In an address delivered especially on Chanukah this past Motzei Shabbos in his beis medrash, HaRav Don Segal said, among other things: "It behooves us to contemplate the miracle of 'many in the hands of the few, the mighty in the hands of the weak' which took place precisely because of the 'contaminated in the hands of the pure ones, the wicked in the hands of the righteous and the wicked in the hands of the Torah followers.'

"There is nothing new about the fact that precisely the pure and righteous were victorious. The reason is apparent; it is precisely because they were pure and righteous and were immersed in Torah study."

He continued emphatically "Even in our times, when we are a minority against the barbaric ones who rule over us, determined to obliterate us, ...

Why is the Vatican so important? Because millions of its Christian followers swallow the destructive messages of the head of the Church. They don't hear him speaking about the barbaric deeds of Islam followers, not even as a side remark, Nor do they hear the Pope mention a word about the suffering of the Syrian population as has been exposed lately after the fall of the Butcher of Damascus. Nor do they hear of the horrors perpetrated upon the Kurds, of the suffering of Lebanese Christians who are persecuted because of their religion, or of the murderous deeds of the Islamic terrorist organizations carried out throughout the world.

Part One: His Life

The first Chanukah light is kindled as darkness descends after the twenty-fourth of Kislev. This ushers in Chanukah as well as the yahrtzeit of HaRav Yaakov Ettlinger, zt'l, the author of the Oruch Le'ner commentary on the gemora, one of the best known German gedolei Torah of recent generations.

The two anniversaries have much in common. During Chanukah, we commemorate the victory of faithful Jewry over the Greek oppressors and the miracle with which Hashem indicated His acceptance of their efforts. HaRav Ettlinger's lifetime, over two thousand years later, saw the ripening of the first bitter fruits of the rapprochement with German culture that had been facilitated by Moses Mendelsohn.

The twin ills of assimilation and Reform began to rear their heads in many Jewish communities across Germany. This called for a positive response from the Torah-faithful segment of Germany, the oldest Jewish center in Europe. That response was pioneered by HaRav Ettlinger.

His greatness in Torah and perfection of character illuminated the lives of many who were perplexed by the tempest into which German Jewry found itself plunged as the doors into the surrounding Gentile society, that had been firmly bolted for centuries, slowly swung open. He coordinated public protest against the reformers and, over the years, undertook a range of other measures aimed at remedying their destructive influence. In addition, many of the disciples he raised went on to further the campaign to proclaim the Torah's truth.

While the twenty-fifth of Kislev therefore provides a fitting opportunity for surveying the extent of HaRav Ettlinger's impact as one of the Torah leaders of his time, his Torah is a source of brilliant illumination that outshines any particular date. His Torah is studied year round in botei medrash all over the world, where his seforim are numbered among the relatively few in recent generations that have become universally accepted as standard works which accompany the learning of the masechtos they elucidate.

Cradled in Antiquity