Thousands Attend Rabbi Yoel Pinto’s Weekly Lesson at Shuva Israel

Video: Rabbi Yoel Pinto’s remarks / Photo: PR

On Thursday, the traditional lesson was held at the Shuva Israel yeshiva in Ashdod, led by the esteemed Rabbi Yoel Moshe Pinto, the son and successor of the Rebbe, Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto, alongside his brother Rabbi Meir Eliyahu Pinto. The lesson took place after a week in which the Rebbe Rabbi Pinto was in Israel, with the aim of strengthening the Shuva Israel community, which has dozens of branches in Israel and more than 100 around the world.

Rabbi Yoel Pinto devoted his remarks to the inner meaning of Hanukkah, with references to the weekly Torah portion and to everyday life: "There is a story brought by our rabbis, the masters of ethics, about a certain non-Jewish man who worked in the fields. He worked hard. And one day he decided to think and see what advantages he had in life, what good things he did have in life."

The man in the story began to list the gifts of his life. "He said, why do I have feet? I can get out of bed every morning and go to work. Why do I have hands? I can work with these hands. Why do I have eyes? I can look and not fall into pits. Why do I have a mouth? I can trade and sell the crop I grow."

Then he came to the last question. "Head, why do I have you? He did not understand. He thought and thought and thought, why do I have a head. Then he said, ah, I remember why I have a head. Why? So that the hat will not fall over my eyes and ruin my eyes."

From this, the rabbi added: "There are people who live their lives like that. They think why was their head given to them? Just to save all kinds of things and gain all kinds of profits. The head was given for much greater things."

Rabbi Yoel Pinto stressed that a person needs a higher perspective: "A person acts like that, a person lives like that, he rises and reaches the highest places. But a person who is inside nature, in his own mind, does not merit miracles, does not merit anything."

He then moved on to Hanukkah and one of its most common symbols. "One of the most common customs, since the days of our early rabbis, practiced during Hanukkah, is to spin a dreidel. There is a dreidel on which is written nun, gimel, heh, shin, a great miracle happened there. They spin this dreidel and it spins."

Rabbi Pinto pointed to a particular aspect of the dreidel. "This dreidel spins and then falls on some side and a certain letter is seen. There is a great hint in this dreidel. A great miracle happened here, a great miracle happened there. Everything is a miracle."

But the emphasis was on the moment it stops. "As long as the dreidel is spinning and running and running and running endlessly, nothing can be read. Nothing can be seen. Nothing can be understood. Only when the dreidel stops and falls can one understand, can one read, can one understand the matters."

He connected this directly to human life. "So is man. When a person is caught in the race of life, in the running of life here and there and there and here, he cannot internalize the messages that the Holy One, blessed be He, sends him. He cannot see the miracles. He cannot merit anything. He cannot reach anything."

Therefore, he said: "When a person stops for a moment, he notices and contemplates, and then he merits seeing all the miracles and all the salvations."

Later, the rabbi turned to the name of the holiday itself. "And this holiday, Hanukkah, why is it called that? Hanukkah. Because the People of Israel camped on that day."

He expanded: "What is the great virtue of camping on that day? Camping is not victory. It is not Passover. It is not Purim. In the end, it is only because the People of Israel camped on that day."

He explained that camping is not a symbol of weakness. "There are many encampments. Every night the army of Judah the Maccabee, which was fighting, would camp and sleep. What? When they camped, to look at things, to contemplate things, to see things in a deeper way, to see things in a more genuine and less superficial way."

And then the miracle comes. "Then suddenly they merited a miracle. Then suddenly they merited great things. Then suddenly they merited the great light."

Rabbi Yoel Pinto devoted his remarks to the inner meaning of Hanukkah, with references to the weekly Torah portion / Photo: PR

Toward the end, Rabbi Yoel Pinto connected the message to the weekly portion, "This is the message for exile, for difficult matters, which we learn from the first verse in this portion, 'And Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran.' A person leaves the mindset of seven and moves to the mindset of eight. All the anger, all the difficult matters pass from him, go out from him and are transferred from him."

Earlier, Rabbi Meir Eliyahu Pinto spoke, addressing the beginning of the portion and the meaning of the ladder Jacob saw in his dream. In his remarks he began, "The portion begins, 'And Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran.' And later in the portion it says in Jacob's dream, 'And behold, a ladder set on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.'"

He added: "The Ben Ish Chai says that ladder has the numerical value of money. Everyone loves money, wants to know how to obtain money. And the point is that the Ben Ish Chai gives a parable. There was a ladder of equal size, made from one piece of wood. The rung that was at the top became arrogant and said, I am above and I am the head. The owner of the ladder came, heard, turned the ladder over, and now the rung that was at the top is at the bottom."

From the parable he said: "Whoever thinks he is above, who holds himself in high regard, who feels he controls his livelihood, that everything is his, 'my power and the strength of my hand,' the Holy One, blessed be He, turns the ladder and places him below. And even someone who is above must know that in an instant the ladder can turn over."

He connected this to divine service: "In the service of God one must know that even when you are very high and when you are very low, you must be connected to this ladder, connected to the Holy One, blessed be He. The ladder is set on the earth, and its top reaches heaven. This connection is only through Torah and commandments. There is no connection between the above and the below unless one creates that connection."

Rabbi Meir Eliyahu Pinto emphasized that the responsibility lies with האדם: "A person must create this connection with the Holy One, blessed be He. The Talmud says, 'If not for My covenant day and night, I would not have established the laws of heaven and earth.' We know that this refers to the holy Torah."