Saturday, December 16, 2006

Why Kankan?

by Reb Ben

I was always bothered why in מעוז צור we say the words ומנותר קנקנים if a flask of oil is usually referred to as a פך or a כד. Perhaps the answer can be found in the dreidel, of which it is said: “we find written, and he sent Yehuda before him... to Goshen (Breishis 46:28). The word גשנה- to Goshen (Gimmel, Shin, Nun, Hey), is made up of the same letters which we write on a dreidel. The numerical value of these letters is 358. This is the same numerical value as the word משיח, referring to Moshiach who will be a descendant of Yehuda.” Similarly, the word קנקנים equals 350, and by adding 8 for the eight days of Chanukah, we have 358. Apparently, the miracle of Chanukah has a connection to Moshiach, but we will save that for a different discussion.

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