In this Chanukah prep shiur, Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David learn a piece from Rav Yitzchak Ginsburgh, based on a sicha of the Lubavitcher Rebbe from 5714 (1954), contrasting two very different kinds of light: the light of the Menorah in the Beit HaMikdash and the light of our little Chanukah flames today.

The Menorah of the Mikdash shone in a time of shleimut – when the Shechinah was revealed, when life in Am Yisrael was “hakol sababa,” full and bright. Seven branches, lit in broad daylight, from inside the Beit HaMikdash outwards – a light of harmony, order, and holy routine.

Chanukah light is born somewhere else entirely. It comes out of war on the Jewish soul, from thick darkness, from galut that still hasn’t ended. One small candle at the doorway, after night has already fallen, insisting on shining.

In this shiur we learn how Ner Chanukah reveals the eitan sheba’neshama – the indestructible point inside every Jew that often only wakes up when something is missing, when the heart is breaking. Together we explore why our generation is so deeply connected to Chanukah light, how “seven” (Beit HaMikdash) becomes “eight” (me’al ha’teva), why the oil of Chanukah is the sod of Torah the Baal Shem Tov wanted to bring to every Jew, and how a single “lonely candle” at your doorway can become the beginning of vayehi boker – a new morning of geulah.

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