The Difference Between the Thanks and Praise of Today, and Those of Mashiach’s Times
The Gemara (Erachin 13b) tells us that the כינורֵ of today has seven strings, but לְבאָ לְעִתיד it will have ten strings. The Sefarim HaKedoshim explain this Gemara to mean that in our times, we possess the ability to praise Hashem only within the confines of nature (the number seven alludes to the order of within nature), while לְבאָ לְעִתיד, we will have the ability to praise Hashem above the laws of nature.
This means that in our times, when we’re surrounded by materialism and the order of nature, it is very difficult to rise above them and give thanks to Hashem for things that are above nature. We’re like the small child who received a small toy piano on which one can play half a song...
We live and feel only the small material world; we daven for gashmiyus and we give thanks for gashmiyus; because this is where we find ourselves! But Chanukah, which is a preparation for the times of לְעִתיד לְבאָ, is a time in which a Yid can rise above his confines. As we have noted above, when we soar above, all the matters of This World seem much smaller and insignificant.
Praising and Thanking in a Manner Above-Nature
This is the way ehrliche Yidden always lived, and this is the way they thanked the Ribbono shel Olam. They truly experienced the feeling that “a kapparah regarding the entire Olam Hazeh and all its problems.... It doesn’t interest me at all. When I thank Hashem, I don’t think about all the material matters. I give thanks that I am zoche to do the ratzon Hashem—which is infinitely more precious than any material pursuit.”
When we give praise and thanks to the Ribbono shel Olam on Chanukah, we don’t think about the peripheral problems and yissurim that we’re experiencing. It is a time for praise above nature! Now is not a
