0109 - R' Zalman Duchman Lighting the Shamash in Shul

00:01 In the chofs, Rav Zalman Duchman used to be the one to light the menorah in the Rebbe's minyan by Mencha. Now, the meaning is that by Shacharis, the menorah also burns in the shul. So he would light the menorah before the davening would start in 1770, the Bochrum's minyan. He would be the one who lit the menorah, so it should be burning by the davening of Shacharis. The Rebbe those years did not come out to daven with the minyan, but he would come to Kriyas HaTeirah. So one of the days of Chanukah, when he came to Kriyas HaTeirah in the year Tov Shenov Gimel, he saw that the menorah was lit, the amount of candles that were supposed to be lit were lit, but there was no shamash. So the Rebbe asked, why is there no shamash? There has to be a shamash. So they brought and they lit the shamash. But then Rav Zalman Duchman wrote to the Rebbe asking, why do we need a shamash when the menorah is lit by Shacharis? Since the reason why we have a shamash is so we shouldn't be able to have hanoa from the light of the menorah. The din is you're not allowed to have pleasure, make use of the light of the candles of the menorah. So at night, we're afraid that if there won't be any other light and the light of the menorah will be lit, someone might read or do something, have hanoa from the light. Therefore, we have to have

01:18 a shamash in case you do have hanoa, you'll have hanoa from the shamash from which is not one of the candles of the menorah. But in the morning by Shacharis, when it's light, then why do you need a shamash there? So that's what he asked the Rebbe. And the Rebbe answered him, and I remember I saw the ksav yad because he had showed it to me then. But later this was printed in the Kudusich Yes of Chelek Yud, the Yesofas of Chanukah. And this is what the Rebbe answered. You could say that there are more other reasons why we have to have a shamash. And according to these reasons, you should have it any time the menorah is lit, not only at night. And he gives the example, for instance, another reason. You shouldn't be nichal of lighting one candle from the other through a kisim, through a little like a match or something. You shouldn't take light from one to the other. So therefore, we have a shamash. If you have to relight a candle, you should be able to use the shamash, not take the fire from the other, one of the other candles which are burning. And it seems from the Rebbe that this applies to the morning also, that you shouldn't light through, even through a kisim, even through something, a little piece of wood, not to take the fire from the other candle, but you should take it through the shamash. And then he gives another reason. This is similar

02:39 to the Kohen who would light the menorah. That means the shamash represents the Kohen who would light the menorah, just like in the B'samekdrash, the Kohen lit the menorah. So here also, there is something that lights the menorah, and that's the meaning of shamash. And the parenthesis, the Rebbe says, And this answers the question, why the shamash is always higher than the candles of the menorah. For Omer Hazal and the Hazal say that there's a simen, Srofim really goes amalochim. That's the pshat in the posik. But this is an emes, Srofim goes on fire, that they stand mimal on top of lei. Now, the Rebbe doesn't explain it, but what it means is lei is lamed vav, is 36. There are 36 candles that we light throughout the whole Yom Tov of Chanukah. So Srofim, there has to be Srofim, which means a candle of fire on top of that. And that reason has nothing to do with the day and the night. So therefore, even during the day when the menorah is lit in shul by Shacharis, you should have also a shamash. And then the Rebbe answers, There are other reasons why we have a shamash, and it seems like those reasons also apply to Shacharis. And therefore, even though the original reason that he said doesn't apply to the morning when it's light, still you have to have a shamash by Shacharis when the menorah is lit.