Message for Chanukah from the Lubavitcher Rebbe

As we prepare for the forth light of Chanukah, we decided to interrupt our theme of Chanukah songs with some light of Torah in the form of a message from the Lubavitcher Rebbe on Chanukah.

I hope you enjoy it.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe Meets Rav Mordechai Eliyahu + Video Clip

Today - 25 Sivan 5770, the Tzaddik and Kabbalist, Rav Mordechai Eliyahu was Niftar. He was born in 1929 and appointed as the youngest Dayan (judge) in Israel ever - at the age of just 31 years! His mother was a grandchild of the great Tzaddik and Kabbalist, the Ben Ish Chai - Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad, and his father, Rabbi Salman Eliyahu was a known Mekaven (someone who practises the intentions - Kavannot - during prayers) and Kabbalist - though he died when Rav Mordechai was a young boy. He was Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1983-1993. He paid attention to helping secular Jews, was strong in promoting the important values of a proper Jewish education, observing Shabbat, Family Purity, fighting assimilation, and making Aliyah.

His relationship with the Lubavitcher Rebbe was a most special one indeed! In the short video clip below, Rav Mordechai Eliyahu can be seen speaking with the Rebbe. This clip is especially beautiful as it points to an important concept of helping Jews in need physically, of providing them with their necessary food and drink simply to live (after all, "if there is no flour, there is no Torah.") Rav Eliyahu listens, clarifies, and accepts the Rebbe's stance on the matter. (Now it's time for us all to understand these beautiful words too.)

The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Israel, Security and more

When coming to Israel, a major topic of conversation and consideration as to where to live concerns what you believe about the Land of Israel. Are we permitted to give parts of it away? If you chose to live on one or other side of a colored line (in this case green) is anyone permitted to regard you as being outside of the border?

When it comes to understanding about the Land of Israel and its connection to every Jew, the only place to learn is from the Torah. The Lubavitcher Rebbe - in the video below, speaks firmly of the importance every Jew has in acknowledging every part of the Land of Israel - as belonging to the Jews. Nothing may be given up - because each part belongs to every Jew. Therefore, no Jew has the right to give up something that belongs to another. In fact, by even considering the possibility of peace through the giving up of our Land, we actually bring ourselves to further problems of encouraging the rest of the world to feel that there is even the remotest possibility for negotiations.

There is not! In fact, just the opposite - we MUST admit that our Land is OUR land, and in our every behaviour towards it, we must show and acknowledge well that whether it's Jerusalem or Beitar Illit or any other part of Israel - this is all of our Land! There is no excuse for a Jew stating that what G-d gave us - He did not... When one is given a gift of such magnitude, one must learn to appreciate every part of it, rather than to drive around with Israeli flags on one's car expressing one's loyalty to the land - then going against every commandment of the Torah - and then furthering the problem by actually admitting to the world that it's not really our country! It sounds quite comical - and yet this is the attitude taken. Israel is ours. It is our gift, and we must treasure it by realizing that every part of it is absolutely filled with G-d's Presence. We show our appreciation towards it by means of doing all we can. Fulfilling the wishes of the King in His Palace! This means the complete humility in accepting all of the Torah - including appreciating that there are no negotiations when it comes to Israel. Israel belongs to the Jews - servants (and children of the King) in the Kings Palace.