is going to be Zot Chanukah. To discuss Zot Chanukah. Zot Chanukah is the last day of Chanukah. Even though now, by now it's already after Chanukah, after Zot Chanukah, but today was Zot Chanukah, and we know that any special day, till chatzot, till midnight of after that day, is still a המשכה, still a continuation, spiritually, of what takes place on that day. And therefore, from that perspective, we're still in continuation to Zot Chanukah. So we will discuss Zot Chanukah, which means we'll discuss the specialty of Zot Chanukah. Even though it is one of the days of Chanukah, but there is something special in this day of Zot Chanukah, the last day of Chanukah. Now, we'll start with why is it called Zot Chanukah? The simple reason why it's called Zot Chanukah is because, in the קריאת התורה, in the reading of the Torah that we read on the last day of Chanukah, we read the portion where it says, זאת חנוכת המזבח, this is the dedication of the מזבח. Every other day of Chanukah we read one of the נשיאים. We read the korbanot of of the נשיאים. We know when they put up the משכן, so the first twelve days, every day a different נשיא from a different שבט, a different tribe, brought the special korbanot of the חנוכת המזבח, of the dedication of the מזבח. So every day we read one. The first day we read the first נשיא, the second day the third. Then finally we read the second just because we need two עליות, but three עליות, but really the קריאה is for the day is of that נשיא. Comes the last day, so we mainly read, I mean the seventh day we read the seventh. Comes the last day, the eighth, if we're going to read only the eighth, and then we're going to read the ninth as another עליה, but there is much more left because it goes on to twelve. So what we do on the last day of Chanukah, we read all the נשיאים from the eighth on, till we also include in this קריאה the part the part where it says, זאת חנוכת המזבח אחרי המשח אותו, ביום המשח אותו, אחרי המשח אותו, this is the חנוכה, this is the dedication of the מזבח, and we even continue into the next פרשה, which is בהעלותך, which talks about the menorah. But because we read in the Torah this portion of זאת חנוכת המזבח, this is the reason, the simple reason, why this day has the special name called זאת חנוכה. We will get into the details a little bit later soon, but first just to understand the specialty of this day. Number one, it's the eighth day of Chanukah. And we always talk about the specialty of the number eight. And we always use that concerning the whole Yom Tov of Chanukah, because Chanukah is eight days. But whatever we're going to explain concerning all the days of Chanukah because it's part of eight days, the eighth day itself certainly is more special. And we all know, what is so special about the number eight? We know that seven is a complete cycle, but a cycle which חסידות calls of השתלשלות, of the normal order of things. Or as the Kli Yakar, or another maybe the Rashba, I think the Rashba calls it, this is the שלימות ההיקף. היקף means a cycle of things which are in the ordinary way. There are seven days to the week, so a full week is is seven days. There are seven weeks to the שמיטה, seven days to a week of שמיטה, there are seven heavens, seven years, seven, I mean שמיטות to a יובל, seven weeks to Sefirah, a lot of things that we find in number seven. There are seven heavens. So seven represents the שלימות, the completion, the number seven. That's why Shabbos, which is the seventh day, is שבת קודש, is a very holy day. Nevertheless, it says that number eight, which is the one above, beyond the seven, represents a level which we call in חסידות למעלה מהשתלשלות, something which is beyond nature, beyond the normal cycle. It says in different ספרים concerning the שירה that the אידן sang by קריעת ים סוף, which starts with the words with the word, אז ישיר משה. The word אז means then, but אז is אל״ף זי״ן. אל״ף is one, זי״ן is seven, together it's eight. So it represents the number eight, to show that the great revelation that took place at the time of קריעת ים סוף was a מדרגה that's connected to eight. And actually, it's not חי״ת. חי״ת is eight. אל״ף זי״ן, it's to show that it's the אל״ף, the לשון it says in different places is, the אל״ף רוכב על הזי״ן, it's The one that's riding on top of the ז. Because eight would seem like the eight is a continuation of the seven, the truth is the eight is a complete new new level. So it's one on top of the seven, and that's אז. But in actuality, it is number eight. We find that also concerning ברית מילה, that the ברית מילה is on the eighth day. And the Gemara says the reason we have ברית מילה on the eighth day is כדי שיעבור עליו שבת אחת, in order that one Shabbos should certainly pass, because when is on the eighth day, no matter which day the child was born, there is a Shabbos there. If he's born on Sunday, you have a Shabbos; born on Shabbos, you have a Shabbos, two Shabbatot if any day of the week, it has a Shabbos. If it would be less than eight days, you wouldn't always have a Shabbos. That's the simple pshat in the Gemara. But Chassidus says a deeper pshat. When it says כדי שיעבור עליו שבת אחת, in order one Shabbos should pass, it means that the reason מילה is on the eighth, because it ya'avor, it passes, it surpasses the Shabbos. Shabbos is the seventh, and that's why Shabbos is a holy day because the seventh is the shleimut, the completion of the cycle. And when it comes to the completion, it's special. But this is even greater than that, it's יעבור עליו שבת אחת, it's higher than Shabbos. And this is the eighth day of Chanukah. So the eighth day of Chanukah has this quality of the number eight. That's one thing that we find concerning the specialty of the last day of Chanukah, which is זאת חנוכה.

Then we also find another thing that we know that on Chanukah, it says something very interesting, that every day of Chanukah, not only can you do something today special, but you have an ability to change the past, to have an effect on the past. When we light, let's say the second day, two candles, and the reason that Beit Hillel says—and we'll get into that a little bit later, but the reason Beit Hillel says we light two candles, there's an argument between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel, let's get to that. Beit Shammai, everyone knows that we have to light every day a different amount according to מהדרין מן המהדרין. Beit Shammai says we light the first day eight, the second day seven, then six, five, four, three, two, one. And Beit Shammai says the reason is כנגד ימים הנכנסים, because the first day of Chanukah we still have eight days coming to Chanukah. The second day we only have seven, so we light seven, and six, five, etc. Beit Hillel says כנגד ימים היוצאים, we light according to the days that passed. The first day we only have one day, the second day we have two days, then three days, etc. So when we say at the second day we have two days, we're not saying that the second day is the second day. The second day we have two days. That means when the second day of Chanukah comes, it's as if we're saying in the second day we have the first and we have the second. So when we light two candles, we're lighting a candle for the first day that's here today, and the third day we're lighting a candle for today plus the other two days which are there. It's similar to what it says by sefirah. When we count sefirah, we say today is two days, today is three days, today is four days. We don't say today is the second day, today is the third day, today is the fourth day, because if you say it's the third day, it means that the other two days passed, today's the third. But if you say today is three days, that means that today we have three days. So by Chanukah, we have three days, and four days, and five days. On the eighth day, we have all eight days. And it says the pshat is that when you have two days, whatever you do today, lighting the menorah, which brings spiritual light into yourself and into the world, and whatever it accomplishes, also works retroactive for yesterday's day. You can accomplish today that that should change yesterday's day because today you have it. So on the eighth day, when you already have all eight days, the whole Chanukah, you're able to change and have an effect on all the past days of Chanukah. And it says clearly, it doesn't only mean if you did something wrong or you missed something, you're able today to do something to change the past like teshuvah. We always learn that when you do teshuvah, you're able to change the past. Teshuvah has an effect on the past. That means if you did something wrong, there is something lacking, there is something broken, you're able to fix it today, but not that it'll be fixed from today on. You're able to fix it that it was never broken. But that's all concerning something that was broken, something that was wrong. By Chanukah, it says, even if nothing was wrong, you're adding light. You can add light today that changes the past, that there is more light to the days before. It's similar to what it says concerning Shevet Dan, the Machane Dan. We know that in the מדבר, you had four דגלים. You had four flags, four groups, and they traveled in an order. The last one of the four was Machane Dan, was the דגל that's the three tribe that started with Dan. And the pasuk refers to this Machane Dan as the camp that was מאסף לכל המחנות. מאסף means it gathered all the camps, meaning that since they were the last, if anybody that traveled first lost something, they were able to pick it up, find it, and return it. That means that the end is the time that you're able to affect those that came before you. That's concerning space, and the same thing is concerning time, that you're able to in the end of the time, which is the last day of Chanukah, you have the ability to change the past, to change all the previous days of Chanukah. And I'm saying it now, even though now halachically we're already after זאת חנוכה, but since it's before chatzos, we still have now a connection, a continuation of זאת חנוכה, and we're able to now do things in our heart, in our mind, in avodat Hashem, that will bring more light to the previous days. Normally there's no such thing, you can't change the past, you can't change history. Something that happened, happened. You could from now on be different, but you can't change the past. In this case, you could. Teshuvah could, and by Chanukah it's so special that since it's not the eighth day or the seventh day, it's seven days, it's eight days, so you have all the days today, so you're able to change it. This is, generally speaking, the specialty of the last days of Chanukah.

But we have to go a little bit deeper into it, looking at the name that we said that this day has, which is called זאת חנוכה, this is Chanukah. Now, the simple reason why it's called זאת חנוכה, as I said before, is because in the Torah we read the portion that says זאת חנוכת המזבח, this is the dedication of the מזבח, so we take out the words זאת חנוכת and we use that as a name for today's day, called זאת חנוכה. But since we know that everything in Torah and everything in the מנהגים of Yidden is exact, is perfect, so obviously when we refer to this as זאת חנוכה, and if we translate the words, זאת חנוכה means this is Chanukah. So obviously what we're saying is that the last day of Chanukah is Chanukah. And that's very strange. Why would we say that the last day of Chanukah is Chanukah, and the other days were not Chanukah? זאת חנוכה? Now, a simple peshat we might say it means, זאת חנוכה means now we already have the whole Chanukah. The first day we only had one day, the second two, the seventh we only had seven. The eighth day, now we have the whole Yom Tov of Chanukah. But that's not really the peshat, because that doesn't really fit to the literal translation of the words זאת חנוכה. The words זאת חנוכה does not say this is the end of Chanukah. זאת חנוכה does not say this is already all the days of Chanukah, or the words זאת חנוכה means this is Chanukah. Now, why would we call the eighth day of Chanukah this is Chanukah, and the other days are not Chanukah? But this is the literal translation. But the Rebbe explains this based on a question that's asked: Is, do we look at all the days of Chanukah as separate entities—first day is a separate thing, first day of Chanukah, and a second day of Chanukah, the third—or are all eight days of Chanukah one big unit? And it seems that the right way to approach it is that all days of Chanukah is one unit, it's one nekudah we call it, and it's not like separate parts. It's, I'll give an example, where do we find? We find other places where you have something made up of separate parts, but all together make up one unit. For instance, the talis katan has four corners, four tzitzis, but it's not like that you have four separate parts. If you have only three, you have nothing. It's not a peshat only three so you have three-quarters of the mitzvah, fine, so you have three parts. It's not like that. It's not like a person wants $4 and he has only three, so at least he has three-quarters of what he needs. You have nothing! So all four together make up one unit. Take in tefillin: the תפילין של יד and the תפילין של ראש have four פרשיות. If a person doesn't have all four, so he'll say, okay, I'll put on three. No, you can't put on three. Three is nothing! In this case of Chanukah, we don't say that if you only light one day and not the second day, or you missed one day, you don't have the mitzvah. We're not talking about the mitzvah, but we're talking about the the spiritual part of it. So we say that all eight days of Chanukah are one unit, and therefore, as long as you didn't have the eighth day, you still don't have the unit of Chanukah. And therefore, when the eighth day comes, that's when you're able to say זאת חנוכה, yes, this is Chanukah, now we have Chanukah! Till now we didn't have Chanukah. We had aspects of Chanukah, parts, details, but Chanukah, what Chanukah represents as a whole we didn't have. And this fits to the expression that it's taken from, which is by the korbanot of the nesi'im, as we said before, where it says זאת חנוכת המזבח, there is the same thing: we had 12 nesi'im bringing korbanot and the first 12 days when the Mishkan was put up, 12 separate days. There too it says that all 12 days make up one unit of חנוכת המזבח. One unit, it's all one. And that's why at the end it says זאת חנוכת המזבח, this is the Chanukah, and this is at the end at the 12th day, because all together make up one unit. And the same is with Chanukah. And that's why, just like there we say זאת חנוכת, this is it, and before that not, so too here we also say Zos Chanukah, saying, \"Yes, the eighth day of Chanukah, this is Chanukah. Now we have Chanukah. Till now we didn't have Chanukah. We had parts, but we didn't have Chanukah.\" But the question is, why is it only at the end? If we compare this to the קרבנות of the נשיאים, if you look in Chumash, we find the expression זאת חנוכת המזבח twice: זאת חנוכת המזבח once it says on the first day, and once on the last day. And the Midrash says because the last day, which was the end, included them all, and then it says that the first day also includes them all, because the first day is the potential of all Chanukah, so it includes everything that will happen all other 12 days. So if we compare Zos Chanukah on Chanukah on the last day to the קרבנות of the נשיאים, why wouldn't the first day of Chanukah also be called Zos Chanukah, because this is the potential, this is the beginning, which contains all eight days? You see, the other days is, as we say, nisht ahin un nisht aher, some are there, some are not, but the last day you have everything already, the first day you have the potential of everything, so the first day should also be called Zos Chanukah. And why isn't it? Why, by the קרבנות of the נשיאים, we call the beginning זאת חנוכת המזבח, the end, and not by Chanukah? And the point of the answer will be, and then we're going to go into the details, what is the difference between all days being included in the beginning versus them being included at the end? In the beginning they're included in the potential form, b'koach, let's call the Hebrew word for this b'koach, potentially they're all there. At the end they're included b'poal, in actuality, it's already there. When it comes to other things, like the קרבנות of the נשיאים, we look at it from both angles, that the end has the b'poal of all the days, and that's called זאת, this is it. The beginning has the potential of the end has the reality, the b'poal, and this has the b'koach, we also call it that. By Chanukah, the only time we could look at it from the right point of view is only at the end, not the beginning, because Chanukah, on its own right, represents b'poal, not b'koach. Sounds a little bit abstract, but I'm trying to say that Chanukah, if you look what Chanukah is, Chanukah represents b'poal, the actuality, things that are done b'poal, and not b'koach, not in potential. See, other things you look at it from the potential point of view too. By Hanukkah you cannot look at it from the potential point of view, you only can look at it from the actual point of view, b'foal. And I'll explain why in a moment. And that's why, when it comes to Hanukkah, the first day, which is only b'koach, only in potential, we cannot call it זאת חנוכה, because that's not what Hanukkah is. The last day, when you have everything already b'foal, and it's all there as one unit, you could call it זאת חנוכה. And before I explain why, I just want to show you that when it comes to Hanukkah, in the name of Hanukkah, in the word Hanukkah, which is the name of the Yom Tov, we see that Hanukkah is connected to b'foal. It won't explain why, that I'll explain soon, but it shows that Hanukkah is connected to the b'foal, to the actuality, rather than potential. Where do we see it? What is the reason for the name Hanukkah? Many reasons. One reason is חנו כ״ה. Hanukkah is made up of two words, חנו כ״ה, means they rested on the 25th. On the 25th of Kislev, that's when they rested from the war. Another simple reason why it's called Hanukkah, from the word חינוך, חנוכת המזבח, because the goyim were מטמא the מזבח, the Beis Hamikdash, they had to rededicate it, and that's called a חנוכה, חנוכת המזבח. But then it says in poskim another reason. The word Hanukkah is an abbreviation, roshei teivot, of the words ח׳ נרות והלכה כבית הלל. We light eight candles, ח׳ נרות, eight candles, and the halacha is like Beis Hillel. Because as we know there is, as I said before, there is a machloket, argument Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel. Both agree that we have to have eight candles. Beis Shammai says we start with eight and we go down. Beis Hillel says we start with one and we go up till eight. In the name of Hanukkah, it says that Hanukkah is eight and the halacha is like Beis Hillel. And what is the difference between Beis Hillel and Beis Shammai in their approach? Very simple. Beis Shammai, as we said, says you start with eight because Beis Shammai looks at b'koach. Since potentially on the first day you have eight days, so you light eight. The second day, potentially you have only seven, so you light seven, as we go on and on. Beis Hillel says no, we have to look at it b'foal, in actuality. The first day b'foal you only have one day, so you have one candle. Second day b'foal you have two, so you light two. The eighth day you have b'foal eight. So the difference between Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel, that Beis Shammai looks at it b'koach from the potential aspect, potential point of view, Beis Hillel looks at it from the b'foal point of view. And by putting into the name Chanukah that the halachah is like Beis Hillel, we're stressing in the name that by Chanukah, what's important is the b'foal. What's important is the actuality, not the b'koach, not the potential. And that is the reason why only the last day is called Zos Chanukah, that this is Chanukah, because even though the first day you could also call it, because the first day also contains them all, but because the first day contains them all in a b'koach, in a potential form, that is not Chanukah. So by Chanukah, we can't make a fuss over the potential. So Chanukah, when do we say Zos Chanukah, that this is Chanukah, only on the last day when we have b'foal.

But I still didn't explain why is Chanukah connected to b'foal. We see it, we posken like Beis Hillel. But what is the reason, what is the logic behind, where do we see the concept of Chanukah is connected to b'foal? So let's address a little bit this argument of Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel, whether we follow the b'koach or we follow the b'foal. And this argument is not only in this case of Chanukah. We find many arguments in the Gemara between Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel, that the basis of their argument is that Beis Shammai always looks at things from b'koach, the way it's in potential, and based on that Beis Shammai comes up with the halachah. Beis Hillel looks at everything b'foal, the way things are in actuality, and that's how they base the halachah. What we have to understand is, what is the logic of Beit Shammai? Why would Beit Shammai say that בכח, that the potential outweighs the בפועל? What's the reason? We would understand that something is in potential, so it's still in potential, it's not really there. When you have something בפועל, then you really have it. Beit Hillel's opinion makes sense. Why would Beit Shammai say... See, if Beit Shammai would say, I take in consideration also בכח, I also think that's also something, I'd understand it. But that's not what they say. They say that's more important than the בפועל. If I have a question which of the two I should follow, so Beit Shammai says you have to follow the בכח more than בפועל, you have to follow the potential. What's the logic that the potential is more important than the actuality? The answer at first glance would be, but it wouldn't be enough, is that this is the beginning. The first time when you get something, so the beginning is always the one that you stress, oh, finally I got something. So even though it's only potential, but that's the first point of my connection to it. That's why I make a fuss over it. When you come to בפועל, like take by Chanukah, at the end, after eight days passed already, then you have the בפועל. But when Chanukah starts, just like physically speaking, when you get something, in the beginning you're very excited, so they so Beit Shammai says that even though in the beginning I still only have the potential of it, but that's the point where I make the fuss. Like I would imagine, I'm just using my own mashal, imagine someone would come over to you and say, tell you that, you should know, I'm giving you a present. And the person that you know for sure is going to do it, it's not that somebody you don't trust him. You'll be very happy, even though you don't have it yet. Then later, time passes, you'll get it. But the beginning is when the main fuss is made. So Beit Shammai says בכח, that's the beginning, and that's very, very important. And this goes a step further. Not only does Beit Shammai say that it's it's also important, it's more important than the בפועל. But the question is, but after all, you It's only by a human being that there is a difference between בכח and בפועל. By a human being, there's a difference between potential and actuality. בכח, you don't have it yet, and when it comes to בפועל, that's when you have it. So the בפועל has something much stronger than the בכח. But by Hashem, it says in chassidut and in kabbalah, and it also makes sense, אין כח חסר פועל. The fact that it's a potential is not missing the בפועל, because by Hashem, the בכח and בפועל go together. So even though it's בכח, there is nothing lacking in the בכח from the בפועל. We are people who tangible things are more important. So as long as I, someone promised me $100, but they didn't give, I can't count it, so it still doesn't mean much. It means I feel, and if I trust them, I know I'll get it, I'm happy, but I have to be able to point at it, I have to touch it, I have to feel it. But Hashem, the פועל ממש, which is more tangible part, makes no difference. And therefore, Beit Shammai says, since the בכח is first, and that's how it starts, and the fact that you don't have it בפועל from Hashem's point of view is not lacking anything, and therefore they say we follow the בכח. So it comes out that the argument between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel is that Beit Shammai looks at everything from the point of view of Hashem, from the point of view of the Creator, and from that point of view, the b'koach has everything, and therefore they say we follow the b'koach, and Beit Hillel says we look at everything from the point of view of us. And I'll explain that just in a few words. Hashem gave us a Torah, we know that. Hashem gave us His Torah, His Torah which is complete רוחניות, complete spiritual, and He gave us the Torah the way it is by Him, gave it to us that we should use it to bring Godliness into this world. So we have a נותן, and we have a מקבל. We have a giver, Hashem who gave the Torah, and we have a מקבל, we have a receiver. Anytime there is a present given or something given between two people, they both are involved. You have the person who gave, and you have the person who received. Here, we have Hashem who gave us the Torah, and we have us who received the Torah. We are human beings. He's Hashem, He's the Creator, He is spiritual, and the Torah is a combination of both. It's taking His things, giving it to us. He, His things as it is with His in His form, giving it to us in our form the way we are, that we should utilize it. And the question is, when we look at a Torah the way it's given to us, which part do we stress more? What's the more important part? Do we stress His part that the Torah is His, the real spiritual thing which is given obviously to us to use, but the main thing is His part, or do we look at the Torah that the main thing is our part, and He gave it to us, and it's His thing, and it's something spiritual, but He gave it to us with our limitations that we use it, and that's the one that we stress. Now, if we look at it from the part of the Creator, His part, then b'koach would be the most important part, because looking at it from His point of view, the fact that it's missing the b'foal is no problem. And since by the Torah the main part is the giver, which is Hashem, therefore, that's what counts. So b'koach is more important. And that's what Beit Shammai holds. Beit Shammai holds that we look at everything of the Torah, Torah was given by Hashem, we look at Hashem's chelek, Hashem's part in giving the Torah as the one that determines. And Beit Hillel says Hashem gave us the Torah, so therefore, it's determined by our ways, our restrictions, the way we are. And by us, the b'foal is the one that counts. And that's why Beit Hillel says that we have to follow the b'foal. So it comes out that the argument between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel whether we follow the b'koach or follow the b'foal is whether we look at the Torah mainly from the point of view of Hashem's Torah given to us, or we look at it Torah as Hashem's Torah, but given to us, and we stress our point.

When it comes to Chanukah, by Chanukah, we see in what Chanukah, how Chanukah came about, and also in the way we celebrate Chanukah, that here the part of the Yidden plays a more important role than the part of למעלה. And we said that this is the whole idea of b'poal, that it's the part of the people. Where do we see that in Chanukah? Very simple. All other yamim tovim are mid'oraita, given by Hashem. So there you see Hashem's part. Chanukah is a mitzvah that the Rabbanan made. Who are the Rabbanan? The Rabbanan are human beings. They had the koach of the Torah, the koach of Hashem, but they're human beings who decided to make this Yom Tov. So this is a Yom Tov to begin with that comes we would call it מלמטה. Other yamim tovim like Pesach is מלמעלה, given from above. So there you see the part of Hashem, and therefore you're able to say, well that's the more important part, even though it was given to us, but He gave it to us. By Chanukah, He didn't even give it to us. We made it ourselves, it came from within us. So by Chanukah the Yom Tov, in the Yom Tov itself, you see the fact that it comes מלמטה, it comes from us. And this is even more than Purim, even though Purim is also a Yom Tov only מדרבנן, Purim is not mid'oraita, but who made Purim? The nevi'im. Mordechai and Esther, they were neviim. So since you had neviim at that time, what's the concept of a navi, a prophet? גילה דבריו על ידי עבדיו הנביאים. Hashem reveals His words through the neviim, so whatever the neviim do, this is basically they are channels of the words of Hashem. So in Chanukah, we see the concept of b'poal more. B'poal meaning, as we explained b'poal means, looking at it from the point of view of the Yidden. If you look at what brought about the Yom Tov of Chanukah, you see the difference between Chanukah and Purim in that from that point of view too. Purim, there was nothing that the Yidden had to do. There was a gezeirah, decree, that Haman made. He wanted to kill all the Yidden. And the Yidden were in an עת צרה, they had a problem. And Hashem helped them, saved them. But there's nothing on their side that they had to do for that for for that miracle. I mean they had to do teshuvah, that's spiritual things. But there is nothing to say that they had to go on mesirat nefesh and give something up of their lives in order for the miracle to take place. To look at Chanukah, Chanukah, when you had the war of the goyim and the Yidden, the only way it went was they made decrees against the Yidden, not against the body, they said we're gonna kill you, they made decrees we shouldn't be able to keep Shabbos, we shouldn't be able to circumcise our children, we shouldn't be able to have Rosh Chodesh, which is basically the main three things they were against. Then they went to everything else. The three things which make up the abbreviation of the word שמח, ש מ ח, שבת, מילה, and חודש. These were the three things, mainly. And what we did was we stood up against them, and we went on mesirat nefesh. We didn't care what they said, and we gave up our lives in order to do the mitzvot. So here we see the difference between Chanukah and Purim, that Purim, we don't see so much in the event that took place of things that we Yidden did. It was all in Hashem's hands. Haman made a decree, and Hashem was supposed to save us. Certainly, vadai if we did teshuvah, we learned Torah, but we don't see in the decree itself that there is something that we had to do from the part of the Yidden in order to fight the decree. But by the case of Chanukah, we had to fight the decree. We had to do things against the גזירה, decrees of of of Antiochus. So here again we see that by Chanukah, what do we see? The participation and the activity of the Yidden. While by Purim we don't see it, by other ימים טובים certainly we don't see it, because they are ימים טובים given by Hashem and finished. Pesach, Hashem took us out of מצרים, made a made a יום טוב. Chanukah, we had to work. So what do we see from here? That Chanukah, specifically Chanukah, represents the concept of בפועל, of and as we said before בפועל means the way it's looked upon from our side. And that's why when it comes to Chanukah, only the last day of Chanukah, which has בפועל all eight days, can we call זאת חנוכה, this is Chanukah. The reason we call it this is Chanukah, because today we have all the days and all of them are one unit, so now we have Chanukah. Ah, you say we said before that the beginning also has them all in a potential form, but for Chanukah that won't work, because Chanukah represents the בפועל ממש, the בפועל, and that's why the first day can't be called. Also in the way we celebrate Chanukah, not only the way Chanukah came about and how Chanukah was established, but the way we celebrate Chanukah, we could see the fact that the involvement from the Yidden's side is more than we see in other places. We find an interesting thing by Chanukah that we don't find by any other ימים טובים or other things. We know that by most mitzvot You could do the mitzvah in the minimum, and then you could do the מצוה בהידור. בהידור, you could do it even better, with more care or more בהידור. That's it. By Chanukah, we'll find an expression in Gemara that you could do it מהדרין, and then you could have מהדרין מן המהדרין. You have the מצוה בהידור, more than you're supposed to, more than the minimum, and then you have more than that. Which it means in in simple פשט, it means the mitzvah of Chanukah originally was that every night every household has to have one candle, that's all. That's how they established the mitzvah of Chanukah. That eight days, every day there's one candle, every day one candle only, איש וביתו, for the person and his household, one candle's enough. Mehadrin, if you want to be mehader, then you have a candle for each person. Each member of the family has his own candle. Mehadrin min hamehadrin, not only does each person have his own candle, but he has eight candles. Well, according to Beis Shammai, you start with eight going down to one; according to Beis Hillel, you start with one going to eight, as the halachah is. So, we see here that we have a special type of mehadrin in the case of Chanukah where we don't find by other mitzvot. Another point, and then I'll explain why. Normally we know that most people, most Yidden, do the mitzvah the way you're supposed to, but they don't mehader. Who's mehader in a mitzvah? Who is more careful? Always were special people, more יראי שמים, צדיקים, יחידי סגולה, some special people would do the mitzvah b'hidur. By Chanukah, there's a strange thing. The Rema says in Shulchan Aruch, and we see it actually in actuality, the Rema says in שלחן ערוך, נתפשט המנהג כמהדרין מן המהדרין. The way the custom is accepted by everybody that we do mehadrin min hamehadrin. You ever see, could be the most reformed Jew, you ever see him light one candle the second night, or two? He doesn't do the mitzvah, he doesn't know the mitzvah, he doesn't know anything about the mitzvah. But if any Yid wants to perform Chanukah, he will do this of light the first day one, then two, and three, and go up and not have one every night, and they'll make that the members of the family should have. So the Rema says that נתפשט המנהג. Now certainly, so among frum Yidden, you don't have any frumer Yid, no frumer Yid in the world nowadays which will light only one candle every day. The minhag was accepted by everybody, as it is called in the גמרא, מהדרין מן המהדרין. And it's a strange thing. By other mitzvot we don't find. By eating kasher we don't find. Some eat kasher, some eat glatt kasher. Some do the mitzvah this, somebody says Pesach מהדרין, more mehadrin, we always everything we find more mehadrin by some people, but that everybody should do the mehadrin, that's strange. Why is this? So the peshat is because the whole concept of hiddur, what is the idea of a hiddur mitzvah? Hiddur mitzvah shows that a person, when he does the mitzvah, loves it so much, he wants to put so much of himself in it, he wants to make it better. In other words, the concept of hiddur mitzvah is not so much from the mitzvah itself, it's more from the people. The people who have a feeling to a mitzvah would like to beautify the mitzvah, would like to make the mitzvah in its best possible way. So the concept of hiddur mitzvah is a concept that comes from the people. It's an expression of the feeling we have. And since we said Chanukah is the Yom Tov which expresses the בפועל, which means it expresses our side, the people's side of the mitzvot, and how much we are involved, not how much it comes from Hashem, but how much we put into it, that's why specifically by Chanukah, everybody's mehader, we have this special type of hiddur, מהדרין מן המהדרין, and everybody's mehader. Because the concept of a hiddur shows how much the people want to be involved, and Chanukah is the time of the year. So it comes that Chanukah, over more, over all the mitzvot, I wouldn't say all, but over most, of many of the mitzvot, has this concept of expressing how much we are involved. Now, generally speaking, by every mitzvah d'rabbanan we have it. Every mitzvah that d'rabbanan made, we have this idea that it comes from us, because when d'rabbanan made a mitzvah, it wasn't told by Hashem that we should do it. The Chachamim, who are part of us, represent us, decided to do that, means we decided to do it. We have a right to, because Hashem gave us the right, true, but it still came from us. And that's why the Gemara says that Hashem says, חביבים עלי דברי סופרים. The words of d'rabbanan are more beloved to me than the Torah. ערבים עלי דברי סופרים. The words of d'rabbanan are more sweet to me than the words of Torah. Now, always know that d'rabbanan is not as strict, as important as a din of the Torah, de'oraita. True, because that's from Hashem. And this is only the Chachamim with the כח of Hashem. But still, Hashem says, \"I like it more,\" because from looking at from this point of view, d'rabbanan has something that de'oraita doesn't have: the fact that we as Yidden are involved in making up this mitzvah. As much as it is by all the mitzvot derabbanan, Chanukah is even more, because there are seven mitzvot derabbanan. There are many הלכות מדרבנן, hundreds, thousands, but mitzvot, actual mitzvot, which are considered, called in the in the number of mitzvot derabbanan, we have seven. Which are the seven? Well, we know that there is a סימן how to remember them: נע בשמחה. If you would write נע בשמחה, נע means move with joy. So נע בשמחה is נ, ע, ש, מ, ח, ה, ב, ש, מ, ח, ה. So these are seven letters, but to remember it's נע בשמחה: נ is נטילת ידים, washing hands before we eat. ע is eruvin, the fact that we make an עירוב חצרות to be able to carry, or עירוב תבשילין, or עירוב תחומין, the eruvin that we make. And actually these two were established by Shlomo Hamelech. Which of the חכמים? Shlomo Hamelech. ב is berachot, the fact that we have to make a berachah before we eat, or before we do a mitzvah derabbanan. ש is Shabbos, but it doesn't mean Shabbos, it means נר שבת, light Shabbos candles. מ is Megillah, which is Purim. ח is Chanukah, and ה is Hallel. To say Hallel at different times is a mitzvah miderabbanan. So we have seven mitzvot, and Chanukah is one of them. And the mitzvot derabbanan, as we said, has this מעלה that it comes from within us. It shows how much we're involved. Chanukah is even more, because the whole concept of Chanukah is a thing that shows our involvement. And that's why Chanukah, the b'poal is what counts. And that's why the eighth day, when b'poal we have all eight days, we call that Zos Chanukah. This is Chanukah. And this is the reason taka why on this day we're able to change and have an influence, like I said in the beginning, on the previous days. This is the eighth day, because the eight, as we said in the beginning, is a special number, and that number is connected to the fact that since it's something that comes from within us, it's so special and so important that we reach into the highest levels of heights, which is represented in the number eight. And that's why it says that Chanukah has a connection to the coming of Mashiach, as we know from many things, I mentioned the other time, we know that the light of Chanukah it says is the beginning of the light of Mashiach. The four letters on the dreidel, as I mentioned שבת, נ, ג, ה, ש is the gematria Mashiach, because it has to do because when Mashiach will come, what will bring Mashiach? Our avodah. And Chanukah represents the fact that our avodah counts. And by following Chanukah all the way to Zos Chanukah, with the specialty of Zos Chanukah, even though it's after Zos Chanukah, but into the night, till chatzos, and if we go late later and continue our feeling of Chanukah, it wouldn't be a bad idea, so we'll do that, we'll be zocheh to the coming of Mashiach b'karov mamash.