12
Feb 2018
Chanukah has become a festival in Jewish life although it lacks, in its origin, all the elements of the Yamim Tovim. These eight days were orginially days dedicated to Hallel and Hoda’ah — Praise and Thanksgiving for the miracle of salvation from the Greek hordes. It has but one ceremonial, the mitzvah of kindling the lights. The lesson of Chanukah, however, has served to give to it the aura of a Yom Tov. The meaning of faith, the Almighty’s guardianship of Israel, are driven home in the story of Chanukah. Israel’s feeling......
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11
Feb 2018
Based on a Shiur Daas delivered by the Rosh Yeshiva HaRav Mordechai Gifter, zt”l In the liturgical thanksgiving which we recite on Chanukah, it states: “When the wicked Greek kingdom rose up against Your people Israel to make them forget your Torah and compel them to stray from the statutes of your will.” Ordinarily, the word חק, “statute,” connotes a specific type of commandment whose reason is unknown. The usage of this term here indicates that in all the commandments of the Torah, even those which seem logical and readily understandable, there......
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