Ep. 526: How Do We Ensure That the Joy and Lights of Chanukah Last All Year Long?

12/31/24 • 62 min

MyLife: Chassidus Applied

Rabbi Jacobson will discuss the following topics:
What is Chanukah’s message to us today?

How does it teach us to find hope and light in challenging times?
What is the personal application of the Chanukah light details – time, place, number, oil?
What does the oil represent?
Chassidus Applied to Chanukah and Zos Chanukah
Why do we eat potato latkes and donuts on Chanukah?
Is it a mitzvah?
What is the difference between a custom and a mitzvah?
What is the significance of Zos Chanukah?
Is Zos Chanukah considered to be the final sealing in the Book of Life inscribed on the New Year?
According to Shammai would the first day of Chanukah be called Zos Chanukah?
Just like we put on a few pairs of tefillin, why don’t we light two menorahs to satisfy both opinions of Hillel and Shammai?
What can we do to ensure that the joy and lights of Chanukah last all year long?
What is the central theme of this Torah chapter?
How could the righteous tribes have sold their brother into slavery out of jealousy?
What do Judah and Joseph represent?
Why will “action” be greater when Moshiach comes?
What role does Joseph play as a precursor to Moshiach ben David?
What personal and global lessons does it offer us?
How is it connected to Chanukah?
What does the Tzemach Tzedek mean by saying that rejoicing in the Alter Rebbe’s celebration is to grasp on to the doorknob (klamkeh)?
Are we required to teach Chassidus to others (follow-up)?
How can I deal with the fact that I no longer can have children?

Rabbi Jacobson will discuss the following topics:
What is Chanukah’s message to us today?

How does it teach us to find hope and light in challenging times?
What is the personal application of the Chanukah light details – time, place, number, oil?
What does the oil represent?
Chassidus Applied to Chanukah and Zos Chanukah
Why do we eat potato latkes and donuts on Chanukah?
Is it a mitzvah?
What is the difference between a custom and a mitzvah?
What is the significance of Zos Chanukah?
Is Zos Chanukah considered to be the final sealing in the Book of Life inscribed on the New Year?
According to Shammai would the first day of Chanukah be called Zos Chanukah?
Just like we put on a few pairs of tefillin, why don’t we light two menorahs to satisfy both opinions of Hillel and Shammai?
What can we do to ensure that the joy and lights of Chanukah last all year long?
What is the central theme of this Torah chapter?
How could the righteous tribes have sold their brother into slavery out of jealousy?
What do Judah and Joseph represent?
Why will “action” be greater when Moshiach comes?
What role does Joseph play as a precursor to Moshiach ben David?
What personal and global lessons does it offer us?
How is it connected to Chanukah?
What does the Tzemach Tzedek mean by saying that rejoicing in the Alter Rebbe’s celebration is to grasp on to the doorknob (klamkeh)?
Are we required to teach Chassidus to others (follow-up)?
How can I deal with the fact that I no longer can have children?

Previous Episode

Ep. 525: What Does Chanukah Teach Us About Today’s War?

Rabbi Jacobson will discuss the following topics:
What energy do we draw from these days between Yud Tes Kislev and Chanukah?

What do these holidays have in common?
Why don’t we study Torah on nittel eve?
How can refraining from Torah study have a positive impact?
How can a negative turn into a positive?
Why is there a custom to play chess at this time?
What connection does it have with Chanukah?
Why aren’t we obligated to read Megilas Antiochus on Chanukah, as we are about reading Megilas Esther on Purim?
Why is it called Megilas Antiochus?
How does Chassidus explain the lessons of Chanukah?
Why do we mark this holiday by lighting candles and not by commemorating the victory in the war with our enemies?
Since the Chanukah menorah represents the rededication of the Temple Menorah, why is it different in so many ways (eight instead of seven candles, kindled in the evening and not the morning, at the door facing outside, not inside the home, lit by every Jew not just the High Priest)?
What does the number eight represent? How does it differ from eleven?
What can we learn from Shammai’s opinion to begin lighting all eight candles on the first night?
Why did the High Priest light the Temple menorah?
Who are the seven shepherds and what is their connection to the seven branches of the menorah?
Do we add an eighth shepherd to correspond to the eight branches of the Chanukah menorah?
What is the connection between the eight days of this holiday and the eight days of Sukkos, with Zos Chanukah corresponding to Shemini Atzeres?
Why did the Rebbe wash and farbreng on Zos Chanukah 5738?
Is giving gifts on Chanukah and displaying blow-up Chanukah decorations appropriate?
Help me resolve a disagreement with my spouse: Can I give my children a Chanukah gift before the actual holiday?
Another disagreement: Is snow a blessing or a nuisance?
What are the lessons from emphasizing the victory of light over darkness?
What is the connection with Syria?
Should we be praising G-d for the fall of Assad in Syria and other victories over our enemies?
Is this part of the geulah process?
Is there a prophecy that all our enemies will fall before the redemption?

Nittel Chassidus Applied to Chanukah
What does Chanukah teach us about today’s war?

Next Episode

Ep. 527: Why Do We Celebrate Hei Teves?

Rabbi Jacobson will discuss the following topics:

Chassidus Applied to Hei Teves

What do we commemorate and celebrate on this day?

What was the spiritual trial and victory connected to this day?

Why were the stolen books considered a challenge to the Rebbe’s leadership?

Why did the Rebbe take such offense to the statement by the opposition that Chabad is not “active”?

How does Hei Teves express a deeper victory than the miraculous victory of Chanukah?

What did the Rebbe mean that the stolen books were like live bombs?

Why was the Rebbe so upset on Beis Kislev about the people hanging out in the streets?

Why were criminal charges of theft not filed against the accused?

If G-d infused His “soul” in the Torah, why is the Torah finite?

10 Teves

What lessons does this day offer us?

What is the significance of the fast day being on Friday?

What does it teach us about fighting our battles in Israel today?

Vayechi

What is the central theme of this Torah chapter?

What personal and global lessons does it offer us?

Why did Jacob live his best years in Egypt?

Why then was he so adamant to be buried in Israel?

Why did Jacob initially want to tell his family when Moshiach would come and why did G-d prevent him from doing so?

Why does Yaakov bless some of the 12 tribes with non-kosher animal representation: the lion of Yehuda, the viper of Dan, the ass of Yissachar, and the wolf of Binyamin?

Who gathered the lost objects that the tribe of Dan dropped?

Miketz

Is it significant that Parshas Miketz, which alludes to the final geulah, has exactly 2,025 words?

President Jimmy Carter

What are we to make of the fact that Jimmy Carter, the first president to light a public menorah, passed away on Chanukah? Is that justified?

Chanukah (follow-up)

Why don’t we light Chanukah candles according to Beis Shammai?

How should I deal with people not dressed modestly without being rude?