כט כסלו

Hayom Yom

The struggle in Greek times wasn’t only physical it was spiritual. Many Jews blended into Greek culture, loosening their connection to Shabbat, mitzvot, and holiness.

The result was spiritual destruction, the Beis HaMikdash was defiled, lives and freedom were lost, and Jewish identity became blurred.

A small group did teshuvah and showed mesirat nefesh, choosing to live as Jews no matter the cost.

The miracle wasn’t just oil it was renewal. When we light even one small candle with sincerity, darkness fades, the light grows, and miracles follow. ✨✨

Sefer Hamitzvos

If you're watching someone's stuff for free, know the rules 💼

Day 5 short Bite of Torah from Rabbi Sacks.

Why chanukkah Lights Matter

Rambam teaches that the mitzvah of chanukkah candles is so precious that one should sell belongings or even borrow money just to light them.

If it’s Friday afternoon and there’s only one candle, halacha asks, should it be lit for chanukkah or for Shabbat?

Halachah says to light the Shabbat candle first, because it represents shalom bayit peace in the home.

Even though chanukkah celebrates a great military victory, peace, love, and calm within the home come first. The Torah itself was given to bring peace into the world.

Why Judaism Endured. Judaism survived because it valued the home over war, relationships over glory, and children over conquest.

The True Victory of chanukkah

The greatest triumph wasn’t military it was spiritual. In Judaism, the light of peace comes before the light of war

כח כסלו

Hayom yom

In the homes of the Rebbes, Chanukah was about togetherness, not just lighting candles. ✨The Tzemach Tzedek would gather the family for a latkes evening a warm, joyful farbrengen, including daughters-in-law. 🔥 The Alter Rebbe and Mitteler Rebbe did the same eating, sitting together, and telling Chanukah stories, even repeating the same ones every year, because light renews. 💰💛 In Rebbe Rashab home, Chanukah-gelt was given on the 4th or 5th night adding joy, warmth, and connection

Sefer Hamitzvos

Borrowers gotta be responsible

4th day Short Bite from Rabbi Sacks

Chanukah = first clash of civilizations

Greece vs. the Jewish people. Athens vs. Yerushalyim.

Greek culture

Brilliant ideas, art, beauty but no belief in one loving G-d or higher purpose.

Jewish belief

Life has meaning. Our choices matter. Even darkness has direction and hope.

⚔️ The surprise

A small group the Maccabees defeated a mighty empire and Judaism survived while Greece faded.

Why cultures fall

When purpose is lost, values fade, and comfort replaces meaning.

Why Judaism endured

We never let go of hope, faith, and values no matter the pressure.

✨ Chanukah’s message

One small light can push away great darkness.

Protect your light. Live with purpose. Never underestimate the power of one flame

כז כסלו

Hayom Yom

Two years after his first release, the Alter Rebbe was arrested again this time during Chanukah ✨. The charges were against Chassidus itself, not just him .

He was freed on the third night of Chanukah 🕎, a time when light is meant to push away darkness 🌑➡️💡.

What they feared

His opponents claimed Chassidus would pull people away from real life and society making them detached and extreme 🚪🌍.

The Alter Rebbe’s message

Chabad doesn’t escape the world it enters it 👣.

Work 💼, family 🏠, streets 🚶‍♂️, and homes 🕯 are all places to bring G-dliness and purpose ✨.

✨ The lesson for us

True spirituality isn’t hiding it’s showing up with depth ❤️, values 📖, and responsibility 🤝.

Light doesn’t avoid darkness 🌑.

It walks straight in 🚶‍♀️➡️🌑 and transforms it ✨🔥

Sefer Hamitzvos

Let working animals eat some produce 🐮🍞

Borrowers gotta be responsible

Day 3 Short bite from Rabbi Sacks

Chanukkah in 1991

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks lit chanukkah candles with Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet president a powerful moment of history and hope.

🚫 Judaism under Communism

For 70 years, the Soviet Union tried to erase Judaism. Jews couldn’t practice openly.

Nazis attacked Jews physically 💔 the Soviets tried to destroy Jewish faith itself .

After 1967, many Jews wanted to leave for Israel 🇮🇱 and were refused.

They lost jobs, were imprisoned, and became Refuseniks and Jews worldwide prayed and fought for them 🤝🙏.

Gorbachev saw the system collapse. Jews regained the freedom to practice Judaism and leave Russia ✨.

Rabbi Sacks told Gorbachev: by restoring Jewish freedom, he became part of the Chanukkah miracle. Gorbachev blushed.

🌍 Why this matters today

From antisemitism all over the world and now in Australia to the pain after October 7, darkness still exists. History isn’t over.

A small light pushes back huge darkness.

We light candles not because the world is safe but because we believe it can be better 🕯️✨.

The Jewish people don’t hide, don’t give up, and don’t lose hope.

With faith, unity, and Hashem’s help light will overcome darkness 🌟

כו כסלו

Hayom Yom

Come early to shul. Chassidim gather early in the morning.

Say all Tehillim together. The entire book is said as one group.

Learn Chassidus (about 1 hour)

Something clear, practical, and easy to understand. Then daven. Prayer follows the learning. Have a farbrengen. At a time that works for the community for physical and spiritual blessing.

Kaddish after Tehillim. Mourner’s Kaddish is said at the end.

If there’s a yahrzeit, Kaddish is said after each of the five books of Tehillim

Sefer Hamitzvos

Snack while working, but only what's in front of you 🍇

No taking extra home 😊

Day 2 short bite on Torah from Rabbi Sacks

שֶׁעָשָׂה נִסִּים לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם בַּזְּמַן הַזֶּה

The question

We light for eight nights and say “Who performed miracles for our ancestors.”

But what was the miracle of the first night, if the oil was enough for one day?

✨ The first miracle

They found the oil at all.

After so much destruction, there was no reason to expect anything pure to remain yet one sealed jar survived.

Why did they even search?

Because they believed that after darkness, something holy must still be there.

That faith itself was the miracle.

After destruction, exile, pogroms, and worse we never gave up.

We gathered what was left and lit light again.

💛 The lesson

You don’t need the whole miracle to begin.

Start with one jar, one flame, one act of emunah.

Our eternal light

From the burning bush to the pach shemen, Am Yisrael is a ner tamid

a light no darkness can extinguish

כה כסלו

Hayom Yom

Rebbe Rashab Lit between Mincha and Maariv

🚪

Direction of the doorway didn’t matter (north, south, east, west)

🔥 Order

Light all the candles first

Then say Haneirot Halalu

After lighting

Sit near the candles 30 minutes, just being with the light

Friday. shorter because of Shabbat

Candles must burn at least 50 minutes

Friday order.

Mincha, Chanukah candles, Shabbat candles

Sefer Hamitzvos

Employers must allow Workers snack on produce they're working with 🍇

Short bite

From Rabbi Sacks

The challenge

Jews were forced to give up their faith it was an attack on who they were, not just what they did.

🔥 The courage

The Maccabees were ordinary people who chose meaning over comfort, even when the odds were against them.

The miracle

One small jar of pure oil was enough showing that Hashem’s light, not power, brings victory.

✨ The lesson

Real change starts small ,one choice, one family, one light in the darkness.

The message for us

Never underestimate what one act of faith and courage can do

כ״ג & כ״ד כסלו

Hayom Yom

Shabbat is the source of blessing

All the days of the week are blessed from Shabbat even before it arrives. ⚡✨

Shabbat begins on Wednesday

From then on, we’re already moving toward it, l’chu n’ran’na Shabbat is on the way.

Wednesday = faith🙏

Even if you don’t feel ready, trust that Shabbat belongs to you.

Thursday = effort

Faith alone isn’t enough we prepare by learning, realigning, and making inner space.

Friday = depth

The work softens us, we begin to feel Hashem’s presence and Shabbat’s holiness.

Shabbat = arrival

Not a perfect presence.

Believe first, try next, and by Shabbat… you’re home 🏠

Sefer Hamitzvos

Pay workers on time, day or night 💸

This applies to all workers 👷

Don't delay payment, it's a big deal 🚨

כ כסלו

1796 First Tanya Ever Printed

The very first Tanya is printed in Slavita, bringing the Alter Rebbe’s teachings into a real sefer for the world.

It included three parts

Sefer Shel Benonim map of the inner world

Chinuch Katan spiritual training guide

Shaar HaYichud Veha’emunah understanding Hashem’s unity

1799 Igeres HaTeshuvah

First printed in Zolkvi, teaching the path of return and inner repair.

1806 Revised Edition

A clearer, expanded version of Igeres HaTeshuvah is printed in Shklov.

💌 1814 Igeres HaKodesh

Printed for the first time in Shklov, revealing the deep heart and spirit of Chassidus.

Sefer Hamitzvos

Get a bondsman follow Torah rules

Don’t sell him as a slave private, respectful.

No useless work nothing pointless

No degrading jobs treat like a hired worker.

Stop a gentile from forcing needless work

In the recording, I shared one of my favorite chapters of the Tanya towards the end: Chapter 36 Tanya.

In short.

✨ Hashem doesn’t want your perfection He wants the places you struggle, because every time you choose light from inside your own darkness, you build the very home He desired in the lowest world. ⚡️⬇️🏠

יט כסלו

Intro to Sefer Hayom Yom

🌍 The world is contracting like birth pains gearing up for Moshiach’s arrival.

🧱 Hashem is weakening the walls of galus, signaling that redemption is near.

🤲 Every Jew is called to ask, “What am I doing to bring comfort, light, and goodness into the world?”

🔥 Yud Tes Kislev = Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus a renewal of inner, divine light.

🧠💛 It invites us to awaken real desire for Hashem, refine our middos, and bring intention into everything we do.

Our Torah, mitzvos, and daily moments become the fuel that brings Moshiach closer.

Hayom Yom יט כסלו

Two historic events on the same day. The Maggid’s yahrzeit (Tuesday, Vayeishev 5533) and the Alter Rebbe’s release from prison (Tuesday, Vayeishev 5559).

🔓 The Alter Rebbe’s geulah happened the moment he said

“Padah b’shalom nafshi,

He redeemed my soul in peace.”

Before he even reached the next pasuk, he walked out in peace.

🎉 Yud-Tes Kislev = day of farbrengens

A time to gather, strengthen ahavas Yisrael, and commit to learning nigleh + Chassidus.

Dividing tractates of Talmud (later moved to 24 Teves).

Chazzan doesn’t wear a tallis for Mincha/Maariv all year.

My personal take,

Your geulah can come b’shalom quietly, suddenly, and faster than you expect.

🔥 Inner geulah starts in the smallest hidden places

Sometimes it’s not a dramatic moment it’s a split second where you choose truth over noise, softness over tension, Hashem over the overwhelm. This tiny shift can break years of inner exile.

There’s always a moment prepared for you a moment when the heart unclenches, the path clears, and Hashem opens a door you didn’t even know was locked. 🔐

Sefer Hamitzvos

Sell to a neighbor honestly fair price, clear transfer, proper ownership. 🤝💛

Blessing you that this new year of Chassidus open for you gates of light, clarity, and deep inner peace. May Hashem send you personal geulah b’shalom suddenly, gently, and in ways that lift your whole life. And may every step you take in learning Chassidus reveal more of your essence, your strength, and your connection to Him. You should see blessings in all you do, inside and out.

‎לשנה טובה בלימוד החסידות ובדרכי החסידות⚡️⚡️

יח כסלו

Hayom Yom

Essence > Reward:, All spiritual highs even Gan Eden come from a tiny yud. Hashem’s Essence is beyond all of it. ✨🔹

Alter Rebbe’s cry, “I want nothing… not Gan Eden, not reward only You.” This is love from the deepest place. ❤️🔥

Every Jew has this spark, Beneath all our wants comfort, clarity, inspiration the soul quietly whispers: “I just want Hashem.”

This bond is unbreakable, Even when we feel disconnected or lost, this essence-love never leaves. It’s who we are. 💛🔗

Perfect ending to Sefer Hayom Yom The year closes by reminding us that the goal of all Chassidus is simple: not light, not levels just Him.✨

Entering the new cycle We start again tomorrow with deeper honesty, softer hearts, and a clearer sense of what our soul truly wants. 🌅

Sefer Hamitzvos

Sell to a neighbor honestly fair price, clear transfer, proper ownership. 🤝💛

May this new cycle of Hayom Yom open for you a year of inner light, deeper truth, steady.

May your mind feel clearer, your heart feel softer, and your path feel more aligned with who you truly are.

And may Hashem let you taste the sweetness of serving Him from your essence with joy, with depth, and with the calm knowing that He is with you in every step.

✨ May it be a year of real growth, real connection, and real Chassidus. ✨

טז, יז כסלו

Hayom Yom

🧠➡️❤️ The mind guides the heart. When we stop and think about HaShem, our emotions slowly follow.

🔓Chassidus opens the inner doors of Chochmah & Binah. It helps us understand G-dliness clearly, not just believe it. 🔥 Real feelings grow from real understanding. When the mind gets it, the heart naturally wakes up.

👤💛 Everyone has their own way to come close. Your mind, your heart, your strengths that’s your path.

🚶‍♀️✨ Flow of both hayom yoms, Think deeply /awaken the heart / serve HaShem in the way that feels true to you.

Sefer Hamitzvos

Sell to a neighbor honestly fair price, clear transfer, proper ownership. 🤝💛