Fw: [aneinu] [Chazak v'Amatz 29] Chanukah 🕎...Tefillin freed his mother!...latkes...see inside!

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From: "'Chicago Aneinu' via chicago-aneinu" <chicago-aneinu@googlegroups.com>

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Sent: Wed, Dec 13, 2023 at 12:46 AM

Subject: [chicago-aneinu] [Chazak v'Amatz 29] Chanukah ��...Tefillin freed his mother!...latkes...see inside!

From: Tamar Ansh <info@atasteofchallah.com>

Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2023 at 12:04:59 AM CST

Subject: [Chazak v'Amatz 29] Chanukah 🕎...Tefillin freed his mother!...latkes...see inside!

Add your dedication right here! Click here to donate an email. Thank you!  CHAZAK V'AMATZ ISSUE 30 Rosh Chodesh Teves, 5784 A compilation of inspirational stories from this war, miracles, chessed, Shabbos stories... our spiritual growth...and YOUR impact, too! Compiled by Tamar Ansh _________________________________________________________________________________ Hi  It's Chanukah and here's a small but very powerful Chanukah thought: The shemen zayit – the olive oil we use to light Chanukah candles with – as many do even today – is a sign of Emunah. This is actually a very deep thought that started with Noach in his teiva, his ark during the flood. And we'll explain this in a different email. For now, think about this. The "kankan" of oil didn't run out. The flask doesn't "finish" so to speak. As we all know, when you have oil in a container, there's always a few drops left over on the bottom, a few drops you can't pour out. Some residue left behind. This remnant of olive oil, our seforim teach us, is like what is left over of the Jews, those Jews that only know a tiny drop of Judaism, a little bit. But from this "small drop of oil" comes our "na'aseh nes l'shoshaim" – from this comes the way that Hashem does a miracle with the "shoshanim" (lit: roses – Klal Yisrael is likened to a shoshana, a rose, this is a reference to us, the Jews.)  This is one of the reasons that Jews of every type and across all spectrums feel something so strong about Chanukah and the lights of the menorah. Even people very far away from Judaism identify with, and will often keep, Chanukah lighting. Those "last few drops" have a profound effect… *** Now, I know it's been a few days since our last Chazak V'Amatz email…and for good reason, B"H! But I don't want you to have to wait any further since there's been just so much amazing and beautiful material to share… From one of you, our Chazak readers: Since the start of the war, we have tried to accept Shabbos ten minutes early. The first few weeks I wrote "our" candle-lighting time on a paper that I hung up in the kitchen so the kids should know when it is, but I stopped after a few weeks because everyone knows already. Just now, I saw that my ten-year-old son has a luach (calendar) hanging in his closet and he has crossed off the candle lighting time for Shabbos of the week as it was posted…and wrote the time ten minutes earlier. Baruch Hashem, it became such a part of our home that it has become a "given." R.M., Zurich, Switzerland ____________________________ How yeshiva bachurim gave the hostages the zechus of Chanukah lights! As part of the feeling that we want to join in prayer with all parts of Israeli society for the sake of the hostages held captive by Hamas in Gaza, the bachurim of the Erloi yeshiva in the Katmon neighborhood in Jerusalem placed 138 menorahs in the yeshiva hall, according to the number of the abductees, with the name of the abductee appearing on each menorah. Before the start of the holiday, these bachurim prepared the menorahs for lighting, poured olive oil and placed wicks, while singing chassidishe songs in preparation for this great mitzvah and davening for the hostages' release. The yeshiva students distributed the names of the abductees among themselves in order to remind them to pray for their return, and tonight during the lighting of the Hanukkah candles, which according to our mesorah is a very special time to pray and ask for miracles, they will remember the hostages and daven for their safe and speedy return to their families. The initiative was in collaboration with "Achim La'Oref". Look at the menorahs! Each one has a name of a hostage written on it! "When we learned the laws of lighting Chanukah candles, the idea came up to hold the lighting in the place of the abductees who cannot light them and give them the zechus of the mitzvah," said one of the members of the yeshiva… SEE IT HERE (This is a direct link to JDL, we couldnt' download it.)  *** THEY RAN OUT OF AMMUNITION…And the end was very near… I actually received the following clip over 2.5 weeks ago but it took time until we could get it translated properly. Now it is finally ready…and there's always a need for more miracle stories, especially right now… You can hear this army solider telling the story over in his own words. For those who don't understand Hebrew, here is the translation… Surrounded! And the power of Shabbos! We ran out of ammunition and the end was very near… בס"ד Good evening to all. I'd like to tell you, briefly, what happened on 7 October. I've experienced a thing or two during my army service, but no one can prepare us for things that humanity cannot even fathom. On the 7th October, Shabbos day, at 6 am, I began receiving phone calls, but I didn't hear them, because I was sleeping. It was, after all, 6 in the morning, and that Friday night we had stayed up with friends until 4am… music...etc… and I'm making a point of telling these things, too. I went to sleep. And at 6 in the morning, no one can wake up. We're asleep. At 6:15am someone called my wife's phone, because I wasn't answering (mine). She woke me up at 6:30am. I knew something had happened. And I opened, you know, my eyes, and she tells me: "They're looking for you. War has broken out." And I remember the first sentence that I told her. I said: "Who exactly are we fighting??" She says: "It's urgent – answer the phone". I looked at my phone, and there were something like 20 missed calls. And I understood that if someone is trying me so many times, something must be wrong. But I still didn't imagine that something was seriously wrong. So then I, sort of, picked up the phone, and one of my friends from the unit spoke to me and told me: "Listen, I'm making my way south. Put on your uniform, take your personal firearm – whatever you have at home, take any bullets you have with you". I didn't know what to think... when it comes to personal weapons, we aren't allowed to keep more than two cartridges. We're not allowed more. So, I took those two cartridges, my personal firearm, put on my uniform and I beat it to the South. 10 minutes before we reach the entrance to Sderot – which we were meant to enter – I stopped. Because we were already told to stop, and not to go in, because, they said, (further in…) they were under crazy fire. So, I say: "Okay… what exactly am I going to do with my one gun and (only!) two bullet cartridges, if there is crazy fire power there?" And then, the sentence that seared my mind, and it seems did the same to at least some of my unit that were already there, was when they said: "Take from the dead… When you run out of ammunition, get more off the dead". And this is when I understood the enormity of the catastrophe that I was about to face. We managed, sort of, to get organized, to figure out where each of us was, and I begin to go in. There were bodies everywhere. Everywhere there are bodies on the floor – all ages, all kinds, everything. As I go in, we had managed to arrange ourselves, three or four of us chevre, we became the target of such a volley of fire, that I do not remember ever being under such an onslaught of fire. They were, maybe, hundreds… And then we begin to see one (soldier) fall, a second falls, a third falls, a fourth falls, and my stash of bullets is getting smaller… We continue shooting, and we barely even managed to go in – this was still right at the beginning. We have grenades flying overhead. RPG's flying at us.  And I look right. I look left. I see Yasamniks falling. Policemen falling. Male Soldiers. Female soldiers. We continue fighting… and nothing was organized. It was like fighting in the hood. And then one of my friends asks me: "Okay, so where do we go from here?" And I replied: "Just lift your gun – wherever you shoot, you'll hit…" Because there were so many of them, that it didn't matter. You just shoot and hit. And we reached the point that we had no ammunition. We hear the shooting coming closer, and closer, and closer… I'd like to point out that my colleagues are good friends. Precious Jews. But for them Shabbos and religion is like we would think now of flying to the moon. It simply wasn't in their vocabulary. We talk every day. We laugh. Have discussions. We're in touch. But specifically the one that was right next to me – he's a precious Jew, but on Yom Kippur he even put on a BBQ – to that extent. He respected every person. But that's how far he was from religion. We reached the point where we were staring at each other, we didn't need to talk, or spell it out, it was clear that we were not getting out of here. We knew we were not going to leave this place alive, and there was nothing much we could do. We had no weapons. We had nothing. And they were surrounding us. Bullets were flying over our heads… And that's it. We knew it was over. And then, that precious Jew that was with me – and this literally came out of the depths of his heart – when I tell you about something, then I say it. But when someone comes out with something from the bottom of his heart, his voice changes. And that's when he says to me: "I want to tell you something. If I could only get out of here (alive), I would keep Shabbos!" With that sentence, I stared at him. Because I know this boy... And I want to tell you, not half a minute passed. I've no idea what happened there. I've no idea why. Till today, I don't know, and till today I have questions. But just like we heard the bullets flying over our heads, that's how we heard them fade away… Half a minute later, we raise our heads, and we're alone. There's no one there! We continued fighting until we entered Kibbutz Beéri. There, some more very good friends of mine fell. They were from my unit – may their memories be blessed. They are no longer with us today.  And that same boy whom I fought alongside with for almost nine hours… the weapons we lifted off the terrorists that we killed… I am telling you that already two – or three? – Shabbosos have passed since then, and I can tell you that he has observed both these Shabbosos in full. It was not easy for him…  I spoke to him today, and he says to me: "Listen! I am not only going to keep Shabbos, but I am also going to take on more, whatever I can". I must tell you. At the beginning, I always believed in religion. I may not have fully kept everything, but after this story I began attending shul, and I have already been coming here to shul downstairs, for the second or third Shabbos. I am happy with it. And I will not allow myself to miss… I think that if we would have told this story to other precious, but secular, Jews, who do not believe in religion, before all this had happened, they would have despatched us to the psychiatric ward.  But I must tell you – whoever does not believe in Hashem: I have no way to explain to that person exactly what happened there, so that people will believe. But when you are there, in the moment, there is no one who can help you. Not this uniform, not your rank, not the weapon you're carrying, nor anything that you've been taught for thirty years, will help you. And even if you try asking someone to help you – there is no one who can help you. And at that moment, you ask just One Being to help you, and that's when you discover that no one can help you except for the Ribbono shel Olam. I am very happy to tell you my story. And I think that, truly, it's a message that needs to get out there to everyone -to the secular among us, and also the religious, and those who observe – we have no one else apart from Him- G-d Above. And to believe in Hashem is not just to say it. It needs to come from your neshama, from the depths of your heart. And that's what we had there. It came from the depths of his heart. As we were fighting there, something was protecting him. Also, when we reached Beéri, something was protecting him.  He emerged without a scratch. **** TEFILLIN! I watched this one over and over again – each time it makes me cry anew. I can't get over it – the way Hashem answered this person, the juxtaposition of everything, the undertaking to put on Tefillin "if my mother is freed from there", and then seeing it actually happen??? Hashem is not just speaking to us, He's crying out to us how much He hears every word we say and how much He wants every single thing we're ready to do! SEE IT HERE It's all in Hebrew so here's the basic "conversation". "Our friend Nadav Shagi's mother, Ada Shagi, was kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct 7th." And while others were doing physical things for her release, a different sort of action took place… Whatsapp convo: Nadav: To my great sorrow, I'm letting you know that my mother (Ada) was not among those released. Friend: Wow, I'm sorry. May Hakadosh Baruch Hu send you strength. We will continue to pray. And to hope for a yeshua very soon. Nadav: hands. Friend: Rebbe Nachman m'Breslov says that when a Jew prays and wants something and he does not get it, it's either because he is not praying for it, or he's not praying enough. Let's continue to pray. Nadav: Okay…How do we pray? Friend: Well, in general you can say Tehillim or things like that…but on the level of holiness you already have, you can talk to Hashem directly! He hears you. Nadav: Talk to Him. Okay. Friend: You know what? You've inspired me just now! How about I buy tefillin for you? Nadav: Ha, ha. If my mother does come back alive from this, because of this, then yes. I promise [that I will put on tefillin.] Friend. Remember [what you said.] Nadav: I remember. 🎶(Change of music in the background. The words of the next song mean " That the day we are longing for should come already, that day should come/ in every street we will wear holiday clothing/ ) Nadav: GET THE TEFILLIN READY!! Friend: WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT? I can't believe it! Photos: Ada Shagi is released! 🎶(Rest of song in the background words: …That our prayers should go up [on high], they will go up/ And will connect us to a new [and higher] place!") Photos: Nadav in his Tefillin…then… Nadav saying the shehechiyahu bracha on his tefillin!! I cry each time I watch this again! 🎶 Song: That our prayers should go up [on high], they will go up/ And they will elevate us to a new [and higher] place!" (Remember not to answer "Amen" to a recording – my note) ******** 📩📩📩 Your Kabbalos corner, our spiritual action steps – together! "I have a sister I didn't talk to for over a year… we used to be best friends…I went to someone to discuss it and ask for chizuk…I didn't like having to 'go first' but she encouraged me…when I finally did it…the stone off my heart made me feel like a brand new person and my sister and I cried and cried. We're now closer than ever before…may this bring more peace to klal Yisrael too..." "I bought a non-slip band to go under my tichel so that when I wear it, it won't slip around. I didn't want to do it before b/c I don't like wearing extra stuff and I thought it would bother me. But then, each time it bothered me, I asked Hashem to create more "protection" for am Yisrael that we should not be 'bothered or hurt' by our enemies. Thankfully after a few days it no longer bothered me as I got so used to it, I couldn't get dressed anymore without it on…" "I never paid too much attention to these things, I'm good enough. And I didn't want to give up my whole wardrobe. But when I think of all the suffering the hostages are going through and the threats from our enemies for 'more' and that 'the Oct 7th attacks are only the beginning' I really was shaken up…and thought, if my little things will do something, I should really push myself a bit more…so I took out one of my skirts – I did know it's a bit short but, you know, you get used to things and think so what, I'll pull it down when I sit…but I knew it didn't really help and , whatever…and before I could change my mind I cut it up and stuffed it into a bag and took it out to the main garbage can…please G-d, please let this be my sacrifice and may we not have more attacks…please cut up our bad decrees, our bad 'gzar din'…" *** I got this from our reader, Gitty Normile. I have also heard it in several other places. By now, it's been told over countless times. Miracle Story During the War-Protection from Above and Emunah in our Rabbis A couple with children lived in one of the settlements close to the Gaza border, which was not religious. They became Torah observant, but their rabbi told them that they should still continue living there. The rabbi passed away, but they still followed his teachings and stayed observant. During the night of that Shabbat of Simchas Torah, the man had a frightening dream where his rabbi told him, "Take your wife and your children, and leave this place, RUN! It is a dangerous place." The man did not attribute much value to the dream, especially since it involved desecrating the Shabbos and so, he went back to sleep. Again, his rabbi came to him and this time, began to strangle him while shouting at him: "Leave the place right now, it's a dangerous place!" He woke up drenched in sweat and felt that he was suffocating. He could still feel his rabbi strangling him! He immediately woke up his wife and told her what had happened. Together, they decided that although this was a violation of Shabbat, they felt that it was a true dream and so they woke up their children, got into the car, and fled the settlement. Indeed, they learned about the terrible massacre that took place in the south and in their particular settlement and how many of their neighbors were murdered or captured r'l… Afterward, the man brought the halachic question to the posek hador, HaRav Yitzchak Zilberstein, shlita, asking whether they were permitted to desecrate the Shabbos because of a dream. By halachic sources and according to the signs that Chazal taught about whether to give importance to a dream, the Rav determined that in this instance, they were permitted to run away, even desecrating Shabbos and they were even praiseworthy for doing so. *** Okay and now for something a bit funny… I got an email from Aish dot com, and among the other things with links, one of them was to a "healthier" latke recipe made from other veggies besides only potatoes. Okay, sounds interesting, I thought to myself, wonder what that person thought is "healthier", let's see. So I clicked on it. And I saw it has sweet potatoes, some grated zucchini, some other things and I thought, harumph, how do I know if that is even tasty? And honestly, tonight I was personally in the mood of just afew really good, ordinary, traditional, CRUNCHY and crispy regular potato latkes…I've been so busy I did not get a chance to make even one just yet, so I felt a bit let down that this one was not "regular latkes" and then>….. OH my GOODNESS did I have to let out a laugh! Because look here at who the author is!! 🤣🤣🤣 Okay, so the laugh was on me! (And sorry, ladies, this was just the Aish website link, no download this time!) 🕎🕎🕎 HAPPY CHANUKAH! 🕎🕎🕎 👉 Remember to look over these SUPER IMPORTANT things to have in mind when you are at your chanukah lightings ! (I am not the author of this beautiful piece but I wish I knew who is!) If you didn't already print this off to use it – I did, and I have been saying it every single night so far – now is your chance! We only have 2 more special Chanukah nights! Chanukah is the only "yom tov" that falls out in the winter time. It's the "light in the middle of the winter darkness", the warmth that keeps us connected to the holiness from the Yamim Noraim through now…Chanukah has so much embedded within it.  The main message of Chanukah is the davening. In the times of the Greeks and the real Chanukah story – the Jews only went out to fight after they FIRST davened – a LOT – and prepared themselves spiritually! The essence of their fight was NOT the war itself – it was and it STILL IS VERY RELEVANT TODAY, especially right now – the spiritual aspect of the war and how a Jew fights – with prayers to Hashem and only then do we go out to fight! THIS is the essence of the true koach of every single Jew! Have a gutten chodesh since today is also Rosh Chodesh. And please please – remember to pray that ALL the rest of our hostages be found and redeemed (not just "released" – but redeemed!) right NOW and that all our soliders come home safely. All the best Tamar Ansh _____ May we all see tremendous miracles of Chanukah THIS Chanukah! PS: 🛑 Reminder! The Ultimate Chanukah Party by my friend Miriam Gitlin is only available through TODAY! If you didn't yet take a peek at it, here's your last reminder! In the Ultimate Chanukah Party, 50+ contributors are offering their (usually paid) product designed for frum women — 💥for free! 💥 And my Challah 101 Masterclass is one of the many courses you can get within this entire bag of goodies! You can see all of it right here. Enjoy! Dear readers...Please consider putting your dedication on these emails and giving thousands of people the chizzuk they've come to rely on during this challenging time for Klal Yisrael. This is what keeps these emails coming. Click here to donate an email. Thank you! With blessings for a good day, filled with yeshuos and shemira for all of Klal Yisrael. CHAZAK V'AMATZ -- Stay Strong! Have a lichtegih, amazing, special day, Tamar Ansh Yerushalayim Ihr Hakodesh, תתבב"א GET THE PERFECT CHANUKAH GIFTS! BOOKS! 📚The gifts that last the longest! Challah...Special shidduchim stories...AMEN and brachos in your life!... and of course, Let's Get Bentching, too!  See it all right here! 🔽🔽🔽 A Taste of Challah! The best-selling book on everything challah, shaping, inside tips, step by step photos, and so much more! Riding the Waves Packed with incredible, true stories of how others met their soul-mates, that will leave you moved and inspired like never before Let's Say Amen! The book on Amen and brachos that changed the way children (and their parents) say this potent word for life! Join thousands of others who have already bought this book and change the way you'll see this one special word, too! Let's Get Bentching! Did you know that when you bentch after eating bread, you can literally unlock ALL the blessings this world has to offer? Read this book and find out how simple and easy it is to do...and change the way you bentch forever! Or...the best present of all... Your very own Jerusalem Challah Experience You can book yours...right here! 👉 PS. Got this as a forward from a friend? Like these kinds of inspiration? You, too, can receive these emails. Just Sign up here for and you'll get all sorts of inspirational and of course, delicious small chunks right to your inbox! And share this link with your friends as well: https://atasteofchallah.com/email-challah-bytes-signup/ Have a great day! 😀 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Forward email A Taste of Challah Har Nof, Jerusalem Israel tamar@jerusalemchallahexperience.com You received this email because you signed up for my "Challah Bytes" emails or purchased a class from me. It's great to have you on board! At any point, you can click the link below to unsubscribe. I'll be sorry to see you go...but your challahs might not be so forgiving! 😊 Have a great challah baking day!

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