Speaker 1Let's look at an idea, a basic idea that comes out of Chanukah. That's based on a deep source, a deep idea, I mentioned in, actually the place you'll find this is in the writings of the Arizal, the teachings of the great master, Kabbalistic master, who says this idea, which is not easy, but leads to fundamental things, so let's try to, let's try to put our heads into it. He talks in his, in his way, about the nature of what a candle is, what we call a nair, a nair, a candle, three components, the oil, the wick, the flame, and he puts it like this, this you'll find he talks, he talks about in the, in the area of the lights of Chanukah, and also Shabbat, when he talks about Shabbos lights, he refers to the same, the same thing. Shabbat, when he talks about Shabbos lights, he refers to the same, the same thing. So let's try to, let's try to think it through. It says this. If you take three combinations of divine names, Hashem's names, and you add them together, you find that they equal the value, the numerical value of the word nair, 250. Shabbat, when he talks about Shabbos lights, Hashem's names, and you add them together, you find that they equal the value, the numerical value of the word nair, 250. very, very deep thing. Very deep, very high. Ponder those lights deeply. What is it that's contained in a light? Why is it worth studying so deeply? What is the nature of a flame that is emitted by a wick burning oil? What does that mean? A very deep thing. You know, the God of Illness says that the word Nefesh, the word Nefesh, which means the human soul, has three letters. The three letters of the word Nefesh spell, the Nun, Pei and Shin spell Ner, Ptila, Shemin. The light, the wick and the oil. The flame, the wick and the oil, you combine those three together, you're describing the human soul. Ner Hashem, Nishma Solomon says. Ner Hashem, that means Hashem is God's candle, he's the soul of a human being. What does that mean? Let's try and put our heads into this, it's not an easy area. tonight, most people are away, we have a smaller circle, we can talk about deeper things. First of all, what is our understanding of these three names? One has to know this, you know, if you relate to anything in Torah texts, or in davening, for example, in the prayers, these are the names that come up all the time, right? All these three names, you have to know what they mean. The first name, let's briefly again, Yud Kei Vav Kei is name of essence. The second name, Admus, that name means the connection, the bringing down, if you like, of the transmission, if you like, of the name of essence that is beyond the world, into the world. That's why it's called Adnut, that means it is the master, it's the source of the bringing down of the source, the king's rule being manifest, if you like. This word, of course, has a plural, it's written in the plural, because it has a connection to the world of multiplicity, and it has a secular meaning. The secular meaning of that name is the plural version of masters, right? You could say, certainly, if it's not in the context of referring to Hashem, you can certainly pronounce that word quite freely. The reason is because the name both has, has a spiritual component that links it to the source, and a secular component that reflects its manifestation in the world. And similarly, the third name, Elokim, the definition of that name is Baal HaKeches Kulam, that's the definition that's given, Baal HaKeches, the master of all powers, meaning, what's in the powers of the world. The name Admus is the name that brings Hashem's essence, as it were, down into reality, but His name in reality, that means behind the forces of nature, all the energies that run the world, in physics and chemistry, and the broader energies, that are behind all phenomena in the world, the underlying muscle that moves all of nature is called Elokim. Again, it's a plural word, because it is in the multiplicity of nature, it has a secular meaning, it means judges, it's a name that means Din, Din means it's the name of Din, whenever the Torah wants to indicate Din, right, that which that brings things down into their finite, specific, limited detail, that's called Din. The word Din is based on Dai, which means enough, to stop. Elokim is the name of Din. Whenever you talk about a judgment, some judgment being issued, you're using the word Elokim. Whenever something in the finite world comes out, or is created, or is brought about, when you're relating to that which is in the finite world, in which the parts are all separate, in a world of detailed, specific multiplicity, the word Elokim is used. What's the best proof of that? Bereshis Baro Elokim. In the beginning, Hashem created. Yes? When you're talking about the world that's being created, then the name is Elokim. Because you're talking about a world that is created specifically, a specific world. The details, each detail exactly as it must be. I'm not talking about the oneness of Hashem's being that was there before the creation. You're talking about He's bringing the details and specifics of the world into existence. That's the name Elokim. So far, so good? These are the three names. When we say, when we conceive the name Yudke Vavke, we're referring to what Hashem is. And of course, we never say that. We think it. In fact, you know how we say that name? We pronounce it as Aleph Talet Nun Yud. Whenever we want to say, say Baruch, Atah, and then you say Hashem. What you mean is, when you say a bracha, when you say a blessing, the one whom you're referring to, the level you're relating to is Yudke Vavke. If you look in a siddur that's printed correctly, you'll see the way it's printed is Baruch, Atah, and then Hashem is Yudke Vavke. But your mouth cannot say that. So what your mouth says is Aleph Talet Nun Yud. You know, if you look in a siddur that prints this graphically, for example, in a Sfardi Siddur, you will see that the way it's written is, you'll see it goes Yudke Vavke. Under the last He, they write the name Aleph Talet Nun Yud. You know that? Sometimes it's done in what's called Shilu, where the letters are meshed. You have a Yud, then an Aleph. A He, and then a Talet, right? In other words, the four letters are sequentially meshed. That's another meaning as well. But essentially, what's being conveyed here is, you have a Yud, a He, a Vav, and in the second He, which is the meaning of that second He in Hashem's name, is that which is the source of what comes down to the world, not like the first He. The first He is what it is in the higher world. The second He is its manifestation reflected here in this world. Therefore, in that letter, which is the letter of bringing down these things into the world, in that letter you have Aleph Talet Nun Yud. That's not just a technique of helping you see it. It actually means that. It's Yudke Vavke, and in the last He, the meaning of that is the name of Admas, which means that which brings down into the world the source which is Hashem. And of course, that's why you say that name and think the higher name. You cannot say the higher name in the world. You can only say the name that brings it into the world. But of course, your mind should be conceiving Yudke Vavke. And it's actually quite a challenge. When you make a Baruch Ha, the way you're supposed to do it is, you say Baruch Ha to Hashem. When you say Hashem's name, you're supposed to mean one thing, and say another thing, and do the work of unifying the two. As you say Adoy, yes, when you say that name, you should say the word, mean what it means, which is the Master. But in your mind's eye, you should see Yudke Vavke. And mean what that means, which is the source of all existence. The mouth is saying what can be said in the world. The mind is grasping what the mind can grasp. The intention, the work is to put the two together. That which brings Hashem's presence down into the world is nothing other than what He, in fact, is. Even though it doesn't look that way, obviously to us, but the work we do is to put the two together and know that here there's nothing other than what He is. And of course, the third name, Elokeinu, when we say Elokeinu, Elokeinu Melech Ha'ilam, we mean He, in fact, is the King of, that means, within the world He is behind all things that exist. That is the third name. The name of Din, of Justice, of Judgment, of Specifics, bringing things right down as they manifest in the world. The word Elokeinu in Hebrew adds up to the same numerical equivalent as the word Hateva, meaning nature. Not that God is nature, that's not valid. What we mean is He is the energy behind nature. He is the force behind all the forces. He is the source of all the energies that move within the world. Those are the three names. So far, so good? That's the most basic analysis of the meaning of divine names. The whole Torah is one or other version of Hashem's name. The Ramban says that, and when you use these words, when you use these names, you have to know when you call your friend and use his name. You call a friend's name, you relate to somebody, you relate intelligently. You know to whom you're speaking. So when you use Hashem's names, it should be done with intelligence to know what exactly you mean. Not just a sort of a vague notion of a name. These are the three. This is the system that He set up. The name of essence, the name that brings it down, that transfer zone. All of these have Kabbalistic names and detailed discussions. But that's the general idea. And then there's the name Elokeinu, which is Hashem's presence, as it were, in the world. Let's look at a candle for a moment. Let's look at a candle. Can you see a narrow as three components? Take an oil flame, take a crucial flame, a crucible of oil, put a wick in, and you light a flame. It's an amazing thing that. We are so used to it, we don't wonder at it. But it's a remarkable thing, a candle flame. An oil flame's a remarkable thing. The oil doesn't burn on its own. It's a remarkable thing. If you take a little flask of oil and try and light the surface of the oil, it does not burn. And if you light a wick by itself, it just burns instantaneously. It's a remarkable thing here. The wick does not burn. The wick only provides that which draws the oil into a situation where it burns. It's actually a marvelous thing. Right? A marvelous thing. And what happens is that the oil becomes flame. The oil becomes fire, becomes flame. Let's try and study this a bit more deeply. You see already the beginning of the parallel, I presume. Can you see? Yes? You have three levels here. Can you see why we say in the physical world that this small wonder that's called a candle flame, that's called an oil flame, and there, in fact, is the image, the perfect image for the human soul, which is the connection from the spiritual world down into the physical body, the body's also the wick, yes, in which the flame of life is kindled, and the flame of life is nothing other than drawing from a deep source that is not revealed. That's what an air is. When you ponder that light, you're seeing a remarkable creation. You're seeing a thing that has three components. The one that would not burn on its own. That is the source dimension. Oil is always, let's try and study this. Let's try and put our heads into this. What is oil? What is oil? Oil is always oil. Now, let's see how beautifully this works out. When Hari says something, you understand, this is not something that he, yes, these are things that touch the roots, that reach into the roots of existence. Worth endless thought. Oil is always the source itself. Maharal explains this. The word shaman, just let's look at it briefly. The word shaman, oil, you know, the nature of shaman, oil, is that which expands beyond. Shaman means fat. Fat or oil. Fat in the sense of extending beyond the minimum. Perhaps the easiest way to see this is that the word shaman, we've discussed this many times before, the word shaman in Hebrew is the root of the word eight. The root of the word eight. What does eight have to do with oil? Eight is always that which transcends the natural. The natural world is seven. The Maral says this in many different ways. The natural world always has seven components. Seven notes in the musical scale, seven colors in the spectrum. Seven is always, right, there's a seven-day week that we utilize. Seven fruits of earth, there's many, many natural aspects of the world that have seven. Perhaps in the most basic exposition, you see that the world we live in has seven sides. It's a three-dimensional world. Six sides, yes, is this correct? Three dimensions. In English, we're used to calling it three-dimensional. Three-dimensional really means six-sided. Yes, each dimension has two polarities, left, right, front, back, up, down. There are six components, right? The most perfect mathematical representation would be a cube. A cube, not the faces of a cube. A cube would represent the most perfectly stylized version of this reality, of a three-dimensional reality. And a three-dimensional, yes, is that correct? What the mathematicians would say, if you take a point with no dimension and move it through space, you get a line. If you move that straight line through space, you get a plane. If you move that plane, that square plane through space, you get a cube. This is the most minimal expression of the three dimensions. The purest expression of the three dimensions is a cube. But you know, a cube has another component. All six sides of the cube are actually interconnected to make it one. One cube, that's called the seventh. I don't see enough happy faces. If you take six pieces of card, six squares of card, you can assemble them into a cube. Is that right? Is that right? Six symmetrical. When you put the six together, you'll notice you have seven components. You have six sides, and then there's the fact that they're all connected to make one unit. That's not something you can show in isolation, but you can. If you certainly demonstrate you see seven, the number seven is always the borderline between the physical and the transcendent. It's not in the physical the way the six are, but it's not beyond. When you put the six sides of a cube together, and you want to demonstrate the seventh, you can certainly see it in the physical world. It's the fact that all six are connected. But you can't isolate it. If I ask you to extract the seventh, you can't do that. You can extract all six. You can take any of the six out and show it to me. But you can't take the seventh out. If you take it out, there's nothing left. It's what the mystics call the mystical center. The unity. Is this clear? This is where the units come together to form an entity that is dependent on the fact that they're all together. It is in the physical. Shabbos is the connection of the six days of the week. Shabbos is not outside the week. Shabbos is not. It's a day. It's a day. It's a day. You live through it. But it's a day in which all six. You know, the Torah never mentions Shabbat other than when it mentions six days of work first. You know that? The Torah never mentions Shabbos without first mentioning six days of work. Because Shabbos is the culmination of the six days. You can't have Shabbos without six days of work. The notion, idea of Shabbos is it's the putting together, the consolidation, the bringing home, the assembling of the six days of work. When the six are put together, then the seventh is called Shabbos. It is in the world and yet it's beyond the world. It's the junctional zone between. Is this clear? Eight is completely beyond the world. Eight you cannot demonstrate. Eight is what happens. Eight is beyond. Seven is. Seven is. If you put the seven notes together of the musical scale, the eighth is begun. You can begin to hear it in what you call the music. The music is not the notes. But on the other hand, the music is only the notes. But it's an experience called music. But you can't extract the thing called music. You can only do it in the notes. You can only do it with the notes. When you play the notes correctly, something happens that transcends the notes. That's called music. Is this clear? No? You have to be. You can't put this into words. You have to be sensitive. You have to know what music is. When you play a musical piece, if you think about it, it's just a plink and a plonk and a plink and a plonk. That's what it is. But when you put plink, plonk, plink together correctly in the right synchrony, then what you get is a thing called music. A remarkable thing. Amazing thing. That can take you. Begin to transcend. Begin to take you beyond the natural. But the eighth is beyond. And therefore, that which is miraculous is always referred to as eight. For example, Hanukkah is eight days. Even though the. Here in the temple, they had seven branches. But the miracle is eight. Because eight means that which is beyond the natural. A bris, a circumcision, is performed on the eighth day. Why on the eighth day? Because this is taking the deepest aspect of physicality, that which is the most potentially animalistic and physical, and enabling it to transcend into a higher world. That's on the eighth day. Incidentally, you notice that circumcision. Yeah, bris meal is done on the eighth day, even if it's Shabbos. You notice? That this thing of the eighth overrides the seventh. Even though Shabbos is the only. That's the only thing there can be. Shabbos. You don't break Shabbos, right? Don't break Shabbos. Except to save a life, which is holier than Shabbos. But circumcision, the bris, if it's the eighth day of a child's birth, that's done even on Shabbos. Now, there's a very deep message here. The eighth is always that which goes beyond. The word shmone in Hebrew not only means oil, but it means the same letters, if you rearrange them, spell neshama. Neshama. The same letters that spell eight spell neshama. The sol, the neshama, is that which transcends the body. And, of course, I'm sure your mathematical minds are racing ahead. And you must have noticed that if you rearrange the letters again, it spells mishnah. Shmone, neshama, mishnah. Because the mishnah is the point of junction again between the oral and the written. The point of junction again, that which transcends. But that is the concept of shmone. Shmone goes. And shemen is that which is above. You know in. You know. This is called. What's always called in the Kabbalistic jargon, it's called a keter. Keter, keser, means that which is above the crown, for example. You know what's put on the head of an elevated person? What's put on the head of a king, or the moshiach, is. Is oil. Is oil. Shemen. Why oil on the head? Why is oil placed on the place of the crown? What does that mean, where the crown goes? Because that which is beyond the seven, which are manifest in the finite body, that's called the eighth. That's called shemen. That's what it is. That's what it means to have oil. It's put on the head. It's a strange thing. A person becomes a king, he pours oil on his head. What does that mean? The moshiach. The word moshiach means anointed with oil. Moshiach ha-shamen. He's anointed with oil. What does that mean? It means that the highest level of the human being, on top of the head, the place where the baby's skull is open when it's born, the place where there's a connection with the higher world, that is the place of the eighth. And therefore, of course, that's what shemen is. And oil always is that which indicates the higher world, shemen. It connects to the eighth dimension. The Maharal says that's why the miracle of. Hanukkah is with oil. It's eight days with a material of eight. In the place of transcendence, which is the temple. In the Muneirah, which is the place of transcendence also. We have to explain that as well. But this is what oil is. This is what oil is. The Gemara says people of a certain place were very wise because they were always involved with regilien bashamin. That means they were habituated with oil. They said olive oil. Olive oil. That brings to wisdom. Connected to wisdom. A symbol of wisdom. That which is beyond. Wisdom is beyond the. Higher wisdom that is beyond the. That is always what it is. And that's a symbol, as it were, of the source dimension itself. Then you get the level called the wick. The wick is that intermediate mechanism of connection. That which draws the oil. That which is the substrate, if you like. The framework. The scaffold. On which. Through which the deeper. Out and revealed in the world. That's the dimension of wick. And the flame, of course. Fire is always remarkable. Fire is the highest of the elements. Right? In the finite elements, the four layers, if you like, of elements that build the world, the highest of them is fire. Fire always means. The word esh in Hebrew actually is two of the three root letters in Hebrew alphabet. You know, there are three mother letters, Kabbalistically. Three mother letters. Aleph, Mem, and Shin. Esh is two of these. Two root letters. Which are. Which always indicate the fundamental. Fire is always that. You know, fire always means oneness. Fire. You know, the nature of fire. There are many, many aspects to talk about here. Fire can also be din under some circumstances. The highest fire is always chesed. That means what's called esh shalmala, which is the Kabbalistic idea of fire that comes from the higher world. Fire is always that which is the expression of oneness. You know, the nature of fire is whatever goes into it becomes fire. And it means that whatever you put into it becomes it. It is the gilu, the manifestation of how all things, things that are different, become one. That is what a flame is revealing. One place you see this, there are many ways to illustrate this. I'll share with you one of them. You know that the heightened part of something is always called its crown. You know in the temple, in the Besamikdash, outside the Kodesh Kodoshim, there were three, or generally within, including the Kodesh Kodoshim, there were three values. There were four vessels, four vessels, right? There's the Oren, the Shulchan, the Mizbeach, and the Manoira. Four, the Oren in which the, the Ark in which the Torah is kept, the Shulchan, the table where the breads are held, the Mizbeach, the altar, and you have the Manoira. You know three of the four of them have a crown, what's called a Zer. Zer is a crown that stands up around the edge, right? A golden crown that is, that is reflecting the highest part of these Kaling. Anyone that doesn't is an. manera. The manera doesn't have a there's no structure that goes above it. And again, the sources that talk about these things say because the manera's crown is the flame. It's the flame. The way this is very beautifully put is it says that you have in Torah, you've got four names. You've got four names. There's what's called the name of being a king, that's called Malchus. The name of being a coin, that's called Kohuna. The name of Torah, the name of Torah which is in many ways the highest of all of those. And then there's a fourth one that's called a good name. It's called a good name. It's called Shem Tov. Having a good name. And this obviously has practical applications in terms of what it means to be a person with a good name. That means he's referred to, he's perceived, manifests well. There's nothing more valuable than that. Name always means essence. Having a good name means that your definition of essence is goodness. Now this is what it is. But that which is a good name, all the other vessels in the temple there represent one of these things. Mizbech is Kohuna. Malchus is the table. Torah obviously is the Oron. These are the three kinds of names. Yes, these three levels of identity, if you like, among the Jewish people. But the Moneira, that is what's called a good name. And the flame, the crown there that represents that, that lifts itself above the tool, above the vessel, that's the flame itself. Then what it means is to have a good name. You see the concept is, very hard to put this into words, but a coin, somebody who's a coin, somebody who's a king, somebody who's learned it in Torah, there's that which contributes to his essence. He's a king, so he's a human being, and he has that milah, what's called a milah. Milah means he has a quality, an elevated quality that's called being king, for example. But that which is called a good name is not something that's, it's not a milah, it's not element, it's you. The idea of fire is that what goes into it and fuels it becomes fire. Are we making sense here? A person who has what's called a shame toif, a person who has a good name, a good name is not a quality that you have, it's you. Is this right? If a person's thinking to this, if a person's a king, so he's a king, that means he's a person, whoever he is. And it also happens to fulfill the role of being a king, there are two components. Being a king is an aspect of who he is which is elevated. If he's a coin, so he's an individual as a human being, Mr. Coin, but it's also the fact that he's a coin which gives him certain privileges and certain duties and certain obligations, that's a milah, it's an aspect of elevation. Is this correct? But a good name is not something you carry around like on a banner or a flag or you put it out of your pocket. A good name is who you are. And therefore the crown of the manera is, the symbol is, that it's fire. Fire means that which unifies things. Where things are separate and they become one. That's what ashes is. And there's different kinds of fire, there's a lower kind of fire that separates things, you ash something at a very high temperature, it separates into its elements. There's a higher fire that is bonding things together, when you put in, you smell it, you smell things, you put them into that level of fire, they become one. There's a lot to talk about over here. But the point is that the point is that this is the level of fire. And the essence of a candle flame, the essence of a flame, the essence of a ner is exactly this. There are three levels of gilu here, three levels of revelation. Three levels, three elements that make this gilu. There's the oil itself which does not burn, that represents the world of wisdom, that is there in the hidden dimension. There's the wick which draws, that is that intermediary, it itself does not burn, but it's essential. Without that you cannot have the flame. And then there's where the oil reveals itself in that unique quality in the world that is called fire. Therefore when you study this flame, when you study this when you study this candle flame, you study a small ner, the ner mitzvah, you are looking at a small representation, a mitzvah that ignites the consciousness here of what it is to be an individual who brings down from the high world. What it means is, the message is of course, the message is implied in almost any application, but the message for being a Jew, for being a Jew, is that what you are meant to be, you're supposed to be like that wick, you're supposed to be a ner, a ner Hashem Nishma Sodom. You're supposed to be an individual whose life is nothing other than a drawing of a deeper reality. That's, you should walk around here with that thing called a shame toif. What does that mean? You are perceived, your role in the world is that you're an entity that brings from a deeper level, the level of Torah itself, the source, you know, Torah in the name, in terms of the names of Hashem. You manifest Torah in your life. That's what you're here for. You're not here to manifest the functions of a body. Manifesting the functions of a body means you, what you do if you live a physical life, you live a material life, a life that doesn't reveal something deeper that's being manifested in the world. It's like burning a wick. You're burning a wick and it burns down and that's it. The concept is, that's not, you know, the concept is to be a person who takes his own physical existence and he uses it to fuel itself. Pure physical existence. A person who doesn't invest anything in another world. A great man of this generation once said, it's like watching people eat themselves. Watching people eat themselves. Maybe you have to understand, the essence of what you are in the world, your physical body, is something that has to be nurtured and invested and planted in another dimension. Imagine you had an egg. An egg. An egg. And nothing else but one egg. That's all you possess. One egg. Now there's two ways you can handle that egg. One is you can scramble it up into a very tasty omelette and eat it. Or, you can put it under a chicken and wait till it becomes a chicken and wait till that chicken makes eggs and take those eggs and wait till it becomes chickens and if you do that carefully enough you'll have everything you ever need. Everything you ever need forever. That's the option you have when you're born. You take yourself, as your own egg, and you've got two options. You take this thing and scramble it and eat it. Very tasty. Delicious. And nothing left. Or you take this thing and you carefully nurture it as an investment in another dimension. See a person who takes his own life as the end in itself. That's like watching a person taking bites out of himself. He's eating himself alive, which means very tasty now, but what fuels it's like drinking salt water when you're thirsty. It makes the problem worse. The self has to be nourished and nurtured as a thing that is the wick that draws something deeper. Then it doesn't get burnt itself. That's the paradoxes. That gives it permanent existence. That's one of the messages you get from this flame of a candle. A life has to be that. A life has to be your life has to be nothing other than serving as the wick that draws a deeper wisdom, a deeper gilu, a deeper revelation. Something that cannot normally be seen. That doesn't ignite itself naturally in the world. You are the medium to do that. That's what we are. Why is it Chanukah that teaches this? Because Chanukah is that miracle. Chanukah is the Jewish people's ability to do that. Chanukah first of all happens in the depth of winter. You think this through, you see it connects on all levels. Chanukah happens in the depth of winter. You know what's unique about the 25th of Kislev? What's unique about that date? So Maharal explains. What's unique about that date is, this is the date which is the absolutely darkest time of year with one unique feature. It's the first day in the solar cycle. In fact, if you look it up in Naramitza, Maharal explains it very beautifully. He brings the Gemara and he works it out in terms of its astronomical, very simple calculation. He shows you the 25th of Kislev is when the, do you know what that day means historically? Let's think about it for a moment. When was the world created? The 25th of Elul, right? You know that man was created the first of Tishrei. But six days before that the world was created, the 25th of Elul. The 25th of Elul, our sources say, when the world was created was an equinox. The day the world was created, day and night length was exactly equal. It was the winter, it was the equinox leading towards the winter. After all, Elul is the beginning of the autumn. You move into Tishrei. By the time Sukkot comes around, it's already getting cold. That's why we move out into the Sukkot at that time of year. That's what's written. So that it shouldn't look like you're going out for pleasure because it's the spring and the summer. You're going out because it's a mitzvah. Shortly after that you move into the depth of winter. And the 25th of Kislev, you've hit the darkest, this is the time of year, which is the absolutely shortest, yes, absolutely shortest day and longest night. That day is the day that things turn around. Because from the day after that is where the days begin to start increasing. You're moving now towards the Gilu, towards the light. In fact, there are sources, Midrashic sources that say that there's a date of incredible turnaround in consciousness for Adam. When Adam was created, what happened was you know, when he was created, he saw the Oragones. That means the first day of his creation, Friday, the first of Tishrei. Six days after the 25th, the birth of Elul. Adam was created and he was born into a world, he was found himself conscious in a world of the most amazing light. The light that burned then was called the Oragones. Not the light of the sun and moon, but the original light of creation. You know, the world was created with a light that far transcends the sun and moon. You know that. On the first day of creation, right, when the world, the first saying of creation was, or, let there be light. That wasn't the light of the sun and moon. The sun and moon were only created on the fourth day. So it was a completely different light. That's called the Oragones. With this light, the GMO says, you can see through things. You don't see things, you see the inside of things. You don't see the externality where light is reflected off things. You see the inner light of things. When you use this light, that's called the Oragones. Incidentally, when the Manera was lit in the Mishkan, the GMO says, for the 40 years they traveled in the desert, this is the light that manifested. For 40 years, they had again the privilege of seeing that light. But this was the Oragones. When Adam was created, that was the light he was exposed to. And in fact, he witnessed that light for all of Friday, the first day of his creation. This was the light that he experienced. Even though he sinned, reason is because it was moving towards Shabbos. Shabbos was the day on which this light continued, even though he was in a state of fall, a state of sin. And of course what happened when Shabbos was over, the light went out. The light went dark. It was a terrifying experience, and that's when Hashem showed him how to make fire. We make Abdallah for that reason. But there were 36 hours during which he experienced the original light. In fact, incidentally, the Ukeach says that's why we light 36 candles. On Hanukkah, we light 36 candles. The light of the Hanukkah, the light of the specific light of the flame that we light on Hanukkah, that Ne'er, is going back to the original light of creation. This is not the small candle flame that you see in a Jewish window. What it reflects is not even the cosmic light of the sun and moon. It reflects a light far deeper than that. It goes back to the moment of creation, because this is the light that goes through to the Messianic redemption, which goes back at the end to where it started in the beginning. And so, in commemoration, in memory, to bring out again the message of the 36 hours that man experienced that light, 12 hours on Friday, 24 hours on Shabbos, those 36 hours are represented by the 36 candles that we light. Yes, 36? 1 plus 2 plus 3 plus 4, you've done the calculation? For 8 days? 36. That is why we are lighting the 36 lights. And then what happened was the light went out, and then Adam had a terrifying experience. Because since it was Elul, and he was already 6 days after the equinox, so what he witnessed was, as days went by, the days got shorter and the nights got longer, and he began to get terrified. This was the first season that ever was. And man experienced a world in which the days were getting shorter and the nights were getting longer. And the night is always a time of, not just literal darkness, it's a deeper. Night always means. Night is always a time when all you have is faith. Night is always a terrifying time. The reason our nights are not terrifying is because we light them, we make them look like day, and the reason we do that. Do you know how terrifying a real night is? Have you ever been in the bush on a moonless night? In real darkness. Real darkness. Even when you can see the stars, but you can't see anything. It's complete darkness. You can't see beyond your nose. There's a remarkable experience of complete isolation. There's nothing outside that's real. That's the most amazing experience. If you're not a very secure individual, it's a very disturbing experience. The darkness is a serious thing. And he experienced that, and the days became shorter and the nights became longer. The darkness, the night is a frightening thing. Anybody who tells you he's not frightened alone in the dark is either psychotic or he's lying. He may be able to show that he's not or make as if he's not. It's a natural thing. A human being feels fear in the night. Feels fear because the world's closed in then. There's no ghillie then. There's no ghillie. There is no external world. Right? In a real night, in a real darkness. Nothing external is real then at that time. And that's what he experienced. The nights got longer, the days got shorter. He wasn't to know. He didn't know it was going to turn around. He thought that his sin had brought him into a situation where that would be his final closing out. It would eventually be all night. And an amazing thing happened on the 25th of Kislev. On the 25th of Kislev, Adam perceived that the day had got slightly longer than the previous day. That decline had stopped. And the 26th there, they had stopped exactly at that point. The next day was no shorter. The next night was no longer. And the next day, the day was a bit longer and the night was a bit shorter and he knew then that there was hope. You understand what's happening? So the 25th of Kislev is when the light begins. It's the deepest part of winter. There's no question about that. But it's when the light begins to grow again. It waxes again towards a situation that will be spring and summer. And that's what the light indicates. The light is the light that a human being's light. It's not the divine light that shines at the beginning of creation. This is the light that a human being's light. You know that you know that when you must know that when the that when the Nassim, when the princes, the heads of each tribe were bringing their offerings in the Sanctuary and the Sanctification, the Inauguration, the Dedication of the Mishkan. So it says that Aaron, the Kohen, Aaron the High Priest, Aaron the Kohen, was standing there absolutely distressed and dismayed because he had no share. He had no part to play in this. Neither he nor his tribe. All the leaders of the tribes were bringing these gifts that were beginning the Inauguration of the Mishkan. And he stood there. He stood there completely dismayed. And Hashem saw that distress. And therefore, Hashem gave him the gift of being able to light the Monerah in the Mishkan. That's what it says. We learn this. Rashi, the Ramban talk about it. Famous Ramban. We know because there's a juxtaposition of the two Parshas. The one Parsha talks about the gifts of the Nassim. And right after that it says, "You light the lights." So why are these two put together? So Rashi says he stood there distressed and dismayed because he had no part to play in the Inauguration of the Mishkan, the Sanctuary. And seeing his distress, Hashem said to him, "Don't worry. You have a part to play. Yours is greater than theirs." That's a language of an oath. "Your role here is greater than theirs because you light the lights." And He gave him the mitzvah of lighting the lights in the Mishkan. And the Ramban asked obvious questions. He asked obvious questions. Why was he distressed that he didn't have a part to play in the Inauguration of the Mishkan? He had virtually all the roles to play there. He brings the sacrifices. He serves every day. He brings the incense, which is the highest work. He's the only human being who goes into the Holy of Holies in the Mishkan. What was he upset about? These people are bringing a one-time offering. He's virtually the whole functioning of the Mishkan because he doesn't have a share in this one particular one-time event he's distressed. And furthermore, if that's his problem, how is he made to feel better by the fact that he lights the Maneirah? That's another function. Do you hear the problem? Says the Ramban, that's not the discussion at all. Absolutely classic and almost expressively beautiful, the Ramban. He says that what Aaron was distressed by was that he had no part to play in the Chanukah samizbeach. That means the inauguration of the Mishkan. The getting it going. That you can have all the functions in the world thereafter, but if you're not there at the moment of kindling, of ignition, if you don't begin this thing, if it's not the freshness of a relationship from the very first moment, that's what he craved. The service that he wanted. When Hashem said to him, "Don't worry, yours is great and theirs you light the lights," he wasn't talking about the Maneirah. Says the Ramban, he was talking about Chanukah. That your descendants, the Kohanim, who come out of you many generations, many centuries from now, will re-dedicate this Mishkan. They will not share in the first moment of dedication now, but they'll share in a greater moment. Why is it greater? Because later, when the Greeks come in, they contaminate and they desecrate and they darken it. And there's no more the Kedusha. Jews are not able anymore to be the candle, as it were, to Hashem's light. Yeah, they're not able to be the flame here in the world that draws His oil, as it were, down into the world. When that happens, there'll be a very dark moment in Jewish history. And then your children, your grandchildren, the Kohanim, they will come in and they will re-dedicate. They'll have a moment of inauguration. It'll be the second, not the first, and theirs will be greater. Because the first one that's happening now, at the beginning of Jewish history, that will not last. When the Temple's destroyed, and the last flicker of that miracle ceases in the days of Shimon HaTzadik, in the days of Alexander, and that's no longer seen, there'll be a moment of intense darkness. No more prophecy. No more miracles. The eighth level that transcends the world will no longer be visible. It'll be a natural world of seven. And the Greeks came along and said, "There's only seven things here." That's what the Greeks said. It's a natural world. No transcendence. There's nothing higher. What you see is what you get. Anything higher is religious, spiritual, sort of hocus-pocus. It's not real. At that moment, your grandchildren will come in that incredible darkness. Not now, where we stand in the desert with the revelation of my presence, and you have to be blind not to see the spiritual world. There'll be a time when, no matter how well you see, it'll be almost impossible. And your grandchildren will come, and they'll light a light at that moment. They'll re-dedicate that. It'll be their role. Yes, I will manifest through them. Yes. Not like now, when I'm doing it all in the miraculous blaze of wonders that you see when you leave Egypt. There'll be a time in Jewish history when none of that shines. And it'll be these heroes who come out to give their lives. And in so doing, with the heroism of being prepared to give their lives, a light will be relit. And that will be the light of Chanukah. And that light will never end. It will go until Moshiach comes. No matter what situation Jews are in, every year in the deepest day, darkest day of winter of the year, they'll be lighting these small, almost insignificant seeming lights in their windows. But that will be a light that never ceases. That's a far greater miracle, in a deep sense, than the miracle of the original menorah in the desert. That's your role. And that's what Chanukah is. Chanukah is having that heroism. Being able to dedicate a lifetime. To sacrifice a life. In living this process, which is being, as it were, a candle. Being that Narashem Nishma's Adam, which reveals something from a higher world. That's our role. That's what we have to do. We have to live in a Greek darkness. That's exactly our problem. We have to live in a Greek darkness, where all the world around mocks the idea of spirituality. Genuine spirituality. Genuine connection to a source. What they're interested in is that which can be tested, and proved, and scientifically derived, and philosophically argued. And can be known in the smaller world of humanity. Human consciousness. They're not prepared to. Not their role. Not their place. Not their mode. To bring in that which comes from the higher world. That's the problem. And a Jew has to stand up in that darkness and light a candle. That's what you have to do. In the simple level, you have to bring in the light of a candle. You have to light a Nair that's got three components. But in the deeper world, the work there, the Kavona in lighting this Nair, is that the three names of Hashem that are being brought out here. That's what it means. You light this Nair, and what you're seeing in that little oil wick and flame, what you perceive there, when you ponder that light, in the deeper recesses of your mind, what you see in consciousness, is that there's a name, Yud Kei Vav Kei. Ekiah, the name that Hashem talks about Himself, as it were, completely beyond human awareness. Completely transcending the world. That which cannot be seen. No Greek could hope to be shown that. There's the wick that draws it down. And then there's the flame that appears in the world. That's what it is. That's where it has to be. And therefore, that is what the Arizal is referring to when he talks about these three elements. They are the three elements that. that all the building of the world, that which cannot be seen, the transfer mechanism, the work that's done to bring it in, and the flame that appears in the world that is only seen by those who can light this flame. That is what Chanukah is. The work, again, is to stand at the deepest and darkest part of history, that which comes before the turnaround, before the light begins to be manifest. That's where we are. And we light that flame. At the level of mitzvah, we light a small flame in the window. At the level of Kavanah, we light a flame in the neshama. We take our essence of what we are. Physical body, physical life opportunity. And we translate that into a kiddush Hashem, where what comes out of a life is called a shem toif, which is better than good oil, as it were, as it says. And that is the name that is essence. What are you called? What's your name? What will you look like in the last day of your life? What name can be given to you at that point? What is the name that can be given to you? Will that name that you reflect be you know, it's a bit of a somber thought, but there's not much you can fit on a tombstone. You know that? Not much you can fit. Not a lengthy speech. A few words at most. You have to be carefully chosen words. All your life you're doing nothing other than inscribing those few words. That's what you do. That's what you do. Slowly, each day of your life you're crawling through another letter on your gravestone. That's what it is. Sorry if it's a little bit morbid, but that's what it is. That's what it is. That's your name. That's your name. What appears on your matzah? What appears there? What appears is essentially your name. Your name, basically. That's what it is. Your name, a comment or two. That name is the name of your life. That's what it is. It's not an attribute that you have. Something that attaches to you that you manifest. That's who you are. In a sense, this is the deepest of the mitzvahs. The Rambam says, mitzvah chaviva ad mayo. An amazing thing. You hear that? The Rambam says a particularly beloved mitzvah. The Rambam doesn't say that about a sukkah, and about a lulav, and about matzah. They're all beloved, I can assure you. They're all. They all have the secret of eternity. When the Rambam comes to that mitzvah, which is a rabbinic ordination, the Torah doesn't even speak about it. The rabbis made this up. Says the Rambam, mitzvah chaviva ad mayo. Particularly beloved mitzvah. Why? Because this mitzvah holds your name. That's what it is. When you light that, you light that small, yes, small flame in your window that any self-respecting Greek walking past wouldn't pay much attention to. Wouldn't pay much attention. But it doesn't matter. What's being inscribed in the light shining out from your window is your name. Okay, we'll stop there. Thank you, Rabbi.
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