LPJC ANNUAL CHANNUKAH CELEBRATION WITH COMMUNAL CANDLELIGHTING, ENTERTAINMENT, AND FOOD WITH REFRESHMENTS ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2024 AT 4:30PM. SEE FLIER ABOVE
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Rabbi’s Sermon
From the Rabbi’s desk……………Shalom Everyone!
Happy Hannukah! Or rather, Chanukah Samayach! Well, at least that is what Yosef told his brothers in this week’s parasha Mikeitz, albeit in not so many words. Okay, he didn’t actually use the word “Chanukah,” or even “Samayach,” but he implied it here in the following verse:
“Bring the men into the house and slaughter and prepare an animal, for the men will eat with me at lunch.” (Bereishiit 43:16)
According to the Talmud, Yosef ordered Menashe his son to slaughter the animal and to remove its forbidden sciatic nerve before the brothers. He knew, as viceroy of Egypt, they would not trust his kashrus unless they could be mashgiach over all the food being prepared.
“That may be true,” you might be thinking to yourselves right now, “but what does it have to do with Chanukah?”
From the English it is impossible to see. From the Hebrew, however, it is alluded to in the words, “utevuach tevach vehachayn,” which mean “slaughter and prepare.” The gematria of the first seven Hebrew letters is 44, the number of candles we light throughout the eight days of Chanukah (including the “shamash” each night), and the last five letters can be arranged to spell “Chanukah” (ref: Shiltei Giborim).
Thus, when Yosef gave the command to make lunch he was in fact hinting to the brothers about the holiday of Chanukah. The only problem with this is, Chanukah was not yet a holiday. Secondly, how were the brothers supposed to know this if they didn’t even yet know that it was their brother Yosef, and not an Egyptian, standing before them? And third, even if they could have figured it out, what would have been the point?
Chanukah is a rabbinical holiday. This means that it was not instituted by the Torah, like the holidays of Pesach, Shavuot, or Sukkot. Rather, the rabbis established it as a yearly holiday after the close of the Torah, something they did not often do.
The Talmud provides a brief summary of how the holiday came into existence, and why:
What is [the reason for the holiday of] Chanukah? Our Rabbis taught: On the twenty-fifth of Kislev [commence] the days of Chanukah, which are eight on which eulogies and fasting are forbidden. For when the Greeks entered the Temple they defiled all the oils there, and when the Chashmonaim prevailed against and defeated them, they searched for and found only one jar of oil with the [unbroken] seal of the Kohen Gadol, and which contained only enough oil [to rekindle the Menorah] for one day. A miracle occurred and they lit [the Menorah] for eight days. The following year these [days] were appointed as a holiday with [the recital of] Hallel and thanksgiving. (Talmud Shabbat 21b)
The battle against the Greeks occurred in the year 3622 from Creation, or 138 BCE. After their miraculous victory against all the odds, the Chashmonaim immediately returned to the Temple to rekindle the Menorah that was supposed to burn continuously. The Greeks and the Hellenists who had controlled the Temple until that time had extinguished and broken the Menorah.
Upon arriving at the Temple they searched for the special olive oil that had been prepared and set aside for this purpose. In better times it had been bottled and kept away from any kind of spiritual defilement, as was the ideal mitzvah, and its container was supposed to bear the seal of the Kohen Gadol to testify to its state of purity.
The Greeks, however, made a point of defiling everything holy in the Temple, including the oil intended for the Menorah. Fortunately they had overlooked one jar of oil whose seal had remained intact and which the Chashmonaim found. Immediately, they used the oil to rekindle the Menorah before setting out to replenish the supply for the future.
Unfortunately the amount of oil they found was only sufficient to kindle the Menorah for one day. It would take eight days to produce new pure oil, leaving a gap of seven days during which they would have had no choice but to use impure oil to fulfill the mitzvah of a constantly burning Menorah.
When they returned the next day to refill the jars of the Menorah for that day, they saw that the previous day’s flames had yet to become extinguished. To their amazement the flames of the Menorah continued to burn the rest of that day, and the entire next day, and the entire day after that. In fact, the oil kept burning, eight days in total, allowing them to refill the Menorah with new pure oil.
Without question the military victory had been miraculous. Without question the miracle of the oil was even more supernatural and clearly indicated the direct involvement of G-d in all that had occurred. The significance of the historical moment was not lost on the leaders of that generation and it prompted them to establish a new holiday, which they called “Chanukah,” because of the rededication of the Temple and the Menorah that resulted.
Though they may not have realized it until after the miracle, apparently the event had already been alluded too much earlier in history in the Torah. In the eighth chapter of Sefer Bamidbar, (Numbers) that also happens to be the 36th chapter in the entire Torah, two important Chanukah numbers, it says the following:
God spoke to Moshe, saying: Speak to Aharon and say to him: “When you light the lamps, the seven lamps shall cast their light toward the face of the Menorah.” (Bamidbar 8:1-2)
Why is the section of the Menorah juxtaposed with the dedication offerings of the princes [at the end of the previous parshah]? . . . It is to elucidate a hint to the dedication of the lights that was [destined to be] in the time of the second Temple through Aharon and his sons, that is, the Chashmonai Kohen Gadol and his sons. (Sefer Ramban)
The Torah itself is talking about the mitzvah of lighting the Menorah in the Mishkan, and later, in the Temple, by the kohanim. The Ramban, however, based upon the Midrash, sees in these verses a hint to an event that wouldn’t happen for another 1200 years. That is when the future descendants of Aharon HaKohen would miraculously defeat the Greek army and rededicate the Menorah in their time that Aharon was being told to light in his time.
Thus, though the first time Chanukah was officially celebrated as a holiday was the following year, in 3623 from the Creation, or 137 BCE, long after the close of Tanach, its underlying basis was already in the Torah. Then again, it does say in Pirkei Avot:
Ben Bag Bag said: Turn the Torah over and over for everything is in it. (Pirkei Avot 5:26)
It’s like a person whose hair begins to turn gray. It is not as if something occurred to the person later in life to change his genes and therefore his hair color. Since he first received his personal genes his hair was destined to turn gray. However, it was also encoded in his genes that the transformation should not occur before a certain age.
Likewise Chanukah was destined to become a Jewish holiday from the beginning. It was built into Creation. It was just that it was also built into Creation that the events that would lead up to the establishment of the holiday would not occur before the close of Tanach. It would be up to the rabbis of the time to recognize the need for the holiday and to establish it.
Thus, the holiday of Chanukah was built upon an undercurrent of history that goes back to the beginning of Creation. This is why:
They established the 36 candles corresponding to the first light that served Adam The first for 36 hours. (ref: Bnei Yissachar, Kislev-Teves)
Technically speaking it is sufficient to commemorate the miracle of oil by lighting one candle each night for eight days (Talmud Shabbat 21b). However, to publicize the connection between the holiday and the primordial light of Creation, they established the ideal mitzvah to be the lighting of an additional candle each night. As a matter of Hashgochah Pratit (Divine Providence), it works out that, 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8 equals 36 candles in total.
This alone proves that Chanukah is a global concept. In these two numbers alone, 25 and 36, is an expression of the very purpose of life. We are here to seek out the hidden light, which is represented by the number 25, and to reveal it at which time it becomes represented by the number 36. Hence, the national creed of the Jewish people whose mission it is to be a “light unto nations” (Sefer Yeshayahu 49:6) is the “Shema,” which just “happens” to have 25 letters.
This helps to explain an anomaly in the Torah. After Adam and Eve sinned and ate from the the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil—they hid from G-d. Though G-d knew exactly where they were hiding, and why, He still asked the question, “Where are you?” (Bereishiit 3:9).
The only thing is that rather than use the normal words that mean this, G-d used what is essentially a non-word: Ayekah. It is translated as, “where are you,” but it does not appear in any everyday Hebrew dictionary, nor is this form of the word used anywhere else in Tanach. It is used once and once only, as a question to the Adam and Eve who violated the commandment of G-d and ate from the forbidden fruit.
Its gematria(calculations), though, is very meaningful. The letters of the word are, Aleph-Yud-Chof-Heh, and have the gematria of 36. Furthermore, the word can be divided into two parts, Aleph-Yud and Chof-Heh, which can be read, “Where is 25?” as in, the 25 of the original light of Creation.
It was as if G-d said to Adam HaRishon after his sin, “I created you to reveal the light of 25 and transform it into the light of 36. Instead, through your sin, you have further hidden the light.” Thus, long before there was a Pesach, Shavuot, or Sukkot, there was supposed to have been a Chanukah, and would have been, had Adam HaRishon obeyed the commandment of God to not eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Even though Chanukah would not be a holiday until long after Yosef and his brothers were gone from the world, the basis of the holiday was driving their lives already. In fact, the small jar that Jacob had to return to collect that fateful night he fought with the Angel of Eisav was valuable more because of what it contained. According to the Midrash, it contained miraculous olive oil that could not be depleted (Ref: Yalkut Reuveini, Parashas Vayishlach).
Apparently, according to the Midrash, every subsequent miracle that happened in Tanach with olive oil was the product of this very oil that Jacob had fetched and passed on to his descendants. Miraculous oil that cannot be used up? Sounds a lot like the small jar of oil the Chashmonaim found in their time from they lit the Menorah for eight days.
In any case, though this answers how Yosef could allude to Chanukah long before it officially became a holiday, it does not explain what message he gave his brothers in doing so. That will be the subject of next week’s Perceptions, B’ezrat Hashem (G-d willing).
Chanukah Samayach.
May the remaining hostages be found and freed and May Hashem bless and protect the IDF, the citizens of Israel and Jews all around the world. Amen!
Shabbat Shalom and Chanukah Sameach,Rabbi David Sebbag
From the Rabbi’s desk……………Shalom Everyone!
In this week’s Parasha, Vayigash, Yosef wasn’t able to restrain himself before those around him. He called out, “Remove every man from around me!” When everyone else had left, Yosef made himself known to his brothers. He cried out loud [and] Egypt and Pharaoh’s household heard. Yosef said to his brothers, “I am Yosef, is my father still alive?” (Bereishiit 45:1-3)
THERE ARE MANY stories in which important historic moments have come and gone, basically unnoticed. For example, there is one of a rebbi (teacher) who was teaching his students when, all of a sudden, their rebbi told them, “Too bad. Moshiach could have come this moment, but we did not merit it.”
Probably the students had no idea what their teacher was talking about at the time. It was probably a day like any other, and the class was also nothing out of the ordinary. So, when the rebbi made the statement, they probably wondered to themselves, “Why that moment, what should we have done instead, and how did our rebbi know?”
Who knows how many such moments have come and gone like that throughout history? There is one however that we DO know about, and it is in this week’s parasha, although many probably don’t realize that is what it was. On the contrary, it seems like such a happy moment that came to fruition exactly as intended.
Yosef wasn’t able to restrain himself before those around him. He called out, “Remove every man from around me!” When everyone else had left, Yosef made himself known to his brothers. He cried out loud [and] Egypt and Pharaoh’s household heard. Yosef said to his brothers, “I am Yosef, is my father still alive?” (Bereishiit 45:1-3)
Finally, at long last, the play was over. The suffering was over, Yosef’s, his brother’s, and soon their father’s as well. After 22 years of separation, a family union was at hand. What had gone wrong was now being made right. It was a dream ending to what had been a nightmare.
Yah? Really? Actually, not, and the verse hints to this. It says:
Yosef wasn’t able to restrain himself . . . as if he was compelled to PREMATURELY reveal himself. Really he had wanted to hold out longer, but his brothers’ pathetic situation forced Yosef to spill the beans before . . . Before what? What was Yosef waiting for? What was left to be accomplished? Yosef had already brought his brothers to the point of desperation, so why hold out any longer?”
Rav Noach Weinberg ZT”L said a beautiful answer to this question he posed above. Because “Yosef was waiting for them to say, ‘You are Yosef! You have to be! Who else could know what you do about us . . . would ask so many questions about our family . . . would put us through all of this?!’ But they just didn’t get it, and to avoid all-out war, Yosef had to reveal himself to them instead!”
Rav Weinberg ZT’L explained that saying those words, “You are Yosef,” would have fixed everything, and ushered in the Messianic Era. It would have meant that the brothers had expanded their way of thinking in order to see below the surface of people and situations, to know and do what God really wants. It sounds simple, but we still haven’t mastered it and this is the reason why we have gone through all we have, and still await Moshiach’s arrival.
In fact, this is really what made Chanukah possible. There was a moment in time that the Chashmonaim took advantage of, and they won the war against all the odds as a result. Had they let the moment pass, the situation would only have worsened, and fighting back would have become more than impossible.
But after victory, when the moment came to give the kingship back to Yehudah, they let that one pass. The result was their loss of independence to Rome, and the rest of the torturous history that followed. Had they used the moment properly and restored the Malchut (Kingship) to Yehudah, history would have been different, perhaps even Messianic.
But how is someone supposed to even know when such an epic moment has arrived, and how to respond to it?
You can often sense something is special about a moment, even if you can’t figure out what. But, if you stay sensitive, then often you will get a better picture of the opportunity as it reaches its climax. As the Talmud says:
Rebbi Abin HaLevi said: If one is pushed off because of the moment, the moment will be pushed off because of them. (Talmud Brachot 64)
A person has to respect the moment. Normally moments in life just whiz right past us and go unnoticed, but that’s a mistake. If we don’t respect time, and appreciate how each moment has its own potential to allow us to accomplish big things, then when the really big ones come, we won’t recognize them either. That is, until after they have passed, and the next moment becomes one of regret.
May the remaining hostages be found and freed and May Hashem bless and protect the IDF, the citizens of Israel and Jews all around the world. Amen!
Shabbat Shalom ,Rabbi David Sebbag
From the Rabbi’s desk……………Shalom Everyone!
The conclusion of the book of Bereshiit sets the stage for all of the remaining history of the Jewish people. Jacob and his family have settled in the land of Egypt, and live under the most favorable of circumstances. Their son and brother, Joseph, is the de facto ruler of the country that has provided them with prosperity. However, Joseph himself warns them that the situation is only temporary and that there are troubled days ahead. He tells them that they will leave the land of Egypt, whether they wish to or not, and that when they leave they should remember him and take his bones with them, to be buried in the land of Israel, the home from which he was so brutally taken when he was about 17 years old.
I would imagine that the family of Jacob, when hearing these predictions of Joseph, were amazed, and probably were unable to fathom how their situation could change so drastically from greatness and wealth to slavery and persecution. The Jewish people are by nature an optimistic people. We always believe that somehow things will turn out well, no matter how bleak the present circumstances may appear to be. Yet, only by remembering Joseph’s words would the eventual redemption from Egyptian bondage be realized. Joseph’s warnings would accompany them with his remains through the 40-year sojourn in the desert of Sinai. It would remind them to be aware of the historical dangers they would always have to face. The conditions under which Jews have lived in exile and in the diaspora for millennia have always varied and fluctuated. But the basic message was that we were we were not really at home. We continually ignored warning signs, and somehow believed that things would get better. Ignoring the warnings of Joseph, many times in our history we doomed ourselves to tragedy and disaster. If Joseph, the viceroy of Egypt, warned us that Egypt is not our home, then that message could not have been clearer to Jews in the coming millennia. But as the story of Egypt and the Jews unfolds in the book of Shemot, the majority of Jews forgot Joseph’s message. And it remained only for Moshe himself to bring Joseph’s bones out if Egypt for eventual burial in the Land of Israel.
The Torah will record for us that later Egyptian pharaohs and the Egyptian nation forgot about Joseph and his great accomplishments. The ironic tragedy is that much of the Jewish people as well forgot about Joseph and his message to them. In the annals of Jewish history, this forgetfulness on the part of Jews has often been repeated – and always with dire consequences. The story of Joseph and of the Jewish settlement in Egypt provides the prototype for all future Jewish history. We always need to ask ourselves what Joseph would have to say about our current Jewish world. This is worthy of contemplation.
May the remaining hostages be found and freed and May Hashem bless and protect the IDF, the citizens of Israel and Jews all around the world. Amen!
Shabbat Shalom Rabbi David Sebbag
Purim Party 2024 Pictures
LPJC Board Members Sara Schweizer, Jack Schweizer, Eileen Schnitzler, Joe Schnitzler, Rabbi David Sebbag with Majority Leader Andrea Stuart Cousins for Menorah Lighting, Channukah Party, Dec. 10, 2023
Westchester County Executive George Latimer with LPJC Board Members Joe Schnitzler, Eileen Schnitzler, Jack Schweizer with Rabbi Sebbag and Vayetar Yitzchok Executive Lazar Lieberman, Channukah Party, Dec 10, 2023
Communal Menorah Lighting, Channukah Party Dec. 10, 2023
Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins with Rabbi Sebbag, Channukah Party Dec. 10, 2023