In 2005, one of my best friends, Rabbi Yoel Margolese, organized the first Siyum HaShas in Eretz Yisrael for Anglos. They invited the Rosh Yeshiva of Mir Yerushalayim Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel to address the crowd. Rabbi Finkel said one line which reverberates in my ear to this day: “Hadran alach Talmud Bavli are the most beautiful words a Jew can hear.”When making a siyum upon completing a Gemara, a person recites a few paragraphs which open with the statement, “Hadran alach, I will return to you” The completion is not a final goodbye to this Gemara, but rather a temporary parting with the intent to return to the completed sefer to study it again in the future.
This week is Chanukah, when we thank Hashem for the Chanukah miracle, when the Chashmonaim fought against the Greeks and, with the help of Hashem, were victorious. In addition, one pure flask of untainted olive oil was found, which was used to light the Menorah in the Beis Hamikdash and lasted for eight days until they were able to produce additional pure olive oil. The Sages instituted the practice of each Jewish home lighting a menorah on each day of Chanukah to honor this miracle.
The Gemara lists three levels of the performance of the mitzvah of lighting the menorah: 1. Basic, where one person in each home lights one candle each night; 2. Mehadrin, where each person in the home lights one candle each night of Chanukah on a separate menorah; 3. Mehadrin min hamehadrin, where each person in the home adds an additional candle each night on a separate menorah. Sephardim follow the opinion of Tosfos which requires that just the master of the house lights a menorah and adds an additional candle each night.
The Shulchan Aruch records the bottom line halacha as requiring observance of the highest tier of mehadrin min hamehadrin. Why does it rule in favor of the most extreme method of observing this mitzvah, unlike most other mitzvos? I believe this can be explained based on the definition of the word mehadrin. Simply, it means hiddur—to beautify the mitzvah of menorah. However, Rashi defines mehadrin as pursuing; i.e., someone who pursues mitzvos should light more candles. Thus there is a dual meaning of the word mehadrin: to pursue and seek all opportunities of performing mitzvos and to beautify a mitzvah in an extra special way.
The victory of the Chashmonaim occurred only because they put extra effort into their pursuit of serving Hashem in the best possible fashion. The Pnei Yehoshua explains that according to the letter of the law they would have been permitted to light the Menorah in the Beis Hamikdash with defiled oil if no pure oil was available. But they wanted to perform the mitzvah in the best and most beautiful manner. Therefore, Hashem performed a miracle, allowing them to find one flask of oil that was sealed and not defiled. Correspondingly, though the basic mitzvah is to light one candle each night, the Shulchan Aruch lists the third tier because the Jewish nation took it upon themselves to light the menorah in accordance with the mehadrin min hamehadrin approach, where every person in the home is to light a menorah and add a candle each night.
During this Chanukah, let us focus on this approach to the lighting of the menorah, where we go out of our way to pursue and beautify any opportunity we have to perform a mitzvah. This especially applies to opportunities we may have to learn Torah. In the paragraph of “Al HaNissim,” which we add on Chanukah in Shemoneh Esreh and Birkas Hamazon, it refers to the Chashmonaim as “osekei Torasecha”—those who toil in Torah. Each time we make a sincere effort to learn and understand words of Torah, we are expressing our love for Hashem.
Last week we suffered an enormous loss with the passing of my father-in-law Rabbi Shlomo Singer, visionary founder and rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Ner Boruch—PTI. Rabbi Singer was known to spend a great deal of time studying one topic in Gemara for an extended period. This was because each nuance of understanding was so precious to him. Every extra level of depth he reached brought out a greater dimension of beauty in the Gemara.
Please partner with me in continuing Rabbi Singer’s mission, bringing the beauty and passion of Torah learning to the 300 people who currently learn through PTI, and helping us to expand our reach. Please contribute to and attend this year’s special PTI UNITED dinner on Motzei Shabbos, January 11. Reservations and ads can be submitted to ptireception.com. May you continue to enhance and enjoy your performance of mitzvos each day.
Rabbi Baruch Bodenheim is the Rosh yeshiva of Passaic Torah Institute (PTI)/Yeshiva Ner Boruch. Rabbi Bodenheim can be reached at [email protected]. For more info about PTI and its Torah classes, visit www.pti.shulcloud.com
