Good evening and 'Hanukkah Sameach! With Hashem's help, we will discuss a topic related to 'Hanukkah, in the spirit of the Parashiot we read during this period.

The war of the Greeks against the people of Israel aimed to darken the eyes of Israel. It was not a physical war like at Purim, where Haman wanted to exterminate all the Jews. With the Greeks, whoever wanted to become Hellenized could continue to live. Their main concern was: no Torah study, no sanctification of the month, no Brit Milah, no Shabbat observance.

This idea is already alluded to in the second verse of the Torah:

Our Sages explain each of these words as an allusion to the four exiles:

But what is our hope? The continuation of the verse: "And the spirit of G-d hovered over the waters" – this is King Mashiach! After the exile of Rome will come Mashiach.

Facing this attempt to darken the eyes of Israel, we celebrate 'Hanukkah: we light candles. This is the very essence of the Mitzvah of 'Hanukkah.

We also say Hallel in the prayer, and in the Amidah we add "Al Hanissim," where we say:

We must be spiritually sensitive enough to feel that Hashem performs miracles for us also at this time. Every minute that we breathe is actually a miracle. But we don't really live with this awareness: we need a big miracle to feel it, yet in truth every moment that the Holy One blessed be He creates is a miracle in itself.

To illustrate this through 'Hanukkah, let's see what happened. The Greeks entered the Temple and made all the oil vessels impure, because they didn't want the Menorah to be lit in the Beit Hamikdash.

But as the Talmud reports (Shabbat 21b), they "missed" a small flask of oil, sealed with the seal of the Kohen Gadol, containing enough oil for only one day. And a miracle occurred: the oil lasted for eight days.

Let's give two examples to understand this concept. In the previous Parashah (Vayeshev), after the brothers pulled Yosef out of the pit:

Rashi asks: why does the Torah inform us what their camels were carrying?

Yosef was in complete distress: his brothers sold him, he's separated from his father, he's going down to Egypt as a slave. What importance could the caravan's smell have for him?! Precisely! Hashem changed nature so that with every breath Yosef took, he would say: "How come there's no bad smell? Hashem is doing a chesed with me!"

Second example: David takes his sling, throws a stone that hits Goliath right in the forehead.

Goliath was about 3 meters tall; David stood a few meters away from him. If Goliath had fallen backward, David would have had to walk 6 meters or more to cut off his head. Hashem made Goliath fall forward, at his feet — a message to David: "I am with you! I'm doing something only Hashem can do, and this will be your sign that you will defeat the Philistines completely."

Let's return to 'Hanukkah. Yes, they found a small flask of oil sealed with the Kohen Gadol's seal. But that's precisely the point!

Hashem's presence is revealed in small things. We must know that He is with us all the time, even if we don't feel it 24/7. We must aspire to live with this awareness.

Example: you arrive somewhere late, rushed, and you say: "No chance I'll find a parking spot." And suddenly, a car pulls out and you pull right in. That's a wink from Hashem saying: "I'm with you." The essential thing is that we must feel it and live this way.

At night, before going to sleep, we recite the Shema. What is the last verse we say?

We deposit our soul with Him as a deposit. In the morning He could say: "I don't feel like returning it"! But He returns it to you every morning, and you say:

The message of 'Hanukkah is to develop our spiritual sensitivity to see Hashem's hand in the small details of our daily lives. Every breath, every "coincidence," every small miracle is a wink from Heaven telling us: "I am with you!" When lighting the 'Hanukkah candles, let us remember that the light represents this awareness: Hashem is always present, even in the darkest moments.