Listen to Maharat Friedman's weekly parasha podcast "Life Imitates Torah." Click hereto listen, or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.
Will return next week...
On Chanukah we celebrate the miracle of oil. The Talmud tells us about another miracle of oil which emphasizes the importance of appreciating the everyday miracles in our life that we often overlook.
One Shabbat evening, Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa saw that his daughter was sad. He said to her: My daughter, why are you sad? She said to him: I confused a vessel of vinegar for a vessel of oil and I lit the Shabbat lamp with vinegar. Soon the lamp will be extinguished and we will be left in the dark. He said to her: My daughter, what are you concerned about? He Who said to the oil that it should burn can say to the vinegar that it should burn. A tanna taught: That lamp burned continuously the entire day, until they brought from it light for havdala (Ta’anit, 25a).
Chanukah was not the only holiday that celebrated the Hasmoneans defeating the Greeks. The Talmud tells us that there used to be another holiday as well called Nicanor Day:
What is the origin of Nicanor Day? As it is taught in a baraita: Nicanor was one of the generals [iparkhei] in the Greek army, and each and every day he would wave his hand over Judea and Jerusalem and say: When will this city fall into my hands, and I shall trample it? And when the Hasmonean monarchy overcame the Greeks and emerged victorious over them, they killed Nicanor in battle, cut off his thumbs and big toes, and hung them on the gates of Jerusalem, saying: The mouth that spoke with pride, and the hands that waved over Jerusalem, may vengeance be taken against them. This occurred on the thirteenth of Adar (Ta’anit, 18b).
----------------------------
Hadar is now offering Devash, a weekly parsha magazine for children and families. You can download it here.
-----------------------------
Daf Yomi for Kids To download the Daf Yomi for kidsclick here
