Post date: Nov 21, 2013 3:16:38 AM
Hi,
It's been a while since I've sent Vorts, and I decided not to wait until Purim. So, this year I hope to send Vorts for Chanukah as well as for Purim. I'm excited to share many fabulous ideas and I hope that you'll enjoy them and share them with others. For Chanukah, I'll end each email with a short Roshei Teivos focusing either on the word Chanukah or the word Shemen (oil). (They're a lot easier to see/read in Hebrew, but I'm going to stick with an English transliteration and translation.) Most of my content comes from an absolutely fabulous Seifer called Inside Chanukah by Rav Aryeh Pinchas Strickoff (Feldheim). He did a wonderful job compiling Divrei Torah from many sources. So, these Vorts are not my own, but rather ones that I have pulled from a few locations and would like to share with you.
Have a Lichtege Chanukah!
Josh
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The month in which Chanukah falls: Kisleiv
Why is this month called “Kisleiv?
Background info: The Gemara (Chagigah 12a) explains that Hashem created an awesome ‘light’ during Creation that allowed one to see from one end of the universe to the other (meaning, that with this light, one had the ability to understand everything contained in the universe, why things happen the way they do, etc…). But because of man’s sin, this light was hidden after shining for only 36 hours, only to be fully revealed to the Tzadikim in the days of Mashiach.
The Bnei Yissaschar tells us that small sparks of this Hidden Light are revealed during Chanukah. The word “Kisleiv” (Chaf, Samech, Lamed, Vav) can be broken in half to make the word “Kis” and the letters Lamed Vav.
- A “Kis” is a pocket, which is related to the word Kisui [KEE soo ee] meaning a covering.
- The combined Gematriah of the letters Lamed and Vav is 36.
Based on this, we can understand that the word Kisleiv as an allusion to the “hidden 36,” referring to the fact that the Hidden Light which shone for 36 hours after it was created before it was hidden, is slightly revealed to us in this special month.
[Inside Chanukah, p. 50]
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The Roshei Teivos of “Chanukah” could be interpreted as standing for the following phrase:
Ches Neiros V’im Kulam Hashamash
(There are) 8 candles, and with them is also the Shamash.
[Inside Chanukah, p.462]