Description: The Light of Chanukah and Shabbos 05
Rav Shimshon Pincus goes on to explain in even further depth, how the brachos we make on lighting the Menorah, are directly correlated to the different sections of davening we daven every day, and truly shed light on how we should be davening all year. In this way, Chanukah illuminates the path in the ‘treacherous waters,’ so that we can infuse our ‘weekdays’ with the light of Shabbos and Chanukah.
The three brachos we make are, Li’hadlik neir shel Chanukah, She’asah Nissim, and Shehechiyanu. In davening we have three parts leading up to Shemonah Esray. First comes Birchos Hashachar and Korbanos (for those who say them!) Then comes Pesukei D’zimrah, all of Hodu, Ashrei, the Hallelukah’s and Az Yashir. Lastly, there is Birchos Krias Shemah and Shemah, which lead into Shemonah Esray.
The brachah of Shehechiyanu corresponds to the first part of davening, brachos and korbanos. Those are the introduction to davening, we haven’t yet begun davening in earnest, meaning, we haven’t yet begun to appreciate Hashem’s place in this world. But even without appreciating that, we know that this world is potentially a very holy place, and every part of it can be a host to the Shechinah. So, we therefore make all the Birchos Hashachar, going through every part of our wake-up process, and attributing it to Hashem’s goodness. We say korbanos, remembering the fact that there was a time that we had the awesome ability to serve Hashem with a real physical process of sacrifice. Shehechiyanu as well, is a brachah which takes in the whole year - our life as a whole - and gives thanks to Hashem that we merited to live a year! We merited to come back to this time once again and do mitzvos. Although we say it last, it’s essentially the brachah which introduces every Yom Tov, Chanukah as well.
When we say Birchos Hashachar every day, we now know how to say it – with what kind of feeling we should be saying it – with the same emotion we make ‘Shehechiyanu’. With that overwhelming feeling of gratitude that Hashem has given us another year! It was a gift from Hashem. Likewise, we can now feel every aspect of our lives, our health and abilities, to walk, to see, to hear – are all direct gifts from Hashem. Shehechiyanu!
Then in our davening every day we have Pesukei D’Zimrah. Here we start praising Hashem extensively, and begin to really acknowledge Hashem’s place in the world. We talk about how He gives life to everything – ‘atah mechayeh es kulam’ and we talk about how everything that happens in this natural world, is His direct action, He blows the wind, He brings the rain, He showers the snow, and so on. This correlates to the brachah of She’asah Nissim. In this brachah we recognize that the oil burning – which burned so miraculously during the days of Chanukah many years ago, really is a constant miracle. Who makes oil burn? Hashem does – whether for a day or eight days!
This is one of the famous answers to the question that the Beis Yosef poses, why do we have eight days of Chanukah? Really only seven days were miraculous – but one day would have burned regardless – they had enough oil for one day! The answer given by many meforshim is that after the seven days we came to appreciate that one day of burning is no less a miracle! The Chazon Ish says that ‘Tevah’, the natural world, is no more than a miracle Hashem performs regularly.
This is why it’s so important to celebrate the Neis of Chanukah all through the generations. We don’t have open miracles in galus – Hashem is hidden. But we are surrounded by the nissim of Tevah! If we learn to look at them correctly, we are witnessing miracles every day and every moment. That’s how ‘She’asah Nissim’inspires us to daven and see the world around us with clarity.
Rav Shimshon Pincus goes on to explain in even further depth, how the brachos we make on lighting the Menorah, are directly correlated to the different sections of davening we daven every day, and truly shed light on how we should be davening all year. In this way, Chanukah illuminates the path in the ‘treacherous waters,’ so that we can infuse our ‘weekdays’ with the light of Shabbos and Chanukah.
The three brachos we make are, Li’hadlik neir shel Chanukah, She’asah Nissim, and Shehechiyanu. In davening we have three parts leading up to Shemonah Esray. First comes Birchos Hashachar and Korbanos (for those who say them!) Then comes Pesukei D’zimrah, all of Hodu, Ashrei, the Hallelukah’s and Az Yashir. Lastly, there is Birchos Krias Shemah and Shemah, which lead into Shemonah Esray.
The brachah of Shehechiyanu corresponds to the first part of davening, brachos and korbanos. Those are the introduction to davening, we haven’t yet begun davening in earnest, meaning, we haven’t yet begun to appreciate Hashem’s place in this world. But even without appreciating that, we know that this world is potentially a very holy place, and every part of it can be a host to the Shechinah. So, we therefore make all the Birchos Hashachar, going through every part of our wake-up process, and attributing it to Hashem’s goodness. We say korbanos, remembering the fact that there was a time that we had the awesome ability to serve Hashem with a real physical process of sacrifice. Shehechiyanu as well, is a brachah which takes in the whole year - our life as a whole - and gives thanks to Hashem that we merited to live a year! We merited to come back to this time once again and do mitzvos. Although we say it last, it’s essentially the brachah which introduces every Yom Tov, Chanukah as well.
When we say Birchos Hashachar every day, we now know how to say it – with what kind of feeling we should be saying it – with the same emotion we make ‘Shehechiyanu’. With that overwhelming feeling of gratitude that Hashem has given us another year! It was a gift from Hashem. Likewise, we can now feel every aspect of our lives, our health and abilities, to walk, to see, to hear – are all direct gifts from Hashem. Shehechiyanu!
Then in our davening every day we have Pesukei D’Zimrah. Here we start praising Hashem extensively, and begin to really acknowledge Hashem’s place in the world. We talk about how He gives life to everything – ‘atah mechayeh es kulam’ and we talk about how everything that happens in this natural world, is His direct action, He blows the wind, He brings the rain, He showers the snow, and so on. This correlates to the brachah of She’asah Nissim. In this brachah we recognize that the oil burning – which burned so miraculously during the days of Chanukah many years ago, really is a constant miracle. Who makes oil burn? Hashem does – whether for a day or eight days!
This is one of the famous answers to the question that the Beis Yosef poses, why do we have eight days of Chanukah? Really only seven days were miraculous – but one day would have burned regardless – they had enough oil for one day! The answer given by many meforshim is that after the seven days we came to appreciate that one day of burning is no less a miracle! The Chazon Ish says that ‘Tevah’, the natural world, is no more than a miracle Hashem performs regularly.
This is why it’s so important to celebrate the Neis of Chanukah all through the generations. We don’t have open miracles in galus – Hashem is hidden. But we are surrounded by the nissim of Tevah! If we learn to look at them correctly, we are witnessing miracles every day and every moment. That’s how ‘She’asah Nissim’inspires us to daven and see the world around us with clarity.