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Atzilut is Private Providence The Striking of Thoughts upon Man The Meaning of Sins Becoming as Merits This Is the Path of Torah – 1 A Hedge for Wisdom – Silence - 1 For He Whom the Lord Loves He Admonishes - 1 The Fear of You and the Dread of You Shall Be upon All the Animals of the Earth - 1 The Garments of the Soul - 1 Beginning to Speak from the Connection with the Creator Sanctification of the Month The Main Thing We Need Turn Away from Evil and Do Good – 1 TANTA [Taamim, Nekudot, Tagin, Otiot] Find Favor and a Good Mind Fish Means Worries Raising the Hands Ruin by Elders—Construction; Construction by Youths—Ruin Our Faith in Books and Authors God Made It so that He Would Be Feared Questions in the Work Ani [I] and Ein [nothing/null] Turn Away from Evil and Do Good – 2 The Order of the Work The Meaning of Exile Greeks Have Gathered Around Me The War of the Inclination What Is Handsome In the Work? Against Your Will You Live; Against Your Will You Die A Horse to Ride On Joy and Fear All Bitter Herb [Maror] Old and New Joy that Comes from Dancing Exalt the Lord Our God Knowledge and Faith It Is All Corrections Passion for Knowledge Faith Is Called “Action” The Desire to Bestow – 1 The Need and Importance of Teaching Faith Awakening – 1 Love of Others What to Ask of the Creator—to Be His Servant Faith Within Reason How Good Are Your Tents, Jacob – 1 Man and the Torah Faith Is Regarded as Above Nature The Greatness of the Creator Is His Humbleness Foundations The Association of the Quality of Judgment with Mercy Devotion Concerning Suffering – 1 The Torah Is Acquired through Suffering Two Kinds of Repentance For Your Crimes, Your Mother Was Sent Away Man’s Actions Run My Beloved Entry into the Work The Reason for the Faith Moses Is the Quality of Faith Am I In the Place of God? The Whole Earth Is Full of His Glory Mind and Heart As He is merciful, So You Are Merciful Repentance Inner Keys and Outer Keys One Does Not Toil Over a Meal and Misses It Anyone Who Associates the Aim for the Creator with Another Thing Specifically through a Man and a Woman I Wish They Left Me and Kept My Law Why Israel Are Compared to an Olive Tree I Have a Minor Mitzva [commandment], Whose Name Is Sukkah A Person Builds a Building Man and His Role One Who Restrains Himself in Strife The General Public and the Chosen Few The Meaning of Evil Man’s Work Happy Is the Man Mind and Heart Abraham Begot Isaac And Judah Approached Him – 1 And Behold, the Lord Stood Over Him Jacob Sent Anyone Who Sanctifies the Seventh – 2 The Lord Hears the Poor When Pharaoh Sent the People This Is the Day that the Lord Has Made Hear, O Israel Save Your Servant, You, My God This Day, the Lord Your God Commands You The Ascent of Malchut to Bina Concerning the surrounding lights He Who Comes to Defile “Right” Means Wholeness What Is, He Swallowed Maror [bitter herb], He Will Not Come Out, in the work? Three Lines – 3 Movement Due to Shame Nourishment Laboring and Finding The Power of Thought Desire for Spirituality Cast Their Seed Among the Nations Two Labors Concerning the Goal The Act Is What Decides Righteous and Wicked The Face of the Lord Is in Evildoers The Upper One Scrutinizes for the Purpose of the Lower One Why He Waited until the War Against Amalek And Jethro Heard Those of Little Faith Remember that You Were a Slave Peace at Home Overcoming The Mitzva of Sukkah Inheritance of the Land Justice, Justice You Shall Pursue By Your Actions, We Know You The Generations of Jacob Joseph Who Despises the Day of Smallness Branch and Root Miketz [After] There Has Never Risen a Prophet Like Moses One Who Walks along the Way Action and Thought Tzimtzum The Measure of Overcoming Two Discernments in the Kelim Inverse Relation between Lights and Vessels Merging of the Body The Difference between the Soul and the Body Pleasure Cancels the Mind The Birth of the Moon Bo [Come] Internality and Externality The Godliness Made the Concealment The Need for Gentiles Dead Fish Turn Away from Evil and Do Good - 4 Adam HaRishon Was a Heretic Three Prayers - 2 Good Writing and Signing Rosh Hashanah The Rosh Hashanah Prayer With a Shofar You Will Renew An Article for Sukkot What Is Hanukah What Is the Miracle of Hanukah The Meaning of Amalek When He Let His Hand Down, Amalek Prevailed Blotting Out Amalek Two Opposites I and Not a Messenger Concerning the Environment The Torah Spoke Regarding Four Sons The Need for an Act from Below The More One Speaks of the Exodus from Egypt And he said, “When You Deliver the Hebrew Women” And God Spoke to Moses And I Will Take You as My People Come unto Pharaoh Behold, a People Has Come Out of Egypt The Passover Offering Concerning the Beginning of the Month Peh-Sah [speaking mouth] The First Innovation Concerning the Exodus from Egypt The Duty to Tell the Story of the Exodus from Egypt Concerning the Matza [unleavened bread] The Time of Redemption Concerning the Omer [Count] The Exodus from Egypt and the Giving of the Torah

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Rabash / What Is Hanukah

What Is Hanukkah

Hanukkah, Kislev, December 1960

Our sages said, “What is Hanukkah? Our sages said, ‘On the twenty-fifth of Kislev, the days of Hanukkah,’” etc. (Shabbat [Sabbath] 21a). That is, Hanu-Koh [parked here], for on the twenty-fifth, they parked from the war. We should understand that parking means specifically in the middle of the work. We stand and rest in order to regain strength so we can keep walking and win the war until it is finished.

We should understand what is this parking. Our sages said that at that time, the Greeks sentenced Israel not to engage in Torah. That is, the miracle was only on the redemption of spirituality, which is the needs of the soul. Conversely, on Purim, there was the redemption of the bodies.

For this reason, on Hanukkah, we were given the recognition of the miracle through praise and gratitude, whereas on Purim, it is written, “a feast and merriment,” since the miracle was on the bodies. Hence, there must be recognition of the miracle through to the body, meaning with feast and merriment.

To understand all the above in the work and in ethics, we must understand what our sages said, “You shall love the Lord with all your heart—with both your inclinations, the good inclination and the evil inclination” (Berachot 54). We should serve the Creator with the good inclination, meaning engage in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] to bestow contentment upon our Maker. But what is the meaning of the evil inclination? It is known that the evil inclination is the will to receive in us. We should understand how the will to receive can serve the Creator.

According to what is explained in the Sulam [Ladder commentary on The Zohar], when a person engages in reception of pleasures in order to bestow, there is no evil in the will to receive, as it is written, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice,” for through the Torah, the evil inclination is sweetened.

The miracle of Hanukkah was only with the good inclination. This is why it is merely called “parking,” since the work has not been completed, meaning that there are still more corrections on the evil inclination, which is called “body.” This was only the miracle of Purim.

This is the meaning of “observed and received,” thus far by force, since the evil inclination has not agreed to the work because it was still not corrected, and now that the miracle was in the redemption of the bodies, “with all your heart—with both your inclinations” comes true. This is why it is called “willingly.”

Hence, on Hanukkah, there is recognition of the miracle only in praise and gratitude, which is only the needs of the soul, while on Purim, we recognize the miracle in feast and merriment, which touches through to the body.

“Greeks gathered around me, then in the days of the Hasmoneans, and broke the walls of my towers and defiled all the oils.”

“Greeks” refers to a philosophy, when one wants to understand everything with the external mind. “Then in the days of the Hasmoneans” means that specifically when there are Hasmoneans, meaning servants of the Creator, we see that the Greeks have control.

Homot [walls] has the letters of Techum [zone/area] (as explained in the writings of the ARI). This means that a person limits his thought from wanting to understand the work with the external mind, but rather with faith, and faith is a wall against the external ones. “My towers” means “a tower filled with abundance.” “Oils” are clarity…