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Chanukah Hallel: Third Paragraph: Ambition



“Not we, God, not we, but Your Name deserves honor for Your kindness, Your truth. How can the pagans ask, “Where is their God?” Now our God in the heavens did just what He desired. Their silver and gold statues are the work of human hands. They have mouths but do not speak, they have eyes but do not see, they have ears but do not hear, they have noses but do not smell. Hand – but do not feel. Legs – but do not walk. They do not even groan. Their makers will become like them, all who trust in them.
Israel: Trust in God! Their Help and Protection!
House of Aaron: Trust in God! Their Help and Protection!
Those who fear God: Trust in God! Their Help and Protection!”

Ambition is the essence of life. As it says in the verse, “Their makers will become like them, all who trust in them.,” speaking of those who serve the idols that, “They have mouths but do not speak, they have eyes but do not see, they have ears but do not hear, they have noses but do not smell. Hand – but do not feel. Legs – but do not walk. They do not even groan.”

Idols are dead. One who trusts in them, prays to them and looks to them, has limited his ambition to something dead without any life force. The more one looks toward something that is empty, the more he empties out his own potential and strength.

““Their makers will become like them, all who trust in them.,” is not a curse or a prayer for the future, (as explained by Metzudat David and Radak) but a statement of fact: A person who limits his ambition to that which is empty and meaningless will become exactly that.

On the other hand, one who aspires to spiritual heights, becomes a spiritual being himself, he is a true “living” being.

Ambition itself is insufficient, it must be accompanied by actions that are consistent with his ambition, otherwise, the ambition is empty.

According to the measure of a person’s ambition, so will his actions increase in quantity and quality. (Siftei Chaim, Volume 1, Page 79)

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