Rome pushes anus out of MIT and then he ravages the B mikdash right and then start the wars of the makim for three years y left the bdash completely defiled from the time that they they took kazer which is of course the symbol of Edom and and brought it upon the m so what I'm trying to tell you is that you cannot look at the impact of asav which is Edom as Rashi said says very very clearly alof magdiel the the the AL of Asa of magel is Rome don't think that the Greek story and the and the and the Roman story are separate stories they're one story there are one story antias only begins ravaging us because Rome pushes him out of Egypt and says leave Egypt alone because it's too close to us and you go take Israel and that's when the that's when the maban Revolt begins fascinating okay [Music] and then with the death of matus yahu and Yehuda starts to assert himself and he wins four consecutive impossible Wars each one bigger than the next he beats abalonus with a big army he beats sarin with an even bigger Army he beats lus with a massive Army eventually he would defeat also nicanor and gorgas in even bigger battle but one thing that he hadn't that he had clear right none of the success was going to be based on natural means so let's go back to yose for a second yose's entire life was saved by a miracle M as long as he stuck to the concept of being above nature Bill parro's dreams were only interpreted in this week's par because Hashem gave him the power to do it he takes zero credit for it and that's a success the minute he relies upon previously the SAR maskim to get him out rely on the natural causes it's over it does not work it doesn't work for Yosef and it doesn't work for Judah macabus either when he gathered the Jews to meet these unconquerable foes in four consecutive Wars starting with the year 167 through the year 165 when the Kaneka Miracle actually took place and they retook the three-year violated bdash with of hogs emptied out of its money by byus and by the Jewish Renegades who unfortunately con used used their connections to the Syrian Greeks to their own personal benefit and I'm not going to get into that Jason and Jason and menas the false kohanim who brought about our destruction and down it destruction and downfall all right but Yehuda continues in his conquests in the year 162 three years after Kaneka he miraculously survives an attack by a 100,000 helist soldiers 20,000 Cavalry on horses and elephants why because antiochus's son had a cut back to Antioch because he had a rival to the throne Yehuda held on to all that time to his fos he went to DAV in the wars of the vicious Pim and he led Theos and they fasted and they thank the entire success of the makes the entire success of Y so when they stuck to our secret essence of Cl which is we are not from this world but the advantage of that is much as it makes life very difficult but the capacity for for victory in Godless of sham shamay is infinite infinite and we saw it in six times looks like a natural story but it's anything from it anything from it in fact he knows the 70 languages that he trumps parro by showing that he knows the language lodes what does that mean you can show me any nation in the world says y but we have lashes I have a language with Hashem it's not it's the connection to the other realm and that's a Jewish power it makes no sense when the B of English is flying defiled destroyed in the ashes of a holocaust defiled and destroyed you will soon thereafter see an incredible rise an incredible flaming up of the Jewish of the Jewish uh presence in the Sha once again impossible it's impossible dead to rights plowed under no it Sparks again this is the real message of Hanukah and the overlaying of these paros and the overlaying of yoseph so let's understand a little deeper yehuda's failure Yehuda mak's failure okay was when he did one thing after seven years of exhaustive wars and the final Miracle where he Outlast the Jew alas who brought nicanor with this massive Army and he only had a small army Yehuda makabe at that time right and they survive Yehuda perhaps out of exhaustion perhaps with a little bit of Tainted Faith makes a PCT with Rome and that is the end of yehud makab he will die one year later it's incredible message as long as Yehuda the makabe The Greatest Warrior in the history of the Jewish people who W who won not one not two not three not four but five six seven multiple battles on all sides continuously for six long years but the minute he made a pact with Rome one year later he was dead and similarly the mistake the ultimate mistake of his of his uh brother who also was a very very successful Monarch Simon the makabe he was the last one he was the last one standing last one standing and he had tremendous Supernatural success and he he was the one who created the macban kingdom okay and unfortunately at some point he reaches out to Rome and that starts the end of the ma of the of the makban Kingdom the beginning sh shimon's son was NE Alexander yanai turn stuki and before you know it we're ending up with the slave the adans from Edom Herod was an Edomite from the tribes of Edom in eduman and he's has the last 100 years of of of Mal Israel he was a convert of course so what do you see you see a number of things Greek and Rome represent s but the is only G to be with cl that's the but it also does mean that there is a possibility of a Yad to be successful in the realm of nature but the success will be it'll look like but it's going to be when is is in when has aik when is complete in the events suround them are Wars and contests and politics and struggles between various Jewish communities and and kazal versus those who don't believe and suduk him and so on and so forth but there is hope of a miraculous thing as long as there are path cut on a little pure oil pure Faith salv used to say that you know the answer to the Bas is question again ironic that the most famous question about Hanukah is from the bait yose follow yose Hanukah connection is is why do they have a miracle why do they why do we celebrate eight days they had enough oil for one day and he answers because there was somebody who had the pure faith and said can it Z they didn't speak yish then but it's not possible that Hashem didn't leave us one pure P because that's CL there must be a pure P here don't don't look don't be don't be fooled by the exterior concerns similarly rabi and I'm going to end this section on this note um perhaps we'll perhaps we'll uh end here Al together but let me just I'll just add a couple more points then the mitzvos that the that the uh would denied are each one of the mitzvos that speaks to this point that K Israel can only be successful if it's attached to the above nature which is shabis notice the khah story is in chabas m shabas is and we say that's the we make chabas we know the story about the cave on chabas with period where they die they want to be M shabas and fight the Greeks Who lit fires and smoke them to death but then that changed he said no shabas you can fight but shabas ultimately is our source of Life BR eth day mikara rebirth the idea of having of of of overcoming death and being born again and producing another generation another Immortal generation of the Jewish people Roes Thea T Torah the one above it all because the T Torah the learning of the Torah itself is what catapults us above time and above space and above nature so of course when the brothers saw yoseph and they looked at him like everybody else oh another Ismael Nick Another Love another another Lo because they couldn't comprehend how there could be an aspect of tea that actually could be as pure as the pure vial of uh of oil that yak aino found under his head the vial of Kaneka that he placed that oil on the Mata on the stone which he would later call the basam mikdash another reference to fun how could that be how could such a person be and the answer is it has to be yakin's whole life was about finding finding someone who could merge the worlds because one world without the other is useless we have to fight but we have to be rooted in imuna Yosef did that b yoseph says I cannot sin he saw the picture of his father before he sinned he didn't collapse into tea which is TAA he didn't collapse y the sadic okay so on that note let's just recap and another important Point Joseph is called an is is a successful man now let me ask you this question if you say somebody's a slave to a butcher because that's what means according to Rashi a butcher a butcher abatar is not a fun place to live okay you work in the butcher's house not fun not fun lots of blood lots of Slaughter lots of animals lots of Yu theer and Y what was the big you're a slave in an in a slaughter house objectively are you a successful person like to be a successful person I would say you at least need a nice house a nice salary a few cars beautiful wife Nice children come something show me something you're a Slave at a butcher house and you're an ish how is that is let's go the other way ysep gets even worse for Yosef he finds himself in a b and is want to say when yoseph went into the boore there was no coming out of the boore you're underground you're ground and that's it for the rest of your life there's no hope to get out finished ala you're not leaving and no slave ever left Egypt successfully until K Isel was taken out of M so how was it that yoseph is considered an is successful guy if I say to you no I'll tell you a story about a guy who's like you know he was torn away from his family he was sold as a slave by his own Brothers he lands up in this horrific place and he's enslaved by this brutal person and then on top of that he's he's accused of crimes he didn't commit and then on top of that he's thrown into a cell for the rest of his life how can you be an is into those circumstances because we have to redefine what is it's not the of Rome it's not the of Greece which is all external how rich you are how powerful you are how good-look you are how smart you are how technically oriented you are that's not it it's very nice and if you that's not it success is at Hashem if Hashem is with you it doesn't matter you can be in the bore of boros you can be in but then you are a successful person that is the success of clel now I'll just add one more note there's enormous enormous pressure that these miraculous Wars that we have witnessed Kal Israel Vanquish enemies in the spirit of Yehuda haki really in ways that are not fathomable and yet and yet the heavy pressure to surrender to what's known as a deal every deal is a disaster every deal leads ultimately to disaster you want to say well this one is a good wait and see Hashem has told us and yud makabi learned it and Yosef learned it because of his two extra years and yud makab cost him his life there were no deals there are no way to rely on the te of Israel what I'm suggesting is something incredibly powerful lesson I'm not I am I'm not responsible I'm not a person in the Army I'm not a politician I don't have any say on any of these matters nor wish I nor wish I do but I do have a concept and I do have a belief that if Kal Israel in our circumstance right now today would say we want our yosef's back we want the ones that are hidden in the boore oh if if miraculously are alive and we're going to take them with hashem's help without deals we're just going to go and take them like Joseph's brothers wanted to do when they entered Egypt the second time they wanted to find him and bring him out and they eventually really did Hashem orchestrated it that they did the will the belief to have our army and our leaders say it's a to Dove him for Success now I did see something incredible I saw a soldier who was video himself attacking terrorist positions and he was doing as you go he said we should be in the Merit of those soldiers who passed away and the MIM suffering boom and then he blows up another nest of terrorists yeah we have those kind of soldiers we have those kind of people there are a lot of them there are most of them but the leaders need to be convinced or need to be uh overcome with the voice of a Jewish voice a Jewish voice a voice that says there is no logic and odds there was no odds the the Biden Administration told told Israel don't go into Rafa they were right it was a Slaughter h w to happen they were really right don't go into Lebanon you're right don't attack Iran yeah that's all according to Nature we don't work with nature and therefore we should be to have Resolute faith inem and we should see a modern modern Kaneka Day miracle the lesson hasem our is hasem there is no compromise there is no comos there's no mixing in there's no missioning AR when we say we don't mean to mix pure faith we mean to take pure faith and then use the bir beauty of the world to spread that thing this should be the message of Kaneka I hope that's an inspiring message for each and every individual whatever their personal taus might be whether it's an illness or a sh or a crisis or a financial problem whatever it might be not to M because if you look at your problems and say according to S I have no chance that's when the Miracles begin that's when the opportunity to speak to Hashem your heart of hearts and tell him cannot do this cannot be done but I will not make a I will not be and I will not help us to help the Jewish people which you see many more victories most importantly which is what we're hoping with and amen thank you thank you pleasure [Music] oh