The Chanukiya (Chanukah Menorah)
HaMakom - The Place of Connection
The Connection Of The Righteous
Mashiach ben Yoseph and Chanukah
Explanation from the Yalkut Me’Am Lo’Ez
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In this paper I
would like to explore connections in general, and also connections specific to Chanukah[1]. Chanukah was established by our Hakhamim
after they defeated the Greeks and rekindled the menorah, the lampstand, in the
Temple. The account of the battles and the miracles can be found in the
apocraphal book of Maccabbees.
Lets
start by noting the fact that the Hebrew word mitzva (miswa), normally translated as commandment, means connection! The
first use of mitzva is found in:
Bereshit
(Genesis) 26:1 And there was a famine
in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac
went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar. 2 And HaShem appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into
Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: 3 Sojourn in this land,
and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed,
I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto
Abraham thy father; 4 And I will make thy seed
to multiply as the stars of heaven,
and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed; 5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and
kept my charge, my commandments (mitzva), my
statutes, and my laws.
In this pasuk, this
passage, we see the establishment of the connection of Avraham and his seed to
HaShem and to the higher world. Avraham established the connection by obeying
the mitzvot (commandments [plural]). This connection
was a restoration of the connection that Adam had in Gan Eden. Never the less, the ultimate fulfillment of this
connection required the second Adam: