THE ORAL LAW

Dear Family,

I hope everyone is well.

There are 2 big birthdays taking place today BH

Both of them involve decades!

Mazal Tov to Renee on your 80th birthday today. It says in Pirkei Avot ben shemonim ligvurah which means that you have reached 80 with strength, and have the strength to reach further with the help of Hashem. Wishing you continued achievement, all in good health and happiness.

Mazal Tov to Rivky on your 40th birthday today. It says in Pirkei Avot ben arbaim lebinah which means that you have reached the age of clear understanding. Wishing you to keep advancing from strength to strength in all the many activities that you are involved with, both secular and spiritual.

I saw a nice connection between this week's Parsha Vayeshev and Chanukah, from Reb Levi Yitzchak's teachings taken from a letter to his son The Rebbe on his 36th birthday.

The story of Chanukah took place at the time of the Second Temple, which was well before the formation of the Mishneh.

So why is there no book of Mishneh dedicated to Chanukah (and not even 1 chapter), as there are for other Festivals!? (It can only be found in the Talmud.)

In our Parsha it says "Yisrael loved Yosef more than all his sons..."

The Midrash commenting on this verse explains it as follows "All the Torah Laws (Halachos) which Shem and Ever had passed on to Yaakov, Yaakov passed on to Yosef.

The word that the Midrash uses is Halachos, which refers to the Oral Law. It is within the Oral Law where the details of how to fulfil and keep the Torah are explained in both a clear and practical way, and it is this that Yaakov passed on to Yosef.

We can now draw the connection to Chanukah, where the main decree of the Greeks was to cause the Jews to stop practicing, and to forget the Torah.

More specifically, the decree was against the Oral Torah.

Now if we count the number of candles we light on Chanukah, it is 36. (not including the shamash)

And the number of Tractates in the Talmud (Oral Torah) is also 36. (although we seem to have 37, it is possible that Tamid is not counted because it is not a complete Book)

This signifies that the true victory over the Greeks, was the continuation and commitment to upholding the Oral Law.

(And I presume that this is the reason that Chanukah is represented mainly in the Talmud and not in the Mishneh)

Gut Shabbos and gut Chanukah, with light, understanding and strength to all!