Ahavat Yisrael

About Ahavat Yisrael

Ahavat Yisrael Daily - delivered directly to your computer and/or mobile device

Publisher

Rabbi David Sutton

Category

religion & spirituality

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

31 Oct 2022

Latest episode

2 Dec 2022

Latest episodes

25 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   2 Dec 2022

   Chanukah Everlasting Unity'

   Today we will share one last Ahavat Yisrael thought related to Chanukah. As we mentioned, weread the Nasi'im/princes on Chanukah. One ofthe reasons for this is that right after the 12 Nasi'im comes Parashat Baha'alotcha ,which talks about the Menorah. What's the connection between the lighting ofthe Menorah and the Nasi'im ? Rashi tells us, in the beginning of Baha'alotcha that Aharon HaKohen had what is called Chalishut HaDa'at. He was down.He said, " My tribe is not connected to the 12 Nasi'im offerings? So Hashem said, " Don't feel bad. You have somethingbigger than they have. And that is the miracle of Chanukah ." The questionalways is How is Chanukah the answer to the fact that they have the Nasi'im ? Rabbi Aaron Walkin, in his sefer Aaron Haim, page 301, answers that what bothered Aharon about the Nasi'im was their Achdut . Each one of them brought the same exact offering.No one tried to outdo the other. No onesaid, " I'll do more flowers. I'll have a better wedding. I'll have a biggerparty." Everyone kept tothe same exact program. They didn't try to outdo each other. There was tremendous achdut . They boughtcaravans together- six caravans and they chipped in, two together, to show thatthey weren't trying to steal the wholeMitzvah. Everything about the Nasi'im indicated Achdut . So Aharon felt bad- Where was his tribe ? And the answer was, he would get themiracle of Chanukah. Because, as we mentioned, Chanukah has in it, the aspectof Achdut/unity , as we we discussed this past week- the many hints of unity in the miracle of Chanukah. And he further brings down that it says about the Menorah that there's Kaneh Echad/one main branch which everything comes of, andthat symbolizes the unity of the Jewishpeople. Furthermore, the Menorah cannot be made piecemeal. It has to chiseled out of one block , which was a miracle. And that one block is further symbolism of the oneness ofthe Menorah. So that's what it means that Aharon was told, " Yours will last forever." The Nesi'im's unity was a one-time thing, but Aharon HaKohen has the miracle of Chanukah, which lastsforever. And as we see, Chanukah is a time when families get together. Such is the Achdut aspect Chanukah. Have a wonderful day.

2. 

   1 Dec 2022

   Chanukah No Jealousy

   Today we will share a Hanukah related thought from the great Klausenberger Rebbe. The Rebbe points out that the miracle of Hanukah took place during the era of the second Bet Hamikdash, as we know. He says that the issue of Sinat Hinam was already brewing then, and that was part of the reason they got into trouble. Therefore, after the miracle of Hanukah, they strengthened themselves in the area of Achdut/ unity. He says there are two very interesting things about the mitzvah of the Menorah. Number one is that we do it outside. Our other Mitzvot are inside. The Seder is in the house, and Succot is inside the Succah- we don't see what's going on in anyone else’s house. But the menorah is on the outside. Number two is that there are three different levels of kiyum mitzvot of Ner Hanukah There's a regular level- where you light one candle, then there's one per night, then there’s one per person…different levels. We don't find that with other Mitzvot. We don’t get three options of of matzot- grade A grade B or grade C. The Torah has one level of Matzot. Additionally, we don’t have different levels of Megilat Esther. So what is it about Hanukah that has that three levels? He answers both questions with the same point- that since they had perfected their area of unity and they were no longer jealous of each other, it enabled that, firstly, we could put the menorah outside. When jealousy shows up, people think, “ How come he has a silver menorah and I only have copper?” But we don't have to worry about that when it comes to Hanukah. Secondly, I don't have to worry that he thinks he's better than me, because he’s doing a higher level Mitzvah. So whereas people may think- “ What? He eats yashan- he thinks he's better than me? He eats chalav Yisrael, he thinks he's better than me?” we didn't have that problem with Hanukah, because again, there was no jealousy. And with this he explains a Midrash, which is based on the Pasuk from Shir Hashirim, that is difficult to understand: הַֽדּוּדָאִ֣ים נָֽתְנוּ־רֵ֗יחַ וְעַל־פְּתָחֵ֙ינוּ֙ כׇּל־מְגָדִ֔ים literally means, “The Dudaim (a certain type of flower), gave a smell, and on our doorsteps are all kind of delicious delicacies. The Midrash says that the Dudaim gave a smell refers to Reuven, because he was the one that brought the Dudaim to his mother, and he saved Yosef from the pit. And on our doorstep there are delicacies refers to the Ner Hanukah that we put outside on the doorstep. What's the connection? A lot of rabbis speak about the connection between Reuven and the Ner Hanukah.The Klausenberger Rebbe explains, beautifully, that Reuven saved Yosef. As the Gemara in Berachot 7b says, Leah pointed out, “ Look how special my son is. Esav tried to kill Yaakov, and here Reuven is helping his would-be competition, Yosef (who would be the Bechor from Rachel, over the Bechor from Leah). He's helping him; He's uniting with him; He's trying to save him.” This connects to the miracle of Hanukah, when we light outside, because we're no longer worried about jealousy on Hanukah. Again, a beautiful connection between Achdut and the miracle of Hanukah. Have a wonderful day.

3. 

   30 Nov 2022

   Chanukah Achdut

   Today we have another thought about Ahavat Yisrael in relation to the holiday of Hanukah, which comes from the sefer Akedat Yitzhak Al HaTorah , from one of the Hasidim. He writes that Matityahu was the Sadik HaDor, and the job of the Sadik HaDor is to unite the hearts of Jewish people. That's why Matityahu’s cry was, “ Mi L’Hashem Elai/ Who is to Hashem come to me.” When he gathered together the Maccabim , he was trying to gather Jewish people together. He says that the only reason they won the war was because of their Achdut/unity, which is symbolized by the pach shemen/ vessel of oil. How so? We know that oil rises above water, but only when all the oil is united. If you blend the oil and water, the oil gets mixed into everything else, and you won't see the oil rise to the top. It’s only when the oil is all together that it can rise above. That's what it means that when they Jewish people are B’Achdut/united, they go above all nations and no one can impact them. Just like a bundle of sticks- one single stick can be broken, but when you put them all together, they cannot be broken. Anytime God wants to bring beracha on the Jewish people, there needs to be a vessel to hold the Beracha, and as the Mishna says, God did not find a vessel to hold the Beracha for the Jewish people, only shalom/ peace. Shalom is what brings all of the Beracha on the Jewish people. He quotes the sefer Noam Elimelech, which says on the pasuk, ‘ they graze in the marsh ,’ that it can also mean ‘ the Jewish people graze in tranquility when they're in brotherhood.’ Furthermore, in the same pesukim talking about the dreams of Yosef, it says that the during the time of the Plenty , the cows were fat cows. Rashi says, it's a sign of the good years, that each one looks good to the other one, that “I don't look at you in a tight way .” When there's a famine, they're all thin and each one looks at the other one like they're thin. They can't enjoy the other person's success, because they don't have anything. But when everyone's happy with each other, thar means it's a time of success. That's the simple explanation. But he brings a deeper explanation: He says, when everybody looks good at each other; when everyone has a good eye toward each other, and there's love and brotherhood in the world, that's a sign that there will be satiation in the world- not a sign that it is currently. That good trait of looking at your friend with a good eye, not competing and not being jealous, will bring the Beracha. So when you see a time that everyone's getting along, then you know there will be beracha. We read about Yosef and the brothers reuniting all during the holiday of Hanukah because that's part of the job of Hanukah- to bring that Achdut/togetherness between the brothers. And as we said, we also read about the 12 tribes of the Nesi’im during these days, all to indicate that important brotherhood. Furthermore, the Haftara talks about the uniting of Yehuda and Yosef. B’Ezrat Hashem we will have the Achdut necessary to bring the Beracha to the world.

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