Chochma & Torah

On Chanukah and Purim, the following is added.

And [we thank You] for the miracles, for the redemption, for the mighty deeds, for the saving acts, and for the wonders which You have wrought for our ancestors in those days, at this time ---

On Chanukah continue here:

In the days of Matityahu, the son of Yochanan the High Priest, the Hasmonean and his sons, when the wicked Hellenic government rose up against Your people Israel to make them forget Your Torah and violate the decrees of Your will. But You, in Your abounding mercies, stood by them in the time of their distress. You waged their battles, defended their rights and avenged the wrong done to them. You delivered the mighty into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few, the impure into the hands of the pure, the wicked into the hands of the righteous, and the wanton sinners into the hands of those who occupy themselves with Your Torah. You made a great and holy name for Yourself in Your world, and effected a great deliverance and redemption for Your people to this very day. Then Your children entered the shrine of Your House, cleansed Your Temple, purified Your Sanctuary, kindled lights in Your holy courtyards, and instituted these eight days of Chanukah to give thanks and praise to Your great Name.

The following year [the Sages] fixed those [days], making them holidays for praise and thanksgiving.

(8) but because the LORD loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Hashem saw that there would be few righteous people. He therefore planted them in each generation as it says...

(13) And letters were sent by posts into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey.

They contain the four chapters from the Torah in which the Mitzvah of tefillin is stated.... Those chapters discuss how Hashem, Whose Name is blessed, is One, and only One, in the entire universe. Those chapters also discuss the miracles and wonders that Hashem did for us when He took us out of Egypt. They discuss how Hashem alone has the power and the dominion to do whatever He wants in the physical world and in the spiritual world.

Hashem commanded us to put tefillin on our arms to remember the "strong arm".

The tefillin on our arms is near the heart to control the lusts and thoughts of our hearts and redirect them towards performing the Service we are commanded to perform for Hashem, Whose Name is blessed.

The tefillin on our heads is near the brain, so that the spiritual elements in our brains, as well as our senses and all our abilities, should should all be controlled and redirected towards performing the Service we are commanded to perform for Hashem, Whose Name is blessed.

May the performance of the Mitzvah of tefillin influence me and bestow upon me long life, Holy Influence, holy thoughts -- without even a moment's consideration of any sin or bad thing whatsoever -- and that our Evil Inclination should not be aroused, nor should it seduce us, and should let us serve Hashem the way our hearts truly desire to.

(8) Rabbi Dostai son of Rabbi Yannai in the name of Rabbi Meir says: Anyone who forgets one matter from his studies - Scripture considers him as if he is liable for forfeiture of his life, as it is said (Deuteronomy 4:9) "Only guard thyself, and guard thy life diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes saw."

One could suppose this statement applies to even one whose studies have overpowered him, therefore, the verse says, "and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life" - he is not liable for forfeiture of his life until he sits down and intentionally removes them from his mind.

...

(20) When thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying: ‘What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which the LORD our God hath commanded you? (21) then thou shalt say unto thy son: ... And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.

Anyone who accepts upon himself the fulfillment of these seven mitzvot and is precise in their observance is considered one of 'the pious among the gentiles' and will merit a share in the world to come.

This applies only when he accepts them and fulfills them because the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded them in the Torah and informed us through Moses, our teacher, that Noah's descendants had been commanded to fulfill them previously.

However, if he fulfills them out of intellectual conviction, he is not a resident alien, nor of 'the pious among the gentiles,' nor of their wise men.

(1) And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: (2) ’Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites; afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people.’ (3) And Moses spoke unto the people, saying: ‘Arm ye men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian, to execute the LORD’S vengeance on Midian.

(4) Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish interpreted the verse to be about the exiles: "And the earth was null" - this is [a reference to] the exile of Babylonia, as it is stated (Jeremiah 4:23), I have seen the earth and it is null;" "and void (bohu)" - this is [a reference to] the exile of Media (Esther 6:14), "And they hurried (yavhilu) to bring Haman;" "and darkness" - this is [a reference to] the exile of Greece, who darkened the eyes of Israel with their decrees, as it said to them, "Write on the horn of a bull that you have no share in the God of Israel;"

(7) A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations is set out, gone forth from his place; to make thy land desolate, that thy cities be laid waste, without inhabitant.

Hanina said: Everything is in the hands of heaven except the fear of heaven as it says, “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear” (Deuteronomy 10:12).