time of Chanukah, בימים ההם, the seder was, first came ישועות, then came yeshuot, then came נפלאות. The first thing that happened was that Matityahu and his children won the battle, so-called battle in Modiin. That wasn't a nes because it they weren't outnumbered and the goyim weren't stronger. The, they helped, the Eibershter helped them, they won. Then became the big wars, that was mamash nissim. Then came the pele that they found the jar of oil, that's a pele, but it's not a נס למעלה מדרך הטבע, okay? So mimela, when we say הנרות הללו אנו מדליקין, we light these candles for what happened then, so we mention what happened then: ישועות, ניסים ונפלאות. But then the question was how come at the end, when we say therefore we light the candles להודות ולהלל לשמך הגדול, we praise you, there we say על ניסיך ועל נפלאותיך ועל ישועותיך, here we go with a different order. So this is what the Rebbe is going to explain. Let's learn inside, סעיף ו'. Oh, good that you reminded me, huh? Yeah? That'll take care, someone that he asked me to, I should give a שיעור חנוכה. This is the שיעור חנוכה. The sheilah, why did two sheilot there, the question, the famous question of the Beit Yosef and the ט\"ז, that שאלה לכאורה the nes was only seven days. Why do we have Chanukah eight days? For one day, the לשון הגמרא is that they found a jar of oil ולא היה בו להדליק אלא יום אחד, it was enough for one day, so one day was not a nes. Another sheilah is what's the oil doing with the chosam, with the seal of the Kohen Gadol? Like I said, was the Kohen Gadol a mashgiach that he sealed things that they should know that he that they are kasher, that they're tahor? So there is an interesting answer that legabei the first sheilah of the Beit Yosef, if this answer is a good answer, then it's not a pshat, it's the best answer of all the answers. There is no kashya to begin with. See, there are two types of answers. Sometimes an answer you have a good kashya, and you have a good pshat, a good answer, and sometimes you have an answer that there's no kashya to begin with, that's lechatchilah no such sheilah. There is one answer to the sheilah that is not an answer, there's no sheilah. What is that? The Sha'iltot deRav Achai writes, and as I always do, who is the Sha'iltot deRav Achai? Who was Rav Achai? Where did he live, which time? I almost gave it away by saying another word. I didn't say that other word so not to give away the secret. What was he? No, he wasn't an amora. He was a gaon. Not not that we say nowadays, \"Oh, this guy is a big gaon.\" He was from the geonim. There was a period called the period, the tekufah of the geonim. You had the tannaim, amoraim, after that you had Rabbanan Savoraei for a short while, then you had the geonim, and then after the geonim you had the Rishonim, after the Rishonim you have the Acharonim. So the geonim, they lived The Rishonim started close to 1,000 years ago, and before that were the geonim.

Rav Achai was a gaon, it's called Sha'iltot deRav Achai Gaon. Like I said, it's not like a gaon nowadays. They even say a joke that once somebody came to get tested and he needed a tzetel that he knows how to learn, for whatever reason, so the Rav had no choice, but he had to give him a tzetel, but he wanted to be מרומז that the guy doesn't know anything, so he wrote, \"This guy is a gaon.\" So later they asked him, \"How did you write on this guy he's a gaon?\" So he said, \"I'll tell you. The geonim didn't know a piece of Rashi, cuz they lived before Rashi. This guy doesn't know a piece of Rashi either. He's mamash like the geonim.\" That could be a gaon nowadays, a גאון וואס לערנט, doesn't even understand Rashi, doesn't know Rashi. But the the Sha'iltot, the Sha'iltot of Rav Achai Gaon, he was from the geonim. Now, we know that the geonim are, to a certain degree, very close to the Amoraim. The Rambam, I think, writes that the דברי הגאונים are דברי קבלה. I don't mean Kabbalah like we say Kabbalah, that what the Geonim say is mekubal from the Amoraim, in other words, they have a tokef of Amoraim. Actually, there's a little some pieces in Gemara, very few places, not by the Geonim, but a little bit before. We all know that who finished ש\"ס? Who finished writing the Gemara? Ravina ve-Rav Ashi, that's חתימת התלמוד. After them came the the Rabbanan Savora'im. There are a few places in ש\"ס where that piece of Gemara was written by the Rabbanan Savora'im, which was right by the Geonim. They have names which are not familiar names, but it's a but that's that's a short period. But then came the Geonim. Anyways, so So the She'iltot is definitely reliable. Does anyone know about Rav Achai from a different source, not from the source of of of Gemara or mefarshim? One of the books that Merkaz gave out, the five novelettes, I mentioned it before, is called Bustanai. And then if you read the story of Bustanai, who was his friend? Achai, if you remember the story. If you don't remember it, read it. It's an interesting story, huh? The king calls the guy in, exactly. Called in, called Achai, called Bustanai. The story is based on truth, even though most of it is a bube ma'aseh, but it's based on a little piece, it's a whole book, not a big book, but based on something it says in Seder HaDorot. Seder HaDorot has this piece about Bustanai and writes that Rav Achai was his chaver. And this Rav Achai was from the Geonim. Huh? At that time, exactly. That's the story, I see you read the book. Yeah? It's a Merkaz book. Merkaz, you know, yeah, the five novelettes. So in that time started the Muslims, that's when Mohammad was, right, a little bit before him. That was the whole, there's a whole story there. Anyway, the bottom line is what I'm trying to bring out like this. So the She'iltot brings the Gemara in Shabbos, which is the whole source. Let's take the Gemara in Shabbos, where it talks about the nes of Chanukah. So let's read the words. You just learned it. I'll read the words. מאי חנוכה? תנו רבנן: בכ״ה בכסלו יומי דחנוכה תמניא אינון, yeah, the whole thing, שכשנכנסו יוונים להיכל, when יוונים went into the היכל, טימאו כל השמנים שבהיכל, they made it all tamei. Then later, בדקו ולא מצאו אלא פך אחד של שמן, they found one jar of oil שהיה חתום בחותמו של כהן גדול, sealed with the seal of כהן גדול, ולא היה בו, listen, ולא היה בו להדליק אלא יומא אלא להדליק יום אחד. It only had enough to burn one day. נעשה נס והדליקו ממנו שמונה ימים. Rav Achai brings this Gemara with one word different. And I'll read again. By us it says: ולא היה בו אלא להדליק יום אחד. Rav Achai has it: ולא היה בו להדליק יום אחד, not ela. Our girsa is that the jar had enough only for one day, and his girsa is: the jar did not even have enough for one day. Now, if you have this girsa, is there a kushya? It's not a peshat that they have a good terutz to the kushya. There is no kushya. The whole kushya of why we have eight days is based on the fact that for one day that had enough. So mimela for one day there was no nes, according to his girsa there wasn't even enough for one day, so there was like no kushya to begin with. So every day was a nes, even one day was a nes because it didn't have enough for one day.

Now the question is: why didn't it have enough for one day? If they prepared jars of oil for the menorah, and all of them were tamei, they happened to find one jar, why would that jar not have enough for one day? Likh'orah, why why would they make a bottle of oil, they made the amounts, they put them away, they should have ready the oil for every day that they need, so they for sure made a cheshbon of how much you need and that's the amount they put in. Why would there be a jar that doesn't even have enough for one day? So the Sefat Emet says this peshat. Very geshmaka peshat. The Kohen Gadol used to bring a korban every day. What's the korban called? No, for himself. You're right, that's Kohen Gadol, every day they brought a korban tamid. The Kohen Gadol had to bring a korban every day, all of his life, from when he became a Kohen Gadol, called מנחת חביתין. A kohen hedyot had to bring this korban the first day he started serving the Beit Hamikdash. The Kohen Gadol had to bring the מנחת חביתין every single day. מחציתה בבקר ומחציתה בערב, half in the morning, half in the evening, afternoon. This korban was a קרבן מנחה. A קרבן מנחה is made up of what? Flour and oil. And the din is that Kohen Gadol had to bring this from his own money. It wasn't part of the like the קרבן תמיד that you brought from the tzibbur, it was his private money. The amount of oil that the קרבן מנחת חביתין needed was less than the amount of oil that the Menorah needed. And the kohen Kohen Gadol would prepare oil for his korban, was his. And this is the jar of oil that they found. They found a jar of oil that was חותם בחותמו של כהן גדול, sealed with the seal of Kohen Gadol. What's the Kohen Gadol seal doing on it lichorah? What was it, like I said, is he mashgiach, he was the מרא דאתרא? No, it was his oil! It was made for his korban. And that amount of oil that was in this jar is less than the amount of oil needed for the Menorah. That's why chotam means he put it away, it was his, like he put it away in his place, so he sealed it, not seal it for kashrut purposes. To seal פשוט על דין הממונות, that it's his oil! It was his oil and he had to make sure that this is his and he should be able to keep it to bring it for the korban. No, he had to pay for it himself, it was his money. Wait, no, I know it had to be tahor, but he didn't, but but the vort was that it was his. The sheilah was what's the Kohen Gadol got to do with this? It was his his oil! A second. Since it was his oil and it was sealed, so we knew it was kasher, tahor, and it did not have enough even for one day, because the amount of oil for the קרבן מנחה was less than the amount of oil for the Menorah. And mimela, both things come together, everything is answered here: that there was a nes even the first day, because there was not enough even for one day, and that's why it was the Kohen Gadol's, that's what the peshat that it was the Kohen Gadol's, because he had it ready for his for his korban. No, no, it was even a siman on it, it was sealed on it, it was sealed and it was found underground. The only sheilah is, it's not a kashya, the only shaila is we know that shemen for the menorah has to be שמן זית זך. For קרבנות מנחה it doesn't have to be zach. So this didn't have to be zach, but it doesn't mean that the kohen gadol did not try to make it zach. It doesn't mean that it wasn't. Didn't have to be, but for sure it was definitely a hiddur it should be zach. So so the kohen gadol had oil, and it happened to be שמן זית זך, and there's no reason why not, even though it didn't have to. So they could use it for the menorah. Ela mai it wasn't enough, and that's why the nes happened.

Okay, let's go vayter. So now the shaila, let's go back to the sichah: why at the end of the הנרות הללו we use the different lashon? So the Rebbe explains like this: דער סדר, תשועות, ניסים ונפלאות, this order of yeshuah and then nissim and then נפלאות, איז ווען ס'רעדט זיך, ווען מ'רעדט וועגן זיי בשייכות צו דעם סדר בזמן פון די מאורעות בימים ההם. That order fits if we talk about what happened those days, when the nes of Chanukah happened. There the happenings took place first yeshuot, then nissim, then niflaot. And that's what we're saying in the beginning of הנרות הללו: הנרות הללו אנו מדליקין, we're lighting these candles, why? Because of what happened then! What happened then? תשועות, ניסים, ונפלאות. בשעת ס'רעדט זיך אבער וועגן להודות ולהלל לשמך הגדול אחר זה, but when it talks about us praising Hashem afterwards, now, איז דער סדר, here is a different order. Here the order will be according to what does a person praise Hashem first for. No matter how the story happened, when it comes to us to praise Hashem, what is normal for a person to praise Hashem for? Let's think before we even learn the sichah inside, let's make seichel, let's use our seichel: what will a person praise Hashem for faster? For stam Hashem helped him כדרך הטבע or when a miracle happens? When a miracle happens! The first thing, you see a miracle, you thank Hashem. Then you start realizing not only for miracles I have to thank Hashem, for other things also! But the first thing is the miracles. When we talk about what happened then, first we have to find out what was the seder? So we figured, the Rebbe says the seder was תשועות, ניסים, ונפלאות. But now when we thank Hashem, the seder is different. צו אלע ערשט איז מען מודה ומהלל דעם אויבערשטן אויף ניסים. First thing a person thanks Hashem and praises Hashem is for the miracles. וואס אין דעם דערקענט אלע דאס קומט פונם אויבערשטן. In this you always everyone recognizes it's from Hashem. Whether you like it or not, when you see a miracle you know it's from Hashem. דענאך איז מען זיך מתבונן, then you think about it, ביז מען דערקענט דעם אמת'ן גדר פון כמה וכמה פאסירונגען אז זיי זענען נפלאותדיק. Then you start thinking and you realize, since you realize that Hashem did nissim, then you start thinking, you see where certain other things are also not so pashut. They're pla'dik, they're wonders. Nu, nu, they're they're also wonders. But that comes afterwards. First you thank Hashem for nissim, then you realize that niflaot is also from Hashem. כאטש אז א רעטונג איז נאטירלעך, those things which are natural, you're not forced to say it's from Hashem. If a person wants to make a mistake, can make a mistake, אז ס'איז א פאסירונג כדרך הטבע. People can make a mistake and think it's from nature, but if you think about it properly, you'll realize that it's not, און מען דאנקט און לויבט דעם אויבערשטן פאר זיי, and you thank the Oibershter for it. And sometimes the Oibershter makes it bedavka that you shouldn't realize a hundred percent it's a neis. He wants you to work on it, to come to your own conclusion, not to make it so obvious. That's why the lashon is, it's a strange לשון, הרוצה לטעות יטעה. If someone wants to make a mistake, you can make a mistake. The Oibershter allows us bechirah chofshis. Where does this לשון הרוצה לטעות יטעה say? Anyone... By... No, there it's בראשית ברא אלוקים. No, Elokim, no. It's around that area. When the Oibershter said, when He created Adam HaRishon, He said, נעשה אדם, let us make man. So it says when the Oibershter dictated the Chumash to Moshe Rabbeinu, He told him word for word what to write. He told him to write נעשה אדם, let's make a man. So Moshe Rabbeinu turned around to the Oibershter and said, this is a midrash, how could I write that? How could I write נעשה אדם? It's one of the things they changed for Talmi HaMelech. When they translate, they changed a few things, בראשית ברא אלוקים, and also they wrote, I will make man. They changed it because Talmi HaMelech wouldn't understand. But when they wrote in the Torah, Moshe Rabbeinu wrote in the תורה נעשה אדם, when the Oibershter told him to write, Moshe says to the אויבערשטער, אתה נותן מקום לאפיקורסים. You're giving a place for apikorsim, that people could say that there's more than one Oibershter. Let us make man. So the Oibershter answered to Moshe Rabbeinu, כתוב, you write as I told you, והרוצה לטעות יטעה. If someone wants to make a mistake, let them make a mistake. No, when they translate to him because because to a goy, this is talking to the Yidden. He was a goy, they changed a few things. Not apologetic, they knew he would make tzaros, no? He would come out with a whole proclamation that there's no there's two Oibershters, I mean they didn't want that. Yeah, but that's not the original. You can't change in a Sefer Torah, but in the translation. Forget, the Oibershter put it into all the minds of all the seventy זקנים that they should all change the same thing. But in the Torah itself Moshe Rabbeinu wrote and he said הרוצה לטעות What's the לשון? The Rebbe once spoke about it. Why does the לשון הרוצה לטעות, if you want to make a mistake? So first of all, the Rebbe says that if a person looks normal, he will see right away the truth. He will understand the peshat. Who makes a mistake? Someone who wants to make a mistake. He's looking for it, mimela you'll find it. But the Oibershter makes it available for those that find it. The Oibershter doesn't want to make that there should be no free choice many times. That's why be'emet be'emet even by miracles, which the Rebbe says here miracles is obvious, but even then the Oibershter gives a shtikl makom to make a mistake that it's natural. That's why it says even by Keriat Yam Suf, who could say Keriat Yam Suf is natural? You know what the Oibershter did? He made all the waters in the world split. Wherever there was water, even a cup of water a person had the water split. So people should be able to say it's nothing to do with the Yidden crossing the Yam Suf, it's some kind of natural thing that happened. Why the Oibershter should do it? To give bechira. So by nisim, you got to be real crazy to say. You could, there's still a makom, but you got. But niflaot are things that you could. Take by Purim, the way if someone wants to say is it punkt happened natural, punkt coincidence, that Vashti got killed and Esther became the Malka, punkt this happened, punkt that happened, you could say if you want to. But it's a pele. So first you thank Hashem for nisim. Then you start getting smarter and you say even the things which are a pele is also you got to thank Hashem. Un dernach kumt men tsu der hakarah, then you come to recognize אז אפילו על ישועתך, even when it comes to things which the Oibershter helped, vos azoyne nit kein nes, they're not a nes, un afilu nit kein niflaot, not even wonders, נאר אין גדרי הטבע, these are natural things, darf men oich danken un loiben dem Oibershter, you also have to thank Hashem. Varum, why? Because להשם הישועה. Even a yeshuah comes from the Oibershter, obviously. טבע אליין איז למעלה מן הטבע. Teva itself is higher than טבע, וממילא דארף מען דארף אויך א ישועה ארויסרופן א הודאה והילול, so even a yeshuah has to call out, bring out in a person that you have to thank the Oibershter. So this is the reason why at the end when we say להודות ולהלל לשמך הגדול we're thanking Hashem, so here we say על נסיך, first we thank Hashem for the nisim, then we thank Hashem for the niflaot, and then we thank Hashem for the yeshuot, because that also needs to that you have to thank Hashem.

Well, let's see what the things that I the place I mentioned. Yeah, that's at bitul. That's that's not. No. That's bitul, how much a person is mevatel himself. You come on a lower level, and then you become batel, completely like a eved. Here we're talking about when a person sees, what thing will you praise Hashem first? When you see nisim. No, but the other thing that we said, in in Modim, remember I used the lashon, I said let's see how the lashon is there, what does it say there? We thank Hashem for חיינו המסורים בידך, ועל ניסיך שבכל יום עמנו, ועל נפלאותיך וטובותיך. No, that's for life. That's not, that's certain things you see you Certain things are not general, are פרטיותדיק. You thank for your life, that's פרטיותדיק, and then when he says a כללותדיק, so then he says ניסיך, נפלאותיך, וטובותיך. Remember, let's look in Nishmas. What's the lashon in Nishmas? Remember, I used, I brought that lashon also. In Nishmas we say, yeah, אין אנו מספיקים להודות לך ולברך את שמך Here it says the different seder, takeh. Okay? It says we thank Hashem for the thousands of times You did hatovot, nissim veniflaot. Here it's also a mixed up lashon completely. First tovot, which is stam, the Eibershter does good to you. It's not a nes. Then nissim, then niflaot. Maybe someone wants to look into this. Someone wants to write a he'arah, this אל- hakdamah to the sefer, want to write a he'arah on- write a he'arah on this sheilah, according to this sichah what's the seder of here when we thank Hashem al hatovot, nissim veniflaot. I don't know, it needs it needs some biur, takeh. Because in Modim it fits. In Modim you see the proper order. Why it starts with tovot, I would think, because what we're saying here is that we're not able to thank You. Says here that even if we'd be so smart, and we'd have our hands full out, and we'd have everything, still, ein anu maspikim, it's not enough to thank You for the tovot. And what we're trying to say is there's so much, so much good that we can't even thank You enough. So what is the most that we get from the Eibershter? Tovot. That's tovot first. Then nissim veniflaot. Then why nissim veniflaot? Yeah, good, if you learn then it doesn't fit the whole thing. You want to see if it fits to to niflaot being the madregah the way he says here, that it's a דבר פלא. So the most thing is tovot. Are there more nissim than niflaot? No, I'm saying Not if I'm, I'm not saying that's the pshat. If we would go with that pshat that since he's saying what we cannot thank You, there's so much You're doing, then it makes sense that you do first tovot, but the other two, nissim v'niflaot. We couldn't even thank You on one of the thousands and tens of thousands of times that You did tovot, and then nissim. You could say that if you say it's b'shaat maaseh, that you thank first for the for the miracle, and then and then once you realize the miracle, then Here we're speaking objectively, you're saying. At that time, we are in that period then then then you have to When a miracle just happened to you, then you give a a prayer right after for that miracle, and then for something else. Here now that we're speaking objectively, you know we're speaking about a few weeks ago, it doesn't have to talk to the miracle first. Because you're not so hispael by the miracle anymore. Now it's just, you know, you're looking back at the past, at the miracle No, even if you look back, you thank for the miracle first, why not? We're look- by Chanukah also we're looking back to then. But we're thanking Hashem for the miracles, then we're going we're telling what happened then, we're saying these things, the seder. This, what we're thanking even for then, the seder is you thank first for miracles, then niflaot, then yeshuot. No, I think that I do think it has to do with this, I don't know exactly, we have to figure it out, has to do with the fact that we're saying אין אנו מספיקים, it's not enough, we cannot thank You for all the good that You did to us. And that's the first thing that we're saying. The most thing that You did is so much good that we can't thank You for it, and then next comes nissim, then niflaot. Why nissim before niflaot? Is it possible to say that there are more nissim happen to us than niflaot? Niflaot are hard to recognize. Nissim I think you're right. Tovot, you see, you know everything is tovot. And then, certain things are clear nissim. Niflaot, is nisht azoy, because it's nisht ahin un nisht aher, so it's harder to recognize. And then here the sichah the Rebbe says the other way, that's niflaot first. Okay, you've got to figure this out. Can I take your heavy gear? Niflaot itself, wouldn't it be... No, because niflaot is naturally happening. So when it's naturally happening, it's not a change in nature.