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Old City, Jerusalem — Chanukha,
5772 /
2011 |
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This
teaching is dedicated to the ilui neshama (soul ascent)
of Tsipora bat Avraham. She should be constantly
rejoiced by the good deeds and generosities, successes and
good humor of her progeny. She continues to be a radiant
source of inspiration to those she left
behind.
This
teaching is also dedicated, in gratitude, to HaShem, for the
hidden miracles that he brings into our lives. When the good
news comes, the long labor of getting there fades into
insignificance. (Anonymous Sponsor) |
Announcements
Sarah Yehudit’s
Weekly Classes
Telephone Classes
to North America: These classes are available to people
in North America by teleconference. However people in
Jerusalem my also dial in, but they may also attend the class in
person while it is being taught through skype at my home in the Old
City.
Tanya:. Chapter per week (or two).
(contact person: Abby Rosen -
arosenphd@comcast.net)
Sunday 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM EST
(6:00 – 7:15 PM
Jerusalem Time)
Zohar, Page by
Page. Open to men and women
(contact person: Charna Rosenholtz -
charnarose@aol.com)
Sunday 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM EST
(7:30 – 8:45 PM
Jerusalem Time)
Jerusalem Classes:
These classes are recorded and available as
mp3 files for individuals overseas who want to sign up for the class
and receive the weekly recordings.
The Kabbala of
Masculine and Feminine –
Studying the book, Kabbalistic Writings on the Nature of
Masculine and Feminine, and hoping to merge the theoretical with
the experiential. Women only.
Tuesday:
8:00 – 9:15
PM
Place:
Chabad St. 90/16 (Jewish
Quarter, Old City). Last Jewish apt. complex before Armenian Quarter
in the direction of Zion Gate. Entrance is above the street that
passes between the two parking lots and then heads down to the
kotel. Brass Gate into courtyard. Left entrance, left
staircase, third floor, #16. (02) 628-2988.
Prayer – Unpacking the the Amida, blessing
by blessing, using Chassidic texts to explore their deeper
intentions. Women only. (contact person: Anne Seham - anne11@bezeqint.net
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Thursday: 3:00 – 4:30 PM
Place: Home of Lea Lurie. #14 HaGadna,
Katamon. Top floor.
You Are What You
Hate: A Spiritually
Productive Approach to Enemies. This class is needs to reform and is in the
planning stage. If you are interested in this class please let
me know by email and also include days and times that could work for
you. Women only. (contact person (for now): Sarah
Yehudit Schneider smlvoice@netvision.net.il)
Torah
A Chanukha
Teaching
Based on
R. Tsadok Hakohen, Pri Tsadik – Chanuka #1
Sarah
Yehudit Schneider
A
favorite job of the kohanim (Temple priests) was to daily
light the menorah in the inner courtyard. And the midrash
reports that HaShem promised Aharon that even if the Temple were
destroyed and all the other offerings ceased, the mitzvah of
kindling the menorah would endure for all time. [BR 15:6]
This
obviously presaged the festival of Chanukha, for since the time of
the Maccabi’s revolt, Jews throughout the world, reenact the mitzvah
of the Temple menorah for eight days out of every
year. [Ramban,
Num. 8:2]
Rav Tsadok elaborates. The
kohanim had a two-pronged assignment: They were both priests
and teachers. As priests they performed the Temple rituals and
sacrificial offerings (which included lighting the menorah)…as
teachers (along with the levi’im) they educated the people about
Torah matters and (along with the Elders) adjudicated questions of
law. Rav Tsadok explains that their task as educators actually
turned their extended family into a living menorah that shone
the light of Torah wisdom out into the world. Rav Tsadok says that
this is the real meaning behind HaShem’s promise that “the mitzvah
of kindling the menorah would endure for all
time.”
The kohanim were the
initial repositories of the Oral Torah as the verse states:
And you shall come to the priests, levites…and you shall do
according to the Torah that they teach you.” [Deut.
17:9-11] Hashem granted the
kohanim an extraordinary power to transmit that Oral Torah
straight into the hearts of their flock, says R. Tsadok (himself a
kohen). “The priest’s lips will
preserve knowledge as [the people] seek Torah from his mouth,
for he is a messenger of the Lord of hosts.” [Malachi
2:7] HaShem
equipped the kohanim with a strength of soul and a special
mitzvah that, together, assured their success. For when the High
Priest lit the menorah his intention was actually a prayer,
that the lights now kindled should impart to the people an even
deeper understanding of what it means that G-d is one, present, and
directing the world toward its destined perfection (with failure not
an option). His prayerful service impacted the world from the
inside-out as well as from outside-in.
Benei
Yisachar
explains that “these eight days are called Chanukha for by
kindling the menorah we are practicing and training
(chinukh) for the final redemption.”1 This
accords with the Baal HaTurim’s radical comment on the verse where
HaShem calls Israel “a kingdom of priests and a holy
nation.”[Ex.
9:6] Baal
HaTurim reads this as a promise that “in the future, if we merit,
every one of the Jewish people will become a high priest (kohen
gadol).”2 And since the high priest lit the
menorah, we are practicing for the future redemption when our
job will then include this kindling of lights.
But what are we supposed
to learn from our yearly training regimen. R. Tsadok suggests that
the main ingredient of the menorah-lighting was the prayerful
intention the priest brought to the task. R. Tsadok derives this
from the famous midrash [Rashi,
Num .8:3] that praises Aharon for
following the instructions (of kindling the lamps) precisely. R.
Tsadok reads this as hinting to the inner essence of the mitzvah,
“the intention to infuse the hearts of Israel with the
radiant light of Torah sh’baal Peh.” 3
But to incorporate that
kavanna into our own Chanukha practice we need to know: What
is this Oral Torah transmitted through the kohen’s
teachings, symbolized by the kindling of lights and empowered by his
prayer? R. Tsadok employs the term in two ways. First as the
authoritative chain of tradition beginning with Moses and passing
from mouth to ear, master to disciple, from Sinai till today.
Second is the accumulated wisdom pressed from the hearts of Jews
striving to live with integrity to the truths they absorbed at
Sinai, no matter what their standing in the community or level of
religious observance.4 The Oral Torah is the Living
Torah, the cutting edge of the tradition that responds to the
newly-encountered circumstances of each moment (and each generation)
and identifies the most spiritually productive (and halachicly
consistent) response to them.
And so on Chanukha as
High-Priests-in-training our hope is to enlighten the world with our
incandescent menorot. Let the glow from these lamps infuse
the hearts of Your people with the certain knowledge of how to use
each moment in a way that serves You and pleases You and glorifies
Your name. Let our nation and its leaders become masters of the
Living Torah, inspired by foresight and kindled with courage to
choose the high road despite its risks because conscience requires
it of us. And may we soon become the living menorah—the light
unto the nations—that is our truth and our
destiny.
----------------------
1 B’nei
Yissachar, Kislev-Tevet, #12. [שע"כ קראו לימים האלה חנוכה שהוא חינוך
והרגל לגאולה העתידה ב"ב.] Benei Yissachar interprets this phrase
to mean that we are expressing our hope that the third Beit
HaMikdash will be initiated (chanukhat habayit) at this
time, i.e. in Kislev (which is the promise). He himself does
not connect this phrase to Baal HaTurim and does not discuss the
notion of us practicing to become, ourselves, high priests.
2 One
interpretation (Seforno) is that Third Temple will be like the
originally envisioned one that was replaced instead by the
mishkan of wood, skins and cloth when we sinned with the
Golden Calf. But originally the “mishkan” was to be the
living community of Israel. The people themselves going about
their daily, God-serving lives would have embodied the presence of
G‑d and revealed His light to the world.
3.
R. Tsadok
considers this praise of Aharon’s fulfillment of HaShem’s will
conspicuous for its exception. Doesn’t Aharon fulfill all of
HaShem’s command’s precisely? And so R. Tsadok interprets this
praise as a reference to the intention that was also “precisely” in
accordance with HaShem’s will.
4 R. Tsadok
HaKohen, Pri Tsadik (Fruit of the Righteous), Chankha 2 (p.
142); ibid Chodesh Adar, essay 1; Likutei Maamarim p.
80-82; Yisrael Kedoshim p. 152.
Blessings galore…A
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