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Al Hanissim: Derashot Maharitz



“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.” The Greeks understood

that as long as Israel continued to study Torah they would never stray from the commandments. They wanted Israel to approach all they did from the perspective of human intellect. They wanted to argue that many of the Mitzvot did not pass intellectual rigor. However, as long as we studied Torah and connected with its Divine Wisdom we would not fall into their trap. The first attack of the Greeks was on Torah study.

This is why the Holy One, Blessed is He, made the miracle of the Menorah, despite the fact that it was not Halachically necessary. God wanted to display to the world that the strength of Israel, derived from their Torah study, is unlimited. When they are willing to offer their physical lives for the life of Torah they create stirrings in the Highest Heavens that then shower Divine Sustenance on many worlds.

That little bit of oil, is empowered by our attachment to the Eternal Torah to burn far beyond its physical measure and bring light to the entire world.

The miracles are actually in our hands: When we live an eternal life we live beyond the physical, in the realm of the miraculous.

Chanukah is the time we must focus on our Torah study as the source of our eternal existence. (Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky – Derashot Maharitz)

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