מבצע חנוכה (תשפ״ג)

00:01 Speaker 1 This is Igris, and this is a letter from-- finally, we did it exactly fifty years ago to the date. This letter is from Chof Beis Kislev. We're always off by a little. Today, we nailed it. Uh, this is Chof Beis Kislev, and we are looking at a letter from Chof Beis Kislev, Tamuz Lamed He. Uh, where the Rebbe gives a very effusive blessing to somebody. Look at that first line. "Veyar mazali udibnei beiseh sheyechi hameish al yadei yar riboi botei batei Yisroel." Says that God should light up the mazal of this person and the mazal of his entire family, uh, just in the same way that they lit up many, many of the houses of the Jewish people. So who is this to? What is this letter? First of all, the letter is, uh, Yud Alef, Chof Alef. That's how it's designated in our year. And there's a little bit of background down here below the line. What's interesting is that in Likutei Sichos where this letter was first published, the background is a little different than what we have in Igris. Now, usually when that happens, what that means is that when it was published in Likutei Sichos, they didn't have the full story, and Igris, which was published many years later, filled in some of the blanks and gave us more specifics. So we're going to go with what it says below the line in Igris, but I will note that in Likutei Sichos there's a slightly different story here. The story in

01:04 Speaker 1 any case is, according to Igris, that this was a response to, uh, to, to Tzemach Gedalyoh in, uh, Eretz Israel. They had convinced a manufacturer to manufacture, uh, menorahs that would work for Mivtzoim. Now, over my table over there, I have my Mivtzoim table with, with all my tiny menorahs. What's great about them is that they are packageable, they're easy to handle, they're easy to mass produce. And, uh, before Mivtza Chanukah was a big deal, there was no such thing as mass-produced inexpensive menorahs. Everybody had these real fancy menorahs. I saw while I was doing research for this, that the Rebbe's father asks the Rebbe to ensure that he's using the proper menorah, which it sounds like from footnotes and people filling in the blanks, the Rebbe had inherited a very fancy, uh, silver menorah from a relative of the Rebbe's family. But as far as we know, the Rebbe didn't actually use that menorah. But in any event, menorahs used to be big, they used to be unwieldy, they used to be made of silver in most cases, and the idea of a mass-produced menorah just wasn't on the, just wasn't on the table. Then the Rebbe came out with Mivtza Chanukah, the idea that every single Jewish home should have a menorah and that people who don't have one should be given one for free, and that should be given out as a gift, and that we should be on the street corners throwing menorahs at people. This was not practical given the

02:08 Speaker 1 state of menorah manufacturing. So they convinced a manufacturer to do it, to put out these tiny reproducible menorahs. So in response to that, they tell the Rebbe about this happening. Sounds like he had to change the way the machines were made or the way they were set up in order to produce these menorahs in an inexpensive way and in a mass-produced way. Because of that, the Rebbe gives him incredible berakhos. The berakhah here is that his mazal should light up, the mazal of his whole family should light up, uh, in the same way and in res-- in reward for him lighting up many, many Jewish houses. Then the Rebbe adds, "Toda raba." This is, by the way, a sort of second half of the letter. It's not related to the manufacturing project. It's related to the doch they sent in about the efforts they were making in Mivtza Chanukah. So the Rebbe says, "Toda raba." I wanna thank you very much. "Basidus teves anal." Thank you very much for the good news that you're giving me about the fact that you are involved in Mivtza Chanukah in spreading. I keep, I keep on saying Mivtza Chanukah. We actually have a diverse audience now, so I should define it. Mivtza Chanukah is the mission that the Rebbe gave that everybody should ensure that every single Jewish home has a menorah. So to literally take menorahs and the basic supplies for menorahs and the berakhos for menorahs and give them to people. Um, people can buy them.

03:06 Speaker 1 If they're not willing to buy them, to give them away, uh, so that people will keep Chanukah. So, "Toda raba basidus teves anal," the Rebbe thanks them very much for giving this good news that Mivtza Chanukah has taken off. "V'ashar chelka b'chelka lecha b'yachad shemes askin b'chol yitey bazeh." This is a berakhah of all of those of us who are involved in Mivtza Chanukah, says that happy is the portion or the fortunate is the portion and the portion of every single person who is involved in all of the things having to do with Mivtza Chanukah. So if you are involved in Mivtza Chanukah, this letter includes a berakhah for you. If you're not involved yet, there's still time to opt in. It is Chof Beis Kislev, so there is time to become involved in Mivtza Chanukah and get these berakhos. "V'miyuchad b'neres Chanukah hamir bebayis v'chuts." Specifically, there's something special about Mivtza Chanukah, the Rebbe says, makes it a little bit different than all of the other Mivtzoim. Neres Chanukah is specifically important in a way that maybe some of the other Mivtzoim, uh, sort of an advantage over the other Mivtzoim. "Hamir bebayis v'chuts." They light up the house, and they also light up outside the house. "Vha'meir hu mil'ma'ala k'viyachol m'avai." And this, this source of light is from on high, "k'viyachol," from Hashem himself. In any event, we're focusing on the first half today, and that is the launch of Mivtza Chanukah. Believe it or not, we are in the year right

04:07 Speaker 1 now of Tamuz Lamed He. That's not our year, but I mean the year we're studying. The year Tamuz Lamed He that we're studying is the year of the launch of Mivtza Chanukah. This was the first year that we had an actual Mivtza Chanukah. Uh, and if you go back a little bit, you see almost the opposite of a Mi- of a Mivtza Chanukah, uh, going back into the Chaf. So there is a letter, I have it on the screen right now. It is letter Tes Tav Chaf. It's from the year Tamuz Chaf Tes. And the Rebbe talks about Miv-Mivtzoim on Chanukah, and you would think that if we're talking about Mivtzoim on Chanukah, the Rebbe would be encouraging people to make sure people do the mitz- the mitzvos of Chanukah. But the Rebbe doesn't. The Rebbe has a whole letter here which came off of a sort of a public notice. There's a poster, it's all below the line, and I'll read some of it, but the takeaway of it is that it's Chanukah now, so go out and put tefillin on people. The Rebbe is using Chanukah as a tefillin opportunity, and it's loud, the absence of Chanukah here. You would assume if the Rebbe is sending people out into the street on Chanukah to do a mitzvah with people, it would be a Chanukah-related mitzvah, and the Rebbe is specifically sending them out to do Mivtzoim on Chanukah with tefillin because the idea wasn't even on the, uh, the idea wasn't even on

05:08 Speaker 1 the radar in Tamuz Chaf Tes. And this was only, what? This was only six years before the letter we're looking at now. Uh, looking below the line, this "Badan l'chutza," there was an urgent request put out by the Rebbe, a hidra from the Rebbe, "Hayem bekesh mivtza chana-chanukas tefillin," a specific hidra when it comes to putting on, to have the mitzvah tefillin, and this is the lashon. He says, "Ve'ikar ha'nimsa hadaf l'chutza d'ir v'dina." The, uh, the main thing is that they should go outside of their city and outside of their country. "Chanukah v'shched ish l'chanukah chulo." He wants to make sure that in the coming days there will be mitzvah tefillin going on on these days of Chanukah. So, "Hidra ha'nimsa v'yemei v'shabos kodesh b'telefon aidim mivrakim l'chol mokemis chutz l'anash sheyichi u'birakhah." The Rebbe-- this was sent out as an announcement to anash living-

05:45 Speaker 2 Shabos Kodesh Miketz.

05:46 Speaker 1 There we go. Shabos Kodesh Miketz. This hidra was sent out by telephone and by telegram to all anash everywhere. But the point I wanted to show you here is that the Rebbe is strongly encouraging and demanding and making sure everybody finds out and follows up on the mitzvah tefillin on Chanukah, giving us a pretty clear idea that in Tamuz Chaf Tes it wasn't really on the radar, the idea of having a Mivtza Chanukah

06:07 Speaker 2 The year Rotzo on the-- go back.

06:09 Speaker 1 Yeah.

06:09 Speaker 2 The lower, lower than that. This is the m-mandate of this hour, which I guess is on Hanukkah, that everybody should go out and do a more than before.

06:33 Speaker 1 And, uh, here we have, it looks like, uh, before Mivtza Hanukkah, the most important thing on Hanukkah was putting tefillin on people. It still is . It makes sense that while we're doing Mivtza Hanukkah, we should also be doing Mivtza Tefillin even now.

06:44 Speaker 2 Then if you look, if you look even lower than that, it says . Clear as, clear as, as a bell.

06:53 Speaker 1 So when you have that, um, for our purposes, there's two outcomes. One of them is the one that Sruli is emphasizing, which is that, uh, that even now when we're doing Mivtza Hanukkah, we need to be invested in Mivtza Tefillin because tefillins, the time for Mivtza Tefillin is specifically in the days of Hanukkah, even more than in other days. But, uh, also you really see what a blind spot uh, the Mivtza Hanukkah was, 'cause here we have the Rebbe talking at length about doing Mivtzaim on Hanukkah and no mention of handing out Menorahs. The idea of giving people Menorahs just wasn't on the radar. As of the year Taf Shin Lamed Gimel though, and even a little bit earlier in the late Chaf's, you do have the invention of Mivtza Hanukkah, although not in its full form. You have the invention of Mivtza Hanukkah as an army thing exclusively, only for the soldiers. So, uh, a little bit earlier, I have a letter here from Taf Shin Lamed Gimel. Uh, this is from Zion Kislev, Taf Shin Lamed Gimel, where the Rebbe says, the letter is, uh, Yud Taf Reish Beis. Says, they should, uh, organize this Mivtza, and this is the Mivtza Hanukkah, making sure that all the soldiers have Menorahs in a very specific way and in a very-- in an exacting way and in an enthusiastic way . It should be, as people say, with a it should be with a, with a storm, with a bit of excitement, with a lot

07:58 Speaker 1 of excitement. And, uh, below the line, there are significant details here about the Rebbe putting together Mivtza Hanukkah for the soldiers. So there should be, um, there should be Mivtza Hanukkah, uh, especially among the families of those who are, uh, the families that have, uh, also the families of soldiers that have died, they should make sure that they, that have been killed in combat, they should make sure that they also have, uh, Menorahs. And the Rebbe gives a whole bunch of Herods that we have on this page in front of us about how to make the Mivtza Hanukkah start off, and it's all very military. There's no idea that this will be done in the general public. This is an idea specifically for the military. He does note down here, so once again, you have the Rebbe emphasizing tefillins, as if anything, try to do Mivtza Hanukkah during the day because then you can also throw in tefillin. So it is a military thing. It is also still heavily emphasizing tefillin, and there is the beginnings of what will look like our modern Mivtza Hanukkah, but we don't really have it until our year. In the year Taf Shin Lamed Daled, Parshas Vayeshev, Chaf Kislev fell on Parshas Vayeshev that year. The Rebbe introduced the idea of Mivtza Hanukkah for the first time in a sicha. So I thought we'd look at the sicha together a little bit, and then there is a very funny story that happened on Chaf Beis Kislev with Rav Kunin

08:59 Speaker 1 in California, and I think that'll be it for us as far as the history of Mivtza Hanukkah. So we have this sicha in front of us. He talks here about Mivtza Tefillin. So he starts off talking about tefillin, and he says tefillin's very special and it has its place and it does important things. The segula of tefillin is not that it will be recognized openly, op-openly. It's possible that a non-Jew will see a person wearing tefillin and not know what it is. A non-Jew might see the tefillin and think that they're just boxes and not know that there's things inside of them. He won't even necessarily see the shin on the side of the tefillin. He won't even necessarily know it's a religious, it's a religious garment. Might be this guy just has a box on his head. We certainly won't understand the nuances of the tefillin and nonetheless, when a non-Jew sees a Jew put on tefillin, even though he doesn't know what it is, doesn't even know it's a religious object, doesn't even know there's scrolls inside, if he is somebody who is trying to harm us, they'll be afraid of us. Even though there's no reason for this, there's no reason at all. They're seeing something, they don't know what it is, and they're still afraid of it. This is the way that all mitzvahs work. In this particular regard, there is a special milah when it comes to lighting the Hanukkah candles. When a Yid lights a Hanukkah menorah this literally

10:20 Speaker 1 creates a light. Even a non-Jew who is walking in the street sees the light. This can help prevent somebody from falling into a pit. Um, the non-Jews are allowed to use the flame. We're not allowed to use them. We're, we're not allowed to use it not to fall into a pit, but a non-Jew can use this flame in order to make sure they don't stumble into things. So this is what it means to be a light to the nations. We are literally a light to the nations. We put our menorah up and we light the way for non-Jews literally, that they actually can see better in the dark. There's an idea of protecting non-Jewish people as well. Certainly, we don't get involved in hurting them. Unless they're trying to hurt us first in which case we have to do it first. I don't know what this tangent is doing here in the sicha, but it's here. The point is that this mitzvah is also something that the non-Jew will see with their own eyes. It doesn't need an intellectual explanation. So it's going to affect the rest of the nations of the world in a way that affects their entire bodies. So the Rebbe's point here is that normally when we do a mitzvah, it affects the rest of the world. It affects non-Jews as well, but not in a way that they understand. It's not in a way that truly changes their bodies and changes their minds. It just, it has an effect on

11:36 Speaker 1 them. A Jew puts on tefillin, they don't know what that is, and automatically the response is that they're afraid to attack. But when it comes to Hanukkah, when it comes to the Ner Hanukkah, the mitzvah that we are doing is something that they also can understand, which means that we really are being a light to the nations, not just impacting them, but also affecting them. Therefore, the Rebbe says, I'm going to now encourage again, as the Rebbe says he has encouraged before, but as far as we know, this is the first major reference to it in a major fabrengen in a big way, that every single Jewish home should have a Ner Chanukah for all eight days of Chanukah. At the very least, I want you to make sure that every single house has one menorah for the entire house. the, uh, the oldest in the hou- the, the oldest, the, uh, the, the householder should light the menorah for everybody. It'll be even better and appropriate to the I'd like every child to have their own menorah too. That would be great. Every boy, at least because of the purpose and because of the Indian of education option even though when it comes to the idea of spreading light, one menorah is enough. It'd be great if the kids had them too. in order to make sure that this is a successful initiative, give it away for free. Now, note this is a, uh, strange shitah for the Rebbe because this is not generally

12:47 Speaker 1 speaking our Rebbe's shitah. When it comes to handing out things for free, the Rebbe frequently says that doing so makes people devalue the object or devalue the mitzvah. We tend to ask people to pay a little bit for things. We don't just give out books for free. We don't just give out tefillin for free. We tell them, "Look, we'll subsidize, but you should participate." Here, the Rebbe says that in order to make sure this is successful, I think you should even give the menorahs out for free. if, of course, that is necessary. when it comes to the cost of such a thing, because remember, this is going to be one of the Rebbe's most expensive mitzvah. Uh, tefillin doesn't cost anything. I have tefillin, and I can put my tefillin on somebody else. Neshek, we are- we're able to keep the cost down. They're just candles. But here, a menorah is a candle holder. We saw in our letter that they had to special manufacture some of these. This is gonna be an expensive mitzvah. I don't know if there is a more expensive mitzvah than the one of handing everybody a menorah. So the Rebbe says when it comes to the costs, if a person can't find any other money for this and wants to do it, I'm going to use the funds raised for Yud Tes Kislev to pay for it. This is that important. the Rebbe says, "I want you to warn people about Erev Shabbos and Motzaei Shabbos." This is something

13:55 Speaker 1 that we don't do enough of mitzvah. The Rebbe wants it mentioned every single time. Remind people when you give them their menorahs, says the Rebbe. They, they need to light before Shabbos, and they cannot light on Saturday night until after Shabbos because God forbid, a person will decide to do the mitzvah of Ner Chanukah and be Mechalel Shabbos. It'd be better if they didn't have the menorah, right? So, uh, it's very important to make sure people know that they are not to use the menorahs on Shabbos. And he says, "the Rebbe says here, lie to them a little bit. It'd be, it would be advisable to tell them a little bit, uh, to, to, to fudge the numbers a little on the time so they don't cut it too close. Especially since on, uh, Motzaei Shabbos where it doesn't really matter how late you light, we should give them the times, and we shouldn't tell them exactly what time Shabbos starts and what time Shabbos ends because they will light at exactly that moment. Their watch will be off by a minute. They'll be Mechalel Shabbos. Give them a ten-minute window or something. Uh, fudge the numbers a little bit around the start and end of Shabbos. This was the launch of Mitzvah Chanukah. I don't believe they printed this in the Toras Menachem, and I don't know why, but this was printed in, in the Sichos Kodesh that shortly after this, that was on Chaf Bais Kislev. Hey, it's, uh, once again, Chaf

15:02 Speaker 1 Bais Kislev. Two days after this came out on the same day as our letter, the, uh, the Rebbe was on his way walking toward his house and, uh, and Rav Kunin, the Shliach of California, was standing in the hallway. And he a-- and the Rebbe asked him, I'm reading now off of this, uh, page that's on the screen. The Rebbe asked him, this is his stuff in the back of Sichos Kodesh . The Rebbe asked him, "What are you doing when it comes to Mitzvah Chanukah?" And he says that he's taking five hundred menorahs with him. Now, that's pretty good. The mitzvah started two days ago, and Rav Kunin had already found himself five hundred menorahs that he's gonna take to California. five hundred. He's gonna get another five hundred, so he's gonna have a thousand. And the Rebbe asks him, "Is that enough for all of California?" So you just-- as we've spoken about many times, you cannot win with the Rebbe. That's part of the, part of the deal. He, uh, he on day two has a thousand menorahs ready to go, and the Rebbe asks him, "Are you sure that's gonna be enough for California?" So, uh, Rav Kunin says he's going to send more in the mail. And then the Rebbe asks him, says, "I'm gonna send more in the mail. We'll have enough for California." the Rebbe asks him, "And what about Texas? Is Texas gonna have?" he didn't answer. the Rebbe asked him, "Who's the Shliach there?" And he

16:10 Speaker 1 said back that it was... I don't know who that is. Who's Shin Lamed? Anybody know?

16:13 Speaker 2 Shin Elazarov.

16:14 Speaker 1 Is that your brother-in-law's father? And the, uh, Rebbe asked, has anybody told him about Mitz-- about Miv-- Remember, the Mitzvah had been launched two days ago, so it's possible the Shliach in Texas hadn't heard yet. And, um, Rav Kadikov says that they will call him and let him know about the Mitzvah. And then the Rebbe said with a smile, that's the biggest state. Texas is the biggest state. uh, even more. So the Rebbe says here that since it is the biggest state and, uh... What's the ? Is that the, uh-

16:48 Speaker 2 They wear big hats.

16:49 Speaker 1 Big hats.

16:49 Speaker 2 Like cowboy hats.

16:50 Speaker 1 Giant hats they wear. So there should be, uh, there should be even more publicity for the, uh, for the initiative of Mitzvah Chanukah in Texas. So anyway, we have here the launch of Mitzvah Chanukah. We have some interesting stories about how it started. We have a letter about how they changed the manufacturing in order to get us more menorahs for the mass production of menorahs for Mitzvah Chanukah. And we got to see, uh, how the Mitzvah Chanukah developed from a day of putting tefillin on people to a day of also putting tefillin on people in addition to handing the menorahs even for free so that we can light up the darkness. And the Rebbe's particular concern that all of the states and the shluchim who are heads of states make sure to launch the Mitzvah Chanukah.

17:26 Speaker 2 Um, it's interesting also the end of this thing where he-- where the Rebbe asked him what they did today, and they said they gave out candles, but they didn't have the menorahs prepared yet. So they're gonna light them on, on, on plates.

17:35 Speaker 1 Yeah.

17:35 Speaker 2 The Rebbe says, "You can light them on plates. Is-- They're gonna, they're gonna ruin the plates, and their parents are gonna get upset with them 'cause they're gonna ruin the plates by lighting the candles on the plates." It's cute. And, and then he says, "You send it by mail, the five hundred you're sending by mail, it's gonna be persomirnes for the mail carriers as well, that they're gonna see the, the menorahs being shipped, and it's gonna be persomirnes for them." It's a very cute exchange, so thank you very much for that. It's very interesting because it is interesting to watch how it went from being a-- from this is a special time for hadlakas-- for, for, for tefillin to, like, being, "And also, by the way, make sure you put on tefillin with people while you're at it." Like, it's almost like an afterthought almost. Very interesting