Today is the third of the series of the three special mitzvot that are considered as the mitzvot of the woman. And today's mitzvah is the mitzvah of הדלקת נר שבת ויום טוב, the mitzvah of lighting the Shabbos candles and Yom Tov candles. This is the third of the three, this is the ה. We know that the word Chana, which is a classical name of Jewish women, is the abbreviation of the three mitzvot: chalah, niddah, and הדלקת הנר. So the ה, which is the third, is הדלקת הנר, lighting the candles. So we had the other two classes, first we had the class on chalah, then on niddah, which is טהרת המשפחה, now we have on הדלקת הנר, the mitzvah of lighting the Shabbos candles. Which is a mitzvah that Friday before Shabbos, and the same is with ערב Yom Tov before Yom Tov, it is a mitzvah to light a candle that when Shabbos comes in, there should be light in the home. And the same is with Yom Tov. In truth, this is a mitzvah not specifically for the women. As I explained last week concerning the mitzvah of טהרת המשפחה, and I explained the week before concerning the mitzvah of chalah, these are not mitzvot given specifically for the women. Therefore the men who thought, why should we come, it's not for us anyway, it is not true. These are mitzvot for men and women. Just like by chalah I said that if a man would bake bread, he would also have the obligation of taking off chalah, it's not a mitzvah for the woman. The same is with the mitzvah of טהרת המשפחה, the men have to keep the laws of טהרת המשפחה, too. And the same is with the mitzvah of הדלקת הנר, it is not a mitzvah on the woman. It is not that a woman is obligated to light the Shabbos candles. It is a mitzvah on everybody. It is a mitzvah on the home, that every Jewish home must have candles lit for Shabbos. The reason we consider it a mitzvah of the women is because the women are usually at home, the women are the ones that are involved in taking care of the home, therefore they are called the עקרת הבית, the עיקר, the main part of the home. So, therefore, the mitzvot that are connected specifically to the home are usually done by the women, and therefore the mitzvah of lighting the Shabbos candles is done by the women. But, in truth, if there is a Friday night that there is no woman in the home, then the man is obligated to light the candles with a berachah, which means he says, ברוך אתה ה' אלקינו מלך העולם, he blesses Hashem the same way, and he says, אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו, like you made us holy and you commanded us, להדליק נר של שבת, or as we say של שבת קודש, to light the candles of Shabbos, and he says he's obligated because the obligation is given to the men, too. As I said, the reason we consider it a mitzvah of the women is because they are the ones that usually do it. But being that they are the ones that usually do it, obviously there's a special connection between that mitzvah and the woman. Even though the obligation is to the men too, is on the men too, but the women are the ones that usually do it, therefore there must be some special connection to the women. The Midrash says the reason this is a mitzvah that the women usually do is, and I'm afraid to say it because who knows what looks I'm going to get, it says, because היא קלקלה, היא כבתה נרו של עולם. Since she was the one that extinguished the light of the world, therefore she is the one that's supposed to light the light again. Just like by challah we learned that the Midrash says because she was the one that spoiled the challah of the world, and the man, the human being, is called the challah because he was made of dust, sand, and water, which is like a dough that you make of flour and water. And she, Chava, was the one that was first to eat from the עץ הדעת, from that tree that she was forbidden to eat, and she gave it to her husband, and therefore she is the one that has the mitzvah of challah. So, too, with this, since the human being is considered a light of the world, and she was the first one that ate from the tree, so see she extinguished the light of the world, therefore the obligation is upon her. Like I said when we learned about challah, it doesn't mean that we blame her more than we blame him. He has no excuse. Adam Harishon had no excuse for eating from the tree because she gave it to him. He should have controlled himself and not eaten. But she was the first one that did it, and therefore there's a mitzvah that's given to her, but the mitzvah is on him too, and when she fulfills the mitzvah, he gains from it too, and he is also part of the mitzvah. And as I will explain, the mitzvah is a very, very great mitzvah. It is not chas veshalom, God forbid, a punishment on the women for what Chava did, but because of what she did and she brought about a yeridah, a descent in the world, therefore she was given a mitzvah that could bring about a great aliyah. We know every yeridah, every descent, is לצורך עליה, for the purpose of getting even higher. The aliyah, the great elevation that a person, a woman or a man, a Jewish home is able to reach through the mitzvah of Shabbos candles is so great that it was worth the yeridah that was caused, the descent that was caused by Chava, in order to get this great aliyah. This is a class that is not on the הלכות, so therefore we're not going to go through the הלכות that are concerning Shabbos candles. We are going to learn about the deeper meaning behind this mitzvah of Shabbos candles, but I will mention just a few הלכות to get the understanding of what the mitzvah is. As I said before, the mitzvah is that before Shabbos, there's an obligation to light a candle, that Friday night there should be light in the house. The mitzvah could be fulfilled by lighting just one candle. There's no amount. Nevertheless, it says in Shulchan Aruch that the custom is that you should light two candles, one for זכור and one for שמור, since by Shabbos we find in עשרת הדברות, in the Ten Commandments, the word זכור את יום השבת לקדשו, remember Shabbos to keep it holy. The second time the Ten Commandments are repeated in the Torah, it says שמור את יום השבת, you shall guard the Shabbos to keep it holy. And the חז\"ל tell us that when Hashem spoke and He said the עשרת הדברות, He actually used both words at the same time. He said זכור and שמור, which is something a human being cannot do. There it's impossible for a person to say two words at the same time, but Hashem did. So Shabbos really is based on זכור and שמור, that's why there is the minhag is to have a minimum of two candles, one כנגד זכור, one for זכור and one for שמור. The The accepted custom, the way it's been in the last years, I don't mean last few years, but hundreds of years, is that people light the amount of candles as many as as many family members they have. So if you have a family of five children, you would light seven candles, for the father and the mother and the five children, whatever it is. So the minhag is to light as many children as you have, many members of the family you have. But by really lighting one candle you would be yotzei, and then two it says is the minimum that you should light is because of זכור ושמור. This mitzvah is on every woman. That is one of the differences. A man doesn't light the candles if there is somebody else in the house that lights, but women, because it is basically their mitzvah, therefore, even if there is somebody else at home that lights the candles and you are a guest in someone's home, you also light the candles. Plus, even children, girls who are not married, many, many people, I would say the majority of Yidden have the custom that girls do light the candles too. There are some that don't have that minhag, but the majority, I would say most of the people, do. And not only girls over bas mitzvah, over 12 years old, but even girls under bas mitzvah also light or should light the candles because of the mitzvah of chinuch. Just like children under בר and bas mitzvah fulfill all the mitzvot, and when it comes Pesach they eat matzah even though they are not obligated, but they do have the mitzvah of chinuch, which is the mitzvah of education, that the father, the mother, mainly the father has the obligation to educate the child to fulfill all the mitzvot, and therefore a child has to fulfill all the מצות מדרבנן, it's not from the Torah, the Torah says he's exempt, but from דרבנן they said that they have to keep all the mitzvot for chinuch, so too the girls have to keep their mitzvot for chinuch. It includes this mitzvah too. So the girls even under בת מצוה, from when she is at the age where she is considered הגיעה לחינוך, that she reached the level of chinuch, which is about 2 years old, not everyone is the same, it says a time when the child starts understanding what it's doing, then the child should start lighting the Shabbos candles, like we do concerning other mitzvot. This is the general picture of what the mitzvah of Shabbos candles are.

What is the reason for this mitzvah? This is not a mitzvah from the Torah. In חומש, מדאורייתא, from the Torah, we do not have this mitzvah of lighting Shabbos candles. This is one of the seven מצות מדרבנן. The chachamim, the rabbis, added seven mitzvot. They gave us a lot of prohibitions, many things that we don't do, that we're not allowed to do is מדרבנן. But here we're talking about positive things that they told us to do. So there are seven, generally seven mitzvot they told us to do, and one of them is like lighting the Shabbos candles, so it's מצוה מדרבנן. What was the reason? Why did the chachamim give us this mitzvah of lighting the Shabbos candles? So the law the reason it says in taken from based on the Gemara and Shulchan Aruch is because of shalom bayit. There should be peace at home. When it's dark, there is always an argument. Imagine the husband will come home from shul Friday night, and it's dark at home. He won't see what he's doing. He'll fall, stumble, hurt himself. Guess what he'll do? Scream at his wife. Why did you leave this thing here? Why did I fall? There'll be an argument. There'll be arguments back and forth. So in order to avoid that, they have to light the Shabbos candles so we will have shalom bayit. Now, in the weekdays, there is no problem. You come into the house at night, you light a candle. You're allowed to light a candle, put a light on. But Friday night, if you didn't prepare before Shabbos and you'll come home, there's nothing you could do. It's dark. You won't see what you're eating, and you won't see how delicious the food is, and you won't be able to compliment your wife, even though you have to taste the food, but it says if you don't see what you eat, you don't really have a geshmak in it. It doesn't really taste good. You have to see what you eat. So if you see how good the food looks, then that'll bring shalom bayit. Anyway, the purpose is shalom bayit. The expression, the way it says in Shulchan Aruch concerning the candles in connection to shalom bayit, it says the reason why we have this mitzvah is שלא יכשל בעץ ואבן. He shall not stumble over a piece of wood or over a rock. שלא י And I'm repeating the words again because this is important for the the the shiur that I'm going to continue. שלא יכשל בעץ ואבן, that he shall not stumble over a piece of wood or over a rock, because if he will, then, like I said before, there will be no shalom bayit. So they gave the mitzvah of Shabbos candles. That will prevent him from stumbling, him and, obviously, her, too, all the members of the family, prevent them from stumbling over a piece of wood or over a rock. This is the simple reason given in Shulchan Aruch why the Chachamim gave us this mitzvah of lighting the Shabbos candles. But in order to understand the deeper meaning behind the mitzvah of Shabbos candles, in order to understand the great spiritual accomplishment great spiritual accomplishment that we get through the mitzvah of Shabbos candles, we have to look into exact words that the Chachamim said. And what they hid hinted in these words is the key to the explanation of what the mitzvah of Shabbos candles are. What they said was you shall not, through lighting the Shabbos candles, you will not stumble over עץ ואבן, over a piece of wood or over a rock. This expression of עץ and אבן, not to stumble over a piece of wood or rock, why pick a piece of wood? Why not say over a piece of metal? Why not use any other term? Why did the Chachamim pick the example that you might stumble over a piece of wood or of rock? Well, this is to hint to a pasuk in Tanach. There is a pasuk in Tanach in Yirmiyahu that the navi says, he rebuking the Jews for worshiping idols, and he says that you people are no good, you're worshiping idols. And how does he express himself to tell them that you're worshiping idols? And this is what he says: because you are אומרים לעץ אבי אתה ולעבן את ילדתני. You say to a piece of wood, \"You are my father,\" and you say to a rock, \"You gave birth to me,\" like you are my mother. And what the navi meant was you're worshiping idols, and you're taking a piece of wood and you say to this piece of wood, \"You are my father. You are my God.\" You take a rock and you say to the rock, \"You are my mother.\" Again, you say to them, \"You are my God.\" So the navi the pasuk refers to a person person worshiping avodah zarah, worshiping idols with the term of עץ and אבן, that piece of wood they worship a piece of wood, and they worship a rock. And this is the inner meaning in what it says in Shulchan Aruch, that by lighting Shabbos candles, you will not stumble over the wood and over the rock, which means you will not stumble over worshiping idols. You will not stumble over worshiping and saying to the עץ, אבי אתה, \"You are my father,\" and to the rock, \"You are my mother.\" In other words, what this means is that through lighting the Shabbos candles, this prevents a Yid the woman who does it certainly her husband, too. Like we say, the mitzvah that's for a unit. It goes together. Like I explained last week, טהרת המשפחה, whatever is done the woman does by going to the mikveh everything is for both. Same thing with the challah that she takes off is for both. By lighting the Shabbos candle is for both. That this prevents them from worshipping idols. And not only them, but since this is a mitzvah of the home, it prevents the whole household from worshipping עץ ואבן. You will not stumble over the piece of wood and over the rock. You will not say לעץ אבי אתה, to the wood you are my father, and לאבן אמי את ילדתני. But the question is, we have to understand, how does the mitzvah of Shabbos candles prevent the person from worshipping idols? What's the connection between lighting a candle, lighting Shabbos candles, and not worshipping idols? Which is really similar to the question, if you remember, in the shiur about challah, we ask the same question. The Midrash says that if you fulfill the mitzvah of challah, it's as if you destroy avodah zarah. And if you don't keep the mitzvah of challah, it's as if you keep the avodah zarah. And we ask the same question: What's the connection between mitzvot challah, taking off a piece of the dough before you bake it, to not worshipping avodah zarah? But there we explained that you take off the first piece, that shows that you recognize that you have to give to Hashem, because giving to the Kohen is really giving to Hashem, so you recognize that the first and the best has to be given to Hashem, that's the way you show Hashem that you believe in Hashem, and you trust Hashem as I explained then. But in our case we're talking about lighting a candle. Lighting a candle? What's the big idea of lighting a candle? How does the mitzvah of Shabbos candles, this specific mitzvah, prevent a person from worshipping avodah zarah? And really, why do we need something to prevent us from worshipping avodah zarah? Who here or anywhere else would worship avodah zarah? Why do we need a special mitzvah, the Chachamim gave us a mitzvah that prevents us from worshipping avodah zarah, as if, God forbid, we would be ready to worship avodah zarah and we have to be prevented, protected? Why would we think that we worship avodah zarah? So let me explain it in detail, and this is going into what Chassidus explains concerning this ענין, and when we get through the whole explanation, we'll get back to see how the Shabbos candles has this quality, this segulah of preventing a Yid from avodah zarah.

There is a pasuk that says, כי נר מצוה ותורה אור. A mitzvah is compared to a candle, and the Torah is compared to light. Why is a mitzvah compared to a candle? Why is the Torah compared to light? We're so used to the term תורה אור, תורה is light, very fine fancy words. A mitzvah is like a candle, who doesn't know that expression, a mitzvah is a candle, but why? Let's think, why is a mitzvah compared to a candle? What does the mitzvah have to do with a candle? Why is the Torah compared to light? What's the connection? Let's understand, what is the idea of light? What is the idea of a candle which gives off light? And from there we'll understand why we compare Torah and mitzvot to a candle and to light. The idea of light is, light doesn't make anything, we know that. Light just makes us see the truth. That's what light is. When a room is dark, you don't know what's there. And the רבי always used to use the expression, when it's dark and you go over to a door, you don't know if you're opening a door to a treasure or you're opening a door to a pit that you could fall in and hurt yourself. When you put a light on, when there's light in the room, you see the truth. It didn't change anything, it just reveals the truth. Which means that when a person recognizes the truth, then he has light. That's why whenever we want to refer to a person understanding something, or more than that, more than just understanding, in Yiddish we say it, זאל זיין אפגעלייכט, it should be clear in one's mind, something we say, it shines in his mind, this idea shines. Why does an idea shine? An idea has not light, but it shines, it means it really shows the truth, he really understands it. Even lehavdil in the comic books, when they want to show that a person got an idea, a bright idea, they make a light bulb, because an idea, an understanding, when something is clear in one's mind, when you understand something it's clear in your mind, you see it. We call it light. So light means the revelation of the truth. We say that a mitzvah is a candle and a Torah is light, what it means is it reveals the truth. The truth of what? The truth of the world. The world, what is the truth of the world? What we see in the world is really not the truth. It's all false. The world we know is called עולם השקר, the world of lies. Now some people think it means that people in the world lie, which is true also, people in the world lie, many people lie, but that's not why we call the world עולם השקר. We call the world עולם השקר because the world in itself is a lie, the whole world is a lie. Because when we look at the world, we don't see the truth that Hashem is the one that runs the world. We think the world is an entity in itself. So the world blocks, covers up on the truth. That's why the world is called, and I went through this last time and the time before, the world is called olam, the word olam means world, it also means cover up, העלם, concealment, because the world conceals the truth. And I explained last time, this is the idea of avodah zarah. We have many levels of idol worship. The worst level is when you actually take a piece of wood and you bow down to it and you say, \"You're my God.\" Obviously, that's real we should say it, coarse, גראב עבודה זרה. But then you have avodah zarah in a more, in a finer way. If a person believes that there is another power in the world other than Hashem who has any control, that's avodah zarah. If a person believes that the sun has its own power, as the Rambam says this was the beginning of avodah zarah, I explained that last time when we spoke about Chava. Go a step further. Not only when you believe in another power, when you believe in another being. If we believe that there is another true being, a true entity, a true being in the world other than Hashem, that's avodah zarah. It's עבודה זרה בדקות we call it. It's not this worst level of avodah zarah, but it is an avodah zarah. It's a level of avodah zarah. So when we look at the world the way the world is, the world in itself does not reveal the truth. The world in itself covers up on the truth. When a person learns Torah, and when a person does a mitzvah, that gives the person the ability, it refines the person and gives him the ability to be able to see the truth. That's why Torah is compared to light, and mitzvot to a candle. Just like when you open the lights it makes you see the truth, when you learn Torah it makes you see the truth. It makes you see that the truth of the world is as the pasuk says, ואמת השם לעולם. The emet of the olam, of the world is Hashem. Or there's another pasuk it says, השם אלקים אמת הוא אלקים חיים. Hashem Elokim he is truth, Hashem Elokim he is life. So Torah makes you see it. When you do a mitzvah, it's like a candle. Just like when you light a candle, you see what's in the room, it reveals, it shows you what the truth is. It doesn't make anything, it just reveals the truth. By doing mitzvot, being that these are mitzvot of Hashem, the commandments of Hashem, and the Torah is the wisdom of Hashem, this refines the person and gives the person the ability that he is able to see the truth. This is the meaning of another statement that the chachamim said. It says like this: התורה ניתנה לעשות שלום בעולם. The Torah was given to bring peace into the world. Now, what people think the pshat is, this and this is actually the simple peshat, the simple explanation, that if you learn Torah, you make peace. Like this, without Torah people argue, people but with through Torah, you could have peace. Torah brings peace into the world. But that's not the peshat. The peshat is much deeper than that. The Torah not brings peace between people in the world. It brings shalom, peace, in the world itself. In other words, the world in itself has a fight. There is a conflict, an original conflict, a natural conflict that's there from the beginning of creation. A conflict between what? A fight, a war. When do you have to have peace? When there is a war. There is an original war, always. What's the war between who? Between the world and Hashem. Hashem is the truth, and the world comes and fights it. The world covers up on Hashem, and we don't see it. So there is a conflict between the world and Hashem. So what do we have to do? We have to bring peace into the world, which means the world has to make peace, which means stop fighting, with what? With the truth, which it's always fighting with. What power do we have, what kelim, what vessels do we have, what ammunition do we have to be able to bring peace, that they should stop this fight? That the world should recognize its truth and it should not fight against Hashem. So התורה ניתנה לעשות שלום בעולם. Hashem gave us the Torah, and the Torah brings peace, that if we learn Torah, then we recognize the truth. And even though we're part of this world, but nevertheless we see the truth. So now there is peace, there is no more war. We don't fight. We recognize the truth. But through what? Through Torah. So it's through Torah and through mitzvot. נר מצוה ותורה אור. This is a general explanation why we compare Torah and mitzvot to a candle and to light. But we know that everything if the Chazal tell us, if the chachamim tell us, is exact. Everything is מדויק. So when the Chazal, when the pasuk, it's actually is a pasuk, when the pasuk compares mitzvot to a candle and Torah to light, there obviously are two parts here: there is light and there is a candle. And Torah specifically has a connection to light, and mitzvot have a connection to a candle. What's the difference? The difference between light and a candle is light, daylight, and when you light, light a candle, daylight is stronger, it's a stronger light, obviously. But on the other hand, when light comes, light does not transform anything. Like I said before, light just reveals, it doesn't change anything. It doesn't make anything which doesn't see the truth physically, doesn't make it change and become something else. A candle is different. How does a candle burn? You take the wick and you have oil, or you have wax, or you have paraffin, whatever it is, and that is transformed into the fire. It turns into fire, and fire, in turn, turns into light. So by the case of a candle, you see how the physicality, something that's very, very tangible, very, very physical, is changed into something that's less physical. The fire makes it so that it transforms the gashmi into something that is more ruchani, more spiritual, into a fire, and fire, in turn, is is turns into light. So the difference between light and a candle is light doesn't affect anything physically, while candle does. And that's the difference between Torah and mitzvot. Torah, what is the idea of Torah? A person learns Torah, you have the wisdom of Hashem in your mind, that's what it is. And like we said before, it affects you, and it changes you, but there is nothing that we could see that's transformed from being a spirit a physical thing, part of this world, we don't see how that's changed over into becoming a mitzvah, into becoming something different. You learn and you understand, and that's it. That's like light. Mitzvot, what is the idea of mitzvot? Most of the mitzvot, you take a physical object, and you make a mitzvah out of it. You take a piece of wool, and you make tzitzit out of it. You take a piece of leather, and you transform it into a pair of tefillin. You take a piece of dough, and you make a matzah out of it. Mitzvot are taking gashmiyut, physical things, and transforming it. So the connection between mitzvot and make bringing the truth of Hashem, so mitzvot are more compared to a candle. Just like a candle, the light that comes from a candle is by transforming, changing the physicality, making it into more ruchani, that's what mitzvot are. You take the piece of wool, and you change that and make it into a mitzvah. You take the piece of leather, make it into a mitzvah. While Torah is like light: it brings light, and it doesn't transform anything. That's why ner is mitzvah, and Torah is or. But generally speaking, this is just by the way to explain the details of the pasuk, but generally speaking, all mitzvot and all of Torah have this quality of bringing the true light of Hashem into the world, which means revealing the truth, which is bringing the true light into this world, and that's why the תורה, נר מצוה ותורה אור, which means getting rid of avodah zarah, because when you see the light, that means you see the truth of the world, so you see that there is no separate entity, nothing is except Hashem, so that's against avodah zarah.

Now, there are certain mitzvot, and this is getting to the punchline, there are certain mitzvot which have the same quality like all mitzvot, the spiritual quality of having this quality of bringing the light, but not only do they bring the light, but when you look at it physically, you could see the spiritual meaning of the mitzvah in the physical form. In other words, let's explain it: when you look at a pair of tefillin, so we said since it's a mitzvah, when you put on tefillin it's a mitzvah, so automatically there is a spiritual light that comes along with the mitzvah. But you do not see in any form or shape any concept of light here. In other words, the spiritual idea of light is not seen with the naked eye. There are some mitzvot that the spiritual content of the mitzvah, which is light, is so strong that when it comes down into a physical form, physically it's a light. In which means all those mitzvot that have to do with fire, with light, they are the physical expression of the spirituality behind the mitzvah. Now the truth is, like I said, every mitzvah has that spiritual concept of light. But by the time that mitzvah, that spiritual light is transformed into a physical mitzvah, it turns into something else. It turns into a matzah, it turns into tzitzit, it turns into into giving tzedakah, it turns into other things. But those mitzvot that this concept of the spiritual light that's there is so strong that when it is nishtalshel also we call it, and evolve, till it transform, manifest itself into a physical mitzvah, the physical mitzvah itself is a mitzvah of light. So this shows more of the meaning of the mitzvah. So whatever it says concerning all mitzvot, that they are all נר מצוה ותורה אור, they all have this concept of the spiritual light, those mitzvot that are a mitzvah of light have that concept even more. And that's why even in the physical sense, it's a mitzvah which has the quality of light. And which are the mitzvot? Basically, it's the three mitzvot of ner of the Menorah, in the Beit Hamikdash there was a mitzvah to light the Menorah; we have the mitzvah of נרות חנוכה, the mitzvah of candles; and then we have the mitzvah of נרות שבת ויום טוב, the candles of שבת ויום טוב. The mitzvah of the Beit Hamikdash is also a mitzvah which expresses this idea of bringing the true light. If every mitzvah brings the true light into the world, and as we said before, which means every mitzvah makes a person recognize the truth of Hashem, the mitzvah of the candles of the Beit Hamikdash does it even more. That's why we find the Gemara says that the purpose of the candles in the Beit Hamikdash, in the Menorah, was עדות היא לבאי עולם שהשכינה שרויה בישראל. The Menorah in the Beit Hamikdash was a testimony to all the people of the world that the Shechinah, that Hashem dwells amongst the Jews. And it says how was the Menorah a testimony? So it says because there was a special, special miracle that used to happen always to the Menorah. There was one candle of the seven, the נר מערבי, would never burn out. We think Chanukah was a miracle that it burned for eight days. They would put in oil, and it never would burn out. The truth is was not the only miracle that happened in the Beit Hamikdash. We learn in Pirkei Avot, 10 miracles, עשרה נסים נעשו לאבותינו בבית המקדש, 10 miracles happened. So why is this one the one that's the testimony to the world that Hashem is there? As a matter of fact, the other ones were seen by more people. This miracle was by the Menorah, which was inside the Beit Hamikdash, who saw it? The other ones were in Yerushalayim, certain miracles, a miracle that there was always place to sleep, a miracle that there was always place to bow down, things that people saw! Why is this the miracle? The answer is because this is a miracle that took place in candles. And being that the concept of candles, of light, of fire and of light, the idea behind it is the fact that it brings the truth into the world, it has that quality of bringing the truth more than any other mitzvah, so therefore, which one brought the world to see the truth that a Shechinah is there? Which one was the testimony? The concept of testimony is to reveal. What's the idea of saying testimony? Something that's not known, you have witnesses come to testify, to reveal it. So the testimony, the revelation of the truth that a Shechinah is there was more in the mitzvah of lighting the menorah than all other miracles, because here you have the quality of a mitzvah like any other mitzvah, which is spiritual light, and that spiritual light was transformed not into a piece of wool, transformed into light, into physical light. And the same thing is with the mitzvah of Chanukah candles. Chanukah candles, too, it says that the purpose of Chanukah candles is, it says you would have to light it in the evening when it's dark to light up the darkness, which means to light up the spiritual darkness. Not only that, it's said in the Gemara that the shiur, the amount of time that it had to burn was עד דכליא רגלא דתרמודאי, till the people from תרמוד, was a certain nation, a certain group of people called the תרמודים, and they were always the last ones to leave the marketplace. So you'd have to light it from beginning of night till the people, the last people of תרמוד leave the shuk, leave the street, leave the marketplace. It says what that means is the word תרמוד, the word תרמוד, if you juggle the letters around, turns into the word מורדת. מורדת means rebellious. There are people who are rebellious against Hashem. Why are they rebellious? Because they don't recognize the truth, they don't recognize that Hashem is all over, that He's the true being. What Chanukah candles does, it gets rid, it says till the, it finishes the רגלי, the feet of the תרמודים, which spiritually means that it has the quality of getting rid of this concept of מרידה, those that revolted, revolt against Hashem, because it's a mitzvah of candles, of fire. That's why the mitzvah is at night, and night represents darkness of galut, and the darker the galut gets The less we see the truth, and the mitzvah of Chanukah candles is to reveal the truth, to bring that light into the world to see the truth. And then the third mitzvah, which has the same quality, is the mitzvah of Shabbos candles. By lighting Shabbos candles, which is a mitzvah in connection to fire, to light, is like the other mitzvot, it has the quality which every mitzvah has, since it's a mitzvah, so it has the quality of being נר מצוה ותורה אור, the spiritual light, but it has that quality even more because it's the spiritual light which transforms the physical light. Of the three, which one has this quality even more? The mitzvah of Shabbos candles. Because the mitzvah of the Menorah was only in the Beis Hamikdash, was only one menorah, only the Kohanim used to light it, and who saw it? Plus, when the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, we don't have that mitzvah anymore. The mitzvah of Chanukah candles, even though we have it now and we light it, to light up the darkness, etc., etc., but the mitzvah of Chanukah candles is not made to give light. It's a mitzvah of light, but it's not made to distribute, to give light. As a matter of fact, we're not allowed to use it for light, as we say in הנרות הללו. We can't use it, but we just, אסור להשתמש בהן, we can't use it, just לראותם בלבד, just to see it. The mitzvah of Shabbos candles is to give off light. What is the mitzvah? To bring light into the house and we could use the light. Not only we could use the light, the purpose of it so we shall use the light, so there should be light in the home, so we should be able to see and not fall, and have shalom bayit. So which of the three mitzvot is the one that has the the quality of light to give off light, which means to produce, to make people see the truth? Out of all mitzvot, it's the mitzvah of Shabbos, of Shabbos candles, Shabbos and Yom Tov candles. And that's why even though this mitzvah, if we're going to look at the levels of importance, some people would say it's only a מצוה מדרבנן, a mitzvah from the Chachamim, it's not a mitzvah from the Torah, there are more important mitzvot, any mitzvah from the Torah is more important. But if you look into the meaning of what's behind this mitzvah, this is much more important than the mitzvot, we can't say the word more important, but it has a certain quality which no other mitzvah of the Torah has. And that's why it's important that little girls should also light, because we want them to get this light, the spiritual light, which expresses itself in the physical form, they should also get it. And that's why this mitzvah is connected to Shabbos. The mitzvah is to light candles right before Shabbos, because in truth, this is really what Shabbos is. Shabbos is a day when a Jew is able to feel more the truth of Hashem than you feel all week. And that's something that we see. All week, you're in business, you work, you do all kinds of things, you're more involved in the gashmiyut of the world. And when you're involved in business and in gashmiyut and all these physical things, it is harder at the same time to feel the truth of Hashem, the spirituality of Hashem. But Shabbos, Shabbos it says we're supposed to feel כאילו כל מלאכתך עשויה. A person is supposed to feel as if everything was done, no worries on your head. And Shabbos is a day that someone who has, chas v'shalom, problems, whatever, business or any type of problems, comes to Shabbos and says you're not allowed to think about it. And you think the way you feel, as if everything is taken care of. And on Shabbos a Yid is closer to Hashem, that's why Shabbos a Yid is able to learn more, to daven more, because Shabbos we feel more spiritual, and that, you don't have to be a big tzadik for that. Every one of us here, look at yourself. Shabbos, we feel more spiritual. So Shabbos is the day that we feel the truth of Hashem even more. That's why Shabbos is called מעין עולם הבא. Shabbos is like עולם הבא. What will be עולם הבא when Mashiach will come, in the future? What's going to be the big thing? The main thing is ונגלה כבוד השם, the glory, the כבוד of Hashem will be revealed, וראו כל בשר יחדו כי פי השם דבר, everyone will see the truth. That's really what it is, recognition of the truth of Hashem. Shabbos, we feel a little bit. But how do we start off the Shabbos? How do we start off the Shabbos to get that start, that push to feel it? There is a mitzvah of lighting the Shabbos candles. These candles bring the light, the true light which makes us recognize Hashem. It says that the sachar for lighting Shabbos candles, and the most famous statement of Chazal, the Midrash: אם אתם משמרים נרות של שבת אני אשמור לכם נרות של ציון. Hashem says, if you're going to guard, to keep, to fulfill the mitzvah of נרות של שבת, the candles of Shabbos, I will guard for you, I will make you fulfill, I will make you reach the candles of ציון, which means the time of Mashiach. Why is it for this mitzvah specifically Hashem promises to bring Mashiach? The truth is, for every mitzvah Hashem will bring Mashiach. Any mitzvah that you do brings Mashiach closer. But never the less, not by every mitzvah it says that this is specifically connected to the coming of Mashiach. Shabbos candles, it says specifically, through Shabbos candles you will be zoche to the נרות של ציון, to Mashiach. Why? Because Shabbos candles, the the meaning behind Shabbos candles is the same thing as behind Mashiach. Mashiach is the revelation of the truth. Shabbos candles is the revelation of truth. That's why Shabbos starts with the candles. The truth is, interesting, we see that Shabbos finishes also with a fire, with Havdalah. Not the same mitzvah as Shabbos candles, but it also has the same general idea, that we finish off with a fire, which is light, and it's also connected to a mitzvah. It's not a mitzvah, we don't say אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו on Havdalah, but still, it's a minhag and a a thing that we do for fulfillment of Hashem's will. And we do it Motzaei Shabbos, soon as Shabbos is over. What is the purpose of it? To bring the concept of Shabbos into the whole week. Even though it's called Havdalah, and Havdalah means separation, it sounds as if we're separating Shabbos from the rest of the week, but in truth, it's the opposite. It's to connect Shabbos to the rest of the week, that that feeling that we have on Shabbos, the feeling of the truth of Hashem, the recognition of Hashem, we bring it to the week. That's why we make Havdalah. Just like when Shabbos starts, we make Kiddush—and when we spoke about Kiddush, I explained this—we make Kiddush, which is the bringing the Shabbos in, Havdalah is also to bring Shabbos, but when Shabbos is over, to bring it into the week. And just like we start off the Shabbos with the Shabbos candles, we finish it off with havdalah, because it's to bring this feeling of what Shabbos is into the whole week, the feeling of the truth of Hashem, the recognition of the truth of Hashem. And that's why it's important that everyone should fulfill this mitzvah. The Rebbe came out with מבצע נשק, with the מבצע that to make sure that people light Shabbos candles, and that girls should light Shabbos candles. And there were some people who said, if you already pick a few mitzvot that these mitzvot should be the ones you stress, so you imagine you pick the most important ones. And takeh, the Rebbe picked tefillin, kashrut, I mean, very, very important mitzvot, which are the foundation of Klal Yisrael. He picked טהרת המשפחה, and he also picked the mitzvah of Shabbos candles. And they asked, out of all mitzvot, this is seems like a very, very small, tiny mitzvah. It's not one of the 613 mitzvot of the Torah, it's only a mitzvah derabbanan, it's a small thing. The purpose of the mitzvah is pashut, a simple thing for shalom bayit, people shouldn't argue in the home and there should be shalom. Why pick is that a major mitzvah pillar? Yes, the mitzvah of Shabbos candles is a major mitzvah if you look at it spiritually. And the Rebbe, who looked at everything spiritually with different eyes than סתם people in the world, saw this depth which behind, and that's why he picked this mitzvah. And that's why he said that girls should light, because you want little children to be raised with this light that the Shabbos candles brings into them. Concerning girls lighting Shabbos candles, another point here: The Gemara says that whoever is careful with the mitzvah of Shabbos candles will have children תלמידי חכמים, and will have sons-in-law תלמידי חכמים. And the Gemara says it's taken from this פסוק: כי נר מצוה ותורה אור. Mitzvah is a candle, and Torah is light. So it So the Gemara says it goes together: If you fulfill the mitzvah of a candle, you will have Torah. You will have children and sons-in-law talmidei chachamim. So the Rebbe said an interesting vort: Years ago, when the shidduchim were in the hand of the mother and the father, so it was the mother's Shabbos candles that was the segulah to be zocheh that the daughter should have a husband that is a talmid chacham. But nowadays, the Rebbe said that the girls themselves are the ones that decide whether to marry whom to marry. And the Rebbe, when he said it, he said, whether we are happy about it or not makes no difference, but that's the way the fact is, that the girls themselves decide. So it's their Shabbos candles that's going to determine whether the child will be a talmid chacham or not. And that's why it's very important to be careful with this mitzvah. And if we are careful with this mitzvah, ourselves and our children, and we see to disseminate, to bring this mitzvah to more people, as the Midrash, as I said before, Hashem promises us, if you keep the mitzvah of Shabbos candles, I promise to shine to you the נר של ציון, which is the coming of משיח במהרה בימינו. Amen.

Yes, yes, yes. Go ahead, Rabbi Wolff, I want to give you a hearty yishar koach for your good insights tonight here, but one two questions I got. First is, you said before distinctly that Hashem Hashem is at is at war, like in a war with with the world. Hashem is not at war, the world is at war with Hashem. Right. brings up an illogical illogical concept here. In a few weeks we're gonna we're gonna read the the pasuk in Beshalach, that the Aibershter wanted to or the Almighty wanted to, wanted to create a dirah, kind of a, a dwelling place for Himself. Isn't it more logical to, to understand, or try to understand, which we'll never understand, that the Aibershter would create a world that would be against Him, that would always be against His, the Torah, whatever? But that's the point. It's illogical. He made a תחתונים. What's תחתונים? A low place. What's pshat low place? The bottom floor? Low place means a place that doesn't recognize the truth, that's low. That's why it's called תחתונים and that's what He made. Now, why He made it, we'll never know. That's how we say a kasha bleibt a kasha, we don't know. But He wanted that and He wanted in that place to bring down, to make him a mishkan and we should bring Him down and make shalom between Him and the world, and that's what He wanted. Now, why, we'll never know. Doesn't that say אין עוד מלבדו, that nothing is real except Him? Right. So would He create a world that that that That doesn't recognize? Exactly! He created a world that doesn't recognize the truth and He wanted that we, through Torah and mitzvot, should change that. Now why He wanted it, we'll never know. Here is something else. Now the, you explained very brilliantly about the about the Chana, about the Chana, the challah and niddah and הדלקת הדלקת הנרות, fine. So you you brought out that that Chavah was responsible for the darkness in the world and she had to to give that mitzvah to to light up the world again or whatever. However with all those with all those with those seemingly very difficult aveirot that she did, she convinced Adam Harishon to eat to eat from the עץ הדעת, etc., etc. But yet, yet when they when they by by by the giving of the Torah, by מתן תורה, the time מתן תורתנו, They would give there was a טענה, there was a there was a complaint by the אומות העולם, by the מלאכים, why they they didn't get the Torah, and so forth and so on. But yet, this one of the primary components or the primary reason why the Torah was given, because of the of the of the women, the בית יעקב, because of that that Hashem says they were the עיקר, they were the עקרת הבית, they're going to raise the children, that's why the Torah was given, in their זכות. So? Perhaps mentioning it. You you you you didn't mention that it was a big so to speak, you didn't mention that the Torah, the תורה הקדושה was given in the זכות of the of the women in this Right, right, I mentioned it another time. Oh, sorry. Yes. I just wanted to know, when did the mitzvah kind of make It's like any מצוה דרבנן. Most of the מצות דרבנן the primary the בית שני. So in in the time of the first בית המקדש, after the first בית המקדש was destroyed, there was no mitzvah that we had which represented If this is such an important thing, how could the Eibershter leave the world without it? As the world gets worse, I guess He needed more, then maybe they didn't need it as much. So they had the light of the other mitzvot, which wasn't so strong and didn't come out into physical form, was enough for them to keep up this recognition. And later, as time passed by, they need more, so now you need a stronger koach. Like the like the siddur. Yeah, exactly, yeah. It came later. Before, they didn't need. So there's nothing historically that you could say was was what represented Shabbos candles, before Shabbos candles? The menorah in the בית המקדש. The menorah in the בית המקדש. My other question was about the havdalah candle. I know in our shul they look at the candle, actually looking at the candles, that is to Right. But it's not an issur, not an aveirah, just to show that you're doing it specifically for the mitzvah's sake, for the minhag, for the berachah, that's why you shouldn't, cuz otherwise you won't see or think that you're using it for just because you have to read the siddur. So to show it more, but if a person does it, it's no aveirah. If you have hana'ah from the Chanukah candle, you're not allowed to, you're doing an issur. Yes. Before that, how did they keep Shabbos, in the dark? There was no mitzvah. So those that managed had the light, was fine. Those that didn't, they ate in the dark, but you weren't obligated. And later, they made an obligation. Shabbos begins when we light candles. For the women. Yes, for the women. And for the men, eighteen minutes See, eighteen minutes, usually we light Shabbos candles eighteen minutes before sunset. Shabbos starts at sunset. Anybody who lights Shabbos candles, and usually it's the women, from when they light, they are already mekabel Shabbos, they accept Shabbos, unless they make a condition that they won't, and then there are certain halachot how you do it. By a man it says, since usually he doesn't light, so it's not a form of Kabbalas Shabbos. But the woman, they are mekabel Shabbos, so they can't. When does it start for men, when they are in shul? From the שקיעה, wherever he is, from the time of sunset. Yes. Some people after Havdalah, they light a candle. That's That's true, also. Some people have a minhag that for Melaveh Malkah, for the meal Motzaei Shabbos, you light a candle. It's true, and it says in Shulchan Aruch. As a matter of fact, we know that the Rebbe in his house for Motzaei Shabbos, when he would sit by the meal of Melaveh Malkah, he would light a candle. One candle? One, one. One or two, I mean, there's there's no there's no minhag here, and the reason is because usually candles show festivity, and in order to show that this is a Melaveh Malkah, it's a special meal that we we escort the queen, which is Shabbos, so it's a festive mood, so we put might light candles. But based on the explanation I gave before, it fits, because Motzaei Shabbos, we also have this idea of candles to bring the feeling of Shabbos, which is recognition of the truth, the seeing the light into the world. Yes. Nice thing is to take an Havdalah candle and put it Oh, I'm sure, yeah, yeah, true, true. in a bottle, shut now. Yes. shul, you have the נר תמיד. Why does the נר תמיד custom started in many shuls lately, but it's not an original custom. Lately? No, I don't mean lately 10 years. Lately I mean maybe 100 years, maybe 200 years, but it's not a minhag mentioned anywhere, and I just do want to say that some people say that we shouldn't have it, because some say that we were copying the goyim by doing it, cuz they have it in their places and that's why they But it's But, but I'm saying, those that have the custom, fine. So who did they copy? Oh, but this well, but there's no It doesn't say anywhere that there is such a thing as a נר תמיד in the It's not. Yes. And you don't think that the issue that you should leave gentle that way? I mean that we should just No, by us, there's nothing really to say, because we are all careful. I'm saying the extra eight the 18 minutes איז כדאי לך. Really, it's not You have to make sure it's before the שקיעה, but it's not not so important. Just want to add to what I've said before, it's interesting it says by by Sarah and by Rivka, that when they lit candles Friday, it lasted till next Shabbos. Now what it really means is that this idea of what Shabbos candles stands for, by them it lasted the whole week. See, by us, we have it in the beginning of Shabbos, and then we hope that we have a little bit of it to last through the week. By them, it lasted throughout the whole week in its full force, and we have to take a lesson from that. We also have to try to bring that feeling into the whole week. Okay. Please enjoy the rest of the refreshments. Again, we do need sponsors, it's $15 to sponsor refreshments. Next week's class will be why Hashem