On Chanukah They Saw Such Miracles That Everyone Wanted to Be “Mehadrin min

Presented here is the complete daily lesson as delivered by The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, on Wednesday night, the eve of the 30th of MarCheshvan—Rosh Chodesh Kislev—after the Ma’ariv prayer:

So Yael knew exactly where the soul was that was [within] Sisera. For every wicked person has within him a soul of a Tzaddik—there is no wicked person in the world who does not have a soul of a Tzaddik. In a single moment he can recognize it—this is his choice. Even Rivkah, who was born to such a wicked father—such wickedness never was and never will be. The Ben Ish Chai explains: when she said, “I will go” (Bereishis 24:58), it meant: I’m running away from here. I was only waiting for someone to come and take me out of this valley of slaughter, out of this upheaval. Such a wicked, evil father—I don’t want to know him. They told her: Sit shivah! Your father passed away—he had a stroke in the brain, he had a stroke in the heart. Join the shivah, sit with us “days or ten” (ibid. 24:55). And she says: Not seven—and not a moment, not a second. I’m going! That is how the Ben Ish Chai explains “I will go”—I’m going; I’m fleeing from here while my soul is still within me. Come, here… Immediately they wanted to put poison in her food, but in the end they blessed her: “Our sister, may you become thousands of myriads, and may your offspring inherit the gate of his enemies” (Bereishis 24:60). Who are “his enemies”? That is Lavan—he cursed himself.

For the whole matter now is the molad—within another half hour it is the molad. And then: “the wicked are delivered into the hands of the Tzaddikim.” Then rulership returns to the Tzaddikim. All of Kislev is the prayer of Channah. For Channah prayed: “The bow of the mighty is broken” (I Shmuel 2:4). She knew that this is the mazal of Keshet (the Bow). For there were three wars—its initials are: Pesel Polonius Selonisya. At that time it was in Beis Tzur, south of Beis Lechem—this city has existed since the time of Yehoshua bin Nun, and it is possible to see it even now. There the army was so strong, and there Yehudah HaMaccabi fought for twenty-four hours—he did not rest for a second—with the sword. He fought for twenty-four hours until the entire army fled. Then they went up to Jerusalem in the month of Kislev, on the 25th of Kislev, and they lit the Menorah anew.

And they did not have olive oil—they did not have it. For on the one hand, it is permitted to light in a state of impurity, because this is a Menorah of the community; it is not a private Menorah. Communal offerings are permitted in impurity—it is permitted to bring the Korban Pesach in impurity, the daily Tamid offering in impurity. So here too, for the Menorah, it would be permitted to bring [oil] in impurity. But the entire essence of Chanukah is “Mehadrin min HaMehadrin”! Because on Chanukah they saw such miracles that everyone wanted to be Mehadrin min HaMehadrin! So they sent to the Galil to bring oil—this is seven days going and returning, and another day until they actually make the oil—so they needed to bring new oil. And therefore, at the molad begins the light of Chanukah—the Menorah.

“Go for yourself from your land” (Bereishis 12:1)—this is the Menorah. “I will show you”—this is the Menorah. For “Lech lecha” is one hundred; “from your land” is… Avraham—first of all, Avraham, “Lech lecha”—this is exactly 343: seven times seven times seven. For in the future, the Menorah will have seven channels—seven branches—and forty-nine channels for all the Menoros. And the spring will be above the Menorah; above the Menorah there will be a river of oil.

All of this Channah received through her prayer. For once, every woman was a prophetess. Every woman was a prophetess; every woman had Ruach HaKodesh; every woman knew what would be until all generations. And this is what Channah saw—mazal Keshet: that now we are entering the molad in another twenty minutes. She saw that in mazal Keshet there would be “the bow of the mighty is broken,” and the rule of the Greeks would fall. And then their downfall began—until the end of all generations.

To watch the replay—the lesson at minute 35:24

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbt5MdV_VXk