By the Grace of G‑d
First Day of Chanukah,1 5742
Brooklyn, N.Y.

To the Sons and Daughters2 of
Our People Israel, Everywhere
G‑d bless you all!

Greeting and Blessing:

As we are now in the beginning of the days of Chanukah, and in particular, on their first day,3 when the cruse of oil sealed with the seal of the Kohen Godol was found,4 which with this oil they kindled the Menorah in the Beis Hamikdosh for all eight5 of these6 Chanukah days,

And based the statement of our Sages, “Encourage the energetic,”7 from which it is understood that we encourage even with regard to Hiddur (excellence) in the Mitzvos, and chiefly, with regard to Mehadrin min Hamehadrin—the utmost excellence,

Which in these generations,8 the standard practice  9 of every Jew when it comes to the Chanukah lights is to observe and fulfill this Mitzvah in a manner of Mehadrin min Hamehadrin10—to increase in lights (the candles of the mitzvah of Chanukah) from one day to the next—

May G‑d grant that this manner of observance of the Divine command of the Chanukah lights as a matter-of-fact shall have its effect: “to keep and to fulfill” all the Divine commands in a manner of Hiddur min Hahiddur—utmost excellence, throughout the entire year,

Just as we bring greater understanding, vitality, and light into the observance of all the Divine commandments, and throughout the entire year, from the Mitzvos of Chag Hamatzos, which is the “head of all the festivals,”11 which all of them (and all the Mitzvos) are also “a remembrance of our Exodus from Egypt.”12

Indeed all the Mitzvos are candles—as the verse states, “A Mitzvah is a lamp, and the Torah is light”13

And this is also part of the wholeness of the Mitzvah of the Chanukah lights, when it makes its impact in a manner of Mehadrin min Hamehadrin—it continuously affects all the Mitzvos,14 and all year round, qualitatively and quantitatively together as one.

May G‑d grant—in the “measure” of the Holy One, blessed is He, who rewards “measure for measure,”15 but many more times so—that G‑d too, as it were, will be Mehader (excel) in the dedication (“Chanukah”) of the of the third and eternal Beis Hamikdosh in a manner of Hiddur min Hahiddur (utmost excellence), and within that itself, “I will hasten it,”16 timewise, in the simplest sense of the word, (in the amount of time that will pass; i.e., it shall be straightaway and immediate,) and “I will hasten it” also in a qualitative sense (in a spiritual sense)—in the present spiritual state, not waiting at all for an “upgrade in matters of holiness,” for “a mitzvah which, is a lamp, or Torah, which is light,” any longer,

And by “initiation from Above,” the L‑rd, G‑d of Hosts, shall shine His countenance toward us, restore us, and we will be delivered,17 with a deliverance and redemption that will be eternal,18 enduring, everlasting,19 and shall never cease, not followed by any further exile, a true and complete Geulo through one—and the unique one20—of the eight “princes of man,”21 our righteous Moshiach.22

With blessing for a bright Chanukah
both inside and to the outside,23
And into all the days of the year as well,

M. Schneerson

* Translated by the publisher