Chanukah and Money

Thank you very much. I appreciate everyone coming to the Siyum. I'm sure that many of you were just as disappointed, but I appreciate your coming out on the last night. You know that the Gemara in Chagiga דף ט עמוד ב says that

אינו דומה שונה פרקו מאה פעמים לשונה פרקו מאה ואחת פעמים

and you can't quite compare the one who learns it a hundred times to the one who studies it a hundred and one times. Not too many things, I guess, if you the davening of Ashkenaz and the davening of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, maybe we reviewed that a hundred and one times, but there's not too many things in our limud that we review so many times. But comes the Yom Tov, not using that in the very technical term necessarily, you always come back to the Rambam. Every year comes Pesach, you come back to the Rambam, Hilchos Chametz U'matzah, the Mitzvah of Sippur Yetzias Mitzrayim, what does the Rambam mean, the comparison, the derivation from Karpas to Kashar, some of those passages, if you either want to review it a couple of times or you look at it a couple of times, you're thinking

אינו דומה שונה פרקו מאה פעמים לשונה פרקו מאה ואחת פעמים.

So this maybe the opening halacha in the Rambam in Hilchos Chanukah is in that class. Something which is hard to imagine going into a Chanukah or experiencing a Chanukah without reflecting on the Rambam's description of the background of the Chanukah. Maybe as we do so, we'll do so not only with the goal of trying to understand, to review what the Rambam says, but also with the following bent or the following goal in mind. Every Yom Tov has its Avodah. Every Yom Tov has its special challenge and opportunity in terms of Avodas Hashem. What's more, the historical events which are associated with that Yom Tov converge and also point to what the specific Avodah of that Yom Tov is. So for instance, one prime example would be Pesach. The Avodah of Pesach is clearly Avodas HaEmunah, Matzah is the Meichla DeHimanusa. All the events of Yetzias Mitzrayim, the Ramban says, is the foundation of our Emunah. So there is again this convergence, this symmetry between the historical background of the Yom Tov with its Avodah and with the special quality which is inherent in that time. As we read the Rambam, maybe we'll keep this in mind as well to try to glean what the Avodah of Chanukah is. Rambam begins: בימי בית שני כשמלכו יון גזרו גזרות על ישראל. When the Syrian Greeks came, issued harsh decrees on Bnei Yisrael וביטלו דתם ולא הניחו אותם לעסוק בתורה ובמצות and did their utmost to uproot Torah and to prevent our involvement in Torah and Mitzvos. ופשטו ידם בממונם ובבנותיהם and they extended their hand against Bnei Yisrael's money and against their daughters. ונכנסו להיכל ופרצו בו פרצות וטימאו הטהרות they violated they defiled the Beis HaMikdash וצר להם לישראל מאוד מפניהם ולחצום לחץ גדול and the Bnei Yisrael were acutely distressed and subject to great great pressure עד שריחם עליהם אלהי אבותינו והושיעם מידם. So Hakadosh Baruch Hu saved us from them. Okay. Before we come to the there is really one word or one phrase which I wanted to reflect upon a little bit. And I am sure you all are familiar the Rambam famously tells us the background to the story first at the beginning of Hilchos Chanukah. And for some reason the story of the Megillah is written down in Kisvei HaKodesh and Al-Pi HaMesorah but the Yad HaChazakah that if you study the Yad HaChazakah then you will know what you need to know in terms of conclusions about Torah Sheba'al Peh since it is all Torah Sheba'al Peh. The Rambam tells us the background and not just that we should be historically well-informed but since the Mitzvah of Chanukah is l'hallel ul'hodos the Rambam says in Halacha Gimmel a person has to understand what it is that he is saying and l'hallel ul'hodos is only brought to the surface, it is only brought to fruition if a person is familiar with the background of the Nes Chanukah. The Rambam's whole description, I think the phrase which is most notable is the phrase פשטו ידם בממונם ובבנותיהם. And it is remarkable for two reasons. First of all the Rambam here is recapping the fact that the Syrian-Greeks under the penalty of death forbade Jewish practices. They forbade Bris Milah. They tried to prevent Talmud Torah. Mamash, mamash they attacked the Torah Sheba'al Peh. And furthermore then he says Pashtu yadam bemamonam. That the simple translation is that they stole their money, they imposed heavy taxes or whatever. But the inclusion of this in the list alongside the other things is remarkable. How can you mention this in the same breath with bitul daso and which presumably is an allusion to Shabbos and Milah and לא הניחום לעסוק בתורה ובמצוות. And not only that, and not only that, but you know what, they also take all the money away, of Pashtu yadam bemamonam. Okay. So maybe the answer is that Rachmana litzlan it is the financial pressure was great enough to be mentioned in the list. But then the mentioning it in a single phrase together with u'vivnoseihem is also very, very striking. Pashtu yadam u'vivnoseihem and again that refers to the Gemara in the beginning of Kesubos that tells us that there was a Gezeirah called she'tiba'el l'hegmon techilah. That every woman marrying for the first time was first going to be violated, first going to be raped by the local Syrian governor before she could be with her husband. That is Pashtu yadam u'vivnoseihem. And the Rambam in the same in the same breath says פשטו ידם בממונם ובבנותיהם. So even if although the attack, the targeting of Jewish money should be included in the list, it should have been a different breath. It should have been, I don't know, gazlu mamonam or הטילו עליהם מיסים כבדים and not Pashtu yadam bemamonam. In the same the same phrase is very, very remarkable. Let us put that aside for a minute and review another famous Maharam here in Chanukah. The Bach in Siman Tar-Ayin, very famous Bach, commenting on the fact that the Bach quotes from the Maharam of Rothenburg that there is no Mitzvah of Seudah on Chanukah and And in his opinion שלא קבעום אלא להלל ולהודות and that the days of Chanukah are yemei hallel ve-hodah and not yemei mishteh ve-simchah. Okay. So then the Bach asks that ikar hagezeirah as he just discussed למה לא קבעום למשתה ושמחה? Okay. But what underlies that fact? Here's his famous answer. He says that by Purim

עיקר הגזירה היתה מפני שנהנו מסעודתו של אותו רשע ועל כן נגזר עליהם להרוג ולאבד את הגופים.

And since they were confronted with a mortal physical threat, the celebration is physical as well. On Chanukah

עיקר הגזירה היתה על שהתרשלו בעבודה ועל כן היתה הגזירה לבטל מהם העבודה.

And that's why the celebration of Chanukah again is spiritual and specifically by taking one Mitzvah from Ikar and perpetuating that. So the Bach says it's a very clear Midah k'neged Midah in the overall hishtalshelut hadavar. That Purim was precipitated by נהנה מסעודת אותו רשע. As a result they were confronted with a mortal physical threat and the celebration therefore manifests itself in a physical fashion as well. Mah she-ein ken on Chanukah. What precipitated the crisis was hitrashlut ba-avodah, the neglecting of Avodah. Therefore the persecution was spiritual persecution and therefore the celebration manifests itself spiritually rather than manifests physically. Now the truth is that the Bach is the one who's viewing Chanukah and Purim through this lens, but the Yad Ephraim says that we should do it. Basically the Bach tells us that Hakadosh Baruch Hu acts Midah k'neged Midah and המשפט שאדם מודד בו מודדין לו. That is again, the Bach is the one who's sort of reminding us that when we think about Chanukah we have to think about it based on a Midah k'neged Midah and then Chazal say everything Hakadosh Baruch Hu does that way. Every time Hakadosh Baruch Hu punishes it's always Midah k'neged Midah. Somehow or other the Onesh reflects the Chet, the shortcoming which precipitates that Onesh. But with that in mind, let's come back to the Rambam. Pashtu yadam be-mammonam. If the gezeirah was, again the Bach doesn't only talk about this element of it, but the Rambam certainly does, if the gezeirah encompassed yoter mi-gufam and not only להטות מלכות התורה מן הישוב, but also pashtu yadam be-mammonam, then clearly again in terms of the Midah k'neged Midah it means that something had happened to precipitate that type of Tzarah. That type of Tzarah which expresses itself through pashtu yadam be-mammonam again is שמידה שאדם מודד בו מודדין לו. If the way the gezeirah had manifested itself in addition to everything else was pashtu yadam be-mammonam, so it means that there was something here which had precipitated that. It's interesting that Halakha le-ma'aseh the Rambam writes at the end of Hilkhot Chanukah that the Mitzvah of Chanukah is one of those very few exceptions to the rule of המבזבז אל יבזבז יותר מחומש. That by all other Mitzvot a person is not supposed to unless he has resources. of Chanukkah, that a person has to be mocheir kesuso, so to speak, mechaver al safsal. So again, the vicinity of pashat yadam bamamonam and somehow or other there was a cheit with regard to the mamon and the tikun for that is that when it comes to mitzvas Chanukkah it has to be even if necessary מוכר כסותו מחבר על ספסל. It’s a tochen. So when the Rambam says pashat yadam bamamonam, again, we commented that pashat yadam bamamonam is a lashon. Is it the same verb, right? It’s not only that he says two different things happened, but the Rambam used phrases. Okay. So you’re saying that part of the Rambam’s genius of compression that he’s able to say even though pashat yadam bamamonam means that they stole the money and pashat yadam bimnosseihem means that they violated their daughters, that that was part of the Rambam’s stylistic genius. And that’s certainly true, and it's a tochen that there’s a second layer of meaning here as well. It’s a tochen that the Rambam’s kavonah, okay, either way this is correct, whether this is a second layer of meaning in the phrase or whether this is the background to the phrase, but either way it’s correct that the Misyavnim in terms of the assimilation which happened, so that assimilation affected not only their ideas about avodas Hashem, not only their ideas about religion, not only their ideas about Talmud Torah, but also their attitude towards mamon. That the Greek culture which they were assimilating insinuated a certain attitude towards money, antithetical to the Torah’s attitude towards money, which they assimilated. And it's that which precipitated the onesh of pashat yadam bamamonam and maybe, maybe it’s a p’shat on the other avairah, but either way, the pashat yadam bamamonam means two things. Pashat yadam bamamonam means that they were metamei in the same way they defiled the daughters, they defiled the money in the sense of what the Jewish attitude towards money was. And that’s why the Bnei Yisrael were subjected to the gezeirah of having to cope with pashat yadam bamamonam in its other sense of their taking the money, of their appropriating the money. So what was the Greek attitude towards money? What is the Greek attitude towards money? It's the survival and wealth. Lichorah, two things. First of all, money is a hechsher. Money facilitates pursuit of pleasure. And I guess to be somewhat extreme about it, it's a hechsher aveirah. It facilitates pursuit of pleasure. A person has endless money, so a person can indulge in every taivah that he has. So that's one dimension of money and pursuit of money. But then money is also an end unto itself. There’s a certain money can be worshipped. It becomes an end unto itself. Just to have more and more money, more than a person can ever use in a lifetime. It becomes an end unto itself, it becomes its own avodah zarah. יש לו מנה רוצה מאתיים. It never ends. It's a never-ending cycle. It doesn’t matter how much a person has. It doesn’t matter how much a person has, he wants more. He wants, it’s no longer a hechsher. At that point, money is no longer a hechsher. Money is just an end unto itself. It becomes an end unto itself. It becomes its own avodah. Money is worshiped. And the more money one has, the better just for its own sake, not because at this point it's going to allow me to indulge in anything that I otherwise can't afford. No, I can afford everything. What's our attitude towards money? Let's do the obvious. Begin with a beautiful Beis HaLevi, Beis HaLevi comments on the pasuk in the beginning of Parshas Terumah, Veyikchu Li Terumah. And as many meforshim on the phrase, it should have been Veyitnu Li Terumah. You give a contribution, you make a contribution, you don't take a contribution. So what's the idiom of Veyikchu Li Terumah? It should have been Veyitnu Li Terumah. The Beis HaLevi says as follows: עיקר מה שיש לו להאדם מממונו, what a person really has in his own, in his money, הוא מה שנותן לצדקה, is what a person gives away. What a person really has from his money is that which he gives away. גם מי שיש לו ממון הרבה, a person who has, again, tremendous amounts of money, Ein Hamamon Shelo, it's not really his, אלא הממון מונח אצלו. And listen to the mashal the Beis HaLevi gives. He says והוא דומה להציפור גדולה הזאת של סוכר. You have a large, large piece of sugar, hamunach be'argaz sagur, which is in a closed trunk, וזבוב אחד גם כן בתיבה, and a fly is also in that closed trunk with that large piece of sugar, and inside is the fly. הוא עף עליו וגם אוכל ממנו ככל אשר ירצה, the fly is able to help itself to the sugar. He says היוכל הזבוב להתפאר שהוא עשיר ויש לו הרבה? So what does the fly say? Look, look how rich I am. First of all, כי גם הוא סגור, he's also locked into the, locked into the chest, וגם אין בכוחו ליטול כולו לעצמו, he can't even, he doesn't have the capacity to eat all the sugar, and he certainly doesn't have the capacity to take it with him. כן העשירות לגבי האדם, so too the Beis HaLevi says wealth with regards to a person, shehu munach etzlo. It's deposited with him, ve'eino shelo, it's not his, אלא הסך שנותן לצדקה הוא שלו ממש. A person takes the money and gives it away, so then he's taking something. Because that's his. That everlasting zechus, that eternal zechus that he has from giving tzedakah, that's something he can have. The money is not his. Vezehu de'isa, says the Beis HaLevi, Munbaz Hamalech, Munbaz Hamalech, this descendant of Hordos, bizbez otzrosav. He opened up his treasure houses and gave everything away for tzedakah. Ve'amar and he said, My ancestors ganzu l'acherim, they saved money for others, meaning they saved money and then they died and the money went to the heirs. Va'ani ganzati l'atzmi. He says I take money for myself, I gave it away, I saved money for myself. Says the Beis HaLevi, that's the pshat in Veyikchu Li Terumah. A person gives away the money, so then he's taking for himself and that's the only way a person can ever take for himself in an enduring way from his money. And one more ma'amor about what our, about what our attitude towards money is. Another ma'amor. This is a very famous Gemara comment on the pasuk in Sefer Bereishis, I forget exactly how the pasuk goes, Hashem will send His bracha... is the word of the pasuk. And the Gemara says that אין הברכה מצויה אלא בדבר הסמוי מן העין. Bracha can only relate, bracha can only attach itself to something which is hidden from the eye. So what does that mean? The Maharal explains as follows. He says when something is measured and shakul, when something is measured very precisely, something is weighed with great exactitude, then a person then a person and and it knows exactly, I know exactly that so much dollars, so much pounds, I can rely on it, so much so that for years and years this was the basis of bracha. somayach ein and so somayach ein I don't know exactly what's there, a person can't be relying on that, he can't be placing his trust in that, he must be placing his trust in Ribbono Shel Olam, placing his trust in Ribbono Shel Olam. He doesn't know exactly what the yield of his crop is, is it good, is it generating a market value, is it not generating a market value? He doesn't know exactly. There he can have bracha, as long as it's somayach ein. But as it's not somayach ein, so then there's no room for bracha. When my confidence is in what it says in my bank statement rather than Ribbono Shel Olam, there's no room for bracha. Mah haGmorah on that pasuk says that Hakadosh Baruch Hu, midas tova, beis nigzos, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu opens up his bags of midas tova to see which midas tova, what's the best gift he could bestow on Kal Yisroel. ולא מצא אלא עניות. And he found that the best gift with which he could bestow upon Kal Yisroel was aniyus. For what purpose? And then the Gmorah goes on to say ya'eh aniyusa l'yehuda'ei. That it's becoming, it's becoming. One one final ma'amar. The Gmorah in Berachos quotes the pasuk from Sefer Hoshea from the Navi Hoshea. וכסף הרביתי להם וזהב עשו לבעל. And Hakadosh Baruch Hu says I blessed them with kesef, with zahav, and what was the result? v'zahav asu labaal. That was the result of the bracha of kesef and zahav eventually. We view, we all don't view money as something to be desired. We all don't view wealth as something to be desired. We recognize the reality that the weakness in human nature is that we do desire it. I forget who it was that first pointed out that the word for kesef, for silver, for money, is also the same word nichsaf, that to long for something. We certainly recognize that propensity and that weakness in human nature to desire money, but we don't consider it something to desire. On the contrary, ya'eh aniyusa l'yehuda'ei. When Hakadosh Baruch Hu says that a person's avodah is to deal with a nisayon of osher, a person has to recognize, a person has to recognize that osher is a nisayon and has to brace himself: what do I do, how am I going to respond to this nisayon of osher? And here I'd just like to share an iyun in halacha, I'd just like to share with you some thoughts that first of all with the following hakdama that hopefully this prevents misunderstanding. What we've seen happen, which has affected countless financial reversals and upheaval which affected countless people, it's obviously not the case that there is any individual but most of them, and kehillos, but most of them, it's obviously not the case that there's one perspective and only one perspective on what's happening. It's also not the case that any one perspective is meaningful and illuminating for everyone. And what what we'll discuss, what we'll share in in in in in a minute now is not intended as the only perspective on what's happening. It's not intended as perspective for everyone, whether individually or collectively, who's been affected by what's been happening. But it is a perspective. It is something for some people. It's coming up like every other series of regular days on the calendar means that it's a special avodah, it's a special opportunity for avodat Hashem, to mean that the same way that Hanukkah, 2,000 years ago or so, was a time to be metaher, was a time to purify ourselves from the tumah of assimilating to Greek culture, so that's the avodah every year, the avodah every year. And if one element, one facet of the assimilation to Greek culture has to do with the attitude towards money, v'ahora'ah, v'ha'sorah, שהקדוש ברוך הוא מוסר מוסר למשה ומשה למשה, was the poshat yado mamon, so incredibly helpful taking advantage of the yom tov of Hanukkah to reflect on our attitude towards money and to what extent that our attitude towards money and our use of money is consistent with the yosher and use of the hoda'ah and to what extent is consistent with that Greek attitude towards money. Specifically, and I think, I think what we would do well to ask ourselves about what place in our lives the desire for money occupies. How much of our lives in terms of time is devoted not to, not to govoh and not any yiddishe gelt, not to living in a dignified way, but just to desire for money, for wealth, for more than what's involved with just living in a dignified way. There's no in-yan, again, there's no in-yan in desiring money. That's not something that we've patchkered, that's part of the, not part of the Greek culture, not part of the, not part of the in-yan. You don't desire money. And then when Ribbono Shel Olam gives us money, a person can not desire money and Ribbono Shel Olam says that this person should be the steward, that this person should be the gabbai tzedakah for that money. So now when Ribbono Shel Olam gives us money, the question is what do we use the money for? What do we use the money for? And when we live at a time when, when in current events, people what we're living poshat yado mamon, poshat yado doesn't have to be a gabbai, the effect is the same in terms of poshat yado mamon. So there's questions that we need to think about. How do we use the money that Ribbono Shel Olam does give us? One example, but it could be multiplied many times over, the amount of money that's wasted on simchas is mind-boggling. It's so astronomical, and because it's astronomical is mind-boggling. And the question is, when Ribbono Shel Olam trusts us with the money, and Baruch Hashem there are many people who are blessed with money who know what to do with it and they, and they give generously and repeatedly to tzedakah and that's wonderful. I don't have to, I don't mean to paint a one-sided picture, I don't have to. Im kol zeh, im kol zeh, as we prepare for Hanukkah, as we celebrate Hanukkah, I think we need to look at how do we use the money that Ribbono Shel Olam does give us. Is all the money which is spent on simchas is And the concern is well-founded. So imagine if, if some thousands of dollars were skimmed off of every simcha and were channeled to, in fact, about what the priorities are going to be in the community, it's not going to be addressed. But imagine every, every expense in terms of the the way we we celebrate our our smachos. There won't be a simcha, a couple gets married, a simcha, a seuda that's supposed to be a mitzva, a nice seuda. We're not talking about not having a seuda shel mitzva for whatever the occasion is: a wedding, a bris, a bar mitzva. But but a person can make a seuda, a person can can make a can make a seuda in different ways. Imagine if all that money could be channeled to all the tzrachim that we as a community now experience. To emphasize, a person doesn't always act in a zman, but a person has to recognize that osher, mamon, and nechasim... osher and nechasim. And if HaKadosh Baruch Hu singles one out for that, a person has to recognize it's a zman, and a person has to recognize A: it's a nisayon, and B: as such, it comes with a responsibility. It comes with a responsibility. The same way any zchus that HaKadosh Baruch Hu gives a person, if a person is gifted a position, then again it's a zchus, but with a zchus comes responsibility, comes responsibility. If that person is a teacher, if that person has an ability to teach, again, it's a zchus, but with a zchus comes responsibility. And osher, mamon, and nechasim, and mitzvos, again, it's a zchus but it's simultaneously a nisayon and a responsibility. I think that's our attitude and that's our approach to the story of Chanukah. Poshtu yadeihem bemamonom. Poshtu yadeihem bemamonom is, again, the same way poshtu yadeihem bi-nesheichem means that they defiled, they were metamei the money. They were metamei the money and that money again became something which was there to facilitate their pleasures, became an end unto itself. Poshtu yadeihem bemamonom because that happened, so then Poshtu yadeihem bemamonom in the sense of the gezeira, in the sense of confiscating the money. The tikun for that is, the tikun for that is to recognize what the money is there for, to recognize the ikrei teshuva and to be willing to spend one's last dollar and more to מקיים מצות נר חנוכה, to even ani shebe-oniyim if need be, to malveh tzedaka and to mechazek hatzadaka. I thank you for letting me share the shiur, דברי היוצאים מן המרא. I hope that as we prepare for Chanukah, as we observe Chanukah, that we should be able to take advantage of the zman, take advantage of the zman to tahair and to purify our conception of money and to grow in our yiddishkeit.