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Zos Chanukah: Revealed Light Still Needs Prayer

Name a tzaddik: tap for who he wasTitle a sefer

Bamidbar 7:84
זֹאת חֲנֻכַּת הַמִּזְבֵּחַ בְּיוֹם הִמָּשַׁח אֹתוֹ מֵאֵת נְשִׂיאֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל קַעֲרֹת כֶּסֶף שְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה מִזְרְקֵי כֶסֶף שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר כַּפּוֹת זָהָב שְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה
This was the dedication of the altar, on the day it was anointed, from the princes of Israel: twelve silver bowls, twelve silver basins, twelve golden spoons.
157Zos, “this,” speaks of revelation, something seen and pointed to with the finger,1 and it is the completion of the attributes. Chanukah comes from chinuch, dedication, after the dedication of the altar in these days. On this day the attributes from Notzer, “He keeps [kindness],” to Venakeh, “and He cleanses,” the eighth to the last of the thirteen attributes of mercy, are revealed. As the holy sefarim explain, these are the upper mazal and the lower mazal, two channels through which blessing flows from on high, and they are Chochmah and Binah, wisdom and understanding, the palate and the throat. In simple terms: even though “the palate tastes food,”2 and now the light is revealed even more, a person must still pray and cry out with “the voice of Yaakov,”3 which comes from the throat, that he be privileged to come into His gates.
[נ] זֹאת הִיא הִתְגַּלּוּת, דָּבָר הַנִּרְאֶה בְּאֶצְבַּע, וְהוּא גְּמַר הַמִּדּוֹת עַיֵּין סוֹף תַּעֲנִית, עַיֵּין לְקַמָּן מַאֲמָר (נ"ב נ"ג), וַחֲנוּכָּה הִיא מִלְּשׁוֹן חִינּוּךְ עַל שֵׁם חִינּוּךְ הַמִּזְבֵּחַ בַּיָּמִים הָאֵלּוּ, וּבַיּוֹם הַזֶּה נִתְגַּלָּה מִנּוֹצֵר עַד וְנִקָּה שֶׁהֵמָּה מַזָּל עֶלְיוֹן וּמַזָּל תַּחְתּוֹן כַּמְּבוֹאָר בסה"ק, שֶׁהֵמָּה חו"ב, חֵיךְ וְגָרוֹן, וּפִי' עפ"י פָּשׁוּט אַף שֶׁחֵיךְ אוֹכֶל יִטְעַם וְעַתָּה נִתְגַּלָּה בְּיוֹתֵר אעפ"כ צָרִיךְ לְהִתְפַּלֵּל וְלִזְעוֹק עוֹד בְּקוֹל יַעֲקֹב הַיּוֹצֵא מֵהַגָּרוֹן שֶׁיִּזְכֶּה לָבֹא שְׁעָרָיו.
  1. Taanis 31a: R' Elazar says that in the time to come the Holy One, blessed be He, will make a circle dance for the tzaddikim, and each one will point with his finger, as it says, “Behold, this (zeh) is our God” (Yeshayahu 25:9). ↩
  2. Iyov 12:11. ↩
  3. Bereishis 27:22. ↩
In shortOn Zos Chanukah the highest attributes of mercy stand revealed, yet one who already “tastes” the light must still cry out from the throat to enter Hashem's gates.
158This is like what the holy R' B., zt"l,4 said on “Open for me the gates of righteousness … This is the gate.”5 This is the meaning of “This (zos) was from Hashem; it is wondrous in our eyes”:6 the revelation came from Hashem, but in our eyes it is still a wonder, for we have not yet come to know it, to enter and see the depth of the matter. So too my holy grandfather7 said on “Good sense (tuv ta'am) …”8 And so in everything: even when a person has something, he should still know himself as a poor man who has nothing, and that what he has is not his own, for everything is bound to the will of Hashem.
וּכְמַאֲמַר הה"ק א"א מוהר"ב זצללה"ה עַל פִּתְחוּ לִי שַׁעֲרֵי צֶדֶק כּוּ' זֶה הַשַּׁעַר. וְזֶה הוּא הַפֵּי' מֵאֵת ד' הָיְתָה זֹּאת הַיְינוּ שֶׁמֵּאֵת ד' הָיְתָה הַהִתְגַּלּוּת אֲבָל בְּעֵינֵינוּ עוֹד נִפְלָאוֹת הוּא, כִּי לֹא הִגַּעְנוּ עוֹד לֵידַע וְלִכְנוֹס לִרְאוֹת עוֹמֶק הָעִנְיָן, וּכְמַאֲמַר אא"ז הה"ק עַל טוּב טַעַם כו' וּכְפִי אֲשֶׁר הֶאֱרַכְנוּ בִּדְבָרָיו הַקְּדוֹשִׁים, וְכֵן בְּכָל הָעִנְיָנִים אַף שֶׁיֵּשׁ לְאָדָם דָּבָר מַה אעפ"כ יֵדַע כִּי עָנִי אֵין לוֹ כְּלוּם, וּמַה שֶׁיֵּשׁ לוֹ אֵינוֹ שֶׁלּוֹ, וּבְחֵפֶץ ד' הַכֹּל קְשׁוּרָה,
  1. The sefer gives him only a title and an initial: “the holy א״א, our teacher R' B.” ↩
  2. Tehillim 118:19–20. ↩
  3. Tehillim 118:23. ↩
  4. R' Shraga Feivel of Gritza, the Rebbe's grandfather, his father's father. ↩
  5. Tehillim 119:66: “Teach me good sense and knowledge.” ↩
In shortThe revealed zos is “from Hashem” yet still “wondrous in our eyes,” for we have not entered its depth; and what a person has is never his own.
159This is the meaning of “Honor Hashem with your wealth (mehonecha).” Do not read mehonecha (מהונך), “from your wealth,” but “from what He has graciously given you (chonencha, חננך),” even from a pleasant voice.9 That is, what you have is only a free gift, so cry out and pray to Him. And as brings there: do not read mehonecha but migeronecha (מגרונך), “from your throat.”10 Do not say that this is “from your wealth,” something you own, but “from your throat”: pray and ask Hashem for mercy, that He give you and add to you, for everything is His, and “the earth and its fullness are Hashem's.”11
וְזֶה הוּא כַּבֵּד אֶת ד' מֵהוֹנֶךָ א"ת מֵהוֹנֶךָ אֶלָּא מִמַּה שֶׁחֲנָנְךָ אֲפִילּוּ מִקּוֹל עָרֵב (ע' רש"י משלי ג' קדושין ל"ב) הַיְינוּ שֶׁיֵּשׁ לְךָ רַק מַתְּנַת חִנָּם וְתִצְעַק וְתִתְפַּלֵּל לוֹ, וּכְפִי שֶׁמּוּבָא ברש"י (משלי שם) אַל תִּקְרֵי מֵהוֹנֶךָ אֶלָּא מִגְּרוֹנְךָ הַיְינוּ שֶׁלֹּא תֹּאמַר שֶׁזֶּה הוּא מֵהוֹנֶךָ הַיְינוּ שֶׁיֵּשׁ לְךָ, אֶלָּא מִגְּרוֹנְךָ שֶׁתִּתְפַּלֵּל וּתְבַקֵּשׁ רַחֲמִים מֵה' שֶׁיִּתֵּן לְךָ וְיוֹסִיף לְךָ, שֶׁהַכֹּל שֶׁלּוֹ וְלַה' הָאָרֶץ וּמְלוֹאָהּ.
  1. Mishlei 3:9; Rashi there; Kiddushin 32a, where the verse is cited. ↩
  2. Rashi on Mishlei 3:9. ↩
  3. Tehillim 24:1. ↩
In short“Honor Hashem with your wealth” is read “from what He granted you” and “from your throat”: all we have is a free gift, so we pray for more.
160This is the meaning of “I said in my haste, ‘All men are false.’”12 “In my haste” means in this world, which is called haste, as Chazal said, “Grab and eat,”13 and as it is written, “For you shall not go out in haste …”14 “All (kol) men are false”: if a man should say that he is kulo, entirely, complete, it is not true.15
וְזֶה הוּא הַפֵּי' אֲנִי אָמַרְתִּי בְחָפְזִי הַיְינוּ בעוה"ז שֶׁנִּקְרָא חִפָּזוֹן וכמאחז"ל חֲטוֹף וֶאֱכוֹל (עירובין נ"ד) וּכְמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב לֹא בְחִפָּזוֹן תֵּצֵאוּ כו', (ישעי' נ"ב) כָּל הָאָדָם כּוֹזֵב, הַיְינוּ שֶׁיֹּאמַר אָדָם שֶׁהוּא כּוּלּוֹ בִּשְׁלֵימוּת זֶה אֵינוֹ אֱמֶת (כתי"ק):
  1. Tehillim 116:11. ↩
  2. Eruvin 54a: “Grab and eat, grab and drink, for the world we are leaving is like a wedding feast.” ↩
  3. Yeshayahu 52:12. ↩
  4. The sefer's note, added by his son, the editor: printed from his own handwriting. ↩
In shortIn this hurried world, anyone who says he is entirely complete is not telling the truth.
Takeaway

Even when Hashem's light is open before us, we have only begun to see it. Whatever we have, down to a pleasant voice, is His free gift, so let us keep praying from the throat to enter His gates, and never tell ourselves that we are complete.

Translated with AI assistance. Sources not yet mapped; not yet reviewed by a human editor.

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