The Greatest Sunrise Is at Sunset | Chanukah

00:00 Speaker 1 In 5738, on Shemini Atzeres, as is well known, the Rebbe suffered a heart attack in the middle of hakafos, G-d forbid. It was a very difficult moment. It was a severe heart attack, followed by another one later that night. The doctors were extremely alarmed. From a medical standpoint, the situation was very grave, and it kept getting worse. Then, through open miracles, the Rebbe recovered, and the situation turned around. As is known from accounts of those days, the Rebbe absolutely refused to go to the hospital. He remained in his room at 770. And for the next four weeks, from Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah until Rosh Chodesh Kislev, the Rebbe was there. On Rosh Chodesh Kislev, the doctors gave the Rebbe permission to return home. From then on began a new period of miraculous recoveries and wonders, in the Torah and avodah the Rebbe shared and in all the activities that took place from 19 Kislev onward. Chanukah that year, 5738, was especially uplifting. The Rebbe held a farbrengen on Motzaei Shabbos. Incidentally, the doctors very much did not want the Rebbe to hold a farbrengen; they wanted it kept limited and short. But the Rebbe did not agree, and held a full farbrengen on Motzaei Shabbos, Rosh Chodesh Teves. The next day was Zos Chanukah. The Rebbe summoned

01:58 Speaker 1 one of the chassidim, one of the well-known chassidim involved in the matter. I heard the story from Reb Yaakov Yehuda Hecht a"h, whom they called Reb Zeide. Reb Yaakov Yehuda Hecht was a devoted communal activist who gave his heart and soul and accomplished extraordinary things for the Rebbe. The Rebbe summoned Reb Yaakov Yehuda Hecht and told him he was looking for someone who knew how to keep a secret. He did not want it publicized. He wanted to do it entirely discreetly. The Rebbe asked him to prepare a farbrengen for Zos Chanukah, at which they would wash for bread, say Hamotzi, and distribute kos shel bracha. The Rebbe indicated that, since he customarily held a farbrengen every year on Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah, but because of what had happened there had been no farbrengen and no distribution of kos shel bracha that Simchas Torah, he wanted to make up for it now, on Zos Chanukah. This was the Rebbe’s custom: on Simchas Torah, the Rebbe would wash for bread toward the end of the day, and on Motzaei Simchas Torah, after the farbrengen, he would distribute kos shel bracha to the crowd. Since they had not done so on those days for health reasons, he wanted to make up for it now, on Zos Chanukah. He asked that it be kept secret. I won’t go into all the details of what happened then. So that day, Zos Chanukah, when the Rebbe came, there was a small gathering, more or less, with no publicity.

03:37 Speaker 1 The Rebbe washed for the meal, with challahs, and held a farbrengen. He delivered a maamar of Chassidus during the farbrengen, and afterward recited Birkas Hamazon. The Rebbe then distributed wine from that cup of blessing to everyone present, everyone who was at that farbrengen. The farbrengen was, in a sense, you might say, a quiet meal, as though it were a continuation of what had happened on Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah. Afterward, the Rebbe returned to his room. And that day, Zos Chanukah, the Simchas Torah farbrengen was made up. It brought the Rebbe satisfaction. He wrote a note thanking Reb Yaakov Yehuda Hecht for his efforts in preparing everything—bringing the challahs and wine and all that was needed to arrange the farbrengen and the meal. The Rebbe thanked him and then added the words: “[unclear].” That is what the note said: “[unclear].” Well, he immediately went to the [unclear] and began looking in [unclear] to see what the Rebbe meant by this “[unclear].” It is hard to know, but there he found the story. As Reb Yaakov Yehuda Hecht recounted with great emotion, apparently this was what the Rebbe meant when he told him to look in [unclear]: it tells how Reb Chiya wanted to meet Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and undertook a number of fasts, and so on, until he merited entry into the heavenly academy. He was able to enter the academy, the chamber in Gan Eden where Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai sat with his son Rabbi Elazar and the tzaddikim, the students of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s academy. Reb Chiya was still a living person, a soul in a body, in this world. But through his good deeds, he merited admission to the heavenly academy. As the Zohar says there, a proclamation went out saying that to be in that academy, in that place, in Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s chamber, one had to meet a special condition: “Those who transform darkness into light and bitterness into sweetness—only they may enter here.” To enter that chamber, a person had to have merited, while still here in this world, a soul in a body, to transform darkness into light and bitterness into sweetness. That was the condition: someone who had done the work here of transforming the world’s darkness into light could merit entry into Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s academy. And it seems that Reb Chiya, through his deeds. And

05:15 Speaker 1 Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, and undertook a number of fasts, and so on, until he merited entry into the heavenly academy. He was able to enter the academy, the chamber in Gan Eden where Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai sat with his son Rabbi Elazar and the tzaddikim, the students of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s academy. Reb Chiya was still a living person, a soul in a body, in this world. But through his good deeds, he merited admission to the heavenly academy. As the Zohar says there, a proclamation went out saying that to be in that academy, in that place, in Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s chamber, one had to meet a special condition: “Those who transform darkness into light and bitterness into sweetness—only they may enter here.” To enter that chamber, a person had to have merited, while still here in this world, a soul in a body, to transform darkness into light and bitterness into sweetness. That was the condition: someone who had done the work here of transforming the world’s darkness into light could merit entry into Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s academy. And it seems that Reb Chiya, through his deeds. And

06:51 Speaker 1 The Gemara tells of the greatness of Rabbi Chiya’s deeds and how he worked to ensure that “G-d forbid, the Torah should not be forgotten by the Jewish people”: he traveled from town to town and taught children the Five Books of the Torah and the six orders of Mishnah, making sure the Torah would not be forgotten by the Jewish people. He therefore merited to be in the academy, where the Torah’s secrets were revealed to him. The Zohar tells of the profound secrets and great revelations Rabbi Chiya received in that cave, at that moment. The Zohar goes on to relate that while he was there, Moshiach entered, causing tremendous excitement—a real upheaval. When Moshiach entered the academy, there was a great commotion, until he saw Rabbi Chiya there. The Zohar says that Moshiach told Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai: “He is already here; let him stay here.” In other words, let him remain in the World of Truth, in Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s chamber. Rabbi Shimon asked him to give Rabbi Chiya more time, so he could continue living in this physical world. And so he was given more time to live in this world. That is the story brought in the introduction to the Zohar. From the explanation the Rebbe wrote in the letter, it was understood that the Rebbe, as a kind of repayment, so to speak, wanted to give him something and grant him some kind of [unclear],

08:15 Speaker 1 [unclear], for that farbrengen at which the Rebbe directed him to the Zohar. But this is a case of revealing a little and concealing much more. Still, it offers a hint, an attempt to help us understand what took place there. That whole episode on that [unclear] of 5738 was a time, G-d forbid, of harsh judgment and fear of what might happen. Through a great miracle, the Rebbe returned to be with the chassidim after that period, with chassidic farbrengens and everything that followed. But yes, he returned after a time, and after [unclear] of many years. All of this is found in the story of Rabbi Chiya in the introduction to the Zohar. As we will see, we are discussing this now, especially in these years, when the Zohar relates to this matter of [unclear] that the Rebbe once spoke about in a maamar at a Zos Chanukah farbrengen. There is remarkable Divine Providence in this. The Rebbe spoke about the farbrengen taking place on Zos Chanukah as, in fact, making up for what was meant to take place on Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah. Since that event had occurred on Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah, and because of it the Rebbe had been unable to hold a farbrengen in person then, it needed to be made up. Therefore, Zos Chanukah was

09:41 Speaker 1 The completion. The Rebbe spoke then, in the maamar, about the connection between Zos Chanukah—and Chanukah in general, but Zos Chanukah in particular—and Sukkos, Shemini Atzeres, and Simchas Torah. The Rebbe discussed a very rich point in the maamar, one that also touches on what we are facing [unclear] in our time. Because in our time, too, what happened this year on Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah was a disaster, rachmana litzlan: the pogrom and the entire war that began on that Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah. A day of such great joy became, sadly, a terrible event. And we know that just as in those days, the miracles and wonders were revealed afterward, so we hope that in our time, too, we will merit miracles and wonders this year—already on Chanukah, on Zos Chanukah, in these days, in the coming days. We hope to see miracles and wonders, but miracles and wonders in the literal sense, with visible and revealed good: that not one person will be missing from among us; that we will live in peace, tranquility, and rest; that there will already be victory in the war, and peace for the Jewish people throughout Eretz Yisroel—“And I will grant peace in the land.” And that we will already merit

11:16 Speaker 1 the true miracles and wonders we all await at every moment, every hour, every single instant: that we will already merit the miracles of the true and complete Geulah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu. A point the Rebbe discussed in that maamar expresses a central theme of Chanukah and its connection to Sukkos and Shemini Atzeres. The Gemara in tractate Shabbos says that the mitzvah of lighting Chanukah candles is “from sunset until people cease to be about in the marketplace.” And the Gemara explains what “until people cease to be about in the marketplace” means: “until the Tarmodians cease to be about.” In other words, the mitzvah of lighting the candles begins after sunset, and how long does it continue? Until people cease to be about in the marketplace—until people stop walking around there, particularly the Tarmodians. Rashi explains that the Tarmodians were a lowly people, servants who would still be in the marketplace after everyone else had left. They would gather the last pieces of wood, the scraps left in the marketplace. That was the very latest time for the mitzvah of lighting the candles. Clearly, everything established in halachah has a root and source above, a spiritual root and source. What is the spiritual meaning of “from sunset” until “people cease to be about in the marketplace”? What is

12:47 Speaker 1 “until they cease to be about”—what does it mean that the Tarmodians cease to be about? On a simple level, when we interpret “from sunset,” it refers to darkness. As explained in Chassidus, and as the Rebbe cites in the Chanukah maamarim, [unclear], the sun represents the “sun of Havayah”—“For Havayah Elokim is a sun and a shield.” And “the sun sets” means that the sun of Havayah, the light of G-dliness, becomes hidden. Darkness sets in—the darkness of the growing dominance of Greek wisdom, the kelipah of Greece, the darkness of Greece, and all the forces of impurity and the other side that gain strength. This is “the sun sets”: when the holy sun sets, the Divine light becomes hidden and darkness sets in. That is when the work of lighting Chanukah candles is needed. As we discussed regarding the Zohar’s words, “transforming darkness into light”—through the Chanukah candles we transform the darkness. And that was the self-sacrifice of the Chashmonaim, Chashmonai and his sons, the Maccabees: they gave their lives to bring light through their self-sacrifice, to fight and strengthen the people’s faith, and that transformed the darkness into light. From this came the mitzvah of Chanukah: “They found one flask sealed with the seal of the Kohen Gadol,” and “they lit from it for eight days.” This is the great miracle of Chanukah, from which the light of Chanukah flows

14:17 Speaker 1 each and every year. That, in essence, is the usual explanation. But here the Rebbe presents a far deeper, far richer explanation of “the sun sets”—not from the negative side, but precisely from the positive side. The Rebbe cites the Zohar. The Zohar in Parshas Vayeitzei says that it is written about Yaakov Avinu, “He spent the night there, for the sun had set.” The sun set, and Yaakov Avinu lay down to sleep. That is when the whole account of Yaakov Avinu took place, with Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s blessings, “You shall spread out westward and eastward,” and everything that happened to Yaakov Avinu at the time when “the sun had set.” The Zohar cites a verse from Koheles. Shlomo Hamelech says in Koheles, “The sun rises and the sun sets, and hastens to its place, where it rises again.” The simple meaning, as the commentators generally explain, is that the sun comes out in the morning from the east; in the evening, at night, it descends in the west—“the sun sets,” the sun goes down, “and hastens to its place, where it rises again.” When the sun sets in the west, it is constantly in motion, yearning, thirsting; it wants and waits for the next day to arrive so that it can shine again. That is generally how the commentators explain the sun’s course: the moment there is

15:58 Speaker 1 a sunset, it already longs to shine again. But the Zohar offers a wonderful new interpretation: the simple meaning was “when the sun goes to the west”—when the sun reaches the west, that—

20:15 Speaker 2 things from the physical, material world and uses them for mitzvos and good deeds. He takes money, with which he could buy what he needs for his life and build a world for himself, and gives some of that money to tzedakah, performing a mitzvah with it. And likewise, “All your deeds should be for the sake of Heaven” and “Know Him in all your ways.” It is precisely this work in the physical world that touches and awakens delight in the very Essence of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This is what the Zohar says here: when the sun reaches the west, it does not mean that it wants to flee the west. On the contrary, when it arrives there, it has reached “its place.” The west is the sun’s place. The true light of Hakadosh Boruch Hu is precisely in the lower world, and here is what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted. This is true delight, because it makes a dwelling for Him precisely in the lower realms, in the physical world. He also explains this idea through a passage in the Gemara, in tractate Bava Metzia. The Gemara says in Bava Metzia, page 85: “Anyone who teaches Torah to the son of an am haaretz”—someone who devotes himself to teaching Torah to the son of an unlearned person. The Gemara says that in this merit, because he teaches Torah to the son of an am haaretz, even if Hakadosh Boruch Hu has issued a decree, He annuls it for his sake. Because he devoted himself to teaching Torah to the son of an am haaretz, if there was a decree from above, if a decree had been issued, from—

21:54 Speaker 2 nevertheless, Hakadosh Boruch Hu annuls it for his sake. He turns the world around, changes the course of nature; everything is transformed. As he cites there: “One who brings forth the precious from the worthless shall be as My mouth.” When a person brings forth the precious from the worthless—takes the son of an am haaretz and makes something precious of him, passes Torah on to him and studies Torah with him—this causes Hakadosh Boruch Hu to change decrees and annul them for his sake. And for this, one does not have to be a tzaddik; it is enough to teach Torah to the son of an am haaretz. What is the connection? Because he teaches Torah to the son of an am haaretz, why does he merit something so great—that Hakadosh Boruch Hu annuls all the bounds of nature and all those decrees for his sake? The Rebbe explains, based on a teaching of the Baal Shem Tov, that when a person studies Torah with the son of an am haaretz, he awakens delight above. The delight comes from the idea we discussed earlier: when you take the son of an am haaretz—that is, someone who is in a place of darkness, who belonged to that darkness, who grew up in a dark home, a home where darkness prevails—and you go and devote yourself to teaching him Torah, you accomplish something new and great, awakening delight in Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It is the delight of “a dwelling for Him, blessed be He, in the lower realms”: taking the son of an am haaretz, drawing the sparks of holiness out of an undesirable place, out of a place of darkness, and cleansing him, making of—

23:24 Speaker 2 This matter of Torah awakens delight above. And when delight is awakened above, it causes things that were dark to cease being dark and become light, and all decrees are annulled. This is what the delight a Jew brings about above accomplishes: it brings Hakadosh Boruch Hu, so to speak, to say, “My children have prevailed over Me, My children have prevailed over Me.” “Hakadosh Boruch Hu smiled,” the Gemara continues there: Hakadosh Boruch Hu smiles and says, “My children have prevailed over Me, My children have prevailed over Me.” When a Jew studies, transforms the world and changes it, and makes the physical and material into a vessel for holiness, he thereby awakens the greatest delight in Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The Rebbe spoke about this idea and its connection between Chanukah and Sukkos. We find this idea in both Chanukah and Sukkos. On Sukkos there is the idea of “the sun sets.” As stated in the laws of sukkah, its “shade must exceed its sunlight”—the matter of shade. Shade means an absence of revelation, an absence of light; the shade exceeds the sunlight. For Sukkos follows Yom Kippur and the power of teshuvah, through which a Jew returns in teshuvah during the month of Tishrei. And in the work of teshuvah, when he transforms deliberate sins into merits, he transforms the darkness through his efforts. Through the work of teshuvah he transforms darkness into light, to the point that—

25:00 Speaker 2 Then comes Sukkos, the celebration of the teshuvah of Yom Kippur. The festival offerings are brought, and we say, “Praise Hashem, all nations; extol Him, all peoples.” This is the power of the Jews to transform the darkness in the world, to affect the nations of the world so that they, too, will say, “Praise Hashem, all nations; extol Him, all peoples.” From Sukkos, Jews draw the strength to have mastery over the nations of the world. Evil and darkness and all these things steadily diminish; more than that, they themselves are transformed into merits. As the Gemara says, if the nations knew what the Beis Hamikdash did for them, and what the Sukkos offerings accomplished for them, they would station guards around the Beis Hamikdash. For “Praise Hashem, all nations; extol Him, all peoples, for His kindness toward us is great”—the nations recognize the greatness of the Jews. That is on Sukkos, and all the more so when Shemini Atzeres arrives. Of Shemini Atzeres it is said, “They shall be yours alone, and no strangers shall share them with you,” because then the greatness of the Jews is revealed in the fullest way. That was how it was when the Beis Hamikdash stood. Then comes Chanukah. On the one hand, Chanukah took place during exile, in the darkness of Greece, with all the concealment that existed then. But through the service and mesirus nefesh of the Chashmonaim and their sons, they transformed darkness into light, until there was revealed

26:28 Speaker 2 And it was precisely in the deepest darkness of Greece, under Greek rule, that the greatest light was revealed. It became clear that precisely at nightfall, in the place of exile—which was then the Greek exile—and when the Greeks were at the height of their power, seeking “to make them forget Your Torah and turn them away from the statutes of Your will,” not only were the Jews not affected, but on the contrary: it was there that their true strength and mesirus nefesh were revealed. Then the true light, the true depth, began to shine: the flask of oil sealed with the seal of the Kohen Gadol—the inner dimension, the soul, the yechidah of the soul that shines within the Jews—revealed from within the darkness. Chanukah therefore expresses this point: the Jews’ mastery over the nations and over the influence of the nations is revealed. Then we see concretely what we say in Ve’al Hanissim: “You delivered the mighty into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few, the impure into the hands of the pure, the wicked into the hands of the righteous, and the wanton into the hands of those who study Your Torah”; “And for Your people Israel You wrought a great deliverance and redemption, as on this day.” Then we see the true love, how beloved the Jewish people are: how Hakadosh Boruch Hu loves the Jews, and the Jews love Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This brought about the greatest revelation of G-dliness. Chanukah is therefore an even greater foretaste of the revelation of the future, of the days of Moshiach. For then the true idea will be revealed: that precisely within

27:55 Speaker 2 the darkness, the darkness of exile, the greatest light is revealed—“darkness is transformed into light, bitterness into sweetness.” And so, as we stand in these days of Chanukah, a time of light, a time when this revelation shines anew each year, Jews light Chanukah candles and do so “at the entrance to their homes, facing outward.” They are not intimidated by the influence of the nations; on the contrary, they bring light there too. In this way they bring light both to that influence within themselves, in the body and the animal soul, and to the influence outside, in the street. May we indeed merit, as we emerge from this Chanukah, to see soon, in our days and in the days of Moshiach, “For You, Hashem, are my lamp, and Hashem will illuminate my darkness”: Hakadosh Boruch Hu illuminates the darkness of exile, and the darkness of exile itself is transformed, as it will be in the Geulah, with victory in the war [unclear]. And together with this, the verse will be fulfilled: “For then I will transform the peoples to speak a pure language, so that they will all call upon the name of Hashem, to serve Him with one accord.” This is what the Gemara says: “From sunset until the foot has vanished from the marketplace.” There is a maamar that explains “until the foot has vanished from the marketplace”: the word for “marketplace,” shuk, is related to hishtokekus, longing—Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s longing for a dwelling place in the lower realms. As the verse in Shir Hashirim says, “His legs are pillars of marble,” and the Midrash says of this, “This is the world that Hakadosh Boruch Hu longed to create.” The physical world—this is the longing, this is the delight, this is the purpose

29:28 Speaker 2 of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, specifically in this world. “Until the foot has vanished from the marketplace”: from this marketplace—the public domain, the physical world, a realm of separation, the world of kelipah and the sitra achra, the marketplace of the nations, the marketplace of kelipah—we make a shuk in the sense of longing, the purpose and greatest delight of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And “the foot has vanished,” tichleh regel, also evokes kilayon hanefesh, the soul’s consuming yearning: from the marketplace we come to true love and true yearning of the soul, until “the foot of the Tarmodai has vanished.” As explained in the works of Kabbalah, the letters of Tarmodai can be rearranged to spell moredet, “rebellious”: we transform the rebellion against kingship in the world, the rebellion against the sovereignty of Heaven that we still see among the nations. It is transformed through “the foot of the Tarmodai has vanished,” so that rebellion becomes a consuming yearning of the soul, longing and thirst, love and thirst. And we leave this exile for the greatest light of the true and complete Geulah. May we merit to see in our days, this Chanukah, the revelation of the light of our righteous Moshiach. May he come and redeem us and lead us, speedily in our days, amen.