On the first night of Chanukah all eight candle holders stand before you. But you light only one. Tomorrow night you shall light two. You know that eventually you will light all eight.

From which we learn two things:

1. Move step by step in life. Take things on at a pace you can handle.

2. Always grow. Always keep moving. If you did one good thing yesterday, do two today. Your ultimate achievement is always one step ahead.

[via Chabad.org]

[By Simon Jacobson]

A case study in contrast.

Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg. Bernard L. Madoff.

Gavriel and Rivka brought light into people’s lives, and created a global Kiddush Hashem (sanctifying G-d’s name) when they were brutally butchered by agents of darkness simply for being Jewish. They personified the Jewish virtues of charity and kindness, illuminating everyone they could reach. In the wake of their murders, which touched a deep chord, a wave of good deeds reverberated around the world.

Bernard Madoff brought darkness into people’s lives, and created a global Chilul Hashem (desecrating G-d’s name) when he massacred the financial security – and trust – of many individuals and organizations, killing in one fell swoop various charities and damaging many others, and destroying the trust in the future of all investments. He personifies greed, selfishness and self-indulgence. In the wake of his contemptible behavior, in which he single-handedly eroded the confidence necessary to keep markets alive, people are left stunned and distraught. We are wondering how far this will unravel, how many others will be implicated, and above all, what will be the resulting consequences – how will this affect the future of the entire nature of investments, hedge funds and trust in money managers?

We could not have found a starker example epitomizing the two diametric extremes on the spectrum of human behavior: the heights of ultimate nobility and self-sacrifice in Mumbai, being killed in the service of others; the depths of ignobility and self-interest in New York, hurting others in the service of oneself, cheating his own people, friends and colleagues, exploiting the trust of holocaust survivors and confidantes.

What makes some people choose a life of serving others, and others a self-serving life? Exactly that: choice. We each have the power to choose which way to be.

And make no mistake about it: Each of us must choose between these two paths every moment of our lives. Either we will serve others or we will serve ourselves.

Not to minimize Madoff’s crimes, or to suggest that every self-serving person will become a Madoff, but his behavior is a symptom, not a cause, of social forces that orbit around selfish, material gain. And, whenever you are self-absorbed, thinking about yourself exclusively – “me and nothing else” – you are one step away from pulling off a scheme like Madoff did. Perhaps not on the scale of $50 billion – not everyone has that opportunity – but who’s counting?

And indeed, this choice has become only more amplified in our modern times. The comforts and freedoms of prosperity have allowed for a climate of self-indulgence. When Bernie Madoff’s grandparents were running for their lives together with the grandparents of those he cheated, there wasn’t much time to develop schemes, buy yachts, jet-set and run from Park Avenue to the south of France to the Hamptons to Palm Beach chasing a dollar and spending two. There were greedy people then too, those with power and wealth abusing the rest of the population, but for Jews at least, fighting for their lives, retirement accounts and hedge funds were the last thing they were concerned with. They gave their lives so that their children would grow up good Jews, virtuous individuals, who would carry on the baton passed on from generation to generation beginning with Abraham – to transform human society, to fight for social justice, to help the poor and the oppressed and to respect every person’s innate human dignity.

How did we go off course? And what transpired to create a climate that breeds a Bernie Madoff, and who knows how many more like him? One caught, but how many got away?

Should we feel bad for the funds and fund managers who trusted Madoff with other people’s money? Should we empathize with the wealthy individuals who trusted him with their life fortunes? Should we be saddened by the fact that some charities today invest altogether, instead of giving the money to the needy? Regardless of Madoff’s appalling crimes, are his investors innocent? After all, when they were making money on other people’s backs, they didn’t complain.

If materialism rules your life, than you are bound by its laws. And its cardinal law is this: Born by the almighty dollar; die by the almighty dollar. If money is the source of your power and security, than money will also be your source of destruction and disgrace. Because after all, money is transient, and anything transient can never provide the firm foundation of security.

How much money was made “legally” by money managers – who are protected by the fine-print disclaimers – with the same driving greed? How many charged percentages just to pass on their investors money to Madoff’s accounts?

And this scandal just refocuses attention to our current economic meltdown and global recession. What role did greed and personal gain play in creating today’s overall financial crisis? Selfish interests and short-term gains at the expense of the masses have been identified as the primary culprit. Who will pay for this selfishness? The perpetrators or the victims? A government bailout is nothing more than the burden of a few individuals being carried by American taxpayers. But what other choice do we now have?

Obscene bonuses at financial firms dominated December headlines in the last few years. Now, this December, we know that these actual cash bonuses were paid on the backs of false and illusory returns. The billions of dollars in bonuses have been exposed as essentially a rip-off of the masses who invested that money and saw nothing in return. Do these managers have to return the money they essentially stole from the investors?

Mr. Madoff did disgraceful things, but he is part and parcel, and a product of a climate of greed, where self-interest drives the markets, not their inherent value. And now, the chickens have come home to roost, and we are all left reeling.

But, using the terms of the financial sectors, every scandal has a potential to serve as a “market correction.” Firstly, by exposing the abuses of the system we recognize its inherent flaws. Secondly, it allows us to recognize how far we have fallen and wandered away from our calling, and gives us the opportunity to realign ourselves and our priorities.

This is the only redeeming factor in today’s economic meltdown: It has revealed how greed kills. First others; than yourself. How the love of money and power has vanquished the power of love. How beyond all our technological advances we are no supermen. Far from it. Humans are humans and left to their own devices will be controlled by their selfishness and consumed by their greed, to the point that they will, without hesitation nor compunction, hurt the innocent and even their own families.

And right in middle of the great global economic crisis – rooted in human greed – two servants of society (among many other innocent souls) are massacred in Mumbai – shining a glaring light, for a moment at least, demonstrating that we all have a choice: Here are the Holtzberg’s who dedicated their lives not their own needs and bank accounts, but to serve others.

If ever there were a spotlight on our inadequacies, here we have it. Why Gabi and Rivka had to suffer, we will never know. But in their deaths, as in their lives, they have taught us a critical lesson. The least we can do to honor them is to learn from them. Maybe the Holtzberg’s will give Mr. Madoff something to think about in prison.

What is their lesson?

The ultimate antidote to the greed and corruption inherent in self-indulgence is to become other-driven, instead of self-driven.

I once heard a Chassid explain why Jews shine brightly when they are spread around the world and stand alone amongst their neighbors. Yet, when they live together and build self-contained, insulated ghettos, they become petty, divisive and stoop to disgraceful behavior. He explained: It’s like manure. Gathered in one location it gives off an unbearable stench. Only when you spread it out in the fields does it fertilize the ground and make things grow.

Jews are natural leaders. A light unto nations. From the time of Abraham they have the quality of challenging the status quo and bringing positive change to their environments. When they become self-contained, focused on self-interest, instead of serving others, they can deteriorate, and ultimately turn on each other. Powerful people who do not serve society, left on their own, can and will turn into appalling creatures, as we have now witnessed with Mr. Madoff.

Our only immunity to such behavior is to become other-driven, instead of self-driven.

What can this teach us about the future of our economy?

We are at a crossroads. We now have seen capitalism at its worst, where greed has dominated and eliminated the fair play – which is held together by intense, objective regulation – necessary for a free market system to survive.

As the indulgences of capitalism are bringing down the house, and trust has been shattered, I would like to believe that we now stand at the rare threshold of a new paradigm shift: When the house burns down will we build the same house in its place, or will we be wise, learn from the past and build a new type of economy, one which fundamentally balances and integrates personal gain and virtue.

Listening to most people talk today, you hear the weak voice of a victim, saying that this turndown will soon be over, the markets will jump back into place – isn’t that what we have been taught: Wall Street always prevails over the long term; value always rises – and we’ll go on as if nothing happened.

Or will we learn from our experiences and actually create a new climate of true trust, based on giving and charity, and absolute zero tolerance for greed. Will we insist on new economic leaders, who do not make choices based on rewarding themselves?

Will we learn? Will we ever learn?

I guess some people will learn their lessons. Some who have been burned will choose to move away from and insulate themselves from Wall Street’s lions den, and just life an austere life, giving up hope that selfish people will ever change.

But what we want to see is nothing less than an economic revolution: Not just an awakening about the vices of money and materialism left untamed, that money can destroy, but by a new way of looking at our financial systems, of recognizing that money is a means to a higher end.

Over a century ago, Andrew Carnegie, the richest man in the world of his time and the great philanthropist, wrote in a memo:

“Man does not live by bread alone. I have known millionaires starving for lack of the nutriment which alone can sustain all that is human in man, and I know workmen, and many so-called poor men, who revel in luxuries beyond the power of those millionaires to reach. It is the mind that makes the body rich. There is no class so pitiably wretched as that which possesses money and nothing else. Money can only be the useful drudge of things immeasurably higher than itself. Exalted beyond this, as it sometimes is, it remains Caliban still and still plays the beast. My aspirations take a higher flight. Mine be it to have contributed to the enlightenment and the joys of the mind, to the things of the spirit, to all that tends to bring into the lives of the toilers of Pittsburgh sweetness and light. I hold this the noblest possible use of wealth.”

Carnegie later wrote an essay called “The Gospel of Wealth,” which strongly influenced the philanthropic philosophy of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet (the two wealthiest men in our times), who collectively are giving away over 50 billion dollars. Buffet alone made a noble pledge two years ago of over $37 billion at the time (what it amounts to today I do not know) – an unprecedented act of charity and one that will go down in history (see Givers and Takers).

In his essay, Carnegie lays out his approach to countering the greed inherent to wealth and selfish gain that is the incentive of capitalism:

“There remains, then, only one mode of using great fortunes; but in this we have the true antidote for the temporary unequal distribution of wealth, the reconciliation of the rich and the poor—a reign of harmony—another ideal, differing, indeed, from that of the Communist in requiring only the further evolution of existing conditions, not the total overthrow of our civilization. It is founded upon the present most intense individualism, and the race is projected to put it in practice by degree whenever it pleases. Under its sway we shall have an ideal state, in which the surplus wealth of the few will become, in the best sense the property of the many, because administered for the common good, and this wealth, passing through the hands of the few, can be made a much more potent force for the elevation of our race than if it had been distributed in small sums to the people themselves.

“This, then, is held to be the duty of the man of Wealth: First, to set an example of modest, unostentatious living, shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him; and after doing so to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer, and strictly bound as a matter of duty to administer in the manner which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community—the man of wealth thus becoming the mere agent and trustee for his poorer brethren, bringing to their service his superior wisdom, experience and ability to administer, doing for them better than they would or could do for themselves.”

I submit, that with today’s global economic meltdown, we actually stand at the threshold of a new economic paradigm. And based in part on Carnegie’s formula we can create a blueprint how to implement this new paradigm.

In good economic times, with gains blinding us all, it would be quite difficult to suggest any new changes. But with the current breakdown, an opportunity opens up.

As we witness the carnage left by the abuse of money and self-interest, we are faced with three options: One option would be to just escape from this dirty world of finance. Another would be to wait it out and then go back tight into the fray right where we left off, until the next scandal breaks.

However there is a third option: To entirely remake our financial systems and introduce a new economy of the future; the final frontier of the history of money and wealth: To see the acquisition of wealth as a means for giving and fuel for spiritual growth.

Wealth, in short, will finally realize its true value: soul energy, elevating and transforming all of existence. One can say that the futuristic economy will be an elegant synthesis of a free economy choosing to behave in some way like a socialist one, with the key distinction being, that the collective sharing will come from within, self initiated rather than imposed. Recognizing the true nature of wealth will drive men to create systems that will honor and express the inner purpose of our wealth: creating a home for G-d. We will begin to see the acquisition of wealth as a means for spiritual growth, for understanding ourselves and G-d, for filling the world with Divine knowledge as the waters cover the sea (see Money and Spirituality).

Finance and economy is a place where self-interest can meet selflessness – but only when the driving engine is a higher cause. We are not asked to annihilate our individuality and unique personality. We are asked to direct it.

In this life we are always presented with two choices: either we will be driven by self-interest or by serving others.

The Holtzberg’s chose the path of others, and paid the price. Mr. Madoff chose the path of self, and also ultimately paid the price, but in his case, so did many others.

The greatest tribute to the Holtzberg’s would be to use their illuminating example of light to emulate their ways. To serve as leaders whose primary drive and focus is: Serving others. Illuminating and warming the world around them, and not just themselves.

The challenge is greatest when it comes to wealth: Will it feed our selfishness or will we see it for the gift it was meant to be: to help others and build a world of higher consciousness.

Will we learn our lessons from the current financial meltdown or will we hold on to old habits and routines?

As we enter Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, which will you choose: darkness or light?

[via Rabbi Zalmen Marozov]

Chanukah begins Sunday night.  Sunday night we will kindle one candle, then each night we will light an additional candle until we light the full eight candles.

The Talmud records four different opinions about the proper way to light the Chanukah lights.  Some sages say that one candle is lit for the entire household each night of Chanukah.   Another opinion is that each member of the family lights one candle each night.

But the Talmudic sages, Hillel and Shamai, say that the number of candles change each night of Chanukah.  However, they hold opposite opinions.  Shamai maintains that on the first night of Chanukah we light eight candles, seven on the second night, six on the third and so on until the last night of Chanukah we light only one candle.

According to Shamai, the number of candles each day represent the days of Chanukah which are left to celebrate, rather than the days which already passed.

But the Talmudic sage Hillel is of the opinion that we kindle one candle the first night, two candles the second night, three the third etc. Hillel explains that we must increase the light each night, for in matters of holiness, such as mitzvot, we must increase – to go higher and higher, not down”.

We follow Hillel’s injunction by adding a candle each night of Chanukah.  The Chanukah candles teach us an important lesson; that in matters of good deeds, holiness and mitzvot, we must go from strength to strength.

Q.  The heroes of Chanukah were the Macabees.  What does the word “Macabee” mean?

A.  Macabee is an acronym for the words of the Torah: “Mi Kamocha Ba’elim Hashem” – “Who is like you among the powerful O’ G-d”.   This was their slogan as they went our to war, expressing their complete trust in G-d.

Macabee also stands for: Matisyahu Kohen Ben Yochanan – Matisyahu the Priest, son of Yochanan.  Matisyahu (the High Priest) and his five sons led the revolt against the occupying forces and were heroes of Chanukah..

Q.  Shabbat, circumcision, and Rosh Chodesh were among the mitzvot that were prohibited at the time of the Chanukah story. How do the eight-day Chanukah celebration express our gratitude to G-d for these mitzvot?

A.  As a result of Chanukah being eight days, Shabbat always falls out once and sometimes twice during Chanukah.  The 8 days of Chanukah remind us of the eighth day of circumcision.  And Chanukah always includes Rosh Chodesh.  In fact, Chanukah is the only holiday which begins in one month (Kislev) and ends in another (Tevet), thus Rosh Chodesh is part of Chanukah.

Via Rabbi YY Jacobson, Algemeiner.org 

There is a lovely tradition of playing dreidel during the festival of Chanukah.

What is a dreidel? It is a four-sided top, containing the four Hebrew letters of Nun, Gimmel, Heh and Shin. The four sides join to form a point, upon which the dreidel spins (1).

All Jewish customs contain profound spiritual meaning. Today we will discuss the deeper symbolism behind the dreidel game.

The Five Components

Jewish philosophy and mysticism teaches that human behavior is driven by four primary factors: ego, bodily urges, reason and a compulsion to destroy.

Each of us has an ego — a craving for power, self-dominance and self-determination. All of us experience incessant demands from our bodies. We all have the power of reason, the ability to try and make sense out of reality. And, each of us has a compulsion toward evil and destruction. For many of us, this impulse finds expression merely in a dream or a fleeting thought; for others, it is actualized in behavior.

This last impulse is unique in the sense that it rarely displays its genuinely disturbing face to the man who experiences it. Our compulsion toward evil usually disguises its demeanor behind the veil of the other three human qualities. It uses the ego, bodily needs or human reason as a means to explain and justify its abominable goals. Yet at the root of this urge is a simple craving toward evil and destruction, rooted in the human psyche.

Beneath these four familiar components of our personality lies a fifth and deeper dimension, known in Kabbalah as the “higher self,” or the “inner self.” This is the moral conscience of the human spirit — the spark of G-d within us — that drives us to transcend ourselves and attemot to touch the truth of reality. This inner self inspires human idealism and reflects the goodness and integrity of its Creator.

If the four elements of the human engine are detached from the higher divine self, potentially each can become dangerous. A self-serving ego can drive us to destroy those who are standing in our way. Our bodily urges and temptations can plunge us into the abyss. Excessive self indulgence breeds addiction and chaos.

The power of reason on its own allows a person to rationalize any type of behavior and invalidate the world’s moral boundaries. With reason alone we may justify cruelty and barbarism. Our rational and intellectual sophistication can even lead us to justify true evil: terrorists are turned into “frustrated militants” and human monsters who burn little children alive are judged as equals to their victims. Reason alone devoid of moral clarity can become dangerous.

Finally, our impulse toward evil may easily compel us to inflict suffering on innocent human beings.

On the other hand, if we open ourselves to the Divine essence of our personality and begin absorbing ts beautiful melodies, we can employ these four components as instruments for our spirituality and moral growth.

Our egos, bodily desires and power of reason may be used in a constructive and good fashion. Even our impulse to destroy can be used as a weapon to eradicate and destroy the evil within ourselves and to put an end to the evil within the world around us.

Four Empires

In Kabbalah, the microcosm reflects the macrocosm and vice versa. Thus, the Kabbalah explains that these four elements of the human psyche were represented by the four global empires that dominated the world in past history (2).

The first was the Babylonian Empire, notorious for its ambition of unbridled power and dominance. Its first king, Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed the first Temple in Jerusalem and exiled our people to Babylonia (present day Iraq), embodied the egotist par excellence (3).

Then came the Persian Empire, notorious for its incessant indulgence in hedonism and materialistic pleasures (4). Achashverosh, the Persian king and husband of Queen Esther, threw a party that lasted for 187 days (5)! Imagine a party that continues for six months straight…

The Greek Empire followed. Its contribution to civilization was the development of logic and philosophy. For the Greeks, the human mind was the zenith of existence.

Then came the Roman Empire. This empire was led mostly by cruel monarchs whose brutality often knew no limits. Rome destroyed the Second Temple, massacred millions of Jews and countless other innocent human beings, but perhaps most importantly, Rome turned brutality into a culture. The Gladiator, the height of Roman sports, was a chilling example of this.

After a Gladiator’s defeat, if the crowd gave the signal for him to die there was a ritual to be observed. With one knee on the ground, the loser grasped the thigh of the victor, who, while holding the helmet or head of his opponent, plunged his sword into his neck or cut his throat depending on his weapon. To die well a Gladiator was not allowed to ask for mercy and was not allowed to scream when killed. If defeated but mortally wounded the Gladiator was not killed in front of the audience but was taken from the arena to be executed “humanely” with a hammer on the forehead in private.

Now, each of these four empires dominated the world, and astoundingly, each of them saw Judaism and its carriers as a threat to their very existence and success. Babylonia, Persia, Greece and Rome each declared war against the people of Israel, attempting to destroy them. Why where these mighty empires obsessed with a tiny minority, the Jews?
The answer is that to their minds, as to the many monarchs and rulers that would follow, the Jewish people represented the “fifth dimension,” which challenged the very way they perceived the objective of life. Hitler put it in these words: “Conscience is a Jewish invention. It is a blemish, like circumcision.”

The Jews throughout their entire history were obsessed with the question of right and wrong. They still are. (I know of no other group that is so critical of its behavior as the Jews.) Judaism taught that the most important thing for civilization is not self aggrandizement (Babylonia), nor indulgence (Persia), nor even logic and the pursuit of knowledge (Greece), and certainly not unbridled aggression (Rome), but rather the most critical component of society its unequivocal commitment to a universal morality, based on the presence of a living G-d who cares about human behavior.

The Jews saw themselves as chosen to bestow upon human history the dignity of purpose and to refine and sublimate the ego (Babylonia), the body (Persia), logic itself (Greece) and the evil impulse (Rome) as instruments to serve the moral and spiritual cause.
According to the teachings of Jewish mysticism, one of the primary reasons for the Jewish people living im exile among these four empires was to gain insight and depth into the unique energy of these civilizations and then utilize them as instruments for serving G-d, defined in Kabbalah as “elevating the sparks.” But in the process, the clash was usually profound.
The confrontation between Judaism and Ancient Greece can serve as a good example. The most influential thinker in Greece (and perhaps in all Western intellectual history) — none other than Aristotle — argued in his Politics (VII.16) that killing children was essential to the functioning of society. He wrote: “There must be a law that no imperfect or maimed child shall be brought up. And to avoid an excess in population, some children must be exposed . For a limit must be fixed to the population of the state.”

Note the tone of his statement. Aristotle isn’t saying “I like killing babies,” but he is making a cold, rational calculation: over-population is dangerous; this is the most expedient way to keep it in check.

Plato wrote of this in his Symposium (178C): “I, for my part, am at a loss to say what greater blessing a man can have in earliest youth than an honorable lover …”

The Greeks introduced into human consciousness an idea that the human being is the center of all things. The human mind and its ability to understand and observe and comprehend things rationally is the be-all-and-end-all. To the Jews, human beings were created in the image of God. To the Greeks, gods were made in the image of human beings. To the Jews, the physical world was something to be perfected and elevated spiritually. To the Greeks the physical world was perfect. To Greeks, what was beautiful was holy; to the Jews what was holy was beautiful.
Such disparate views were bound to clash.

And they did in the second century BCE. The Syrian-Greek empire sought to Hellenize Jews by force and put an end to the faith of Judaism. Women who allowed their sons to be circumcised were killed with their sons tied around their necks. The scholars of Israel were hounded, hunted down and killed. Jews who refused to eat pork or sacrifice hogs were tortured to death. The altars to Zeus and other pagan deities were erected in every village, and Jews of every area were forced to participate in the sacrificial services. Chanukah celebrates the victory of the Jewish way of life over the Greek one.

Spin Your Personality

Now we will appreciate the secret behind the dreidel.

The four sides of the dreidel represent the four dimensions of the human psyche: ego, body, reason and evil. This is reflected in the four Hebrew letters of Nun, Gimmel, Shin and Heh, which stand for the words Nefesh, Guf, Sechel and Hakol.

Nefesh, meaning self or identity, reflects the human ego. Guf, meaning body, represents all of the bodily urges and temptations. Sechel, which means reason, defines the human quest for knowledge and understanding (6). And finally, Hakol, which means everything, symbolizes the evil force in man, which, as mentioned above, will cloak itself in everything and anything to reach its goals.

The sharp, almost immeasurable point situated at the foundation of the dreidel, represents the fifth — and divine — component of the human spirit. This spark of infinity within us cannot be measured by space and time, and it serves as the foundation and quintessence of each human being, just as it serves as the foundation of the dreidel.

On Chanukah, celebrating the victory of the Jewish way of life over Greek Hellenism, the triumph of divine ethics over human esthetics, we are charged with the mission to kindle our inner G-dly flame, represented by the Chanukah candles. Chanukah is therefore the opportune time for spinning our psychological four-sided dreidel on its point, directing the other four components of our personality and reorienting them as tools to express the pure love and spirituality of the soul (7).

~~~~~~~~
Footnotes:
1) These four letters stand for the Hebrew words “Nes Godal Hayah Sham,” which means, “A Great Miracle Happened There.”
2) See at length Ner Mitzvah by the Maharal of Prague and the many references noted there.
3) See Daniel 2:37-38; 7-4 and Ner Mitzvah ibid.
4) See Kedushin 72a and Ner Mitzvah ibid.
5) Esther chapter 1.
6) In the Holy Land the Shin is replaced by the Hebrew letter Pei. In light of the explanation of this essay, it may be that Pei stands for the word “philosophy,” similar to the word “Sechel” in the Diaspora dreidel (thanks to my student Rabbi Yisroel Geisinsky for pointing this out to me).
7) This essay is based on the writings of the Maharal of Prague and the Chassidic Masters (Neir Mitzvah by the Maharal; Benei Yissachar Mammarei Kislev. Cf. Ketzurim V’Hearos L’Tanya by the Tzemach Tzedek to Tanya chapters 1-2).
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www.algemeiner.com

Via Rabbi Simon Jacobson, Meaningful Life Center 

One of the great myths and stereotypes about Judaism is that it is a religion, and specifically a religion for Jews.

Judaism is one thing with the Torah, and Torah too suffers from a stereotype: That it is a religious book for Jews.

In actuality, Judaism is not a religion. Nor is it a culture, a race, an ethnic group or a historical phenomenon. Judaism is a way of life and Torah is a universal blueprint for all life.

This does not negate the fact that the Torah addresses the specific role of Jews, as it addresses all aspects of existence. Like a true blueprint, the Torah lays out a plan for every detail of our multifarious universe. At Sinai the Divine mandate was delivered with a voice that rang across one end of the globe to the next, declaring a comprehensive roadmap for the entire human race and the entire world to achieve personal and global redemption.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the holiday of Chanukah. The festival of Chanukah commemorates the victory that occurred over 2000 years ago when a small band of Jews, in the name of freedom from oppression and freedom of religion, battled the largest army in the world and were victorious. The essential theme of Chanukah, thus, could not be more universal: Freedom – celebrating the dominance of spirit over matter; the transformation of darkness into light; and the victory of the virtuous few over the corrupt majority.

And we celebrate this through light, by kindling a Menorah “at the door facing the outside” Chanukah is a public, not a private, holiday, with a prominent Menorah radiating into the dark street, illuminating the surroundings.

For this reason you may have noticed in recent years the public displays of Chanukah Menorahs illuminating communities worldwide – to illuminate the world, even its darkest corners, with the universal message of freedom.

There was a time when Chanukah’s message was not universally embraced. Indeed, the very founding of modern democracy, beginning with American and French Revolutions, is based on the Chanukah theme.

In 1789, just 218 years ago a group of revolutionaries, in opposition to the great world powers of that time, wrote the Bill of Rights in order to safeguard the basic individual freedoms of the human race – freedom of religion, speech and press. Religious persecution was the impetus for many to leave the shores of Europe for the New World so it is not surprising that the first amendment stressed the importance of freedom of religion. The Founding Fathers understood this to be central to all other liberties as it embodies the freedom to pursue your own belief system, your personal way of finding transcendence.

The message of Chanukah is as relevant today as it was two millenniums and two centuries ago. Every year we celebrate the power of freedom over oppression with the kindling of the Menorah, honoring the victory of light over darkness.

As the sun sets during these eight days (December 4-11), people around the world will light candles, each night adding a flame, until a total of eight flames illuminate the night. As we kindle the Chanukah lights, listen carefully to the flames and they will tell you a story, a story that will empower you to live a more profound meaningful life, enabling you to face every challenge and overcome difficulty. Sit near the flames and study them quietly.

Chanukah’s flames teach us many lessons – from the personal to the global, from the psychological to the theological. Look closely at the details of Chanukah – the Menorah, the history, the number of flames – and they reveal the deeper nature of our souls and of existence.

Here are some of their lessons.

Lit at sundown, as the shadows of night descend, the Menorah reminds us that the way to eliminate darkness – to rid the world of selfishness, negativity, hatred and greed – is to kindle the lights of knowledge, generosity, faith and love.

The Menorah is placed in the window (or doorpost) of one’s home or in a public place so that the light shines out into the street. This public display represents our responsibility to bring the light of freedom, morality and spirituality not only into our own homes, but also into the lives of others and into the world.

Just as a flame lights another without diminishing itself, so too by sharing yourself you become enhanced rather than diminished. Every day we must increase illumination of ourselves and our environment – each day adding another good deed, lighting an additional flame.

On a more personal level, a flame represents the soul of a person, the G-dliness that is inherent in each of us. Every person has an individual contribution to make, a unique way of illuminating the world. Chanukah celebrates the power of the soul reminding us that although there are 6 billion people in the world and many forces that de-personalize our lives, each flame, each soul, brings a special and distinctive light into the world.

“The flame of G-d is the soul of a human being,” says the Torah. As flames warm and illuminate their environment, so too you can use your soul to infuse life with warmth and light. Unlike all other physical entities that are drawn earthward, the dancing flames flicker upward defying gravity. Likewise your soul, not satisfied with mere physical comforts, aspires up toward something beyond.

Chanukah tells yet a deeper narrative, a tale that penetrates the darker shadows of our lives. The Menorah shines a tunnel back through time to the aftermath of a great victory in which a small band of Jews defeated the might of the Greek Empire. In amongst the debris of the desecrated Temple the Maccabees searched ceaselessly until they found a single sealed cruse of olive oil that miraculously burnt for eight days. When you are defiled, when your inner Temple has been desecrated and there is no oil to be found, you have the power to reach deeper inside and discover light. The soul always remains intact like a “pilot light.” When you light your Menorah under such difficult circumstances, creating light in the darkest moment, that light can never be extinguished. The light that has dealt with challenge, that has transformed pain into growth, is a light that transcends nature and transforms darkness into light.

This power to transform darkness must come from a place beyond the conventional. We therefore light eight candles, the mystical number of transcendence and infinity, one beyond the number seven that represents the natural cycle. There is a natural limit to all human endeavors, to all human knowledge. In order to pierce darkness with light, however, you can’t just rely on the natural, but need to reach a deeper resource which is the eighth dimension introduced by Chanukah – the power of transcendence that enables us to go beyond our natural limitations and transform darkness into light.

These elements of Chanukah – the eight flickering flames, the miracle of the oil, the light shining into the dark street – beckon us to connect to the power of our soul. Our soul rises like a flame toward that which transcends itself, not only repelling darkness as is the nature of all light, but transforming the darkness into light.

The festival of Chanukah calls us all to revolution, a revolution of light fought over centuries by all people seeking true freedom. The Festival entreats us to reclaim our most basic freedom, the freedom to rise above our subjective, limited perspective and reach for the above and beyond. As citizens of the world, it is our duty and privilege to add to the forces of light both at home and abroad in a steadily growing measure.

Chanukah 5767
© Rabbi David Lapin, 2006, iawaken.org

Magic Moments

We beautify our Chanukah Lights: we buy glamorous Menorot, and use the purest of oil or the most beautiful of candles. But we never get the joy of the splendor we create! Immediately after lighting, and singing Ma’oz Tzur, we rush off and miss the magic moments of savoring their beauty. We are in too much of a rush! We have too much to do!

Yet only moments before, we piously said: “Ein Lanu Reshut LeHishtameish Bahem, Elah Lir’ottam Bil’vad” (We do not have permission to make use of the Chanukah Lights, only to watch them). We are not intended to light the Menorot and then disappear, nor may we do our work by their light. The lights are there for aesthetic purposes Lir’ottam to watch them, reflect on them, and enjoy them.

It takes effort to create moments or objects of beauty. But the art is not only in their creation; it is also in knowing how to savor them and be nourished by them. That takes investment too. That requires time. Calm time; tranquil time to absorb the beauty into ones being. It is a little like the art of the enjoyment of good wine. It takes a lot of skill, effort, time and money to create a bottle of really good wine. But what is the value of that wine, if some undiscerning individual gulps it down like a soda? Good wine needs time to be enjoyed. You need to calm your mind and settle your thoughts as you focus on the wine’s color, its bouquet and the subtle complexity of its tastes as you sip it, slowly, holding it in your mouth for a few moments to fully experience its richness. Those are the magic moments of the wine experience that make the years of preparation worthwhile.

Too often we busy ourselves with the creation of the wine and other objects and moments of beauty, but then we miss the magic because our minds are distracted and we are simply too busy to nourish ourselves.

Too Busy for our own Nourishment

Isn’t that the story of so much of our lives? We invest fortunes of time, money and effort to create beauty and we do not allow our souls the opportunity to be nourished by the very beauty we have created.

Shabbat is a beautiful day that requires considerable sacrifice from us to make it happen every week. Yet how often does Shabbat come and go without truly nourishing us, because we are hyperactive on a day we are meant to be tranquil, at peace, and reflective. We entertain and socialize, we serve meals and we clear up after meals, we daven and we sleep. But when do we really enjoy the depths of the beauty and spirit of Shabbat? When do we just stop the activity the way G-d did on the first Shabbat, just to marvel at the Creation and the Creator and to reconnect with Him, with life and with ourselves on the deepest of levels?

We invest fortunes of time, money and effort in the creation of the most beautiful miracles of all that we call, our children. We educate them, feed and clothe them, we guide them and manage their lives. But how much time do we take out just to marvel at them, enjoy the wonders that children are, nourish ourselves with the beauty of their beings? Like the wine maker, we spend years producing them, and yet we gulp the experience of their enjoyment down with no real sense of deep nourishment each day.

All of these are symptoms of the Fast Food Generation: “Grab a sandwich”, “get a coffee”, “have lunch on the go”. We don’t even take the time to nourish ourselves physically, and certainly not emotionally and spiritually.

A Gift to Yourself

And so, after you light candles tonight, try not to rush off straight after Ma’oz Tzur. Pause, sit down a little, alone. Gaze at the lights and quietly reflect in their golden glow. What do you see in the dancing flames? Or more important, what do you feel in your heart as you watch those flames in their dynamic dances of bliss. What energy do you feel? Each night, write your feelings down in a journal, just write whatever your heart dictates to your pen as you meditate on the lights. Then, at the end of Chanukah read your pieces of writing….and, using the lights for nothing more and nothing less than Lir’ottam Bil’vad, you will give yourself one of the deepest, most meaningful Chanukah gifts you will ever have received.