Today we will discuss another thought on the month of Kislev, from the Ben Ish Hai.
The Ben Ish Hai tells us that if we take the word Kislev, which has a כ, ס, ל, י ,ו
The first and last letters, chaf כ and ו vav numerically add up to 26 which is the numerical value of the letters of God.
In the middle, there’s a samech, lamed and yud, which symbolize something as well.
The pasuk says, לִישׁוּעָתְךָ קִוִּיתִי ה
Hashem I hope for Your salvation
The Aramaic translation of that is
לפורקנך סברית י
To Your salvation, God, I hope
Each of these words start with the middle letters of כסליו -
Lamed, Samech and Yud
That is the Targum/translation of
לִישׁוּעָתְךָ קִוִּיתִי ה
Hashem I hope for Your salvation
Therefore, he says that the month of Kislev hints at hoping to the salvation of Hashem, specifically. And 26 is the numerical value of Hashem’s name of mercy.
The symbolism of Kislev is all about hoping for the salvation of Hashem.
Furthermore, the Hashmonaim were saved because they relied on Hashem and hoped for His Yeshua/salvation. That is what we are supposed to be doing in the month of Kislev.
We have discussed, many times, the concept of Kivoy/hope and quoted from the Ramchal who says that the root of the word Kivoy is Kav, a straight line, which is contrary to a circle. A circle is enclosed. There is no way out. But when a person has kivoy it’s a kav/ a straight direct line, which can pull him out of the situation.
The person that has kivoy waits, even if his salvation is delayed. He says this is what gives him his life.
Hope in Hashem, specifically yud heh vav and heh, Hashem’s name of mercy .
This name of Hashem, yud heh vav and heh means Is, Was and Will be.
This means that God is a Constant. He quotes a pasuk that says, “I, God have never changed and you, the Jewish people, I have not destroyed.” Just like God is Constant, the Jewish people are constant. He says that we pray that in the future, when God reveals Himself, it will be clear that in all times, Hashem was taking care of us. That never changes, even in the darkest of times. What looks like chaos, disaster and a lack of control is really not that way.
He says, “The honor of Your name will be revealed in the world, we will all know that You were controlling everything. Even in the darkest if times.”
That’s what keeps us going- knowing that Hashem is always controlling everything.
That is the job of the month of Kislev.
This level of bitachon of
לִישׁוּעָתְךָ קִוִּיתִי ה
God who is all merciful,
God, who is a constant and never changes,
God who is brings everything into existence
( He is pumping energy into everything at every given time)
He is the true source of miracles.
As we know, Rav Chanina ben Dosa had his own miracle of Hanukah, when his daughter had no oil. He said, “The One who said that oil lights will say that vinegar should light.”
In his opinion, it wasn’t even a miracle that the vinegar lit, because to him there was no difference between oil and vinegar lighting. Both light because God will them to light.
That is Hashem’s name of miracles. It’s not a coincidence that we say לִישׁוּעָתְךָ קִוִּיתִי ה
Hashem I hope for Your salvation
The Ramchal says that in the word Hashem, we have three great lessons
1- God is Constant
2- He is a God of mercy
3- God is making everything happen, at every second.
That is the job of the month of Kislev.
לִישׁוּעָתְךָ קִוִּיתִי ה
Hashem I hope for Your salvation
It’s built into the name of Kislev, and as we said yesterday, the name of the month symbolizes the power of that month. We still have a little more time in the month of Kislev to take advantage of those special powers.