Thursday | Tevet 2, Seventh Day of Chanuka | 5703 |
Torah lessons: | Chumash: Mikeitz, Chamishi with Rashi. | |
Tehillim: 10-17. | ||
Tanya: Therefore has the Torah (p. 15)...and its commandments (p. 17). |
The campaign of the Greeks was aimed to "make them forget Your Torah and violate the decrees of Your will" (Sidur p. 59); as the Midrash (Bereishit Raba 16) puts it, (the Greeks demanded) "Write...that you have no share in the G‑d of Israel." It was a war against G‑d. "Let them study Torah," the Greeks implied. "Let them practice the justice-mitzvot and the 'testimonial' observances. But they must not mention that the Torah is G‑d's Torah and the mitzvot are the decrees of His will. Torah and mitzvot must be severed from G‑dliness."