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Chanuka - Miracles Before and After

from The Official Podcast of Rabbi Dr Akiva Tatz

70m 48s

Chanuka - Miracles Before and After

Hanukkah is not merely a celebration of oil burning but a profound spiritual event marking the end of an era of revealed miracles and the beginning of a new age of hidden, coincidental wonders. The narrative presents a dual structure in human experience: a first, free phase of divine inspiration—experienced even before birth—followed by a period of forgetting and struggle to reclaim that spiritual wisdom. This mirrors the journey from romantic, superficial connection to deep, committed love. Historically, this pattern is tied to the decline of prophecy after the time of the Men of the Great Assembly, when the Jewish people lost their direct spiritual connection to the divine. The Greeks, by promoting materialism and skepticism, actively sought to erase this connection, leading to a world where only coincidental miracles remain. Hanukkah symbolizes the rekindling of the ancient light—once seen for 36 hours in the Temple—representing the return to spiritual clarity. The miracle of the oil, though small, is powerful because it transcends natural laws and reawakens a forgotten spiritual reality. This moment is deeply linked to the soul’s structure: *nefesh* (connection to body), *ruach* (spiritual breath), and *neshama* (connection to the divine). The Talmud, though written in a post-prophetic age, contains instances of revealed miracles, suggesting that even in darkness, a spiritual continuity persists. Ultimately, Hanukkah is a reminder that true spiritual strength comes not from ease or illusion, but from enduring the struggle to remember and reconnect with the original divine light.

Transcription

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English
Speaker 1[Music] since we've just begun the month of East Love. Let's see if we can look at the subject that this month brings up which is the question the subject of miracles because Hanukkah occupies a unique spot, a unique place in history and it's the question of miracles which really bring it out. I mean basically the idea is that Hanukkah was the last time that we saw a revealed miracle in fact on the deeper level it is a junctional zone between the kinds of miracles, the kind of miracles that occurred before that point in history and the kind that we have that we see thereafter. Let's see if we can try to put in context, put the history in context and see if we can feel out the difference, the concept lying behind this process. First of all, let's start at the beginning. There's an idea that lights that shine to use a more mystical sort of notion are always, they come always in two, in paired in two versions, there's a pairing, there's a first experience or first light which is always the higher one and then there's a second one which is lower, much less in intensity, but has much more significance from a different perspective. The translation into human experience is that, again, deeper sources, the cabalistic sources are full of this idea, but translated into practical human experience, the world consists always of things that are easy at first and then become difficult later or things that are inspired, things that are inspiring in the beginning and then become hard work later. There's a natural process, a natural pathway in the world. The world is constructed in such a way that the pathway of our experience is that we first have experiences as it were for free and then when the experience has been internalized or usually at the most critical moment when you feel that it's become so internalized and it's so secure and so part of you that this ecstasy, this inspiration will never end exactly at that moment that it's taken away. The reason the world's designed that way is because you need the inspiration of the first phase to lift you to your potential or to show you at least what your potential is or in more mundane terms to teach you what it is that's expected and what you cable love. And then since the world is created not for free gifts, but for your work, then at that point it's taken away and the second light as it were, the challenge is the one that you have to shine. It's nothing compared to the first one. It's the novice struggling in a very amateurish fashion compared to the mastery that was demonstrated by the expert beforehand. But of course this is the one that's meaningful. This is the one that's a genuine achievement. If you want a very simple analogy, it would be that when the father, let's say, teaches a child to walk, he will take the child by the hands and the small child will be lifted to his feet for the first time and then he will take his first step in a way that is ultimately secure because he has the thrill of knowing that he's taking his first step. But not only that, he can't fall because his abyss holding his hands. When the child feels the thrill of taking his first step with all that security is at that moment that the father let's go because in order to learn to walk, there has to come a face where your hands aren't held anywhere. And what happens then is that the first emotion is one of abandonment perhaps even betrayal of fear of being left alone and of having been brought into the situation of fear. By not only whom you trusted but was responsible for giving you this inspired experience in the first place. That's a very tragic and painful situation but it is of course in that situation of anxiety where the child is left alone is of course that's where he learns to walk. And he then realizes many things. He then realizes that the first step he took before when his father was holding his hands was only an illusion of walking. That had the ecstasy of guaranteed success. But in fact it was only an illusion of walking because really it's only when he learns to do independently that he understands and of course it's only after going through that crisis then he can be embraced by his father and return the embrace knowing that only then knowing that when he was abandoned as it was, although it's paradoxical in that moment of abandonment was a greater love shown by his father than in the moment when he's father held his hands. That's the way the world is designed to. That's how things are designed to be. If you weren't shown first, if you weren't lifted to that situation beyond your capacity you would never know that such things possible. On the other hand if you were lifted to that situation and permanently maintained in that situation you would never do yourself. And therefore the pattern of the world is always two phases. There's an inspired beginning which is free and then there's a letdown where you have to generate what you had before the hard way. But of course the second one is the one that's the second one is the one that's meaningful and this pattern follows through everywhere in life. It's the reason that relationships for example are naturally exciting and inspiring when there's the phase of discovery and that they always fall into a phase of challenge where the newness and the inspiration is no longer there and then the meaning and relationship is what's built, not what's there for free. In a very crude and vulgar, extremely low, battered and et cetera, parlance of modern age. The first we would call romance and the second we would call love. Romance is that notion of emotion which really in Hebrew there's no word for that. In Torah there's no word for romance because it's essentially an illusion. If I understand this it's only of course an illusion. The first light is an illusion only with respect to the Tachlis, only with respect to what is meant to be built here. It's very, very real in its own sense of course in from the high perspective it's much more real because it's perfect. But it's in luxury in terms of the work that has to be done and therefore that's a phase we have no real word for that in Hebrew. The second phase in a relationship which is where there's genuine giving, not receiving. The romance is a phase where nothing's really been given. It's only the thrill of an artificial experience really. That gives way in a successful relationship to a commitment. The commitment is, yes, involves a giving. The word "a hava" in Hebrew is based on the root "have" which means to give. "Ava" in Hebrew adds up to 13, the same as the word "a hava" which means one. When one has learned to so negate the ego that one can give oneself away to another so intensely that there's no ego that obstructs that gift, then the two can genuinely become one but that's a tremendously hard work, tremendously hard work. And that of course is that's the genuine experience. So the romance is designed. That so-called romantic phase is designed in the world only as a false sense of inspiration so that there can be some awakening of what the potential of this, because the romantic phase has an intimation of something far greater than it can even be expressed. And of course the moment that romance does is exactly that moment when it appears that will last forever. It takes very little to take away romance. Marriage for example is enough to. That is, that's the way the world is designed. That's a battered and fallen example but that's the way it is. In the higher, if you want to put it into its higher context, for example, the way the, the government says just there are many examples. Just to choose one, the government says that when the child is yet in the way, he is exposed, the child is given the entire, the complete the way that Kemorah puts it is that the unborn child is taught the whole Torah. An angel, a malach, teaches the child the whole Torah, which means really translated into more tangible terms, it means the child sees the whole of the spiritual world, he sees, he understands all of the world, the Kemorah says that he light is lit above his head and he sees from one end of the world to the other by that light. It really means, of course, a light lit over the head means inner vision, that's what it means. If you want someone to see something, you don't shine a light on the person, you shine a light on the object. If you shine a light on my head, it doesn't help me see anything. Obviously, what this means is an inner vision, it means the light, there's an inner light that that's the nature, that light, that narrow-dollar coloration, that light that's lit on the child's head is the first light, that's free, it's automatic, the child doesn't work for that. This unborn child experiences the whole of the spiritual world. He knows his own path in life, he knows his own success, he knows what he's capable of, he knows not one end of the world to the other, that's what it means. That's what I say is me, it's Nani Kiyarekhayi Kedem, who could give me like those months of Kimeil or Kaishmireni, like the days when Hashem protected me. It's an inexpressible level that the child, and then, of course, what happens is the child is born and the light is taken away and he's born as a simple child who knows nothing in the world just to learn the hard way what life's all about. But, of course, the effect is that it's not really taken away. When the Kemon says that Baam Malach, an angel comes and a sutra al-puf, strikes the child on the mouth as he's born and takes away all the wisdom, really what's meant is, of course, that the wisdom's driven in with. It doesn't mean that it's lost, there'd be no point in teaching a child, all of spiritual wisdom, only to take it away. That's completely pointless. What happens is that the word Shikha, the word meaning to forget are the amazingly deep things here. In Hebrew, the word Shikha, to forget, Umashakha, the child forgets the Holtora, means that it's driven into a deep layer of subconscious that takes a special spiritual effort, a special deep meditational training that we call Zakhira. Memory. Memory doesn't mean going back in time to, you know, something that happened to you once. If you understand, the word Zakhira, the root of memory, as opposed to Shikha meaning to the darkness of Khoshach, of Shikha, of forgetfulness. That work of memory, the Hebrew word Zakhira, in Hebrew, means also Zakhira, memory and Zakhira, the male, the male, as opposed to female, the same word in Hebrew. What's the connection, understand amazing thing? What's the connection between male-ness and memory? The connection is that is this, when the child is formed within the mother, and finally born, the father, the male dimension contributing to the birth of the child is way back in time. It was only the beginning of a seed. All that the male contributes to the formation of a child is a genetic suggestion. That's all. It's only a seed. In Hebrew, the word Zikkaron has the same meaning of memory, has the same numerical equivalent as the word Zara meaning a seed. Because a seed is nothing other than a memory of the previous generation. That's all a seed is nothing else. All a seed is the seed of an acorn, of an acorn, of an acorn, the seed of an oak tree. If you look inside there, you won't find a small oak tree. All you find is a compressed memory of what an oak tree is. And given the female earth, then the seed brings out the oak tree. That's what it is. So memory means being able to go back beyond the pregnancy, back beyond the phase of formation, to the stage that's called the male, to the stage that's called and that's what the hero means. That's what Zikkaron means. It means to be able to go back to the stage when you were but the seed that contained the tree before it began to be expressed altogether. So as a child is born, he enters a phase called Zikkar where he forgets. And the work is not to learn new information but to remember the information. This incidentally is the reason why when you learn something spiritually true, if you're a sensitive individual, you do not have the sensation that you're learning something, you have the sensation that you're recognizing something. It connects with something deeply, of which you've been deeply aware, but you never, it brought a declarative. There's no learning of anything in the world, in the sense of things being put in. There's only a deep sense of connecting with that which you, and of course that is how you know it's true. The reason that you learn something spiritually true, or something about the world that's true, and you have a measure within yourself of knowing that it's true. It rings true, it resonates with what does it resonate? Again, when you hear something false or something true, how can you respond differently? In both senses it should just be a fact that goes in. But the reason is you respond differently to something that's true because it's already locked within. And it's unlocked by this connection with the external. I'm sure you're thinking with me, I'm sure you're already ahead of me, what are the Greeks trying to do to us? To make us forget. To make us forget, that's what it says, to make us forget the whole Torah. They're darkened, they cause the khoshach yaban is called, khoshach, it's called darkness, khoshach al-pune to him, the darkness on the deep. That's called Greece. And the Greeks, the expression is that they came to make us forget. That was the aim was to make us forget. Torah is that light that shone above the head of a child when he's unborn. And the whole Greek ethos was to make us part of a tangible world, a world of immediate experience, of philosophical derivations, of aesthetics with the body exposed. Art for art's sake and all the aesthetics of the world without connection to the Torah source. That's what the Greeks, khoshchoy name, they darken the eyes of the Jewish people in an effort to make them forget the source. That's what Greece, of course, was. So let's try and put this together. There's a phase where the child has all spiritual wisdom, then he's born and he forgets it all. And the second phase of his life is the very hard work of recapturing that which he had at a cosmic level before. Peace meals slowly, painfully, wrong steps in order to discover right steps. Until finally the purpose of his life is to regain the spiritual wisdom that he had when he began. You see this in many ways, one example is the Talmud, another place in the Talmud says that when a person dies, there are three angels that come to greet you. Person dies, three angels come to greet you. One comes to add up all your mitzvahs, one comes to add up all your various transgressions. And one comes to see heichhantai, also, the imi-shlema-biyadeh. Where's your Torah and is it complete in your head? If you're a man, essentially it means Torah learning, which is the essential activity in the world. And if you're a woman, it means Torah expression in the world, chesed, chesed, that means bringing kindness into the world, bringing expression, bringing the seed to fruition in the world. That's essential female quality. But whichever it is, you expect it to reach the next world with the Torah of your life intact in your head. The third angel comes to see whether that's been done. The goner will know in an unforgettable, unforgettable elucidation. The goner says that when the three angels come to greet you, that third one which comes to see whether your Torah is being complete, as he moves towards you, recognizes his face. He turns out to be the one who taught you Torah when you're an unborn child, give you the whole of spiritual wisdom and your role within it. And now at the end of your lifetime he's anxiously coming back to greet you, to ask whether all that you learned together, all that he learned with you in the face of your own. Conception and pregnancy, whether you've brought that into the world, that was your chabrisa in this angel when he comes to see you. So again, what you see the pattern is being given it for free at the moment of total, of complete inspiration, having it taken away. And then the purpose, the long dark battle through the night of the world is to remember, that's all that's all that consists of. It's such a pure memory, such a pure meditation, that you remember, you can remember the own, the spiritual knowledge that's locked within. That's what it means. Lahashki ham Torah secha. That's what it says. Lahashki ham Torah techa. The Greeks come to make the Jews forget your Torah. You see what the Greeks did in the darkness of winter here. That is that the Greeks came to say that the world has no higher connection. The world is, the world is as you see it. Aristotle taught, for example, that time has always existed. Not the Rambam discusses this Aristotelian idea. There's no such thing as creation from nothing. Time has always existed. Right? It's all a natural empirical science. Right? We examine the world, we make conclusions, we don't look to that which transcends the world. That's what the Greeks came to do. They didn't come to teach a false God. Greece was not an idolatrous, in the true sense, on the contrary. The Greeks, if you remember correctly, the Greeks lived. The Greek exile was after the phase when the desire for idolatry had been exorcised from the human mind. Then, shakinesis sakdena, the men of the great assembly during the last generations of prophecy, exorcised, expunged. They exfised from the human mind the desire to worship idols. So the whole Greek exile was in a post-prophetic and post-idol worship age. The Greeks didn't come to sell idols. On the contrary, they had effigies and icons. But the concept of Greece was that there isn't, not that there's a different God, but that there's no God, that the world itself is its own explanation. That's all we don't look beyond the surface mechanism and the surface aesthetics. That itself contains its own explanation. to bring you down you know what the Hebrew word Yavin means titta Yavin you know what it means in Hebrew it means quicksand the sort of Yavin means Yavin means in some even say the graphics of the letter in Hebrew it's you'd Vavnun small longer long it's that which draws you down into the sand and makes you part of the not can you ven medsulats like the depths the depths that suck you down and make you part of that is Greek philosophies that you are part of a natural you are a natural being part of a natural order that's called drowning drowning means to become part of the medium to sink into nature and of course that's why the victory of a Greece is celebrated by a miracle which is that which transcends nature I mean it's so obvious when you think these things through why is Hanukkah celebrated by that which is a light which is a very small light that you light which is miraculous the concept is that you rekindle the light of the first the light of prophecy the light of the first of the manoeuvre the light in the in the best amictus you know what the light of the manoeuvre was it was a light by which you could see through things the gama says that when they lift the manoeuvre in the michigan verfilo a road sorry Hashem needs light what are they light the manoeuvre for so the gamaar explains that the light of the manoeuvre they can't elaborate the manoeuvre that was lived in the temple was a mystical light it was the light that had emanated the light that emanated from the manoeuvre is called aragon was the cabalus talk about it the light the primordial light that the world was created with the light that man saw only for 36 hours man lived for the 12 hours of friday with that light even though he sinned the light did not go out on shabbas so 24 hours of shabbas and monsei shabbas when shabbas ended first shabbat in the world ended the world went dock he thought he was dying he thought that the world would come to an end that's when he discovered fire that's why we light fire on half dollar monsei shabbas in commemoration of the first time fire was lit in the world but for friday this 12 hours of friday and the 24 hours of shabbas for those 36 hours man lived at a level where he saw the hidden light in the world the light by which the gamaar says you see through things you don't illuminate the surface of things the light shines through things you could see within it wasn't the light that shong from the externality it was the kind of light that man was closed in his garments were yeah until the sin he was closed in light the Hebrew words skin and the Hebrew word light are the same word or with an alif and or with an iron yeah the only thing that changes is the alif becomes an or becomes the alif becomes an iron in Hebrew the rule is when alif becomes an iron yes there's a rule there many dualities in the letters like this but the classic one when an alif becomes an iron in Hebrew what you're dealing with is the alif is always the letter that indicates the spiritual the transcendent the higher alif means the highest number aluf means that which is elevated right the alif in Hebrew means to to educate to teach to lift up to a higher level not in modern Hebrew in modern Hebrew in modern Hebrew which is anti-spiritual right which is exactly the wrong cross but alif means to train to train dogs that's what it means alif club him that's what it means to train mindlessly but of course there anybody has any sense of Hebrew knows how perverted that is alif means to make to give to give alif to bring to the alif is the highest number the same as alif is one alif is a thousand you know that brings to the complete so the the alif in Hebrew is always the letter of light or begins with alif for that reason and therefore when it says that man was closed in garments of light what's called cut cut not or customer is or he was closed in garments of light the meaning is how you get close in garments of light what does that mean it means that when someone looks at you they see through they see the inside what does it mean to be closed in light light reveals light doesn't hide light reveals again if there's what does it mean to be closed in light or it or cassalma Hashem wears light like a garment what does that mean to be closed in light means that when someone looks at you there's nothing hidden that sort of means light means that which is the medium of revelation to garments of light means that Adam was created in such a way yet no clothes there was nothing to hide when you saw the externality you saw the internality that's why there was no shame shame is always where the inside is not the same as the outside then you feel ashamed when inside is an angelic being an outside is an animal then you feel ashamed and you need to cover yourself but when inside is an angelic being under the the the the garments the clothes or angelic garments then you don't need to wear clothes there's no there's no disparity between inside and outside that's why there was no shame after the sin of course alif to when an alif in Hebrew becomes an eye and it always goes into its hidden or dark or heavy side any word in Hebrew when you change the alif to an eye in you bring it that's why alif for example is silent is the only letter that's silent in the Hebrew letter I in is pronounced anybody who speaks Hebrew correctly you can hear the eye and it's one of the guttural letters it's not a silent letter the eye in brings it into changeable reality in the world that's why I in means an eye that which reveals makes yeah brings through revelation that's what I miss what's a myyan in Hebrew I'll aim I'm I'll aim I'm it means when the water comes out from the hidden into the revealed now that's what I'm Iyan is it's the same as an eye so when the alif which is transcendent becomes I in it means it comes he becomes brings it into there and therefore after the sin he became closed in what we call or with an eye in which means skin which blocks you cannot see the inside that's why the Hebrew word I in vibrato spells Iver blind you can't see anymore alif vibrato means like you see I in vibrato means blind you can't see it it hides that's incidentally in English while I call this a hide that's why the skin is called a hide it comes from the Hebrew word or which means Iver that's where it comes from it blocks you can't see and that's what's the transition from that's what happened so that light died Hanukkah's nothing other than rekindling the light that understand what's going on here that's when the Greeks came to darken the eyes of the Jewish people and make them forget the primal light the primal deolite the rocker one of the ancient commentaries says that's why we like 36 candles on Hanukkah 8 + 7 + 6 + 5 yeah etc we like 36 candles reminiscent of the city 36 hours that the oragonus the hidden unruly the hidden mystical light shone in the world the shone for 36 hours you counting the shumps that's what you do you're probably counting the ninth light on each light all right they're what you're doing probably 36 8 + 7 + 6 with a mathematical genius yes 36 36 8 + 7 + 6 + 5 right yeah you're mathematician aren't you there's a formula for it right work it out anyway yeah they are 36 lights the reason is we're up with the we're customers the Jewish customers we like 36 lights because each one for one of the hours during which man saw lived by a light that was so potent and so powerful even shaman shabbos after the sin power of shabbos but when that light died then the world went dark and the history of humanity since then has been trying to remember that's what it is it's been an attempt to remember what that was that's what the search for for spirituality is it's not attempt to it's attempt to rediscover and rekindle that which you know lies within and therefore that is the I mean the many examples the the Gonovilness says that the word neffesh the word neffesh which means the human soul spells nareptil shaman the three letters of neffesh stand for light weak and oil the light that flame the weak and the oil that's the yeah that's that that's what the neffesh is kenera shem nishmat adam nera shem nishmat adam the candle of our shem is the human soul not the flickering the humans the human neffesh actually not the soul the neffesh which is the connection to the body that is the that is the candle that is the candle which is the and therefore that is how we the word shaman of course which is the oil is the same root in Hebrew as eight shmone in Hebrew and shaman the same root right the concept is that shaman oil shaman means that which is beyond the minimum shaman in Hebrew means yeah seven is always in Hebrew seven is always the minimal the minimal full expression of the world seven is always seven colors in the spectrum seven notes in the musical scale that we use that's why there's seven days in the week in seven fruits of Israel seven sides to the world right three-dimensional world six sides in the seventh which is the center that bonds them together into one eight is always that's why shiv i in Hebrew is the same letter as civi which means completely full so where completely full shaman means eight shmone goes beyond civi our shaman it's fat fat means beyond the minimum right That's what Shemen is, right? And therefore, 8 is always one step beyond the natural. That's why we do Bruce Miller's circumcision on the 8th day. We're taking the body at its 7th level, again, deep mystical subject, and giving it the ability to transcend into spirituality, we take the most physical element of the body, and giving it the ability to transcend into illusion. That's why it's called 8. That's why 8 is always the number of miracles in the world. And of course, it's not accident that the word Shemen, which means oil, the same root Shmane, which is 8, rearranged the letter, spells Nesha-ma. The same letter, it's right. The nefesh is where the soul connects with the body, Nesha-ma is where the soul connects with the higher soul. Nefesh is the lower part of the soul, Ruach is the higher part, and Nesha-ma is the connection with the spiritual world. That's in Nesha-ma. The same letter is. And of course, I'm sure your minds already, you've already figured out that the next permutation of Nesha-ma and Shmane is Mishna. Because the Mishna, the Mishna is where the Torah connects, the higher, the oral law connects with the written law. It makes it's higher connection. That's what Mishna is. Why do you think we learn Mishna for the Mishma-ma somebody's died? The custom is to learn Mishna because they reconnect. The Talmud says it's just an example. Rebi. Who is the author of the Mishna? Rebiudanasi. Rebiudanasi. Right? Rebi. He was the codifying editor of the Mishna. The Talmud says an incredible story about him that when Rebi died, he said to his students or his family, he said, "Denir Daluk, there should be always a candle lit, mid-time outside the bed should be made, and the shulkhana of the table should be laid, meaning on Friday night, shabbas, the house should be all prepared for shabbas. That's why he instructed them. Right? And a few other instructions. After he died, he used to come home, after he died, he used to get back into his body and come back to make kiddish for his family. Mishkiddish Friday night used to come back, Rebi. After death, every Friday afternoon, he used to get up, put back his body on, come back and make kiddish. Until one day they made, sent to somebody outside, should be quiet, Rebiudanasi here. So then he stopped coming, in order not to embarrass perhaps or raise questions about others who didn't, he stopped coming back. The question is, why was it Rebi who re-invested himself in his body and came back at why kiddish? Because Mishnah is the connection between oral and written laws. That is the connection of the Nashama, which is the ability to connect the high world with the body. Rebi is the author of the Mishnah, to understand, he is that energy in the world, he is the one who reconnects at will, the spiritual and physical worlds, and obviously to make kiddish on Friday night, where Shabbos meets the weak, where the body of the weak meets the Nashama of Shabbos is exactly the moment, there is a much more desire here as well, but that is why Rebi was the one who was able to do that, connecting, and of course it is not excellent, Rebi lived at the junction between the Mishnah and the post-Mishnahic age, he was the last of the Tanayim, the last, he connects with the post-Mishnahic age, which is the Gamara, where there is no more the revelation of Mishnah anymore, and it goes into, it is a junctional zone between soul and body, etc., it is, you follow through it, it should be obvious. So Hanukkah lies at that phase of history, where the previous generations were able to see that light, the previous generations were the generations of prophecy, where there was a direct revelation in the world, where Hashem spoke, and it was directly, yeah, Nivua means that prophets, until the men of the great assembly, what was the history, let's get the history clear, what was the history? The world included a prophetic revelation, now the world looked nothing like it does now, the world was not dark like it is now, the world was light, where prophets walked there if it doesn't only mean, if we do have to understand this, it doesn't only mean that there were individuals who knew the future, it means that the whole world was luminescent, the whole world, for prophets to walk the earth, for Jews to be able to give rise to individuals who are prophets, the whole Jewish people has to be, prophets are like, if you want to know a nubby, a nubby's like, the head of a body which is the Jewish people, the head can only go up when the feet step up, if the body goes down, the head goes down, when the Jews sinned at the golden calf, Hashem said to Masha'a, and it was on the mountain, leg, You go down because your people have sinned. You go down because they have sinned? Absolutely, because you are the head of a supernal body. When the body of the Jewish people go down, they are the highest one also goes down. When the body goes down far enough, then the head falls below the red line at which prophecy is. and therefore the generations of prophecy means that although only unique individuals, there were more than a million of those unique individuals in the Jewish people, over the generations, over those centuries of prophecy. But when those individuals had prophecy, it means that the whole people were lifted to a level where they were part of a body that could receive prophecy. It was an incredible level. That was the face of Tanah. When the Torah itself was handed down in written form where the clarity was so great that we don't even have any. The only Torah we have from those generations is what they took by divine dictation. There's no record of any of those people, none of those great sages, of saying anything of their own. There's no "hame"/unruxlation divine. They said three things. The only time you hear that is unshakeness, is like "Dealer, after prophecy does." Before that nobody said anything, they just transmitted Torah. There was no creative activity in the sense of fathoming the truth and constructing it and having an opinion. Each prophet simply was a receiver, he transmitted intact. There was no argument. There was no argument in the Jewish people. Can you imagine such a thing? No, there was no discussion, no debate, no argument about anything. There was total clarity when an issue did arise and was totally resolvable. The first time argument ever arose in the Jewish people was in the age of the Greeks. Yoseb and Yoseb and Yohanan, one of them killed by the Greeks. There was debate. You have to understand the history, amazing thing. The Jewish people lived on a prophetic level. When prophecies around, there's no halaking debates. There's no subject to human opinion. It's all totally clear. There were deals, human beings, another ordeal. What do you, human beings, ordeal, idolatry? That's the ordeal. Not lack of clarity in Torah. But a immensely powerful appeal to transcend in the wrong direction. And what happens is that the men of the great assembly, including the loss of the prophets, Haggai Zechariah Malachi, 1400 years ago, they closed prophecy. When they're closed prophecy, when they ended the phase of prophecy, people lost their drive to serve idols, to transcend into our dollars to direct idolatry's direction. And they lost their ability to hear one goes with the other. When you lose your drive to transcend into something high, you lose your ability to receive from the same thing. The same, that transmitter and receiver, that's the source, the root of the human consciousness. When you take that out, it loses both its functions. Then the world went dark. What was the next generation? The men of the great assembly left the earth. And who was left Shimonatsadiq? Shimonatsadiq. The last remnant who had seen the people of the had seen prophets, although he himself was not. Some sources syndicate that his name was Shimonatsadiq. A prophet is one who sees what we call a Khazeh. A prophet sees a Syah. Shimon is called Shimonatsadiq. He only hears. No more able to see. The light has gone out now if they hear in the darkness. Shimonatsadiq. Shimonatsadiq also means that the junctional zone, Sadik, is also the zone of connection, needs more discussion as well. The breeze, the covenant, that's what it is. The covenant is that which transmits loyally even when the truth is not obvious. That's what a covenant is. That's what a breeze is. A treaty means that we stand by each other even when, even when the facts aren't clear because of our commitment only because of our commitment. That's what breeze means. That's why Shimonatsadiq. What happens after Shimonatsadiq? The next generation? Who was the next generation? Antignoish Ishseikh. Already a Greek name? Incidentally, when Shimonatsadiq was alive, the miracle of the Western light, the Nermaravi, burning miraculously continued. Sometimes, yes, sometimes not, but there was that miracle in the world in the temple, Bessamikta. Alexander marched against Jerusalem, Alexander the Great, marched against Jerusalem, and the people of the inhabitants of the land at the time, the non-Jewish inhabitants, tried to get Alexander to destroy the Jewish population. So they told him, "Mardubachad, that these Jews have rebelled against you." So he marched in preparation to destroy Jerusalem, aided and abetted by these non-Jewish whoever they were, not the time to go into it, but they, as he approached Jerusalem, Shimonatsadiq heard about it. So he put on the clothes, he was a coin-goddle, he put on the clothes of the high priest, and he went out with the elders to meet Alexander. And as they came face to face, outside of Jerusalem, Alexander got off his horse and bowed down to this Jew. So the people said, "Are you bowing down to a Jew?" This Jew, Alexander said, "The face of this man goes before me in my dreams, before every battle, and he's the reason for my success." And he turned and left, and that's what happened. The next generation, but the Greeks were ready in charge, Alexander's empire divided itself up into three components, and the Syrian Greeks were the ones in, that section of the Greek empire, the Israel was under their domain, Jewish Diction. The next generation was Antignois, he no longer had seen prophets, he was ready in isolation, that means he no longer had the clarity of the religion. of even having seen a prophet. And of course, for the first time then in history, for the first time then in history, breakaway movements began who disputed the veracity and the intense Torah tradition. The first reforming movement, the first movement to say that, "Well, Torah is not." Here two students called Sadaq and Baitas. They formed the Sadducees, Sadaq formed the Sadducees. What were they? They were people who said, "The Torah is true, but not the oral tradition." Not the rabbinic opinion, that's no longer true, that's what they said. Meaning that there's no longer a mission, that you understand the connection with the high world, no connection with the high world. How did they say it? They said that there's no world to come. There's no world after this. All you see, what you see is what you get. Greek ideology. In the Greek age, the Hellenist philosophy, these Jews said, "T Torah definitely, Torah is truth, but it's only applies in the world. There's no higher connection." Where did they get such an idea? They claimed they heard it from their teacher. Why? Because Antignais once made the following statement. He said, "The Torah does not speak of reward in the next world." It's quite correct, the Torah doesn't. It's contained in the oral tradition. The Torah doesn't openly speak about reward in the next world. So Antignais said, "Al-Ti-U-Kavad-Ima-Mashamsim-Isa-Raf al-Manas-Lakabal-Pras." "Do not be like servants who serve their master in order to get a reward." "Ella, rather be like Avad-Ima like servants who serve their master Shalloy al-Manas-Lakabal-Pras." "Do not serve your master for reward." "Serve, know that the reward will come, but do not be mercenary. Don't serve, don't live spiritually for reward." "Dude, because it's right, not because of a reward." That's what he taught. And they said, "You hear what he said?" He said, "There's no reward." And of course, you could say such things because when prophecies no longer there to refer to, you can say what you want. And so the first breakaway movement that reinterpreted and broke the Torah tradition, when it stuck him in the Bible, and that's what happened. And of course, that was the Greek Hellenistic period. In the next generation was Yosuf and Yosuf and Yohanan, two Jewish sages who argued for the first time, only one argument in the whole panorama of halakhic material. There was only one argument. They argued. That argument continued for three generations, for it got to Hillen and Shama who argued about three things. The students of Hillen and Shama argued about thousands of things. Clarity had already broken down, differentiated, fragmented to a stage where there was a tremendous multiplicity of Torah opinions, each one having his own opinion, "Hame Amru Shlaja Dvarim." They said three things. The men of the great assembly for the first time, human opinion, and eventually became. And that's why the Talmud quotes everything it quotes in his name, really. Gives us this, every Talmud says that. It's his opinion. That's his opinion vested in the human mind, called the fragments, the shards of Torah. But now have to be reconstructed. We have to reconstruct the truth from the broken pieces. That's why the Talmud constructs the truth from examining falsehood. The Talmud doesn't present correct arguments. It presents false arguments and by exposing what we call hava minutes, by exposing the falsehood of a line of reasoning shows what must be the truth. That's how the Babylonian Talmud works. And of course, that's why the Zohar, for example, the higher-camelistic works says, "Tah-Hazi, come and see, invoking the clarity of prophecy as we're." But the Babylonian Talmud says, "Tah-Shama, come and listen, you can't see anymore." If the list is to put it again in the darkness, because we don't have prophecy anymore. And that was the story, Yoseb and Yerza, Yoseb and Yerchanan. One of those great leaders have been taken out to be killed by the Greeks, in fact. And he saw his nephew who would become a Hellenist, full of importance and power and wealth. And his own nephew mocked him and said, "Look what happens to you when you observe Torah, right? You stick with your beliefs and you remain loyal to your Torah tradition, you see you about to be executed. See what these Greeks are going to do to you, about execute you. Isn't it proof that my way is correct?" And Yoseb looked at his nephew and he said to him, "If this is what's happening to a person who's attached himself in remains, lower, can you imagine what's going to happen to you?" At which point he instantly corrected himself, recommitted himself, recommitted. But that was in the Greek there. And these philosophical, these issues were possible only because there was no light of prophecy. Shimonatsari connected to the men of the Great Assembly, Antignois, no longer a connection, false students who misrepresent, who was in the next generation? Yoseb and Prakhiya, Nitta iabeli, Yoseb and Prakhiya was the teacher of the founder of Christianity. The next movement that detached itself, right? That was the generation. Nitta iabeli, Yoseb and Prakhiya, he was the rabbi of no less than that individual who founded to became the, to whom was a scribe, the foundation of Christianity, who was one of the students of the Tanayim and broke away. And from then on of course it's been a story in every generation of people breaking down the Torah tradition, reclaiming, claiming their own, their own versions, their own falsifications, their own. And there's no one to say their own, because there's no point of reference. The only point of reference is in the hearts and minds of the sages. There's an inner clarity. If you don't have that clarity within yourself, there's no external place to, there's no point of reference externally. That's the nature of the Aurolog. And at that junction between clarity and lack of clarity, between light and darkness, that's when the Chanukah miracle of a small light that burns with a rekindler light in the darkness after the Greek contamination, in the inner sanctum of the Baselmigdash, that's exactly where Chanukah fits. That is the symbolism, that's what it means to be able to light that light. The concept is that there's a first light, which is the light that is of infinite strength, which illustrates, that means by which you can see the whole, you can see all of the world, the whole of the spiritual world, and then it's followed by a second light, which is compared to the light, the supernal light by which you can see through things, it's nothing, it's a small, it's no more than a small candle in the Jewish window, almost nothing, it's a physical and small, almost pathetically small, small as you can imagine. But there's more power in that light in the Jewish window than in all the, in all the might of the armies of the, of the world of the external that's ranged against us. That is the, that's the junction, let's take it one step further. There are two kinds of miracles, let's try and put our heads into this, this subject of Nisi miracles, right? So it should be obvious that miracles, that transcend nature, those phenomena by which you see our higher head, those phenomena, those miracles occurred only in the first phase of history, right? Those, those events occurred only in the first phase of history. Again, let's get this clear, there are two kinds of Nisi, there are two classes of miracles, right? Turkey speaking, actually, to be complete, they're three, let me get two complicated, but the, let's say like this, there are two classes, two categories of miracles, you have what's called a Nis-Nigle, a revealed miracle, and then you have what we call a Nis-Nistar, a hidden miracle, right? The Nis-Nis-Nig-Nis-Niglem revealed miracles, they happen until Hanukkah. The last time in the history of the world that a revealed miracle occurred that oil burned for eight days, it was only enough to burn for one day, that's called a revealed miracle. The last time that ever happened was at Hanukkah, the last time we saw, we had any message, we had any communication with the world of the miraculous, which is synonymous with prophecy. The Hanukkah miracle was, yes, that's sort of miracle, but no, it did not have prophecy attached, it was that junctional zone. After that time, we saw only miracles that are called Nis-N-Nistar, hidden miracles. To this day, we see miracles only hidden miracles, what's the difference? With one exception, I'll try, if we get time, we're going to that. It's like this, a Nis-Nigle is a revealed miracle. The difference between a hidden and revealed miracle to put it plainly is like this. A hidden miracle is something that's incredibly unlikely, a ridiculously impossible coincidence, but technically not impossible. A revealed miracle is one where a law of nature is broken, where something literally, tangibly, physically impossible happens, right? To make it absolutely clear, a person is running and they run off the edge of a cliff by mistake, and you run off the edge of the cliff and you start falling. You grab onto a little branch of a tree, a root growing out of the cliff face, and you hang dangling over 5,000 feet of jagged rocks, and as you hang in that situation, the thing begins to pull itself out of the cliff and you're about to become very much part of the scenery. At that moment, at that moment, it just so happens that standing up on the edge of the cliff is a man practicing throwing ropes over the edges of cliffs that day, and as it does, you happen to grab it and it pulls you up, right? That is a hidden miracle. Why could we call it hidden? Because there's no physical reason that that couldn't happen. The only thing that is impressive about that is that that particular thing happened at that particular place in time, which statistically is just completely beyond anything that anybody would consider. However, if you are very, very cynical and skeptical, you can say, "Well, the world's been around for about three billion years. Somewhere in three billion years, once it's not impossible, and therefore that is a hidden miracle." A revealed miracle is where you run off the edge of a cliff, hang onto a root of a tree. As it pulls out of the cliff face, you suddenly levitate up and flood back on to the cliff edge, but that is what we call a revealed miracle. The difference is that the first one would leave you religiously inspired probably for about a day. This would probably leave you religiously inspired for about a week, probably. But the only difference is, the only difference is that in technically speaking, a law of nature has been broken. In a incredible coincidence, the reason that you get expired about it and then fade out is because technically speaking is not impossible. The class of miracles that are revealed miracles are where a physical impossibility occurs actually in the depth of these things, they are really not different. But to our experience, we accept, we can accept an incredible coincidence, it stirs or unsettles. The foundation of attachment to the empirical, the world of physical habit, much less than a dozen or two classes. Now the principle in Jewish history is like this, only until Hanukkah, until the Greeks did we witness hidden miracles. And the Rambam rules, the Rambam rats definitively that a revealed miracle occurs only in the presence of a prophet. And think about it, any of the miracles in Tanakh, the splitting of the sea, the splitting of the Jordan, the reviving of the dead, twice by Alisha, once by Aliyah, all the miracles you care to name were always done in the presence of and by the agency of a prophet. Because both of these things occupy the same space in the spiritual world. It means that a hidden hand reveals itself, it means there's a direct communication. And miracles mean that the direct revelation of that higher hand in the world, the two go hand-in-hand, so to speak. After prophecy leaves the world, there can be no more revealed miracles. Because that light has left the world. A miracle is a revelation in the so-in-the-seeming pattern of nature. Because a break where you see what lies behind nature, that's why the word nays in Hebrew means a banner. Can nays Allah give Ah, like a banner on the hill. Right? It means that which is essentially uplifted. Nasad al-Abdukhah nays list naysays, you've given your servant nays lit moses, a banner by which to be uplifted. Like a banner on the hill, you see it clearly. A miracle is that which clearly indicates where the center is. That can no longer occur. And since then, all we see is the kinds of miracles that are things that are coincidences where nature does not set aside. Hanukah is the junction between those two. Now, there's a problem here which Sharan just mentioned briefly. And perhaps we'll leave it at that. That's just trying to add this dimension, is that if you know any Talmudic, if you have any experience in Gammari, you'll know that this seems to be something that breaks this rule. Namely, let's get it clear. All the generations of prophecy, you have prophecy, you have revealed miracles. Things like the sea splitting, the Jordan, etc. Then you have Hanukah, the last time there's that revelation of that kind of miracle. And from then on, you only have coincidental type of incidents. The problem is that the Talmud, which is beginning from the face of Hanukah, and on, is full of revealed miracles. Anybody who knows anything about the Gammari knows that it's packed with absolutely revealed miracles. How many examples do you need? The Phranena Bendosa, right? His daughter pours vinegar into the Shabbat's lights and he says to her, she's distressed about it. He says don't worry, light the vinegar. So she lights the vinegar and the vinegar burns. So he said to her, what's the problem? Let the one who says oil should burn, say that vinegar should burn. Huh? Vinegar burns. Phranena Bendosa's wife was on a higher level. If, I mean, to a higher level than he was, what miracles could he perform? The lighting of the vinegar, the Gammari says that he put his foot over and adders whole. He wanted to teach his students, he said to his students, I'd like to show you that only sin kills, adders don't kill, sin kills. So he confidently put his foot over. The Gammari says that the adder came out, bit him and it died. And the later commentaries ask, how on earth was he allowed to endanger his life to teach a spiritual lesson? You don't take your life, you don't, and the answer is there was no danger to his life. Eina Khayt Mamis, Salah, Eina Auroid Mamis, yeah, snakes don't kill, sin kills, that's what he taught. His wife was on a higher level, they were so poor that she couldn't even afford to break the chalice for shabbos, but she was ashamed that the other women were breaking and she didn't, so she used to light a fire under her oven, although there was nothing in it, when she opened up the work chalice. Eina Khayt Mamis, Salah, Eina Auroid Mamis, Salah, Eina Auroid Mamis, Salah, Eina Auroid Mamis, Salah, Eina Auroid Mamis, Salah, Eina Auroid Mamis, Salah, Eina Auroid Mamis, Salah. Eina Khayt Mamis, Salah, Eina Auroid Mamis, Salah. It's not a good thing that she was able to do, but she was able to do it, she was able to do it, so she said, "Stand on my feet." So he stood on his wife's feet and she could see that he was a little distressed, so she said to him, "Look, don't worry, the reason that my feet on burning on yours are is that when poor people come to the house looking for charity, I feed them." And Rashe says, "Bread and salt." Again, it's a long way now to go down to the details, but the meaning just a very briefly, the meaning is that a man spiritually is considered to be the spiritual energy, a man is supposed to be the source, connection to source. And a woman is supposed to be the bringing of the reality, that's how it works, the man begins the process, the woman gives birth, that's the process. So what she meant, what she was telling her husband was, "You're a man, your potential in spirituality is potential energy, when you give charity, you give money, money is potential, money is not food, money is only the power of seed that only can be translated into reality." So yeah, I, as a woman, I don't give money, like you just go to that poor man, I feed them, Rashe says, "Bread and salt, right down to the condiments, and therefore I'm protected to the bottom of my feet." Mike Adusha, do you understand this? Mike Adusha goes right down to the earth, yours as a man is in the higher world, and therefore your feet are deep, very deep, many deep things. Think about the name Maruqfa, what does that mean? It's a deep thing, very deep thing, sir, very deep, very deep. So they were stood in the fire. What are the miracles do you want? Splitting the Jordan? Splitting a river? The command says one of the Tanayim was going with his Arab, his Arab helper or guide, he came to the river called, he came to the river, and he said, "split, I want to cross." So the river refused to split, he said, "If you don't split, I'll dry you up forever." And the river split, and he went across, and then he turned back and said, "What about the Arab?" The river split again, his Arab crossed. So again, you understand, the question the commentary is asked is, "What's the big deal about splitting the Jordan if it could be done like this by people in a late post-prophetic era?" What's the big deal? We want revival of the dead. Revival of the dead, mentioned in the Talmud, it could be performed by even the Morayim, one of the plastic commentaries says that anybody mentioned in the Talmud was capable of reviving the dead. The command says that Rabi and Antoninus were great friends, Rabi, who we mentioned before, was a close friend of Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Emperor at the time. And he was a student of his, he was a very great man, Marcus Aurelius, very great man, and he secretly used to learn with Rabi. He used to come through a hidden channel to Rabi's home at night, study with him, insist that he would bend down on his hands and knees for Rabi to climb on his back to get up into bed. Rabi was a very old man. Rabi tried to prevent him from doing that, wasn't fitting for a king to bathe in that fashion. And he used to study with him. The command says on one occasion, the Roman Emperor came to Rabi's chamber, and he brought a slave with him for an escort. As he walked into the chamber, he killed a slave. He's to kill the slave, so no evidence? Leave his corpse outside and he walked in. The commentaries asked how he could, if he was a great man spiritually in this Roman, which he certainly was. What was the justification for killing slaves? Oh, it's just given to that. When he walked into Rabi's chamber, he found him with one of his students, one of the junior Tanoim. So he said to Rabi, I asked you not to be seen, I don't want to be seen here with anybody, I don't want anybody to see me. So I don't want to meet in the presence of this young student. So Rabi said to him, "Lays Dane Barini, she's not human." I'm worried about him, he's not human. So the Roman said, he was distressed by it. So the Roman said, like he said to the student, "Could you please step out, Sir, and ask my slave to step in?" Now in that, that would keep him okay. But so the commissioner says the murder said the tunnel stepped outside and he found a corpse and he had a had a problem to disobey a king is not a is not fitting for the honor of a king to schlep in a corpse is also not fitting for a King. So this is by Rakhmaevachye brought him back to life. And he marched in with his life. So when when when when Antoninus saw that he said to rabbi, yeah, died people who I know that he's the least of your students could perform such a thing. So we have the evidence here of this Roman that the least and the most full of the gun was says, I think Robert and Rebser were having a poor him so together. One of them was drinking too much. He checked the other one killed him and leaned across and slurred his throat. The next day, the next day when he saw what he did, he brought him back to life. He brought him back to life. The next day, he invited him to eat with him again and he said no thanks. But the most important thing is for Rakhmaevachye, when he came to Israel right, he I'll story there and eventually he looked at him. He looked at him and he died. And when he heard that he made a mistake, he went to his grave. He brought him up. He said, let's go back to town. He said, no, I'm quite happy. So this is when he's about to go back into his grave. He said, one second before that, he answered me all the following hilarious questions. He got all the answers from him. And he went back to his grave. He went back to the grave. I mean, he's talking to me. He's talking to me. He's talking to me. This is Torah. So the question I have to ask is, if they could perform miracles like they are certainly revealed miracles. These are not coincidences. These are certainly revealed miracles. If prophecy ended, how are they able to perform revealed miracles? And furthermore, very difficult. The Ramban says that you need a prophet to for a miracle to take place. This is explicitly after all prophets have left the world. And furthermore, the Ramban brings in the laws of validating a prophet, says the Ramban, that one of the prime methods of validating a person's prophecy is if he can perform a miracle. But how does that make any sense? If all that Tanoim and Amway Raim, long hundreds of years after prophecy left the world, could at snap of the fingers, so to speak, they could generate miracles, then how does it become a proof? Are you with me? If they could perform revealed miracles, where there were no more prophets alive, how can you claim that ability to perform a miracle? Is proof of prophecy? You see plenty of them didn't even year the level of prophecy. And furthermore, you can ask another question. Is miracles in the Torah, in Tanah, in biblical time, were extremely great phenomena, extremely when the sea splits? Not? For all of the history, all of the world's history, we remember that as a cosmic phenomenon, when the Jordan splits, when the dead are revived, when Elisha revives the dead child. You remember? And the Torah describes him as having twice the spirituality of Elisha, because he only revved one dead person, he revved, took my revival of the dead as a cosmic phenomenon. So why does the Torah make such a fuss? Are miracles when the people who are infinitely less than those people could do what you call a dime a dozen? They could hear that. And one of our classical sources that talks about it indicates that it fits exactly into the pattern we've been discussing. And again, without too much detail, I'll just say the idea. The idea is like this. You have to understand when miracles used to occur beforehand. In the generation of the prophecy, in the time, the history, the phase of history of revealed miracles, the reason those miracles are so enormous is because they are direct revelations of Hashem himself. The prophet brings Hashem's presence into the world. It brings his words into the world. When a prophet says that their numerical occurs, the sea splits, or the dead are revived, you are seeing a divine revelation. That's why it's such a big news. Subsequently, when Hashem steps back from the world, and he leaves the world in darkness, then the sages can be formed miracles not because they're that great, but because the world is so dark, the keys are now given to human beings. Again, in the generation of prophecy, Hashem holds the keys directly. Now, human being can move. Yes, it's direct revelation. When a miracle happens, it's because the prophet is directly in connection. Hashem himself is doing it. That's what's such a big news about America. And that's why it's a proof of prophecy that a miracle occurs. But after Hashem steps back after Hanukkah, after Hashem steps back from the world, and he gives over the running of the world to the sages of the oral law, and therefore the voltage drops to incomparably the voltage drops, but in that reduced voltage, the controls, the other reigns of control in the world. Where it says, "Hey, Amrish, listen carefully. Hey Amrish, listen carefully. They said three things." And what's the next statement that says there? "Our slaytnus and carefully. Our slayt should vary my element." The world stands on three things. This is what they came along and said. "The world stands on three things. Allah terab ala vaida ghamil khasodim." The world stands on Torah, divine service, which means sacrifices or prayers, and the giving of kindness, the acts of kindness. And the commentaries say, "What do you mean the world stands on those three things? Do they have to tell me that?" Until now, I didn't. What is this post-prophetic era coming to tell me? The world stands on these three qualities. What happened? What's new here? Until then, the world did not stand? Of course, it did. Honestly, I know I didn't. Until then, the world stood on Hashem's word directly. When Hashem steps back from the world and leaves the world in darkness, now, the world stands on the shoulders of those who are masters of Torah, ala vaida ghamil khasodim. And every miracle in its anach in the Talmud, you'll see was performed by somebody great in one of those areas, revival of the dead rabbi, master of Torah. My Rukfen is wife, masters of kindness, giving charity, him to them, him the money, and she the bread. Once you master one of those areas in the world, you become a great master, one of these three pillars of Torah in the world, you're all the kings. Today, of course, needless to say. Needless to say. Today, we're not on a generation of prophecy, and today, we're not a generation of, our generation. In our generation, we're not at the bottom of the barrel, in our generation. We, somewhere in the mud underneath the barrel, in our generation. Today, the only thing we may occasionally see is the occasional coincidence. Not which you have to be sensitive and of your eyes peeled to see that sort of thing, and it's a tremendous merit to see things like it. When something organizes itself in your life, when a stupendous coincidence occurs, and you see Hashem stand that way, because we have no other options. We don't see revealed miracles. We haven't seen one of those since Hanukkah. 2,200, 2,300 years ago. And to see miracles that are revealed, that are generated by the power of human spirituality, that we certainly don't see. Right? We certainly don't see that. To be able to snap your fingers and burn vinegar, to be able to put your foot over the viper's thing and have it die when it bites you. There was a produced bread in an empty oven. The way we don't see those. We only see today the incredible coincidences that are completely hidden where you have to have eyes to see in the darkness. Right? We don't see. We don't close in light anymore. We close only in the hides. That hides the light. That's where we are. Things that appear to be revealed miracles today are only if you see which doctors, for example, I've seen which doctors do things that are physically impossible. I've seen them do it. Using certain energies, certain natural energies in the world. It's not just level and it's not that level. But that's not tonight's subject. The point is that the point is that we live in this era where the world has now gone dark. We don't see this. And Hanukkah was the last vestige. The last connection, the flicker of a light where there were no prophets around. But one of those last revealed miracles where we're a light burned longer than it should have is the movement. Right? And that's the last. And therefore, you have to understand this. Incidentally, you know, that's one of the famous miracles finished with this. There's one of the famous answers. You know, the classical question about Hanukkah. You must know this one. The classical question about Hanukkah can't possibly study the subject without registering this and adding your own, your own answer to this question. The most famous question about Hanukkah is there was enough oil for one day, right? You should be ashamed if you haven't thought of this yourself, this question. There was enough oil for one day and it burned for eight. So the miracle was only seven. Okay, it was enough oil for one day, right? And it burned for eight. So why should we celebrate seven days of miracle? Not eight. What was miraculous about the first day where there was oil for one day? You understand? This is a famous question in Hanukkah. In fact, there's a book published called Nair Limea which has a hundred answers to this question. A hundred answers to this question. And of course, you haven't lived until you've said your own. You haven't lived until you've struggled with and said your own. Not worth being a love unless you. But I suggest you one, just one answer that pulls together what we've said tonight. The eighth day we celebrate together with a seven because it's exactly what we are. We are celebration is bringing the miraculous into that day of the natural. The reason we like eight days, we like seven. Again, don't you can say your own answer here and there's 99 others at least. And many others have been said, which itself is a fantastic thing. You see what comes out of Hanukkah more Torah. The Greeks came to make us forget it and to darken our eyes. So we forget Torah. That's what they wanted to do. What comes out of this? One question on Hanukkah with at least a hundred answers, a tremendous blossoming of Torah. And where is this Torah said? Even the subject of the light that they tried to extinguish. That if that doesn't speak out the heart of the Jewish people. But that's exactly the idea. We like eight days, not for this. The seven we like for the miracle. The eighth day we like to show that the natural all is miraculous to even though you may not see it easily, that's where we live. We live by kindling a light that is entirely natural, somebody walking past the house to see a little some ancient festival of these Jews, that's all they see. But to you, you should have their eyes to see that in that light, that small light where the wick is joining the flame, oil of drawing the oil, producing a flame, that narrow the shaman, that narrow that's called manifestation. In that light, you should be able to see it, we have to teach ourselves to see that in that small, almost insignificant, almost authentically small light, it's possible to see the oregano as a hidden light, most of it.

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. Hanukkah marks the transition from revealed miracles, which were tied to prophecy, to hidden miracles, which are coincidences without breaking natural laws.
  2. The first light of spiritual awareness is a free, divine revelation experienced at conception, followed by a period of forgetting and hard work to reclaim it.
  3. The world operates on a dual pattern
  4. The Greeks sought to obscure spiritual truth by promoting materialism and skepticism, leading to the loss of prophetic revelation and spiritual clarity.
  5. Hanukkah rekindles the primordial light—the light of prophecy and divine connection—that shone for 36 hours in ancient times and was extinguished by Greek influence.
  6. The miracle of the oil burning for eight days symbolizes the reawakening of spiritual awareness in a world now dominated by hidden, coincidental miracles.
  7. The number eight represents transcendence beyond the natural, symbolizing the soul’s connection to the spiritual world through the concept of *neshama*.
  8. The Talmud, despite being post-prophetic, contains revealed miracles, suggesting a unique spiritual continuity at the junction of prophecy and faith in the post-prophetic era.

Summary:

Hanukkah is not merely a celebration of oil burning but a profound spiritual event marking the end of an era of revealed miracles and the beginning of a new age of hidden, coincidental wonders. The narrative presents a dual structure in human experience: a first, free phase of divine inspiration—experienced even before birth—followed by a period of forgetting and struggle to reclaim that spiritual wisdom. This mirrors the journey from romantic, superficial connection to deep, committed love.

Historically, this pattern is tied to the decline of prophecy after the time of the Men of the Great Assembly, when the Jewish people lost their direct spiritual connection to the divine. The Greeks, by promoting materialism and skepticism, actively sought to erase this connection, leading to a world where only coincidental miracles remain. Hanukkah symbolizes the rekindling of the ancient light—once seen for 36 hours in the Temple—representing the return to spiritual clarity.

The miracle of the oil, though small, is powerful because it transcends natural laws and reawakens a forgotten spiritual reality. This moment is deeply linked to the soul’s structure: *nefesh* (connection to body), *ruach* (spiritual breath), and *neshama* (connection to the divine). The Talmud, though written in a post-prophetic age, contains instances of revealed miracles, suggesting that even in darkness, a spiritual continuity persists.

Ultimately, Hanukkah is a reminder that true spiritual strength comes not from ease or illusion, but from enduring the struggle to remember and reconnect with the original divine light.

FAQs

Hanukkah marks the last time a revealed miracle occurred in Jewish history, symbolizing the rekindling of the original spiritual light that was lost after the era of prophecy ended.

There are revealed miracles, where a law of nature is broken and a physical impossibility occurs, and hidden miracles, which are statistically unlikely coincidences that do not violate natural laws.

It is unique because it represents a rekindling of the original, divine light that illuminated the world during the time of prophecy, marking a transition from revealed to hidden miracles.

The first light is an inspiring, free experience that shows potential, while the second light is the challenging, hard-earned phase of growth and self-reliance that builds true connection and meaning.

It symbolizes the rekindling of the ancient light that once shone in the Temple, representing the reawakening of spiritual awareness and the ability to see beyond surface reality.

These stories reflect the spiritual depth of the post-prophetic era, where miracles continue in a hidden form, often appearing as profound coincidences or spiritual demonstrations, not violations of nature.

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