| 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."
