The Essence of Chanukah:Torah She’Baal Peh (Oral Torah):

Revised 12/12/09:

On this web site I often will write about things having to with my new found orthodox jewish lifestyle. Currently, I do spend a significant part of my day, typically several hours ad day learning Torah @ Passaic Torah Institute. In my humility I can indeed point out that I do become very motivated to learn in part due to the constant urging of Rabbi Shlomo Singer. However I am also intrinsically hard wired to delve deeply into things, to get to heart of any given matter.

If I state that this article was inspired by a series of discourses which were given at Passaic Torah Institute, at 441 Passaic Ave, Passaic NJ, and were lead by Rabbi Shlomo Singer shlita, then I can avoid the possible pitfall of attributing my own personal take on the matter to someone other than myself. I can also avoid potential criticism from my teacher by leaving out some of the essential ingredients which were developed over the series of discourses, over time.

The ongoing interactive discourse began sometime in late November, 2009 continuing through today (one day before Chanukah) December 10, 2009.

On more than one occasion Rabbi Shlomo Singer had asked our small but consistent group of about 5- 7 chevrah (friends), what was the main idea, or the essence of Chanukah. We all gave our answers and were individually recognized for having some good ideas and insights, however it was clear that our Rabbi was clearly steering us in a particular direction. The essence of Chanukah is Torah She’Baal Peh (Oral Torah).

The salient point left out of this original piece is that on some level, according to the concept as developed by R. Singer shlita, that the Greeks allowed Jews to have our written Torah. However the Greek concept of allowing us to have our written Torah was more like simply allowing a person to read an interesting novel. Certainly the Greeks were not happy to sit still and allow places such as Yeshivah’s to flourish where people would become engaged in extensive discussions regarding different potential interpretations of our Holy Torah.

I need to add the particular image which had been in my mind from as far back as I can remember as a grade school child, a secular Jew who attended public school as a child pick a year anywhere from say second grade to 6th grade. The Chanukah dreidal application image that was firmly implanted in my mind was that a given group of adult male Jews (say between 3 to 5) would somehow have this Torah scroll, I imagined it might have been kept under something and covered up when not being used, and it would be taken out so that it could be studied. Now when a Greek (or Roman) soldier, some fellow in full Roman type armor, complete with that classic sort of brush type helmet, happened to be anywhere in earshot or line of sight, these regular Jews of the day would hurriedly scurry the Torah scroll away into its secret hiding place, and take out a dreidel, and throw out some coins from their pocket and then act as if they were in the middle of a dreidel game just in case the Roman soldier might have thought that these fellows were studying Torah.

Roman Helmet (cotume store image) 200 BCE

Now, I am not sharing this idea with any particular pride, however this would be the working image, until something more sophisticated (A greek based word from sophists- Greeks who somehow made a living by teaching philosophy) image or concept might come along to replace this one.

Therefore when Rabbi Singer repeatedly kept beating the drum how it was Oral Torah, that the Greeks were trying to eliminate, that the idea simply was not being put concretely into my head. After at this particular time period there were no books called Gemara, Talmud, or Mishna. As far as I know, back then there was Torah, and that was it!

So now try to understand my dilemma when I kept hearing the Rabbi Singer say that: The Essence of Chanukah is Torah She’Baal Peh (Oral Torah).

Now there were days that I sat there kind of just listening, and wondering if we were ever going to hear why this was true. There were days, that I got so engrossed in learning new concepts, that it was becoming difficult to keep of with all the ideas that were being expounded upon. There were times where it seemed like our Rabbi Singer was reading Hebrew word after Hebrew word from the Sefer (book) we were reading  ”Siftei Chaim” by Rabbi Chaim Friedlander. There were days where it seemed like our Rabbi was repeating the same ideas over and over again.

Rabbi Singer asked us questions, we gave answers. He liked our answers, we liked our answers but the questions kept coming at us. Different questions, about different ideas. Rabbi Singer sometimes asked us questions, and nobody would speak, thinking maybe it was a rhetorical question. Then he would ask us the same question again, sometimes he would give us the answer, and dramatically bang on the table. ” Do you like my answer? Is it okay with you? Are you going to let me go on? ” Rabbi Singer would often ask us, challenging us to think for ourselves, question him, argue with him, or perhaps even agree with him. Sometimes someone would chyme in, and sometimes we would sit there and wait because very often Rabbi Singer would tell us even more, or give us a deeper insight to think about after such a series of questions.

I would sit, and I would listen. On a good day, i would have a pen, and scramble around to find a few scraps of paper that were not filled with Hebrew words, words from the Gemara (the written oral Torah) which always seemed to be floating around Passaic Torah Institue (PTI). On an even better day I would have my marble composition notebooks with me. During the best, of the best, of these days, I would let go of trying to answer all the questions, and would simply do my best to keep with what Rabbi Singer was asking us, or reading from our source text.

I realize that part of the way Rabbi Singer imparts information is using the Socratic method (a Greek work for a particular teaching method-Socratic method based on Socrates 470-399 BCE- a Greek philosopher where information is elicited by the teacher by repeated questioning of the student).

Also I understand that there was a very strong tradition of Oral Torah which had been in existence prior to the writing down of this information in  Mishna and Gemara. As a matter fact part of the Oral Tradition of Torah She’Baal Peh, as is implied by it’s name, actually prohibited the writing down of this information in the form of books.

Also, for better or worse, my first formal entry in the world of Torah learning (some 15 or so years ago-having never even been exposed to Hebrew school when I was in grade school or in junior high school) had happened to be from the point of view of Kabbalistic ideas. One of the ideas of Kabbalah is that some ideas, or secrets are not supposed to ever be put into writing. Indeed as per Halacha, some ideas are never even supposed to be talked about even in a group as small as two people. The idea here is that one could only bring up chapter headings or the main idea without filling in the details.

Now lets get back to Chanukah::

We emphasize the (seemingly small and unimportant)  miracle of the oil lasting 8 days, as the primary important thing and then add our thanks to Hashem for the miracles of the military victory of such a small number of Yeshivah students over at minimum 10’s of thousands of trained military soldiers, or to use Rabbi Singer’s number, 6 million Greek soldiers.

It really is no small wonder that Chanukah may be one of the most enigmatic of the Jewish holidays. On hand we have some relatively easy requirements that we must satisfy in order to observe the holiday correctly. For example, lighting candles, how difficult is that to do when compared to the kind of cleaning that we as orthodox Jews must do in order to remove all the chametz (bread, and bread products) from the household in preparation for Pesach.

However the mitzvot (commandments) associated with Pesach are defined in the written Torah, while Chanukah is a holiday which came to be after the time period of the Torah, shortly before the destruction of the second temple. Now I should point out here that my belief regarding R. Singer’s discourse on the essence of Chanukah is Torah She’Baal Peh,  is not simply because the mitzvahs associated with Chanukah, and the description of how to keep Chanukah are given outside the time period where the total body of literature which was to be encoded into Tanach. In other words:

According to the Talmud,[2] much of the contents of the Tanakh were compiled by the “Men of the Great Assembly” by 450 BCE, and have since remained unchanged”

The source of statement above is wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanakh

The point that I am trying to make here is that my understanding is that the essence of Chanukah is about Oral Torah, not because Oral Torah is required in order to provide the details and the rules about how to celebrate the holiday of Chanukah.  Rather the essence of Chanukah is Torah She’Baal Peh (Oral Torah), because having an accurate written and kosher Torah Scroll is not enough to keep the nation of Jewish people a distinct and separate Jewish nation. Indeed there must be such things as communities of Torah observant Jews who seek to follow the code of Jewish law both in its written form and in its oral form. In order for there to be any understanding of how to apply the Oral law of Torah, to each subsequent generation of Jewish people there must be a strong tradition to continue to learn and transmit oral law to subsequent generations. Simply writing down oral law down in some book that sits on someone’s shelf, is not enough to keep the oral tradition alive.

Why Chanukah is such an important holiday:

It is easy to be mislead about the significance of Chanukah for a great variety of reasons including the current emphasis on buying toys for children, spinning dreidels giving and eating chocolate coins and eating food prepared in oil,  like latkes and jelly donuts.  The preparation and  mitzvahs associated with the holiday primarily revolve around lighting candles before it gets dark, saying a relatively simple bracha (blessing), adding a few lines to the normal morning, afternoon, and evening prayers, and saying Hallel, which is an additional set of prayers that are usually said on other Jewish holidays where it is fitting to give thanks to Hashem and give praise of Hashem, for the great miracles and for all the good things which Hashem has done and continues to do for us.

If one considers the elaborate preparation required to properly celebrate a holiday such as Sukkot for example there is no question that Chanukah is a cake walk! Yet, we celebrate the holiday for eight days. Why not just for one day? Rabbi S. Singer shlita tells us, yes, somehow it is the 1st time we light the candle on the 1st night, it should be good enough to advertise the miracle. Yes, thats right to advertise the miracle. It is a mitzvah (a commandmant, not a good deed) to place the Chanukah Menorah in a window so that everyone could see. We are specifically told by our Rabbis to make known the miracle that occurred about 150 years before the destruction of the second temple.

Are we specifically reminding the whole world about the miraculous military victory where about one dozen yeshivah students took on and defeated  the entire Greek army? No, of course not. We do not celebrate military victories, as religious holidays because, military victories involve death and bloodshed. Instead and more properly so, our Rabbis instituted Chanukah as a way to memorialize a tiny subtle miracle that occurred in the second temple. I have long wondered about this because on the surface celebrating the miracle of the oil lasting for eight days may not seem like such a great and important miracle.

In my humble opinion the above paragraph touches on the essential fact of our Chanukah celebration. The seemingly small and insignificant act of quietly lighting candles in our homes on Chanukah (just like we light candles in our homes once a week at night upon the commencement of shabbos) is an act that is very dear to Hashem.

After all when the Greeks had thoroughly defiled and corrupted our Bayis Sheini (the second temple) they had also outlawed three things, and one of those three things was shabbos observance. The Greeks also outlawed the bris milah (the mitzvah to circumcise a baby boy on the 8th day after his birth). The Greeks outlawed Rosh Chodesh, a mitzvah that was given in our Torah, which recognizes the new moon which helps us along with our Jewish calendar to recognize the entire the various times of the year, which allows us to properly fix the dates and the commencement of all of the Jewish holidays, at their proper time.

On the surface one might be lead to believe, hey maybe the Greek occupation was not such a terrible thing. Indeed when we look at the numbers of Jews today who have the religious freedom to stay true to the ways and the traditions that were given to us the Jewish people by Hashem yisborach. This kind of reasoning results from the very large portion of today’s Jewish nation. When the freedom to follow one’s religion is believed to be a given, then what may happen is that individuals, and then entire communities may become unaware when these G-d given rights become slowly and subtly infringed upon.

After all the Greeks were not out to wipe us, the Jewish nation, entirely off the face of the earth (chas v’shalom). No, indeed they even enjoyed our written Torah so much that they even had our Rabbis of the day, translate the Torah into a language that they could understand. Very simply they only tried strip the Jew of every thing which is unique to the Jew. That is to say through their specific decrees they were seeking to destroy essential elements of the Jewish people as a whole. They had no problem with allowing us to live, eat, sleep, work, have children, homes, wealth, and independence.

Indeed the decrees that were inflicted upon us might seem to be so very minor to the vast majority of Jews today. One could see how so many Jews did indeed simply go along with these decrees and live their lives, in peace as Hellenized Jews.

The Hellenized Jews represented the 1st breach in  wall with the potential to wipe out not the physical bodies of the Jewish nation, but rather the destruction of the very heart and soul of the Jewish nation.

In conclusion it is not the grand and great miracle of the military victory where the 12 yeshivah students prevailed over the entire Greek war machine. No, the essence of Chanukah is the small miracle in which helped us re-establish ourselves as a Jewish People after the spiritual assault upon us by the Greek army and Greek culture. It is the re-dedication of the bayis sheni (second Temple) and the miracle of finding a small flask of of pure oil in the second temple which had been throughly and completely defiled by The Greeks.

The divine grace that was bestowed upon the Jewish people was a response that was elicited from Hashem yisborach, because of the action of twelve righteous souls who acted with the extreme of self sacrifice. These righteous Jews acted with alacrity at a dark time in Jewish history, where to do nothing would have resulted in (chas v’shalom) in the extinction of the Jewish nation. In the time of the 1st temple, the Jewish nation received so much divine grace that it was taken for granted. During the time period of the second temple, the Hellenization of the Jews may have started as a subtle and relatively benign act.

The nearly insane actions of twelve righteous Jews, who had the holy chutzpah to stand up to the entire Greek military regime was the very thing that initiated a miracle to come down from Shamayim on two fonts. The huge miracle that could be seen by all, how twelve righteous Jews defeated the entire Greek Army. The subtle and silent miracle witnessed by the Levites who were restoring the purity of the second temple. The miracle of Chanukah (like Purim) was a miracle which was initiated by by just a few individuals who were zealous in their belief and in their actions. They overcame whatever personal fear they may have felt, and were rewarded with a victory which would not have been possible if G-d would not have performed a miracle for the Jewsih nation in their merit. Likewise before G-d saw that there was still one small remnant of Kedusha in those 12 righteous souls, Hashem provided the small and subtle miracle that the Levites could restore the previously thoroughly defiled holy temple to its original state of purity by providing one pure flask of oil, that would miraculously last seven times longer then it could have lasted without miraculous assistance from Shamayim.

The mitzvah that is precious to Hashem yisborach (may his name be blessed) is the small mitzvah when the family gathers together in the early evening in the privacy of our homes to light the Chanukah candles. The essence of Chanukah is about the quality of The Jewish neshoma (soul). That the Jewish people (like the temple) had become so fallen and so thoroughly corrupted, yet a small quantity of people (12 tzadikim-righteous people) like the small quantity of oil (one flask of pure oil with the proper seal), was enough to restore the kedusha (holiness) to the second temple, and bring back the Shechinah (G-d’s femine aspect and spiritual presence) to the second temple.

Just like the small quantity of righteous tzadikim were sufficient with G-d’s help to withstand the onslaught of the entire Greek army, likewise the small quantity of pure oil which was miraculously found in the aftermath of the war when the Levites (members of the Jewish tribe of Levi,  who were in charge or all temple related functions) sought to re-dedicate the Holy temple, was enough to last for eight days, (long enough to restore ritual purity to one who had become ritually defiled by contact with the dead-seven days and one day to make pure oil from olives) so that more pure oil could be produced.

Chanukah- the miracle that Hashem yisborach helped us, by extending the effectiveness of the small quantity of pure oil, which we found in the completely defiled second temple in the aftermath of the Chanukah battle , to last eight days, so that we could keep the light of the Menorah lit in the second temple, and thereby restore purity to the second temple and allow Hashem’s Shechinah to dwell amongst us.

Today, Chanukah 5770,  we do not have the Beis Hamikdash. However when we go to our home and light the Chanukah Menorah in our homes with our families, we can have the kevanah (devotion, meditation, keeping our mind, thoughts and heart upon G-d) that we are doing this mitzvah because it is precious to Hashem yisborach. That we are as frum yidden (as a small number of people with yiras shmayim- a jewish nation) have the capacity by properly keeping the mitzvot with pure heart and intentions, have the ability to bring down the glory of the Schechinah, and bring the revelation of Meshiach and the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash speedily in our day.

Amen.

Aharon Moshe (Stephen) Sanders

Feel free to share my writngs at your shabbos table or with others. My words in their entirety are my own, other than the brief excerpts which have been properly attributed to their sources. This original essay is protected by copyright, however one may use brief passages as a long as a link back to this web site is provided. I am also grateful to Rabbi Shlomo Singer- shlita, who helped me learn much of the content of this essay, along with his gentle urgings to actually record my thought and ideas in a cohesive written format.

December 11, 2009

Erev Chanukah 5770

Before I open this discourse, I want to inform my readers that it is my understanding that the entire “University System” is based on the Greek model of education. The Socratic method, where the teacher focuses the discussion by asking a series of questions, and then seeks to elicit the answers is all but mandated in most in most public schools throughout the country. At least in theory the idea makes a great deal of sense, you seek to involve the student in the material by asking questions that are designed to pull them into the subject, to get them involved. In practice however I would say like so many things that are mandated, it becomes a great failure partially , because it becomes more of a game of “guess what I am thinking” so that now I can write it on the board, and you can then copy it down in your notes.

Chanukah, Did we win the battle, but lose the war. in order to answer the question we need to ask ourselves what were we fighting for. When I type the well known spelling of the word Chanukah (a proper noun I believe) it is underlined in red making me believe I have mis-spelled the word, if I try spelling it in a more secularized form: Hanukkah, I get no such red lining!

When you type in Hanukkah, into a Google Browser, now the gold standard for what kind of things are known about this, or what written words are out there describing this Jewish Holiday you get over 2 million results. Interestingly enough the 5th one appearing in my Google browser actually has it’s the more proper spelling;  Chanukkah in it’s title (why there are two k’s in the word is beyond my understanding, since the word is a transliterated form of a Hebrew word). Interesting technique being utilized by webmaster who probably has some strong knowledge of  SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Lets see what this site has to say about Chanukah:

Chanukkah is probably one of the best known Jewish holidays, not because of any great religious significance, but because of its proximity to Christmas. Many non-Jews (and even many assimilated Jews!) think of this holiday as the Jewish Christmas, adopting many of the Christmas customs, such as elaborate gift-giving and decoration. It is bitterly ironic that this holiday, which has its roots in a revolution against assimilation and the suppression of Jewish religion, has become the most assimilated, secular holiday on our calendar

Judaism 101

The above link will take you to that 5th link from the Google browser, more about the battle of the keywords (or meta tags) in a separate essay. Thank you Judaism 101, for providing me such a concise plank which fits in well with the point of this particular piece.

Here is what Judaism 101 continues to say about Chanukah:

Chanukkah is not a very important religious holiday. The holiday’s religious significance is far less than that of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Passover, and Shavu’ot. It is roughly equivalent to Purimin significance, and you won’t find many non-Jews who have even heard of Purim! Chanukkah is not mentioned in Jewish scripture; the story is related in the book of Maccabees, which Jews do not accept as scripture.

The above information is taken from the same website, which is the number 5 reference regarding our Festival of Lights: Chanukah!

It is my belief that when a site such as the above seeks to educate the unknowing public on the relative importance of a Jewish Holiday which at least in part  commemorates a a time when Jewish blood was being spilled for the sake of religious freedom, that it must allow us to argue with it by including excerpts from that site and bringing them into the discussion.

The Rabbi I learn with, right in Passaic NJ, on this day December 10, 2009 has been telling us for weeks that Chanukah is the most important holiday on the Jewish Calendar! With this introduction now completed, I will now tell you why. (to be continued until completion).

I have been avoiding writing original material directly on the Torah Parsha (the weekly portion of Torah which is publicly read in shul each shabbos) for some very specific reasons. One simple reason has to do with the fact that there is always a great deal of written information from various sources which can readily be found on the web which highlight different things.

An additional reason is that if I lead with my strongest ideas; which are uniquely my own personal take and understanding of any given Torah portion, then there is always the possibility that I may have understood something incorrectly. By understanding something incorrectly and then actually publishing the piece right here on this web site, then I may run the risk of misleading someone. There is a prohibition in the Torah  which states that one may not throw stumbling blocks in front of the blind. This prohibition can be both understood literally as well as extended into areas where one could mislead someone even in such things as learning.

At the place where I have been doing the most of my Torah learning during the week, we have been learning form a sefer called Siftei Chaim by Rabbi Chaim Friedlander. Now please understand that i would be happy to share more information about this particular sefer (book) and its author, however I usually have to track down this information on the web. I have just now learned that the late Rabbi Chaim Friedlander, (Zichrona L’Bracha) has already brought forth some important and accurate Hebrew translations of another Torah Giant: Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, The Ramchal. I have included a brief blurb about the author of the Siftei Chaim, which was taken directly from a website which I have visited before: http://www.azamra.org/TempleSecrets/Ramchal.htm

Mesilat Yesharim has long been readily available but until relatively recently the few other works of Ramchal that were brought to press were often hard to find and poorly printed. Since the 1970’s a series of fine, accurate Hebrew editions of many of Ramchal’s most important works have been published through the efforts of the late Rabbi Chaim Friedlander ז”ל and a number of other scholars, bringing them within easy reach of growing numbers of students. In addition Ramchal is now accessible to those who do not know Hebrew through the translations of “The Path of the Just”, “The Way of God” and “The Knowing Heart” as well as some of his works on logic and reasoning

A link to the source where I found this information about how it was R. Chaim Friedlander who had only recently published some accurate renditions of important works of The Ramchal: Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto who according to another Torah giant “The Gaon of Vilna said he would have walked all the way to Italy just to sit at the feet of Ramchal. The Gaon said that Ramchal was the only sage since the ARI who truly understood the Kabbalah.

All of the above is by way of introduction to some of the the other works which were written by the author which our small chevrah (friends) have been learning from for at least the past month.

The thing we have been kicking around for what seems to be dozens of hours is how the essential ingredient that truly makes Chanukah, Chanukah is that it is about Torah Shebal Peh (the Oral Law). Why it takes so long to get to this, is truly beyond my current level of understanding however, I can say this: When you have been dancing around an issue for such a long time, it does seem particularly satisfying to finally at least feel a if you finally are on the right track to answer the essential question, and understand the meaning of the answer in at least some of its subtle complexities.

The biographical information has been included to show you that the source of the information which our small chevrah at Passaic Torah Institute: http://www.ptiweb.org/ has been studying for at least several months, is certainly an extremely credible and reliable.

There is a saying which has been out there for a long time, that states: “As one door closes, another one opens”. The idea is used to tell you that when things dont go your way, it is okay because maybe something good is about to happen. One wonders if there might be any hidden danger in acccepting these comforting rationilizations just about anytime when things go wrong in our lives. The problem with such ideas is that depending on the actual events of your life, and how much comfort one dervives from such rationilizations, it could lead an individual to complacently accept various misfortunes.

There is no doubt that various doors in my life, have sometimes seem to shut in front of my face in slow motion. It is hard to even recognize things like this because they do happen in such slow motion. For example, someone might be living their life, and are in their late 20’s or early 30’s. During these years they have plenty of business ideas, altruistic goals, and plans on getting married, having children, and living happily ever after. Then after time (which could be measured in months, then later in years) one starts to notice, “hey these things that I want do, do not seem to be happening”. If one did not afford the themselves the comforting rationilizations which just about everyone is happy to offer every time something does not go your way, then maybe they could simply stand up and tell themeselves; “It looks, I have failed in my attempt at xyz.”

In reality, I would say that this rarely ever happens. If it did happen, and it was because a person put forth an honest effort, did their due diligence and failed to obtain his goal, then that could be viewed as an honest attempt which simply failed to produce the desired result. Some of the major obstacles that an individual may face in achieving self actualization may indeed be cultural. This is where I would like to suggest that a paradigm shift might be taking place right now even as we speak.

One of the easiest paradigms to take on is that the little sayings that come out of the mouths of our friends and family are typically meant to encourage us. I would like to suggest that this may not be true. For example when you miss out on a great opportunity, people will typically say, I guess it was not meant to be. Perhaps a better approach would be for the other person to try to find out what the opportunity was. It is quite possible that the opportunity is still out there, and that door is not yet closed.

We are our own worst enemies. Becoming successful at something means letting go of connecting with being a failure. The biggest problem associated with becoming successful is change. Additionally the vocabulary which is so often repeated when one is seeking to obtain their goals or achieve self actualization is really badly in need of a major overhaul.

Ideas are always great, when you first get them. It is during the process when one contemplates the enactment of these ideas, that they all seem so possible and grand. Finally it is when you open your mouth, and first begin to tell someone your idea, that one needs to be ready for just about anything. In reality however it is very rare that a single person would ever be likely to share your enthusiasm.

The problem is, all kinds of people have great ideas, every day. It is normal to want to share an idea with someone. It is also very likely that others would be extremely likely to criticize your idea. So I came up with a new way to make sure that my various plans, goal, and ideas get completed and/or implemented. I came up with this idea when I realized what the date was, and then I had a clear signal that it is okay to begin the countdown. Get ready, because the countdown to completion has begun: 11/10/9.

So when you tell someone your idea, and they of course begin to tell you why it could not possibly work, instead of getting on the defensive, just let them know that you have a time frame for its completion, and you will be sure to let them know when it arrives so you can hear their arguments then. As for now, you truly appreciate their insights, and will take them into consideration, when the time for implementation, or action gets closer.

This way, you can let the world know what you are trying to do, in case someone truly wants to assist you, and at the same protect your precious idea, while it develops and grows. Try it out, with someone you know, or perhaps even just an acquaintance of yours. Make up some kind of idea if you like, just so you do not put your real idea at risk. If the people ever follow up, you then realize that they were actually listening and that they might even care. These are the kind of people who perhaps could really help in the future.

The idea that I am grappling with here is a concept which I learned long ago by listening to a Napoleon Hill tape on goal setting. There are two types of goals according to Napoleon Hill:

A give up goal. This type of goal according to Hill is one that you should tell everyone, like, oh, I am cutting down on carbs, or giving up smokling. Then People will be happy to help hold you to it.

The other type of goal is about something you want to do, or accomplish. His advice is to tell no one, because their negativity will tend to bring you away from your resolve to accomplish this goal. It is the idea of keeping a good idea quiet, that I am taking issue with. I am looking to develop a better understanding, of how to proceed with a a goal where I can actually accomplish several ideas, possibly even simultaneously.

Who leads a normal life? It sounds like a great question, when you approach a belief where everyone feels that their situation is so unique, that it is clearly different from everyone else’s. The question does not consider that it is entirely possible that there are countless millions of individuals out there who simply feel that they are just another one in a crowd of many.

These kind of questions, or ideas may come up when one considers what makes a writer want to write? Attitudes about writing could easily develop early in life when children are required to complete writing assignments for their teachers. My writing emerged in my late teens and early twenties. First it could be best described as stream of consciousness or poetry without rhyme or meter. This kind of writing later became concrete ideas expressed by me, for me about my own particular understanding of events in my life. One could describe these kind of writings perhaps as self therapy.

Tortured idealism might be a very apt phrase to describe what the essence of all these writings were about. Over a period of several years while attending college, the tortured idealism themes were turned into poems, some that rhymed and some that did not. Also, these particular type of poems seemed to very easily lend themselves to being turned into songs. Meanwhile, while all these various creations continued to take their various forms, my life was running in the background.

If you stayed with this series so far you may probably have already realized that the essence of this story is very much about how I got to the point that I am at today.  Of course it is also about the idea as a whole, but quite honestly if I just put it all out there right now, it probably  would not have as much as much meaning as it would if it unfolds just the way it is doing right here, and right now.

I also realize that the twists and turns in the story line, may in some ways detract from some of the momentum which I never really seem to gain, as well as possibly add to the frustration level of my reader who may not really have the kind of time and patience which I would hope that my readers would have.

So, for example; if I start telling you about how when I was in child in grade school from kindergarten through 2nd grade and was reading Richie Rich comic books, about this kid Richie Rich, who was so wealthy that he had a butler, and this maid who was made of iron, who ironically enough was called Irona. Also I have some kind or razor sharp memory for both events as well as images from my childhood, that I could perhaps even tell you word for word both what I said, as well as what others said or did. I even remember a little panel from the Richie Rich comic book that taught me two things: One; that have things on either side of you meant that there were things on both sides of you, as opposed to one side or the other. Also that the word several did not mean seven which is what I had originally thought before looking at the comic book panel, but that it meant 3 or 4. In the case of that specific comic panel, I believe it was four.

The last two (or three, perhaps several) stories from this time period that seem to go here about these early childhood years are:

Stephen Sanders invents Lotto at the tender age of seven!

Very simply I had initiated a very simple scheme which was a sure fire way to make money. I asked the family members, who were my captive customers, to buy lottery tickets. The lottery tickets cost a quarter. The potential market for these tickets was every single adult who was over our house for one of the holiday meals, it may have been Thanksgiving, but that is not important.

The adult line up if I remember correctly was; Grandpa, Grandma (x 2) Harvey and Elizabeth Sanders (aunt and uncle), Mom, Dad, and possibly cousin Ross. The cost of the lottery ticket was 25 cents, and I assured them that every one had an equal opportunity to win the grand prize payout of one dollar! (I had not thought about marketing the idea of increasing the odds by buying more than one ticket, ooops, another lost opportunity to maximize profit). What were my costs, nothing! All I needed was some scraps of paper, where I wrote the same number twice, and when they gave me a their quarter, I gave them their half, and placed the other half in a hat.

Naturally my family was overjoyed to see me develop an entrepreneurial spirit at such a young age. Also I did indeed get 100% participation. Not having enough the change was also not an acceptable excuse, because after I got a few quarters from my from first few customers, making change was simple. Not a bad way way to make a quick buck for a kid!

The other stories from this time that come to mind have to do with my grandfather on my father’s side. Grandpa Irving was a very quiet man of few words. I remember he did buy a lottery ticket very enthusiastically from me ( he may have been my first customer). One time Grandpa Irving and I took a walk to Larchmont Park (we lived in Union NJ on 1065 Kensington Terrace)  I had this helmet with some kind of visor that was called “Monkey Patrol” and I had this plastic mess kit which was part of the set. With these important items I went with Grandpa Irving  into the wooded part of the park, and I showed him “Frankenstein’s Grave” which I guess really was nothing more than a large shallow big pit surrounded by some trees in the on the edge of the playground area. Then I remember that I could not seem to find my way back out of the woods, back home. It was then that Grandpa Irving showed me that he had been carrying a little pocket knife, and was making little marks on the trees so that he knew how to get us back home, back to safety. I really have no clue to this day if he was really doing this, or if he just wanted me to think that he did, as a nice little gesture to make not feel incompetent as our guide. The woods were really not very thick, but I was not the one usually leading the way to “Frankenstein’s Grave” and I was pretty happy to somehow be able to find it and show it to my Grandpa.

The other little story which might seem to be so obvious to anyone reading this, really has never really found its proper place in my psyche. Don’t get make wrong, its not something that bothers me at all, its just that i never got was he may have been trying to tell me or if he was actually trying to tell me anything at all. We did not see my Grandparents on my father’s side as often as those from my mother’s side because they lived in Florida, and only drove up to NJ, to visit us on the Holiday weekends. Of course coming from Florida they usually brought huge bags of oranges and or grapefruits, but one time they brought us pogo sticks! One for me, and one for my brother Jeff. It was on one of these trips that my Grandfather found this ball of wool that my mom kept in the drawer of this little table.

My Grandfather took out this little black ball of wool and said “Bah bah, black sheep” I don’t remember if he knew the whole little poem or tale, or if he told me the whole thing. I just remember him, holding the ball of wool, in one hand perhaps motioning with it and saying “Bah bah, black sheep”. Now it at this point if one were to go Freudian with this, I am sure that we could dredge up something. However, with this kind yet simple quiet, seemingly wise man, there is simply nowhere to go with this.

In many ways, some of my Grandfather’s traits are my own. At my core I am very much an introspective type, and I am not typically talking a mile a minute like I see so many other people try to do. The interesting thing is that when you find yourself having individual quality time with such a person, you might end up remembering so many details, because the entire experience is beyond some conversation. Nobody would say that my Grandfather had accomplished any great thing. However he did have a simple, peaceful, kind and yes I feel (intuitively) wise way about him.

As a child and into my early and even later teens, i was always gravitating towards these books which back in the day were simply collectively referred to as self help. Certain themes ran through these books so when I state the principle, it could have come from (and would be repeated) in almost any and/or all of these books and that was:

Be like the person who says little and does much.

When I attended Santa Monica College, I had somehow got caught up in the whole student government scene. I bring that up now not to tell that whole story here, but rather to point out that I had attended various government type hearings, not just at our school but at actually California Legislative hearings on various issues.  Invariably the person who always caught my intention amongst the various members of the board, was not typically the fellow speaking at every chance he had into the microphone. nor was it the fellow presiding over and chairing the meeting, with gavel in hand. No, the most interesting person to focus my eyes upon was the fellow who was actively listening to what all the other people were saying.

Some people might be reading this and thinking, how could you tell. I honestly believe there is nothing quite like getting directly involved in governmental affairs. Yes, actually going to some board meeting where perhaps some controversial measure which you feel strongly about is actually being discussed and acted upon. I can tell you one thing without hesitation, that when you as a citizen actually takes the time to show up at some committee or board meeting, the people sitting up there with their microphones, and glasses of water, will notice your presence. Why is that you might ask? Because it is rare for a citizen at large to ever attend these type of meetings which often by law must be open to participation from the public. Usually the only people ever to show up for these hearings are the ones proposing the project who stand to gain monetarily, or the paid lobbyists who are paid to try to persuade the politicians to vote in a way that benefits their employer.

Typically out of of a typical board or committee of say between  10-15 people, you might be surprised to find that there is actually one, who is simply sitting in his chair, and listening. Yes at times, his head might be back in the high portion of his high back reclining leather seat. Yes his hands may be behind his head, and he seems to be glancing upwards at the ceiling. It might not seem like he is constantly hanging on to every word of every expert witness and paid lobbyist who is rattling off fact after fact that is relevant to the case at hand. However you might notice that he is not constantly fighting for control of the procedural issues. He probably will not be constantly jotting notes down notes (or doodling) and leaning over the microphone to point out a procedural rule or regulation, or to make a motion to table, or to send to a committee.

However the thing to do is to watch how this fellow reacts (and there always seems to be one) when someone from the community at large gets up in front of the board, and begins to speak from his own personal experience of the issue at hand.

It will be then that you see this person, literally straighten up in his seat. His eyes will be looking right at the person speaking, and not at the other board members. You can bet your last dollar that if a yellow pad and pen comes out, it will be write down something that this citizen at large has just said, so that he can directly ask him a question, or cite the speaker’s comment,  and not some doodle, or reminder to himself to pick up his dry cleaning. All this I am explaining to share my experience with you how good and empowering it feels to know that someone is actively listening to what you are saying.

Aharon Moshe (Stephen C.) Sanders written 10/26/09 and edited 10/27/09 to be continued…

Hey, what’s the big idea? We have all heard this expression, usually of course of it is more of an exclamation we make when someone does something to us that we do not like. However, in my life, I have had much time to come up with all kinds of big ideas, so now I decided it is time to share at least one (maybe several) of these ideas.

By way of introduction, I just wanted to mention that my father, Donald Sanders (he should rest in peace) was always talking about business ideas with his brother (my uncle) Harvey Sanders (he should rest in peace).

Now I used to be lucky enough to listen to so many of these various schemes. I got the idea that the two of them really enjoyed thoroughly discussing the idea from every conceivable angle. However no matter how great the idea may have seemed upon its initial introduction, usually by the end of the discussion, it was decided, that one simply could not make any money with it.

Now I could also tell you that it was usually one person, typically my uncle, who believed in the idea, while it was my father Donald, the eternal pragmatist, who usually had a ready made arsenal of reasons conveniently at his disposal ready to shoot down the idea, as most as quickly as it could be expressed. Now I have to tell you that on some level this process was like a well choreographed song and dance routine. Everyone knew their lines, and the appropriate gestures.

One time I developed this idea that I would photograph kids playing soccer at the park with a telephoto lens (I was in my mid teens at the time, an avid photographer with Nikons and extra lenses) and come back and later try to sell the photos to the parents of the kids. When I told my Dad this idea, he came back with a pad of paper which had:

From the Desk of Don Sanders

written on the top, with a little drawing of a pen and paper. My father then went through a series of questions mainly concerning costs, and proceeded to start a little tally:

Cost of film………………$3.35

Cost of developer………$4.58   (good for 15 rolls of flim)

Photographic Paper…….$12.65 (for 100 4×5 sheets)

Etc…………………….

As you may have already guessed, by the time we got around to what I would charge the parents (it was something around five or seven dollars, my father had figured out that there was no way to make a profit.

It may have been the capitol outlay required to by the telephoto lens, that doomed the entire business plan to failure. However I was planning on buying a 200mm f 4.0 Nikkor telephoto lens anyway. The lens I really wanted was the 180mm 2.8, because the extra wideness of its maximum aperture was a great help when shooting pictures in low light, which was what I was aways dealing with when photographing rock concerts. So, lets just say, I did not bother ever going to weekend soccer games to take live action photographs of the kids at play and then try to sell them them to their parents the following week.

Lets move a little further forward in my life, to a time where I was graduating Santa Monica College. My uncle Harvey, perhaps sensing correctly that I needed to develop a new focus (pun intentional), now that was about to graduate had a few suggestions for me. One of them was that Santa Monica College had a special program in conjunction with UCLA Hospital where one could be trained to become a respiratory therapist. He had actually told me this idea a year prior to my graduation, because I did follow his suggestion, and took the prerequisite: Human Anatomy, Human Physiology, Microbiology, and Organic Chemistry classes which were required courses before taking classes along with clinical in service training at UCLA Hospital. Without getting into too much greater detail, lets just say for the record, that the program was maybe about 25% of what you would have to accomplish if one were to go to medical school.

Another suggestion my uncle Harvey had for me was to go into the army, which I of course immediately rejected. Another thing that Harvey provided me with was cassette tape that I could listen to in my car about goal setting from Napoleon Hill, an author perhaps best know for his book: “Think and Grow Rich”.

Now my uncle Harvey, was a great guy. He really went out of his way to help me and give me ideas, and to be there for me.

(This Wysiwyg (What You See Is What You Get)  Graphical User Interface, is not allowing me to place text below Harvey’s Picture, so I will continue this post in part II).

Aharon Moshe (Stephen) Sanders, October, 25, 2009…Big Idea (Part I)

Here is what I really wanted to write about. I went to Barnes and Noble last night and picked up a couple of books to read (and maybe buy), while my daughter and her friend were looking for books to read together (and maybe buy). As I now reflect on if it is okay to end a sentence with a parenthetical statement, I also reflected last night on our world is changing which is how the world changing is probably a good thing. I noticed a table with a few books on it about writing, and how to write your first novel, and a particular book entitled “The Constant Art of Being a Writer” by N.M. Kelly-Writers’s Digest Books, 2009.

I also noticed a book by an author who I have previously read, John Kotter and a book entitled “Our Iceberg Is Melting”, John Kotter, St. Matin’s Press, 2005. The Iceberg Is Meltinng, appears on the surface to be a children’s book, however it has quite a lot of depth to it. One of the charachters is intorduced, is a penguin (they are all penguins livning on the same iceberg) who is introduced as being somewhat aloof from society. This penguin notices (yes you guessed it) that the iceberg is melting.

Noah was righteous in his generation. There are many sources one can go to which explains what this is really saying. The typical comparison is made to Abraham our father, and that Noah might not have been considered as righteous or as a Tzadik in the time of Abraham. Typically sources would point out that Noah did not do a good enough job in his day to bring the people of his generation to repent. Additionally the sources would say that the flood waters were called “the waters of Noah” as a way to point a negative aspect in his character. Yes, the above is perhaps an oversimplification, yet it may contain the seed of the idea.

However, that may not be what brought me here to my keyboard to write about today. It is in some of the esoteric teachings of Torah which speaks of the “Lamed Vav” tzadikim (36 righteous people) who are on this earth at any given time. There are those who say that by their merit the entire world is saved from destruction. These people are believed to be hidden. so that one would not ever be able to approach one of these individual and ask “Hey, what are we supposed to do about:___________,  __________ and ________? What do you think about, so and and so? Whats going to be with the economy? Should I invest in __________, _________, or ___________?”…

It kind of sounds like a good thing that these people are hidden. However the first obvious question should be, what about the generation of Noah? Where were these 36 righteous people then? One reading this might recall, the way Abraham “negotiated” with Hashem (G-d) to try to save Sodom and Gomorrah. In this example Abraham did not stop at 36, and ask Hashem to save Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of the 36 tzadikim, because Avraham knew that the 36 tzadikim never all live in the same particular location, at the same time. (No source, pure speculation, and idea that I just made up and believe). No, in this case Abraham stopped at 10. So now we have another valid question which could be, how come Noah did not think to negotiate (or daven-pray) to G-d, not to destroy the earth, and all of its animals and plants? Well now that is exactly the point, the explainers or commentators (meforshim) tell us that Noah was righteous in his generation.