means recognizing the truth. Why davka the mitzvah of Shabbos candles? Why not all other mitzvos? We know every mitzvah helps, we said, but specifically it's mentioned Shabbos, for the reason I said before. Because Shabbos candles is light, and because it's a physical light, it has this closer resemblance to the spiritual meaning of the mitzvah, which is spiritual light to see the truth. So Shabbos candles does it. So the mitzvos that have to do light, with light have to do with this with this with this idea of those mitzvos more that were able to foresee the truth. Now, based on this whole idea that light means really the recognition of the truth, and the real truth, which is Hashem, that's really what light is, we'll understand certain things when it comes to light. One question that asked is, the first thing Hashem created out of all things was light, as I mentioned before. The question is why? Light, as we said, is only good if there is somebody to appreciate it, somebody to use it. If no one is there to use it, then there is nothing, no meaning in light. Light means that somebody should see. But if there's nobody to see it, what's the purpose of light? So why did Hashem create the light the first day, when there was nobody to use it? The human being was not created until the sixth day, the animals were not created till later, so there was nobody to have hana'ah. Right, I don't mean later than the human being, later than the first day. So there was no one that could benefit from the light. So why did Hashem create light from the beginning? Now, one might answer because the Gemara says that why was the whole world created before the human being? So when the human being would be created, he would find everything ready. It's like when you invite somebody to a party, a chashuv person, you don't tell him, come, and then you start setting the table. You set the table first, and when he comes, everything is ready. So Hashem wanted that everything should be ready for the human being. So the same thing maybe Hashem wanted light to be there first, so when he comes, it's all ready. But for that he didn't have to do it the first day. The human being was not created till the sixth day. There were not even animals created the first day, not even plants that gain from light, as we know light helps them grow. That wasn't till the third day. So why did Hashem create light all the way in the beginning? What was the purpose of creating the light right away? Then there's another question. It says in the Zohar that or, light, which is or, is the same gematria as raz. Or is אלף, ואו, ריש, is 207. רז, ריש, זין, is 207. What does raz mean? Raz means a secret. Now why, what is the connection between or and raz? As a matter of fact, it seems that they're two opposites. Or is light, where you could see, something that's revealed. A secret is something that's hidden. They're complete two opposites. So why is or the gematria of raz? And there has to be a connection, because if according to the Torah there is a same gematria, same numerical value, it must be because there is some connection. So what's the connection between or and raz? And just in short, we know that the Midrash says that when Hashem created the world, he used blueprints. What was the blueprints? It was the Torah. But what the Midrash tried to tell us, that the creation of the world took place similar to the way a human being behaves when he goes to build something. When he goes to do something, just like a human being would first make blueprints and then go build, the same thing with Hashem. Now, if we compare, if we want to follow the way people behave, we'll understand why light was the first thing. When a person goes to do a project, like a building, whatever project you're going to do, the first thing is you have to have the goal. You have to know what you want to accomplish. What is the purpose of what you're going to do now? A person is going to build a building, he wants a certain building built for him, because he wants something and he wants this is the the bottom the end result. And the building could take, who knows, it could take a year to build, but before he starts building, he has to know what does he want as the end result. That's the meaning of סוף מעשה במחשבה תחלה. What comes at the end, that's really what's in your mind. A person imagines, this is the type of building I want, and he knows everything. Then you sit down, make blueprints, you build, finally you come to the end. So before you start, you already know what the goal is. You set your goal in the beginning. When Hashem created the world, what's the goal of the creation? We have to know that. And whatever the goal of the creation is, Hashem would have to put it in the beginning. Before it started yet, the beginning the beginning, you'll have to have your goal all set and all revealed. The goal of the creation, we know, is that Hashem wants that the world, even though it's a low world, the world should recognize the truth. That's what he wants. He could have made it we should see it right away, he didn't want. He wanted that we should work on it, and after working all these years, the world will come to its end, which will be that the whole world, that's when Mashiach will come. ונגלה כבוד השם, then Hashem will be revealed, everyone will recognize it. That's the goal. Being that that's the goal, and that's why Hashem made light in the beginning. As I said before, concept of light is seeing the truth, and the real meaning of light is seeing the real truth. What's the real truth? Seeing Hashem. And that's why that was made in the beginning, because Hashem said, \"The first thing I'm creating, the first thing is putting down the goal. The goal is light. What is light? To see the truth, the אמת השם לעולם, the truth of Hashem.\" Now, and that's why it says וירא וירא אלוקים את האור כי טוב, השם saw that light is good. What's that it's good? Why is it good? Because that's the goal. What's the best thing? The best thing is the goal a person reaches, that's the epitome of things, at the top. That's what light is. Now it's interesting that when you go through the other days of creation, it says almost on everything that Hashem saw this was good, this was good. Now that he said that light is good, so when it says that he saw this was good, obviously it means that there was some light in that object, too. There was some light there, too. In other words, what I'm trying to say is that the light, which is the goal, is not only something that has to be in the beginning, but throughout the whole process. If someone is doing a project, so first he has to have that light, meaning that goal right away. Then throughout the whole process, the whole time that he's working on it, the whole project, that goal has to be felt. If he'll forget the goal, then he'll go wrong, he won't do what he wants to do. So the goal has to be very strong in the beginning, and throughout the whole procedure the goal has to be felt, but not so strong. You can't constantly look at the goal, then you But you have to have the goal in mind. So that in the beginning was light, which is טוב, and then every day of creation for everything else it says whatever Hashem made, he saw טוב, which means he saw that there, too. That's the concept of light that's there in every part of the creation. Which, by the way, just for a minute, this explains the two opinions in קבלה which ספירה that light represents. We find two opinions. We know that in the ספירות we have the first ספירה is חסד. Really, on top of that we have the three of מוחין, חכמה בינה דעת, but on top of that we have כתר. So one opinion in קבלה says that the light that was created on the first day is the level of מדרגה of כתר. Another place in קבלה it says that it's חוכ- it's חסד. The difference is which part of the light you're talking about. There is the light that comes there before you start, that's like כתר, which the level of כתר, when you learn חסידות, is very far, much higher, beyond all the others. חסד, on the other hand, is the ספירה that's חסד אל כל היום, that goes throughout the whole process. And not to explain it now, but that's what it is. So we have these two levels of light. We have light in the beginning and we have light throughout the whole way. But anyway, this is just a by-the-way thing. So the concept of light is seeing the truth. This is what Hashem did right in the beginning, he made the light. And that's why light is the גימטריא רז, is a secret. Because this light, which means seeing the truth, is really a secret throughout the whole creation. A secret means it's not revealed. As I said in the beginning, the light that Hashem created in the first day was so strong that you could see the truth. It was revealed, the truth was clear. But then Hashem took it away, and he left that as something we have to work on. Now it's up to us to reveal that light, and it will not be revealed until we finish, and that will be when Mashiach will come. So throughout the whole time from then on, the light is not revealed. This truth that was supposed to be seen is something that's hidden. We said it's hidden in the Torah, but it's hidden. That's why it's called רז. The light is a secret. It's the foundation, but it's the secret of creation, which means the secret of what we have to do in our job in the creation. And the purpose of why Hashem created the world was for us to reveal the light that's not seen. If the light would have been seen completely, we'd have no job, Hashem wouldn't have given us anything. He gave us a job, he took away the light, made the light become a secret, which means you don't see it, and that light is there, but hidden, and we have to bring it out, which means we have to bring out the truth of the creation, which is understanding the truth of Hashem. And this is our job. So this is what it is: light is the beginning of everything and light is the end of everything. Said the The name of the topic tonight was the real the true meaning of light. Light is the beginning of everything. The first first thing you will hear is light. Hashem created everything in a way that he made that there's the true light, that the world should be the truth should be seen. And then it was taken away, it's hidden, and then throughout the whole 6,000 years that we're working almost, we're supposed to reveal it, and the end result will be there will be light again. והיה השם לך לאור עולם, השם will be the true light. And that's why it's interesting, we see Shabbos starts the same way. Shabbos starts with light and ends with light. Shabbos starts with the Shabbos candles and finishes with the havdalah candles. It starts with light, finishes, because Shabbos is the representation of what our goal in life is. That's what Shabbos is, as I explained once when we spoke about Shabbos. And that's why it starts with light and finishes with light, which means everything in between is sandwiched in light, to show that the whole idea of Shabbos is light, that means to see the truth. And that's the whole idea of creation, that's our job. So if someone wants to know what the purpose of creation, what's the purpose of his being in the world, is is, as we say, to see the light, or to bring light into the world, which is to reveal the truth, the truth of אמת, השם בעולם, the truth that Hashem is there, and there's nothing but Hashem, and that will be seen when Mashiach will come very soon. Yes. So, the light that was put away, you mean that's talking about spiritual light? No, it's also physical light, but it represents the spiritual light. So, the difference between physical light and different spiritual light? That's When the When the spiritual light was taken away, the physical light went along with it, because the physical light is only a השתלשלות from the spiritual light. Hashem took away the spiritual light, which automatically, the physical light which came as a result, also disappeared. And when we left only a little bit of the spiritual light, a little bit of the physical light was left. And I said in the beginning that that happened, according to the Gemara on the fourth day, according to the Zohar on the first day. We don't have much time, because I have to leave soon. No, because when he created heaven and earth, whatever that means, the first thing that he put into it was the light. So והארץ היתה תהו ובהו, the world was chaos, and he made light, that was the beginning of normality, so to speak. So really there was the general שמים וארץ, and the first specific thing that he made that should be there working in the world, that was light. And it means physical light, but that represented the spiritual light, that in the world there was spiritual light. Yeah? When we look at something, does light come out of our eyes to grab the object we're looking at, or מלמעלה למטה or מלמטה למעלה? When you see something, the world says that there's light coming from it to your eyes. Right. But it's not really the light from it. It's the light from the bulb that's being reflected from the object into your eyes. Except a candle match, because it's light. Except for the match. Right, right, right. Are there sources that say it's the opposite? That something from your eye goes and grabs it? I don't know if it says the opposite, it just says that this thing is a gilui through the light. I don't know if it says the opposite. So then there is contact. There is contact, not light, but there is contact. When you look at somebody, there is contact that comes through your look, through your sight. I don't know if it's called light. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But what we mean is the physical object is outside of us. We do a mitzvah with a physical object, and with ourselves, it's true, but that's not called really a physical object, because that's us. Yeah, but there's nothing outside of us that you can see. That's within us, right. That, truth is you can look at that aspect of Torah as being a mitzvah, it's part of רמ״ח מצוות, it's not Torah. When we talk about Torah, not as a mitzvah, as a separate concept of Torah. I just have to go now.

It says that the first thing Hashem says, ויאמר אלקים יהי אור, השם said, \"Let there be light,\" ויהי אור, and there was light. So this was the first creation. And then after Hashem created light, it says ויאמר אלקים... וירא אלקים את האור כי טוב, השם saw that the light was good. Now, this light, when it was created, it was independent from the sun. We know now light comes out of the sun, and when the sun sets, there is no light, and when the sun rises, there is light. But when Hashem created the light, it was independent from the sun, as we see that there was light the first day, there was light the second day. Actually, at the end of the day, it says ויהי ערב ויהי בקר, there was evening, there was morning, יום אחד, one day. Next day, it says ויהי ערב ויהי בקר, יום שני, two days. So there was light and there was darkness, and this was all before the sun was put up by Hashem. We know that the sun was put up on the fourth day of creation, as we learn Chumash. And before that yet, there was light. So obviously, light was a creation independent of the sun. But on the fourth day of creation, when Hashem put the sun up, that's when he connected the two. He took the light and he put it into the sun, and he said, \"Now you will get the light through the sun.\" But before that, light was a separate entity, and then he put it into the sun. Beside that change that took place, that the light first was a separate entity and then later it was put into the sun, there was another change: the strength of the light. Before the fourth day, before Hashem put the light into the sun, the light that he created was much, much stronger. Actually, the Gemara says that אור שנברא ביום ראשון, the light that was created on the first day of creation, היה אדם מביט בו מסוף העולם ועד סופו. A person was able to look to see with this light from one end of the world to the other. That's how strong the light was, that when the light was shining, you could see to the other end of the world. It says היה אדם מביט בו, a person could look with this light מסוף העולם ועד סופו, from one end of the world to the other end of the world. But then it says ראה שאין העולם ראוי, saw that the world does not deserve it, this is not fit for the world, גנזו, Hashem hid that strong light. Where did He hide it? It says in Midrash: גנזו בתורה, in the Torah He hid the light. In Degel Machaneh Ephraim, which is written by the grandson of the Baal Shem Tov, he writes the same idea in the name of the Baal Shem Tov, that the light is hidden in the Torah. Just to tell a story that once somebody came to the Baal Shem Tov and asked him about a certain thing, actually where his father's oxen had been lost, so the Baal Shem Tov opened a Zohar, looked into it, and told him they happened to be in the city of Breslau. And the person went to Breslau, and he found them. So someone asked the Baal Shem Tov, \"Why did you have to look into the Zohar? You're a tzadik and you have the eyes that you're able to see what's doing in other places, therefore you could see where these oxen are, so why did you have to open the Zohar?\" So the Baal Shem Tov answered, \"Really, in order to see where everything is, you have to have this light that's so strong that you could see far away. But that light was hidden. Where did Hashem hide it? In the Torah. So in order for me to get that light, I had to open a sefer, I had to open the Torah, and I opened it up, that light shined to me, and when that light shined, I was able to see the other end of the world, so I saw where they were.\" But the bottom line is, what I'm trying to bring out is this, the basic idea is that the light that was created on the first day of creation was so strong that you were able to see to the other end of the world. Hashem hid it. When did Hashem hide it? Now, the truth is there is an opinion in the Midrash that Hashem hid that light and switched it to the ordinary light that we have was after Shabbos. That's one opinion, after Shabbos. That means for the whole week, Friday including Shabbos, till after Shabbos, the light that shined every day, because it says there was day and night, so there was time of light, was the light that was so strong that you could see to the other end of the world. After Shabbos, that's when Hashem took that light away and changed it to this ordinary light. There is another opinion, it says in the Zohar. The Zohar it says that He hid that light on the first day. He made the light on the first day, and then He decided that it's not for the world, and He hid that light, and He hid it in the Torah, but He hid it that day. But in the Gemara, in Gemara Chagigah and in other Midrashim it says that when did He hide this light? Before He put the sun up. That means that as long as light was a separate entity, that light was a very strong light that you could see to the other end of the world. But when Hashem decided to take this light and put it into the sun, and now the light will come from the sun, Hashem changed the strength of the light, and now the light became an ordinary light as we have it. That's what we see in the Gemara. This is what the creation of light was: the light was stronger, the light became weaker.

What is the true meaning of light? We said this is just the background of the creation of light, but what is the true meaning of light? So let's look into what light means. We know that light is a very, very important entity in the world. Without light, there is nothing. If we wouldn't have light, there's nothing that we could do. We can't work, we can't read, we can't learn, we can't walk, we can't do anything without light, it would be completely dark. So light is a very, very important thing. It's so important that whenever we think of something that's good, automatically we think of light, because the pasuk says וירא אלקים את האור כי טוב, the light that is good. And we know that constantly, in the Torah or b'klal, even when we talk, light always represents the good, and darkness represents the evil. In Tanach, when the navi wants to describe people who are not doing the right things, so he uses the term שמים אור לחושך וחושך לאור, they make light into darkness and darkness into light. What he means is that things that are good, they're not doing, things which are bad, they are doing, but what term did he use? He uses the term light, because light represents good. We know that in Chassidut and in Kabbalah, in Zohar, whenever it wants to use the term that our job is to change bad things into good, the term is used Ithapcha chashucha l'nehora. We have to change darkness into light. So again, we refer to darkness as evil, evil forces that are dark and light represents the good. Especially Chassidus and Kabbalah, when we talk about the greatness, the revelation we call it of godliness, what term do we use? We use the term Or Ein Sof, the infinite godly light. So we use the term light. Now we know that there is no light that we could imagine emanating, coming from Hashem, there's no light that we could think of as physical light. What we mean is the revelation of godliness, and nevertheless, we use the term light. Because light represents all good matters, holy matters, and in this case, it represents אלקות. Godliness is light. And the evil forces, things which are against Hashem, we refer to as dark. Why? And this here we'll get into what is the true inner meaning of light. What is light? Light does not change anything. When you have a room and you put the light on, and before that you couldn't see, now you could see, the light that went on did not change anything. Everything was there exactly like it was before. The difference is, before you couldn't see what it is, and now you could see. That's the only difference. Before, when you saw a door, this is the the expression the Rebbe used always used, that you see a door, you feel a door, now you don't know where the door leads you to. If there is no light, you don't know whether this door is going to open you to a treasure or this door is going to open you to a pit where you're going to fall in and get hurt. But when you open you get light, then you could see what it is. Basically what it means is, light means you could see the truth. That is what light is. Right? Light is the revelation of the truth. And darkness is when you do not see the truth. And the moment we say that light is truth, then we know why light is so special. Because the truth, that is the most important thing. We know that even by השם, חותמו של הקדוש ברוך הוא אמת. The seal and the signature of Hashem is emet, truth. Truth is Hashem. There's a pasuk that says השם אלקים אמת, הוא אלקים חיים. השם אלקים is true, השם אלקים is life, because Hashem is the real truth. So emet is truth, godliness, so light, which represents truth, this is what light is. When you have the light on you see the truth, that's why light, וירא אלקים את האור כי טוב, it says Hashem saw that the light is good, because goodness is truth. Sheker, things which are not true, that's evil. The source of all evil, not only the source of all evil, evil itself, that is the concept of not truth. The truth, that is the best. The true thing, the real thing is the truth, that's real, real means emet, and that is the truth. And what is the real truth? The real truth is, as I said before, הויה אלקים אמת, השם is the real truth. There's another pasuk that says, ואמת השם לעולם. Hashem, what peshat is, the simple peshat is, Hashem is true forever, which would mean Hashem is eternal, Hashem is forever. But the deeper peshat is that Hashem forever, that is the truth. The real truth, if someone wants to ask, what is the real truth of everything? What is the real essence of truth? There's only one thing to answer: Hashem. Hashem is the real essence of everything, He's the essence of creation, He's the essence of everything, He is the concept of truth. And in order for us, when we, not in order, but when we see the truth, when we see the light, it means we see the truth, what does it really mean? We see the truth of Hashem. So when a person recognizes Hashem, that person sees the truth. If a person recognizes that everything is from Hashem and there is nothing but Hashem, he sees the truth. This person has light. So the true meaning of light is recognizing the truth, the truth of Hashem. Since it means bichlal recognizing any truth, like I said you walk into the room and you don't know if there's a chair there or not, when you open the light, light makes you see the truth. The truth that there is a chair, and that is true because it's there. But that's not really, really true, because it's there because someone put it there, in essence it's not true, it's true that it's there, but that's not an essential thing that has to be. The real truth is Hashem, so when we talk about light, it means the concept of seeing the truth of Hashem, that is really what light is. And that's what the Gemara means, the light that was created on the first day of creation you could see from one end of the world to another, it means everything was obvious. What peshat everything was obvious? The truth was obvious, you could see through the world. Now when we look at the world, the world covers up on the truth. It's a concealment on the truth of Hashem. That's why it's called עולם, עולם in Hebrew comes from the word he'elem which means concealment. So now when we look at the world, we do not see in the world that this all comes from Hashem. You have to really study, and really meditate, and really think, till finally you will come to understand, yes, that who created the world, who's the true existence of the world, Hashem. But the world in itself is a cover up on the truth. When Hashem created the world the first day, first day of creation, the light was so strong it means that you could see through the world. The world didn't block the truth. The world itself expressed the truth of Hashem. וראה שאין העולם כדאי, he saw that the world is not deserving, in other words, this is not what the world needs. Hashem created a world for whatever reason he had, we don't know why, but he created a world in a way that we should not see the truth. If the world would be a way that we see the truth, then there's no purpose in the creation. Hashem, as we know the Midrash, נתאוה הקדוש ברוך הוא להיות לו דירה בתחתונים, Hashem wants a world which is a low world, where there is no revelation of the truth, we do not see the truth of Hashem. And therefore, we have things that stop us from doing the right thing, and we do we have to work on bringing back the truth. So Hashem the first day saw that this is not for the world, doesn't mean chas v'shalom that he made a mistake. First he made the light, that's what people think, the Midrash, Gemara says, he made the light and it shined so strong, then he decided, well, it's nah, made a mistake, I really shouldn't have done it, it doesn't really fit for the world. So he changed his mind and he changed the light. That's not the pshat. This is a process, and as I'll explain later a little more in detail, he created a light in the beginning, and in the beginning the world was so that from the beginning of creation you could see through the world, it did not conceal the truth, that's the pshat there was a strong light. And Hashem saw that this, then he said, but this is not what I want in the world, and therefore he minimized the light so you should not see the truth. Where did he hide it? It says he took away the light, the strong light. He hid it. Where did he hide it? He said before, he hid it in the Torah. What does that mean? That Hashem still left the ability in the world that we should see the truth, that the world should not cover up on the truth, and we should be able to look at the world and see through the world and see the truth, but not by itself. He hid it in the Torah. That means that he made that when you study Torah and you do mitzvot, then you will start to see the truth. Then that light that shined the first day, which means that revelation of the truth of אמת השם לעולם, you will see through the Torah. The truth is, in the Torah itself we have two halves, two parts to the Torah, and they're both connected to light. The pasuk, the famous pasuk that says, כי תורה, תורה, כי נר מצוה ותורה אור. Mitzvah is like a candle, and the Torah is like light. And they're both parts of light. There's light, and there is a candle that gives off light. So the general idea is that Torah and mitzvot bring the light. They bring out that light that was created in the beginning which was hidden, but you could get to it. Just like something is hidden, when you find the place where it's hidden and you open it with a key, you could take out. Here too Hashem hid it in the Torah, and we could take out that light and see it. And what is that? Torah u'mitzvot. When we do a mitzvah, the fact that we did a mitzvah of Hashem, that itself brings the light into us that makes us have the true recognition of the truth of Hashem, the fact that you do a mitzvah. When we learn a word of Torah, that itself makes it possible for us that we should see the light, the true light, the truth of Hashem. There is a difference between the two, and in Chassidut we learn why is Torah compared to light and why are mitzvot compared to a candle? Compared to light means to the light that comes from the sun, and mitzvot are compared to a candle. Why divided in this division? And Chassidut explains the difference between light of the sun and light of a candle is, light that comes from the sun, the light, general light that comes in the world, doesn't show, we do not see any effect that we could see with our eyes that the light does. We do not see any change in the world that we could look at and see that this light makes a change, even though it has a lot of effects, but we don't see it. By a candle, we do. We see that while the candle is burning, as it's burning, the candle, whatever it is, whether it's oil or other material, it gets transformed into the fire. It gets burned up, and the fire is a transformation of the candle. It's the, in fact, it's that this physical candle gets turned into light. And we could see that, while regular light you don't see it. And that's basically the difference between Torah and mitzvot. Mitzvot are done with physical objects. We take a pair of tefillin, we put it on, we have tzitzit that we wear, and we bring this light of Hashem into the world in a form that the physical object has a connection to it. You see you take the same piece of wool and now it's turned into a mitzvah. So we're taking a physical object and we're bringing kedushah, holiness into physical objects, that means that this light transforms a physical object. When we learn Torah, that's not what happens. When a person studies Torah, and in his mind he understands the peshat of a Mishnah and he understands a מאמר חסידות and explains, certainly there are great transformations that take place, but it's only abstract in his mind, and there's nothing tangible that's affected, besides what's inside his head, but there's nothing tangible that's affected by his studying of Torah. While by mitzvot, yes, every object that we use for a mitzvah is affected. There is a coin that you use for tzedakah, there is a piece of leather that you use for tefillin. So therefore, Torah is compared to light, Just like light brings light to the world, but we do not see the direct transformation of something into the light, so we don't see it by Torah either. By mitzvot, we do see it. But generally speaking, Torah and mitzvot are in one category. Just the division is specifically between the two, but generally speaking, Torah and mitzvot are both compared to light, candles or regular light, and the reason is because it is through Torah and mitzvot that we have the light, which means we have, we're able to see the truth, which is light.

Now in light, we find another expression. In Chassidut whenever it talks about light, it uses the term אור וגילוי, light and revelation. Now in truth, revelation is also light. What does revelation mean? When something is revealed, it means that you could see it. If it's not revealed, you can't see it, that's what it is. Now the fact that something is able to be seen, that is light. The difference is only the physical light that comes from the sun also shines, but it lights up the other place, but when we have something that's revealed, that's also called the light that comes from the thing that now you are able to see it, because see, the table is right there, how can I with my eyes see it? There is some kind of revelation that comes from the table, emanation or whatever words we'll use, that I am able to see with my eyes. So there is a concept of light which is called גילוי, and the same thing is with the spiritual light. The spiritual light means this is מגלה, this is the revelation of godliness, the revelation of Hashem. And the physical light that we have is a השתלשלות, which means this is a chain reaction as we would call it from the spiritual light. In other words, the fact that we have physical light down here, this is like a משל, like a parable, like a רמז to the true light which is the revelation of Hashem. And therefore, when the light shines, what it really means that in רוחניות the true light shines, and that's the light of Hashem. That's why it says in Chassidut that summertime, it's easier to serve Hashem than winter. I'm sure we all feel that, right? Summertime, it says it's easier to serve Hashem. There is less העלמות והסתרים, there are less cover-ups, concealments of godliness, and it says in Chassidut, where do we see it? The fact that summer the sun is stronger, the fact that summer the sun shines longer, that is a sign that spiritually the sun, the light, which is the revelation of the truth of Hashem, shines stronger during the summer. And as I always say, obviously in Miami it's easier to serve Hashem all year round, because in Miami the sun shines stronger all year round, so must be place where we could serve Hashem faster, easier. But it's all because the physical light represents the spiritual light, which is the truth of Hashem. This is the reason why the Baal Shem Tov loved light. The Baal Shem Tov loved light. He always loved that it should be very light, a lot of light. They even tell a story that once when he was in a place and they didn't have enough light, they didn't have enough candles, and the Baal Shem Tov came in and they didn't know what to do because they knew he loved light. So when he walked in, they said to him, \"Rabbi, we're just out of candles, there's nothing we could do.\" So it was the middle of the winter, so the Baal Shem Tov says, \"Okay, go outside and take some icicles off the roof.\" They took the icicles off and he said, \"Light it.\" And the icicles shined, burned with a fire, and he said then that this is similar to what the Gemara says, that once Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa's daughter wanted to light candle and she looked and she couldn't find any oil. She told her father, \"We have no oil.\" So he says, \"Well, what's that jar there?\" Said, \"That jar is vinegar.\" Says, \"Okay, put a wick into the vinegar.\" And he said, \"מי שאמר לשמן וידלוק, יאמר לחומץ וידלוק, the same Hashem who said that oil should burn could say that vinegar should burn.\" And the vinegar burned. So the same thing with the Baal Shem Tov, the same Hashem that said that candles burn could say to the icicles to burn, and it burned. But he only did this miracle all because he wanted a lot of light. Why did he want a lot of light? Because light, the gashmiyut, is a representation of the spiritual light. And that's why when more light, persons are in a better mood. They think it's a better mood because the gashmiyut is better. No, because this represents that spiritually there is more גילוי אלקות, there is more revelation of the truth. And that is also why those mitzvot that not only have the spiritual light in it, which is every mitzvah, every mitzvah has spiritual light as we've said, כי נר מצוה ותורה אור, but those mitzvot that are physically light have more אלקות in it than other mitzvot that don't. And there are only a few mitzvot that we know that the mitzvah is a mitzvah of light. Those were the candles in the Beit Hamikdash, there was a mitzvah of lighting them. There's a mitzvah of lighting נרות חנוכה, the candles of Chanukah. And there is a mitzvah of lighting the Shabbat candles, and it takeh says that these three mitzvot, even though the Shabbat candles, one might say, is only a מצוה מדרבנן, it's not even a מצוה דאורייתא, the mitzvah of Chanukah candles is only a מצוה מדרבנן, the mitzvah of the Beit Hamikdash, that's a מצוה דאורייתא, but the other ones seem to be lesser mitzvot, they're not as important. But the truth is, Chassidut says, and the Rebbe explains it in detail, that these mitzvot have something that other mitzvot don't have: the fact that they are physically light, that means that the spiritual light that you have in every mitzvah, which means the fact that every mitzvah makes a person see the truth, and that is, every time you do a mitzvah, you see more of Elokus, every time you learn Torah, you see more, these mitzvot accomplish it even more, because they are even physically light, so they represent they're a closer representation of this spiritual light. And we see that taka, where do we see it? Concerning the candles of the Beit HaMikdash, the Gemara says that the candles of the Beit HaMikdash were עדות היא לבאי עולם שהשכינה שרויה בישראל. This was a testimony to the whole world that the Shechinah, Hashem, rests among the Yidden. Now, there were many miracles that took place in the Beit HaMikdash, and any person who saw that miracle showed him that Hashem is here. And we learn in Pirkei Avot, this time of the year, עשרה נסים נעשו בבית המקדש, ten miracles took place in the Beit HaMikdash. And some miracles took place in a place that everyone could see, while the miracle of the menorah, there was a special miracle by the candles that the נר מערבי, one candle, would last last for 24 hours. That most people couldn't even see. So why is it that the Gemara says which which nes, which miracle of the Beit HaMikdash was the one that really showed the world the truth of Hashem, that Hashem is with us, was the miracle of lighting the candles in the on the menorah in the Beit HaMikdash? And the reason is because all other miracles took place with other things, and they were not light. This is a mitzvah that had to do with light, and since light represents the light of Hashem, which is seeing the truth of Hashem, so the physical aspect of the mitzvah, which is light, shows that this has more. And therefore, when, from which of the miracles did a Yid, a Yid, ולהבדיל a goy, because it says כל באי עולם, all the people of the world, who, when, from which miracle were they more influenced to recognize the truth of Hashem? From the miracle of the menorah, because the menorah was light. And the same thing is concerning Chanukah. By Chanukah candles, it says Chanukah candles have this quality of bringing true light of Hashem into into the world. In Kabbalah and Chassidut we learn the great light that's נמשך, it says that the light of Chanukah candles are similar to the light of לעתיד לבוא, of Mashiach's time. It says there's a pasuk that says וה' יגיה חשכי, and Hashem should light up my darkness. So it says, Chanukah candles have that quality of lighting up darkness in such a strong way, greater light. And it says in Halacha, when do you light Chanukah candles? It says by the שקיעה, time of the sunset. For how long? So it says, we know it's a half hour, the shiur is a half hour, but the Gemara uses the term עד דכליא רגלא דתרמודאי, till the feet of the people known as תרמודים would leave the marketplace. And Chassidus explains that תרמוד, the word תרמוד are the same letters as מורדת, מורדת means rebellion, those that rebel. That means that through the Chanukah candles, we're able to finish The simple peshat, I didn't explain, the simple peshat is that the last people in the market always used to be these people. These people from תרמוד used to be the last people that stayed outside, because when it got completely dark, they had to leave, you can't stay outside, there were no lights outside. So you have to light the candles for the sunset, and the amount of time was till the time when these people leave, when we're finished, the expression is, when the feet of the תרמודים is finished. But Chassidus says, what does that mean? That the Chanukah candles have the power of getting rid of the תרמודים. What's תרמודים? תרמודים is the same letters as מורדת, מורדת means rebellion. It has the power of getting rid of the rebellion against Hashem. Now, who rebels against Hashem? So we always think, who rebels against Hashem? Oh, these reshaim over there and that rasha over there. Sorry to say, we could all consider ourselves people like that. As long as we don't see the truth of Hashem, we are rebelling against Hashem, we don't accept Hashem truthfully. Chanukah candles have this power of getting rid of this rebellion, that means make us understand and see the truth. And the emet is, it says, who were these תרמודים? These תרמודים, it says, were originally slaves that rebelled against Shlomo HaMelech. So they were takeh people who rebelled. But what it means is that this could get rid of the rebellion that we have. And why takeh the mitzvah of Chanukah candles? Because it's a mitzvah of light, and that represents more the light of Hashem. Then we have the third mitzvah which represents light, and that's the Shabbos candles. And by the Shabbos candles also it says that by lighting the Shabbos candles, it brings the light of Hashem into the house for Shabbos, and mimela into the whole week, and by lighting Shabbos candles, it is easier for a person, by doing this easier for a person to recognize the truth of Hashem. And the Rebbe says it is hinted, very, the hint, very interestingly, the Rebbe says, in Shulchan Aruch and it says that why do we have to light Shabbos candles? And it says שלא יכשל בעץ ואבן. For shalom bayit or peace in the house. How does... what Shabbos candles have to do with peace? So it says if a person there wouldn't be any candles Friday night, you come home from shul and it'll be dark, שמא יכשל בעץ ואבן, you might stumble in the house, fall over a piece of wood or a rock, what will you do then? Scream at your wife! \"Look what happened here!\" and you'll get into a fight. So you... and in the weekdays you come home it's dark, you light a candle. But Friday night you can't light a candle, so if it's dark, you'll come home and it'll be dark, you'll stumble over a piece of wood or a rock, and so it says, a piece of wood over a or a rock, and then there won't be shalom bayit. So by lighting Shabbos candles, you make sure שלא יכשל, you will not stumble over the wood and the rock. Now why does it mention wood and rock? Stumble over anything! So the Rebbe says, it's actually a sicha that we learned not long ago in the shiur, so the Rebbe says the pshat is, wood, a piece of wood and rock represent avodah zarah, idols. The idols used to be made of wood or rock. Actually the navi says in a pasuk, when he wants to complain why do you worship idols, he says, \"Why do you say ל... ל... ל... האומרים לעץ אבי אתה ולאבן את ילדתנו, that you are people who say to a piece of wood, 'You are my father, you are my G-d,' and to a rock, you say, 'You gave birth to me.'\" So the symbol of avodah zarah is a rock and a piece of wood. And that's what it means that you shouldn't stumble over the wood and the rock. By lighting Shabbos candles, you won't stumble over avodah zarah, over idol worship. What does idol worship mean? People think idol worship means physically bowing down to a rock, bowing down to a statue? The real meaning of idol worship is not recognizing the truth of Hashem. That's really what idol worship is. If a person does not recognize the truth of Hashem, and thinks that there is another being other than Hashem, that's a form of idol worship. Cuz the Rambam explains, what's idol worship? How did idol worship start? People started bowing down to statues, what, they were meshugaim? It started because they thought that there is another power other than Hashem. The sun has its power, the moon has its power, so they used to pray to the sun, thinking it has its own power. Then they used to make statues of the sun and the moon to pray to it. And then, eventually, it was forgotten. So the whole idea of avodah zarah, of idol worship, is thinking that there is another power. Now, what difference does it make whether you think the sun has its own power, and that's avodah zarah, or you think, \"I have the... my own power, I could do things, I could accomplish myself,\" or anything else that you think is an existence, is a being in the world, that's avodah zarah. That's why when we say שמע ישראל, we cover our eyes and we say השם אחד, השם is one, what do we mean? Hashem is one, not that there's only one G-d and not two G-ds. Not stupid, certainly, who thinks that there are two G-ds, there is more than one G-d? It means that there is only one being. השם אחד means Hashem is the only being! There's nothing else! When I close my eyes, I don't think Hashem is one and Yoske is nothing. Hashem is one, and I'm nothing. There is nothing but Hashem. If we don't recognize that, then then we don't really believe in השם אחד, and then we don't we we are doing a form of idol worship. So