It is written in the novi (Mal'achi 3), Oz
nidberu yirei Hashem ish el rei'eihu, vayaksheiv Hashem
vayishma, vayikoseiv sefer zikoron lefonov, leyirei Hashem
ulechoshvei shemo, then those who fear Hashem spoke to
each other, and Hashem listened and He heard, and He wrote a
book of remembrance before Him, to those who fear Hashem and
honor His name."
"Vayaksheiv Hashem." We know that no move that a
person makes is lost! Every move, every tiny thing a person
does is not hidden from HaKodosh Boruch Hu. But here
it specifically writes, "Hashem listened," to imply that even
though Hashem supervises everything, and a person is
responsible for everything he does his entire life -- here
specifically the novi writes "vayaksheiv" to
imply that this is special, that when yirei Hashem
speak to each other, Hashem gives special attention.
Here, where a multitude of bnei Yisroel gathered to do
something for kevod Shomayim, it is undoubtedly in the
category of vayaksheiv Hashem.
The Bach asks in hilchos Chanukah (670): Why is it
that on Purim, there is feasting and simcha, but on
Chanukah there is not. Why was Chanukah not established as a
day of feasting and simcha like Purim? The Bach says:
It seems that on Purim, the main reason for the decree was
because they enjoyed [Achashverosh's] feast. So, it was
decreed that they be killed and destroyed physically, because
they enjoyed forbidden food and drink and forbidden feasting
and simcha.
When they did teshuvah, they afflicted their souls,
like Esther said, "Go and gather all the Jews and do not eat
and do not drink for three days." Therefore [Purim] was
established as a day of feasting to remember the main
miracle.
But on Chanukah, the decree was because "they were
negligent in the service (of Hashem]," so the decree was to
nullify the avoda, like it says in the Beraissa
that the korbon tomid was nullified. He also said that
they have one mitzva, that if you nullify that mitzva, they
are already lost. Which one? Lighting the menora about
which is written, leha'alos ner tomid -- as long as
they light it, they are constantly standing.
The Greeks went and defiled all the oils. When the Jews did
teshuvah and were moser nefesh for the
avoda, and Hashem saved them through the
Cohanim, who do the avoda in Hashem's house.
Therefore, the miracle was also done with the candles and
[the yom tov] was only established to praise and to
thank, which is avoda shebaleiv.
The Bach brings proof from Chazal that they decreed to
nullify the korbon tomid, and about the matter of the
menora, but he does not bring proof of the fact that
they were negligent in the avoda. Perhaps he had proof
of it, but he does not mention it. He just brings proof that
it is written in Chazal that they canceled the avoda
but does not prove that this was because they were
negligent.
The words of the Bach imply that if we see that there are
decrees, we know that it must be that first they stumbled,
cholila, and were negligent in this matter and then
there are decrees. If we see that there are decrees on the
avoda, there must have been some negligence in the
avoda. Otherwise, as long as Klal Yisroel was
strong in the avoda, there could not have been a
decree to nullify the avoda. If we see a decree to
nullify the avoda, it is a sign that there was
negligence.
Unfortunately, we all know that the streets today are full of
incitement against the Torah and bnei Torah,
talmidei chachomim and those who keep Torah and
mitzvos. It was never so prevalent like now that from every
side, from the entire world, we hear incitement against Torah
observant Jews. And why is this? If we see it, it is a sign
that the defect is negligence!
The chillul Hashem prevalent today is probably because
there is negligence in making a kiddush Hashem. The
solution is to strengthen ourselves in kiddush Hashem.
The only thing we can do against the matter is to do the
opposite. If it was negligence that caused chillul
Hashem, we have to make a kiddush Hashem.
And what is a kiddush Hashem? It is well known that
the Steipler zt'l used to always say that the reason
to vote is not so much to determine how many representatives
there are in the Knesset. The main thing is that each person
expresses that he wants Klal Yisroel to act according
to the Torah. This is worth more than anything. The main
thing is that Jews are screaming, we want Klal Yisroel
to be under the Torah's direction. This is a kiddush
Hashem! And this is what is being demanded of us.
The main thing that is being demanded is that a person should
not say, what is the difference if I vote or not; it will be
the same thing, one person less or one person more. This is
not true. Every vote is a kiddush sheim Shomayim;
through this he says that he wants those who go in the way of
Hashem, that listen to the opinion of chachomim, when
he votes for them. This is called a kiddush Hashem!
And this is what we must do to rectify the chillul
Hashem that is in the street today.
Everyone knows that it is not a matter of one vote more or
less. No! Each vote counts! A king is glorified in a
multitude of the nation. When a man says that he wants those
who want to act according to the way of Hashem, he makes a
kiddush Hashem, and this will rectify the chillul
Hashem.
And with this Hashem should help that the prosecution should
really stop, and we should be zoche that Klal
Yisroel will be uplifted and lift up the horn of the
Torah and Yisroel, and we should be zoche to
everything good with the coming of the go'el
tzedek.
