B"H
Thursday, Kislev 26, 5778 / December 14, 2017
Happy second day of Chanukah. One of the lessons of Chanukah is that a person, especially a Jew, must keep on going up and up in matters of holiness, goodness and kindness. This is expressed by the amount of candles we light. Each day of Chanukah we ADD an additional light.
We light the Chanukah candles by the door or window, to bring this message to the world at large, that it is our duty to go from light to more light and from strength to more strength spiritually.
Good deeds bring light to the world. Thus, each additional candle represents additional good deeds which we perform.
Today, the second day of Chanukah is unique in that the amount of candles today are double than the day before. Every other day of Chanukah we add one candle, but it will not be double than the day before. Only the second day of Chanukah we have DOUBLE than the previous day. In terms of increase it is the day which represents the greatest level of increase by comparison to the day before.
Q. What is the origin of the Dreidel?
A. The Greek-Syrians and their Hellenistic sympathizers prohibited Jews from performing many mitzvot, including teaching Torah to Jewish children. Any teacher or child caught learning Torah was severely punished. However, the Jewish teachers and students devised a way around this ban. They would gather to study and when the one on the lookout would spot a Greek soldier he would warn them. The children would hide their books and begin playing with the Dreidel.
Q. What is the significance of the four Hebrew letters on the Driedel; Nun, Gimel, Hay, Shin?
A. The four letters on the Dreidel stand for: "Nes, Gadol, Haya, Sham" - "A great miracle happened there." These were the four letters on the Dreidels used in the Diaspora – “there” referring to Israel.
In Israel, the letter "Shin" (which stands for “there”) is substituted with the letter "Pay." It stands for the Hebrew word "Poh", "Here" ("A great miracle happened here"), for the miracle took place in Israel. To honor the self-sacrifice of these young Jewish students and to encourage our children to study Torah, we distribute "Chanukah Gelt" (“Chanukah money”) to our children, so they too, will follow in the footsteps of their ancestors and make every effort to excel in the study of Torah.
On the lighter side: Rabbi Gershon Henech Leiner of Radzin once developed a bad toothache on Chanukah and the dentist had to pull the tooth. The rabbi wanted to pay the dentist but he refused to accept, saying, "It's a custom to give the Rabbi a Chanukah Gift, so let this be my Chanukah gift."
"I'll accept it on the condition that you won't tell anybody about this," answered Rabbi Gershon Henech in jest. "I'm afraid that if people find out they, too, will want to give me the same gift!"
HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY & SUCCESSFUL DAY & HAPPY CHANUKAH