Chanukah- Tefillah

On 3rd section of Shema and Bracha Teka Beshofar of Shmoneh Esre:

The forces In This world are very powerful, especially When they are  very physical, very beautiful, very tempting and very desirable, these are very Greek desires. It is easy to loose oneself and get distracted of our personal and general mission as a Jew. 

The Torah is the transcendental force represented by the number 8 that allows us to fights these forces and stay connected to truth and to our mission, being in this material world and still using it for spirituality! 

That is the Chanukah 🕎 miracle ! 

This concept is hinted at in the 3rd section of Shema : when we say: And they shall place upon the fringe of the border, a thread of blue wool. And it shall be to you a fringe that you may look upon, & remember all the commandments of the L·rd & to do them. Then shall you not stray after your heart & your eyes whereafter you are wont to stray. So may you remember & do all My commandments & be holy for your G·d.

The Tzitzis which has also 8 strings are a constant reminder of the Chanukah power to not let oneself fall to the empty desires/choices of the world.

It is also hinted at in the 7th request/Bakasha of the Shmoneh Esre : Sound a great Shofar (rams horn for Mashiah'), for our freedom, & raise a flag to gather our exiles, & assemble us together quickly from the four corners of the earth to our land (of Israel). Blessed are You, that assembles the displaced of His people, Israel.

This Bracha correspond to the Sefirah Hod and express the fact that many of us got lost in this world, we lost our identity and purpose, we wasted our energy and potential to do our mission to be a Light unto the nations. 

This is the light of. Hanukkah, the eternal light that a Jew carries with him when he learns and shares Torah, when he enlightened the world to recognize (Hod) God’s presence and greatness. 

Living a life where we infuse spirituality in the physical-Kavanah in our daily mundane actions- is what will elevate the world and create unity between physical and spiritual, God and humanity. 

The sound of the Shofar in the Bracha is the

Sound of the 8 lights of Chanukah. We need to hear and see the sound in the lights (a taste of Har Sinai), the experience will set us free of any limitations and enable us to live transcendental lives in this world. 

(We can also see the hint of this Bracha and the Shema by the fact that we take our 4 Tzitzis representing the 4 corners of the world stated in this Bracha). 

There is another connection between this section of Shema and this Bracha. They both  focus on the sexual desires that could be wasted. (The Tzitzis lessons can strengthen men in Shmiras Haayinaym and Habris, and the Arizal made a special Kavana to fix the wasted seed while we say this Shmoneh Esre Bracha). 

The sexual desire is representative of all the desires that comes to us and in which we want to invest our energy and time. Learning to control it and direct it properly enables us to truly be married to God (let’s remember that the Bris is done on the 8th day too hinting at that special power and lesson of Chanukah, and Tzitzis) and act in a way that we become fruitful in this world. Us and God, are like married, God gives us the light of Torah, the spiritual seeds. We don’t want to waste it but to use it to impregnate the physical world and transform it into beautiful fruits/actions perfectly balanced between physical and spiritual. I believe this is what Chavah understood when she said: “קניתי איש את הי: I have acquired a man with HaShem.(Bereshit 4:1)

This is the Tikkun for all wasted potential and on Chanukah we focus on taking/elevating all the wasted energy/potential and use it to Praise HaShem with Halle and learning Torah.

BY: Rabbi Gutmacher 

Happy Chanukah 🕎