The Secret of Chanuka: Practical lesson that we could take out of Chanukah

Rav Avigdor Miller on The Secret of Chanukah

Q: What is a practical lesson that we could take out of Chanukah?

A: I’ll tell you one important ????. We say to Hashem about our forefathers who fought the ????? at the time of Chanukah: ??? ?? ???? ??? ?? ???? – “You, Hashem, judged their quarrels; You fought their fight.” Now, there’s a question here. It wasn’t their quarrel. It wasn’t the quarrel of the ?? ?????. It was Your quarrel, Hashem. Because, after all, the Greeks weren’t interested in killing Jews. They wanted the Jews to stop keeping the Torah, that’s all. If the ??? ????? would be willing to behave like the Greeks, they wouldn’t bother them. So why did the ?? ????? fight? They didn’t fight for their safety; they fought for the Toras Hashem. It was for ???? ????, for the honor of Hashem, that they fought. So it wasn’t ??? ?? ????. It was ??? ?? ???? – Hashem, You fought your own fight! You fought Your quarrel!

No. No! We say ??? ?? ????. You fought their fight! Because they had fulfilled what we say ??? ????? ?????? – “Make the will of Hashem your will” (Avos 2:4). What Hashem wanted, they wanted! They weren’t merely fighting for what Hashem wanted. What Hashem wanted became their ????, their will.

That’s a tremendous a achievement. To feel that you’re keeping the Torah because the will of Hashem is your will. Not only that you’re doing Hashem’s will, but it’s your will! ?? ?? ?????. The Torah is our lifeblood. It’s more than our lives. And we’ll give our lives for the Torah.

So we see that they were fighting for ???? ????, but they were fighting for their ???? at the same time.

And that’s why it’s so important, when you see that it was not only ???? ??? ?????, but it was ????? ??? ??????. That’s important! It was a ????? ??? that the ?????? won out. It was great ????? ???! It says ???? ?? ???? ??????. When tzadikim fight the fight of Hashem, when they’re willing to give up their lives for Hashem, that’s making the name of Hashem great in this world.

We say ?? ??? ????? ???????. The miracle came by the hands of the holy Kohanim. The Kohanim! Kohanim should fight?! Kohanim are ????? ???; they have no business with fighting. But these Kohanim went out with ??? ?????, the sword and the shield, and they fought. They were fighting for Hashem’s honor.

And therefore Hashem says, “That’s a ????? ???.” And the ????? lights are ???? ??? ??? ???? ??????? ???? ??????, testimony to the whole world that Hashem dwells amongst the Jewish people. And why? Because Yisroel lives for Hashem, they live for the ?????. Their entire purpose is only ???? ????, glorifying the name of Hashem.

And that’s the greatness of Chanukah. It teaches that our nation is dedicated to ???? ???? more than to anything else that we would desire to do; even more than our own lives. We live only for Hashem.

Tape # E-170 (December 1998)