Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Rabbi Kaplan, are you there?
[00:00:01] Speaker B: I'm here, Zelda. Good morning. How are you?
[00:00:07] Speaker A: Happy.
Tell us how you are.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Baruch Hashem. I am well, thank God. Happy Hanukkah to you and to all of our listeners. It is wonderful to be on air with you and to share the message, the light, the inspiration and the good cheer of Hanukkah in a way that is all encompassing, really is, elder, because I keep getting feedback from your show, and I'm not just talking about our province.
I hear it when I go to Montreal, and I hear it sometimes when I go to the United States. And you and I both know that we have a listenership all the way down under in Australia, so this is wonderful. And we utilize this opportunity to share words of Torah and words of uplifting optimism and spiritual strength.
[00:00:57] Speaker A: All right, well, we're happy that people gained something very important from the show, and we certainly wish that we would have.
We're grateful that we have this message that we're able to share with our audience. Okay, so when we talk about the holiday of Hanukkah, how important it is, I don't think a lot of people really have an understanding of what it all means or what the significance is. A lot of people talk about Chanukah, about a joy in Hanukkah, but it doesn't really care for things about it. So they do not give you the religious significance and how important it was. So can you. Will you share with our audience what is Hanukkah and how it really affects all of us?
[00:01:54] Speaker B: You know, Zelda, it's a great question. I'm not sure who a lot of people are, and I don't know how scientific the studies are to discover or discern how many people do or don't know. But I have to tell you, the question of what are we celebrating? What this is really all about has been asked ever since the beginning. The Talmud itself asks the question, my Hanukkah, what is Hanukkah?
It's interesting to note that the question, what is this holiday about? Is not asked about Pesach Passover. It's not asked about Shavuot. It's not even asked about Sukkot. And Sukkot isn't the anniversary of any particular event, anything historic, that unfolded on that day. It commemorates 40 years of miraculous deliverance and our sojourns through the desert, but it doesn't have a specific reason to be observed or celebrated at that time. In the later rabbinic writings, there is many questions that are asked, and we look for understanding, explanation, rhyme, reason and rationale. But. But the question, my sukkot doesn't get asked, and we don't even have that question with regard to Purim, nowhere does the Talmud say so. My purim? What is Purim?
The question is only how to observe Purim, how to observe Pesach, how to. How to observe the holy Shabbat, but not what it is. And all of these days, Zelda have a tremendous amount of profundity and depth behind them. And one who educates his or herself will learn all about the meaning of the different holidays and the holy days that we, the jewish people, have celebrated and continue to celebrate ever since the beginning of our peoplehood. And yet the youngest of our festivals, which is Chanukah, it's only less than 22 centuries old. This is the festival about which the question is raised. My chanukah. In Rashin, his commentary on the Talmud says that the understanding of this question is al aza nes kvuhu. So for which miracle? What are we celebrating? Is it the military conquest that happened when we were militarily weak but spiritually strong and outgunned and overwhelmed and outnumbered? There was no logical or reasonable expectation that we would prevail. Is that what we're celebrating? Or maybe we celebrate something different, you know, if we're celebrating a military or material victory, the method of celebration is very, very different than any other jewish holiday. On Pesach, we have a repast, a big meal. I like to call it the original Farbrengen. Everybody drinks four glasses of wine, demonstrating a sense of freedom and liberty, and we tell the story. And it's not just a monologue, there's a give and take. We try to stimulate questions from the children. We respond to them. It's an interactive experience.
On Shavuot, there's an emphasis on having Sudat Yomtov. In fact, there's a statement which is made in the Gemara, that whilst other festivals can be observed spiritually, the festival of Matantora, celebrating Hashem, giving us our marching orders and empowering us to transform the world and bring it into an elevated state of consciousness and awareness of our creator, that it has to be celebrated with a meal in the language or words of our sages. Hakoyal Moidem. Everybody agrees, the Biinon lachem, that when it comes to this festival, there has to be some kind of material celebration. And of course, on Sukkot Zelda, this is, you know, fabringan headquarters.
We go out into the sukkah and we spend time with family and friends. And of course, we say lots of l'chaim, drinking wonderful wine from Israel and maybe whiskey from Scotland. But whatever it is that helps us to wet our tongues a little bit and make us more open to social interaction amongst each other, which is, by the way, why we use alcohol. Not to feel good, but rather to open ourselves to others. Very, very different than narcotics, which we should never, ever use unless somebody has a medical condition, God forbid. So we try to come together, we try to celebrate, and the festival of Hanukkah is radically different. There is no halacha that says you have to eat a pound of latkes or a tray of Sovghani oat. In fact, there is no halachic obligation whatsoever to eat anything fried in oil. It's only a tradition. There is no obligation to.
[00:06:44] Speaker A: Why do we minimize.
Why do we minimize the role of Judaism in the world? Why do we take something that is so meaningful and truly give it very little meaning?
[00:07:00] Speaker B: I don't understand what you're saying, Zelda. Who gives what little meaning? I think Hanukkah has enormous amount of meaning. And I'm about to tell you and share with our listeners how I think Hanukkah has an impact that in some ways eclipses the impact on the world of all the other festivals. There's something magical and enchanting, something incredibly spiritually profound and powerful about Hanukkah that we don't find anywhere else. And that's what I'm trying to get to. So my chanukah, the Gemara, says, what is Hanukkah? It doesn't seem to be like all of the other festivals. Somehow it's celebration is markedly different.
We celebrate Hanukkah with the kindling of a menorah. We celebrate Hanukkah by adding the halal to our prayers, singing God's praise. We try to focus on the miracles of our survival, and not only survival, but in fact our triumph, the triumph of spirit, the triumph of the connection that we have with Hashem as being and eternal people and the purveyors of light and inspiration to the world. Why do we celebrate this holiday so differently than all others? And Rashi tells us that the miracle that we celebrate is not the military conquest, it's not the defense of a beleaguered nation and the right that we earned to practice our faith in freedom. What we're really celebrating is a menorah that continued to burn even though there wasn't enough oil, even though it should have extinguished itself after just a day the menorah burns for eight days. And that, Zelda, is enormously difficult to understand. I mean, for heaven's sake, we were delivered as a people. Our nation was attacked for no reason. They tried to destroy our faith. They outlawed our practice of Torah and of mitzvah, and we fought back, miraculously prevailed. We're able to.
We don't always fight. We actually don't always fight back, Zelda. And that's perhaps maybe the next thing we'll talk about. We actually don't always fight back. In fact, it's rare that we fight back, but we did in the time of Hanukkah, and we prevailed. And somehow, although it's part of our prayerful lexicon that isn't the focus of Hanukkah. So Rashi is asking. It says that the sages are asking this question, what precisely are we celebrating?
You know, Zelda, to be sure, if you talk about the miracles on the battlefield or military conquest or defense of the jewish people, there are many such events in the Bible, not the smallest of which. Or is the sun standing still in so YehoshuA can complete the conquest of that portion of Canaan in Amicai alone, when the sun stands still, that's a much bigger miracle. Nobody had to ask, is this a miracle? And, I mean, is this really happening? Everybody saw it. The whole world saw the sun stand still. And yet, although the date happens to be known, it isn't celebrated, and there are no mitzvot or no observances that are associated with it. And you might well ask the question, why not? Like, if we celebrate the miracles of Hanukkah, which were very painful miracles? Zelda, you know, a lot of innocent people died in the defense of Israel and our homeland and our faith. It wasn't all peaches and cream, was a very, very difficult and painful ordeal.
A lot of suffering, a lot of anguish.
Ultimately, our sages deem it to be miraculous. It just couldn't be explained any other way. But why is this the only military victory that we celebrate? And what our sages are telling us is we aren't actually celebrating a military victory. What we're celebrating is the eternity of the jewish spirit. What we're celebrating is the fuel that God gives us to keep the light burning. Yes, in the time of Chanukah, there was a key component of people fighting back and defending our nation. But that's not the essence of Hanukkah. Chanukah isn't about bows, arrows, swords, or war elephants. Hanukkah is about our ability to keep making light. It's about our ability to find pure oil. Not oil or the fuel that is compromised or tainted. Pure study of Torah, the pure observance of mitzvot, the dedication to God that comes from the deepest reservoir of our soul and spirit, and that even in the darkest of nights, in the coldest of seasons, the light will continue to illuminate and the warmth will continue to spread. Chanukah is the celebration of jewish eternity and jewish eternity. Zelda isn't bagels and lox.
It isn't about a particular kind of food or dress. These things are all cultural. It's about our spirituality. It's about our undying connection with goddess that's achieved on God's terms.
And God's terms are the Torah he gave us and the mitzvahs that he instructed us to fulfill. And that's something that's eternal. And that's why so many people celebrate Chanukah. They don't even know why they celebrate Hanukkah. I have to agree with you on that. Most people have no clue. But then again, a lot of people have no clue of many things.
So what?
I really and truly believe that the reason that Chanukah is so widely celebrated, the reason it is so widely embraced by jewish people from virtually all stripes, isn't because it comes in December and jews are aching to fill a void. I really and truly believe that there's something about the spiritual power and profundity of Chanukah that touches and stirs the deepest part of our bond and our connection with God. And no, it isn't about a meal, and it isn't about a food. It's about a menorah. It's about light, it's about holiness, it's about purity. It's about a relationship with God that is real and tangible and everlasting.
[00:13:40] Speaker A: I think, Rabbi Kaplan, that many young people today, unless they go to, you know, to school or they go and they really understand what the significance is, they don't understand and they just enjoy the holiday and they think it doesn't really have that much significance. But as a teacher and as a rabbi, you understand the true meaning of the holiday, and how do we keep it going? How do we make it understood by this generation so that it has the meaning of what Judaism?
[00:14:22] Speaker B: Firstly, I don't think we should beat up on the youth or this generation. I don't think the last generation understands much either. And for that matter, the generation before us wasn't that well educated.
Who we fooling? I mean, people have not understood the depth and the meaning and the profundity of Torah Judaism for a very long time. And at the same time, there have always been people who have understood it. You know what the answer to your question is, though, Zelda? The answer to your question is, how do you illuminate the darkness? That's really what you're asking, because ignorance is like darkness. And you know what the answer is?
By kindling a menorah, by doing what we're doing right now, by educating people. So many of our listeners may not have known about the things that we just talked about, and now they do know. And, you know, I hope that they will be inspired to want to learn more, because it's as King Solomon metaphorizes, like apples of gold in silver filigree, and you have to peel away the silver, and then you discover the gold. And there are layers upon layers upon layers. And there's so much beauty, so much meaning, so much inspiration that's, that's contained within the frame of, of Yiddishkeit and Torah knowledge. I hope and I pray that people are inspired to keep learning. Keep learning. If. If I could say one thing to our listeners now, I would say that Hanukkah is about the study of Torah, pure Torah, spiritual Torah, God's Torah study. You know, Zelda, I started a series on Hanukkah, which I called lights love and Hanukkah, or Hanukkah lights love or something. I took it from a tv sitcom. And the reason I use that the title is because I thought it would be attractive to people who are just looking for something light. But, you know, the content isn't light. It's deep. It's thought provoking. I'm four episodes in. I'm gonna be that I delivered last year, last Hanukkah, and I'm going to be teaching a class live tonight on my YouTube channel, YouTube.com, rabbi Mendel Kaplan. And it's going to be called gates at the, at the gates of darkness. And I'm going to be talking about the spiritual power of the menorahe. And there's a lot of sources and a lot of real serious learning. And especially young people are like sponges. They have open minds. And if only they could just be motivated to get past the quick, what I call TikTok kind of inspiration and actually want to learn because I want to teach, and it's the greatest privilege that I have is to be able to study and prepare Torah classes and to teach them and to share that wisdom with others. And I truly believe that the more educated we will be in a Torah sense, the more we will begin to feel a sense of fervor and passion, and the more we will do about the things we know and feel for. And that's really the philosophy of Chabad. The altar Rebbe pioneered this idea that we would learn the mystical spiritual teachings of Judaism. Chabad is an acronym for the three intellectual faculties that God grants each and every human being. Chachma, Bina, and Das. Intellectual apprehension, development, and reaching the point of forming an opinion and feeling strongly about something, that if we were to understand the depth of Torah, that it would necessarily engender a sense of emotional engagement and involvement. And once you have a passion, and once you have a sense of awe, and once you have a sense of wonderment for the incredible legacy, for the heritage that we have been given, invariably actions follow. And this is the observance of Mitzvot. Mitzvot that are between people. Mitzvot that help us to be more compassionate, more considerate, more loving, more caring towards others. And Mitzvot that enable us to make our world a brighter, in a holier place by fulfilling the commandments that God gave us. And that's what life's really all about, Zelda. And it's not just about us, because when we study Torah and we perform mitzvah, not only are we elevated, but in fact, the world is changed, and perhaps never more so than on Chanukah, where the menorah is placed at the doorway, radiating its light and guidance and illumination into the public thoroughfare at a time when it's dark. Because such is the power of the menorah, the menorah is able to illuminate a darkness that's outside of our orbit, outside of our natural area of scrimmage, in a way that nothing else in our repertoire of yiddishkite observance can.
[00:19:38] Speaker A: Today has more of an understanding of the holidays that we share. Or are we, in many cases, just avoiding as much as we can?
[00:19:53] Speaker B: I think that our younger generation, our younger generation is more spiritually starved than the previous generation, and the previous generation who got some morsels of information or inspiration, might have been satisfied with that, and so they weren't, perhaps weren't looking as strongly. I think that subsequent generations of jewish ignorance has bred such extraordinary apathy that young Jews simply are aware of the fact that they've been robbed, and they know that the Yiddishkeit that they've been fed is lackluster, vapid, vacuous, empty, and they're looking for something new. Fresh and dynamic. I have a tremendous faith in the next generation. I think we're going to see a bouncing back of jewish fervor, of jewish pride, of jewish commitment, because this is a generation that has received so little, and yet their Neshama is as alive as ever, and they're craving a message of Yiddishkayt. I just hope that we can get through to them in time, because, you know, if you don't feed somebody, they might starve. So I hope we can get through to the next generation in time. I hope that we can share with them the ideas and ideals that have fueled our faith, our fervor and our passion for Yiddishkeit for thousands of years. The Torah does not get old. It is not antiquated, it is never irrelevant, and yet at the same time, it is never a reflection of any popular culture, and it requires effort. It is not right there at our fingertips, but we can immerse ourselves in it if we make the effort. And if we make the effort, we shall succeed. Way back when, in the time of Hanukkah, there were many people who told observant and pious Jews that it was time to move on, that Yiddishkeit had run its course. They said, you know, this is already over. A millennia ago, the Torah was given, Beit Hamigish was destroyed. Yes, you came back to Israel, you reestablished a Commonwealth, international entity. But, you know, jewish spirituality is a thing of the past.
The new craze is western civilization, greek philosophy, as it were at the time, and this is the answer for tomorrow. They said, well, greek philosophy and that way of life can be seen in the Royal Ontario Museum and other fine establishments like it. And yet, the vibrant Yiddishkeit that fueled the fervor and passion of the Maccabees 22 centuries ago continues to fuel the work that we are doing today. The rebbe's army of spiritual Maccabees, who's doing that work of illuminating the spiritual darkness, the ignorance and the apathy. It's the same fire, it's the same fuel, it's the same passion, and it is eternal. It will continue to live on. And despite the doom and gloom predicted by so many, you and I and all of our listeners must know that we are an am olam, we are an eternal nation. That Netzach Yisroel lo Yashaq, that the eternity of the jewish people is never going to be put to lie and it is never going to fade. The only question, the only question that I think people have to ask themselves is not if Judaism will survive and not if there will be a bright jewish tomorrow. The answer to both those questions, if one only looks at jewish history, is a resounding yes. The question is, will our grandchildren be amongst that eternal nation? And that's something that every parent and grandparent has to be thinking about and working on, because it doesn't happen by itself.
[00:23:39] Speaker A: Well, it upsets me terribly to know how hard we have to fight to preserve our heritage, when our heritage, Rabbi Kaplan, is the basis for everything that is good in this world, and it's the children that have to inherit and educate the rest of the world. Do we have what it takes to do that? How many rabbi Kaplans do we have? How many Zelda young? How many whomever wants to go the route?
[00:24:15] Speaker B: Well, there's only one Zelda. And I have to tell you, there's a lot of people who are happy there's only one rabbi Kaplan. But there are much, much better people than I who are doing a fine and wonderful job at promulgating a message of Yiddishkayt. The truth is that each of us is supposed to be himself. We will never be held up to others or to measured against others success. We're only gonna be asked by God, why didn't you do what you could have done? And I'm not sure if Mendel Kaplan does as much or as well as he should be doing it. So I strive and I work. And you talked about battle and struggle. So I battle and I struggle. My demons. We all have our own demons. Maybe we have demons of lethargy. Maybe we have demons of inadequacy. Maybe we feel that we won't succeed. But all of this is. It's all a lie. It's all demons. And demons are meant to be slayed. And we have to get past ourselves. We have to get past our own limitations and know that with faith and humility, with optimism, positivity, and confidence, if we will only do the right thing, we will always succeed. We always have Zelda. You know, you spoke about, you said it pains you that there's a battle and a struggle. You know, it shouldn't. This is the way God designed it to be. Everybody who has a good marriage struggles to have a good marriage. Good marriages don't come by accident. Even good friendships aren't an accident. So many people I know are so successful in a wide range of endeavor, the field of commerce or academia, whatever it is that they have devoted their professional lives to, and the common denominator amongst people who are entrepreneurial, professional, or in the arts, the common denominator is that the people who are successful all work very hard. And that's the way God created the world. We weren't meant to sit on a beach and drink martinis. I mean, maybe people can take a little vacation, but it's always good to recharge your batteries. Although I'm not so sure that beaches and martinis are the best way to do it. The point is, God built us, designed us, created us so that we might toil. And do you know why, Zelda? Not because he wants to make us miserable. Because people are only really and truly satisfied and happy when they work to things.
If it comes for free, you don't appreciate it. God wants us to find inner satisfaction. Jewish people have to work well, clearly a little harder, because Mashiach isn't here yet. And we'll know when we've done our part, when Mashiach arrives. And until Mashiach arrives, we have work that's left to be done. And you know, Zelda, sometimes it can be a little bit daunting and overwhelming, but it must never be demoralizing. And you can see the successes. I'll share something incredible with you. Yesterday I had the privilege of being at the Ontario provincial police headquarters in Irelia, and we lit a menorah for the first time in OPP history. And not just at an OPP detachment, but at OPP headquarters. And the OPP commissioner was there. Senior brass and officers were there. They loved it. It was meaningful and uplifting. My good friend Doctor Aubrey Zeidenberg was there with me. It was fantastic. It was a fantastic thing. And Aubrey told me later that the OPP commissioner said to him, this was so meaningful. He said, this was so beautiful. I want to make sure that next year there's a menorah in every OPP detachment in the province. How unbelievable is that? Living in a time where jewish people are targeted and oftentimes even hated? Unfortunately, in our society. And here we have an OPP commissioner who's not jewish, he's a devout Christian, and I'm cheered by his faith. And he says, Ontario OPP detachments should have a menorah. Now think about that. Think about the impact of a menorah and think about the menorah lightings that will take place next year. Be'ezrat Hashem, even more so than this year. Think about how many more menorahs have been placed each year in our own province of Ontario.
Think about how the light is continuing to spread. Think about how many young people are being inspired by a message of Yiddishkay and are coming home. Zelda, the future is bright, and we have to just continue to do our part. Adding one candle every day. You can't light the whole menorah at once.
[00:28:48] Speaker A: One of the menorah candles because he usually do this.
[00:28:51] Speaker B: Zelda, we never planned anything, but it would be a great honor if we could make that happen with Hashem's help. I'd love to be able to do that. You and I both know that amazing things happened around the chin menorah, and nothing would please me more. We have to just keep spreading the message in a very public and proud way. I don't believe that our mission in the world is to tell people about our victimhood. In fact, I don't even talk about it in the public thoroughfare. I speak about Yiddishkeit. I speak about God. I tell everybody I meet that they're created in God's image. God loves them. He wants a personal relationship with each and every one of us. And, yes, we can achieve this.
[00:29:32] Speaker A: Okay, we'll just take a short break, and we'll be back with rabbi Mendel Kaplan.
[00:29:41] Speaker B: All right, people, we're taking a short break.
To all of you who are watching, I can see my friend Dan is watching now. I am. Dan, good to see you.
I'm not so sure we're going back on air, actually, because, Zelda, we have no more time. Oh, we're out of time. Okay, good. So we're not going back on air, eh?
[00:30:09] Speaker A: No, we're not.
[00:30:10] Speaker B: Rabbi.
[00:30:10] Speaker A: Captain, we're good.
[00:30:11] Speaker B: Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much for everything you do.
[00:30:14] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:30:15] Speaker B: It's always a pleasure. And I couldn't end the radio show with my signature hope and prayer for moshiach to come, so at least I'll sign off on facebook, and I know this video is going to be on our YouTube channel afterwards. Thank you for watching. Thank you for listening. Let's keep spreading the light. Let's keep sharing a message of positive Yiddishkeit and uplifting spirituality. Torah and mitzvah are the answer. They always have been. And may Hashem grant us that we merit to see our world bathed in the light of the menorah of the third base amikdash, a new world that is filled with nothing but God consciousness, happiness, peace and prosperity for us all. Happy Hanukkah. Thank you for joining. God bless you all.
