Rabbi Levin's Blog

Some thoughts on the holiday of “Hei Teves,” the fifth day of the month of Tevet.  For context, please see here .   How valuable is a book?  Well, wouldn’t that depend on what kind of book?  Hardcover, softcover, new book, old book, classic book, antique book and so many other variables.  Some books sell for a nominal amount and some are much more expensive.  Some also have historical significance and will be more valuable.  A rare manuscript with great historical value would probably be sold at a high price at a professional auction.  All of the above is how a book dealer or collector would appraise a book, and every book has a market value.   Then there are holy books.  Yes, Torah books have financial value, but there is something much deeper about holy books that cannot be quantified in financial terms.  The first word of the Ten Commandments is “Anochi,” spelled with four Hebrew letters Alef, Nun, Chaf and Yud.  Our sages taught that these four letters are an acronym for “Ana Nafsh

There is a paradox relating to the Chanukah flames.  On the one hand, the purpose of the lamps is to spread light.  We are publicizing the fact that there was a great miracle and the oil burned for eight nights.  (Did you hear about the modern Chanukah miracle?  There were enough doughnuts for eight nights and they only lasted one!)     On a mystical level, the intense holiness which is evoked because of the Jews’ self-sacrifice to adhere to Torah is able to transform even the darkest place to light.  The Chanukah lights, lit after sunset, represent that transformation.  However you look at it, the light is there for us to see, and to learn from.   On the other hand, we are not permitted to use or benefit from the light.  One reason that we have an additional candle, the Shamash, is in case someone reads by the light of the Chanukah candles, they will be using the light of the Shamash and not that of the other candles.     Remember that in days of old there were no electric lights so i

  Chanukah is coming!  What an exciting time for adults and kids alike.  Latkes, doughnuts, parties, Chanukah Gelt (money), and of course the most important observance – lighting the Menorahs.  We also add a special section in the Amidah prayer and Bentching, called “Ve’al Hanissim, say Hallel, and have wonderful parties, public Menorah lightings and sometimes a concert! (Pardon the interruption…. Have you heard about the fabulous events we are hosting during Chanukah? There’s a public candle lighting at City Hall, a Hakhel Concert featuring Yoel Sharabi, and so much more! Learn more at chabadpaloalto.com/chanukah ). It is indeed a wonderful holiday, with a universal message – the triumph of light over darkness, of good over evil.  When there is darkness, light a candle, and you will increase the light and defeat the darkness.   Someone asked me the other day: We focus so much on the message of light.  Why does there have to be darkness in the first place?  We know the old adage, that

  Sciatica is a painful condition.  Anyone who has experienced it will not forget the pain and the difficulty walking, and perhaps that memory will last a lifetime.  Well, there is one episode of sciatica that is remembered for many thousands of years.  Yaakov, the Torah tells us, on the night before his potentially dangerous meeting with Esav, fought with a “man.”  This man, our Sages taught, was Esav’s archangel.  Every nation has its “ministering angel” that provides protection and spiritual energy for the nation.  Esav’s angel was trying to beat Yaakov in advance of his meeting with Esav. Yaakov wrestled with the angel and won, except that the angel was able to dislocate Yaakov’s hip and he suffered from sciatica.  This sciatica was cured soon after by the warming rays of the sun, which miraculously rose early on that day.  We remember this event not just by reading and studying about it.  There is a prohibition, one of the 613 Mitzvot in the Torah, that we are not permitted to eat

  This weekend marks three events in the life of one our greatest leaders.  Rabbi Dovber, known as “the Mitteler Rebbe,” was the second leader of the Chabad movement, the son of its founder Rabbi Schneur Zalman.  He was born, and passed away, on the ninth of Kislev, which falls on this Shabbat.  The tenth of Kislev, Sunday, is the day we celebrate his release from Czarist prison where he was detained by the authorities based on false accusations lodged against him by opponents of his leadership and the movement.  You can read all about it here .   The Mitteler Rebbe assumed leadership of the Chabad movement at a very precarious and dangerous time, toward the end of Napoleon’s war with Russia. The Rebbe’s father, known as the “Alter Rebbe,” saw through Napoleon’s claims of bringing freedom to the Jewish people.  The Alter Rebbe recognized that Napoleon wanted to destroy Jewish life and our adherence to Torah, and he actively supported the Czar.  He was forced to flee Napoleon’s advancin