“The land flowing with milk and honey” is a favorite poetic description of Eretz Yisrael in the Torah. It is less known that Chazal in several places understand this phrase as not referring to all of the land, but rather to specific parts of it. After the second world war, there were organisations and governments that loved to see all Jews away from their regions and forced entire congregations of the Children of Israel to assemble at Jerusalem.
This eight-day holiday, commemorating a miraculous win in a battle fought against a powerful enemy of the Jewish people, brings us several reasons to have a feast within the family. Eating is also part of sharing, enjoying the gifts the Hashem provides for us.
The Sages did not establish that we hold festive meals during Chanukah, for the holiday of Chanukah represents the oral Torah whose length and breadth are vast and can only be acquired through limiting one’s eating and drinking. But eating and drinking whilst talking about God’s miracles is also a way of expressing gratitude for everything the Hashem provides for us.
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To remember:
- On Chanukah > Jewish nation’s faith in oral Torah strengthened <= they saw that Heaven agreed with the rulings of the Sages of the Talmud. > according to Torah law, non-Jews cannot defile oil; however would share the status of a Jew who has become impure who defiles oil immediately upon touching it.
- According to the writer of the article: oral Torah whose length + breadth are vast => can only be acquired through limiting one’s eating and drinking.
- Our Sages taught us in the Gemara in Tractate Shabbat (23a) that the mitzvah of the Chanukah candles is performed through the lighting of the candles and if the candles are extinguished, one is not obligated to rekindle them. This means that the main Mitzvah is through lighting Chanukah candles which will innately have the ability to burn for half an hour. Therefore, if the candles were extinguished due to a cause non-existent at the time the candles were lit, for instance, if the door or window were opened suddenly and a gust of wind blew out the flames, one is exempt from rekindling the flames. Even so, it is an extra special Mitzvah to relight any candle (without a blessing) that has been extinguished if it is still within a half hour of being lit. {Lighting the Chanukah Candles}
- When lighting Chanukah candles, one should be certain to put in enough oil so that they will remain lit for at least half an hour from the initial lighting time. Similarly, if one is using wax candles, care should be taken that they should be long enough to burn for at least half an hour after the appropriate candle-lighting time which is when stars appear in the sky. There are some multi-colored candles on the market made especially for small Menorahs which do not last for half an hour; one should abstain from using such candles. On Friday afternoon when Chanukah candles are lit earlier than usual, more oil should be added, as will be explained, G-d-willing, in a following Halacha. {Lighting the Chanukah Candles}
The Days of Chanukah- Days of Faith
As opposed to the other holidays and festivals which were already existent since Hashem gave the Torah to the Jewish nation, the holidays of Purim and Chanukah were brought about through two wicked men, Haman and Antiochus.
Maran Rabbeinu Ovadia Yosef zt”l writes that Purim and Chanukah have resulted in tremendous things for the Jewish nation, for on Purim, the Jewish nation reaffirmed their commitment to the oral Torah lovingly. On Chanukah, the Jewish nation’s faith in the oral Torah was strengthened, for they saw that Heaven agreed with the rulings of the Sages of the Talmud. Indeed, according to Torah law, non-Jews cannot defile oil; however, our Sages decreed that a non-Jew would share the status of a Jew who has become impure who defiles oil immediately upon touching it. Thus, all of the impurity related to the oils in the Bet…
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The League of Nations, which placed Palestine under British mandate reflected a heady mixture of religious and imperial motivations that Britain would find difficult to reconcile in the troubled years ahead. Palestinian Arabs, desiring political autonomy and resenting the continued Jewish immigration into Palestine, disapproved of the mandate, and by 1936 their dissatisfaction had grown into open rebellion. Nearly a century later there is still not yet a good solution found to have Arabs, Palestinians and Jews and non-Jews living together in peace in one or two countries they could accept as their homeland.
The Divine Creator provided the greatest tool to learn what we should know, to make the best of our life, with His infallible Word, collected in 66 books, whereby 25% of the text is focussing on a Mashiach or Messiah, a Saviour for all mankind. For some people it may look an arcane language of ancient times not useful any more for our contemporary world. The written collection of order, instruction, or guide, issued by an authority much higher than any living being on this earth, may for many be not easily understood, abstruse or obscure, because they just not want to listen to the words like they are written down but prefer to listen to human doctrines which may confuse lots of people and bring a lot of false teachings into the world. The Bible is not at all arcane, requiring secret knowledge to be understood. One does not have to have a degree in theology to come to understand God's Word. To get to understand it and to get wisdom one needs to read it regularly and has to study those words given by the Most High, giving more attention to them than to words of so called theologians who prefer to hold on to human doctrines instead of Biblical doctrines.
Immanuel Verbondskind - עמנואל קאָווענאַנט קינד 