According to Halachah, we are not supposed to do any work while the Chanukah lights are burning. For that half hour, we should focus on the lights and try to connect to their meaning. In these times of financial setbacks and hardships, focusing on our spiritual existence takes on a greater significance.

• What is our true purpose in this life? Are we fulfilling, or even attempting to fulfill it?
• Are our careers and jobs a means to an end, or an end in and of themselves?
• Are we appreciating the fact that we have been blessed to live in circumstances and conditions immensely superior to those experienced by 98% of the rest of the world?
• Do we truly appreciate our children, parents, spouses, family, and friends?
• Are we placing our faith in God, or are we trying to totally control our destinies?
• Are we spreading light to the world around us?

After you light those holy Chanukah lights, make the next half hour special. Gaze at the lights and connect to the unbroken chain of Jewish history. Think about your life, and how you can add more meaning, and light, into it. Think about how you can be a light to those around you.

May this Chanukah be a time of light and blessing for us all.

Happy Chanukah!

There are many answers to this questions. A few of them are:

1. the first day was celebrated for the miracle of the military victory
2. the fact that they even found one tiny flask of pure oil was itself a miracle.
3. they only added an eighth of the oil each day

I’d like to share with you two answers that I really connect to.

1. The very fact that oil burns is a miracle. Nature is a miracle. We take it for granted that the sun rises in the morning and sets at night, that water puts out fire, and that oil burns. But why? It’s all miraculous, every aspect of nature, from the planets and stars to the blossoming of a flower. Chanukah is a time to recognize not only the once in a lifetime miracles, but the miracles that happen all around us every minute of the day. The miracle of nature.
2. The Jewish people had just gone through one of their most difficult periods. Persecution, death, war, personal hardships. When they finally managed to drive the Hellenist forces out of Jerusalem, they entered the Holy Temple only to find it desecrated and in ruin. They miraculously found a tiny flask of sealed holy oil, but they knew that it could only last for a day, so why bother? Why bother lighting the Menorah, the eternal light, when it will just be extinguished within the day? You see, the miracle is that they didn’t give up hope. Even though it looked hopeless, they lit the Menorah. They started over, from amidst the ruins and desecration. They never gave up hope. The Jews in the concentration camps and ghettos of the Holocaust also never gave up hope. Those that survived the destruction lit the tiny flask of oil that remained, and watched it miraculously burn, and continue to grow and spread light throughout the world.

Today is the fast of Asarah BiTevet, which commemorates the beginning of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem during the First Temple period. Although that event may not directly touch our emotions, the battle that Israel is fighting must. The fast day is an opportunity for us to reflect on the current situation, and on our own lives. Are we doing all that we can to help our people? Are we leading our lives according to the high standards of our Torah, and thereby strengthening the spiritual fortitude of our nation?

Today’s fast is our chance to strengthen Israel with our own spiritual energy.

The man returned home and told his wife what happened. He then went out to think of a plan to raise the funds. While he was gone his wife gathered all the silver utensils in the house and went to the market to sell them. She brought back the coins and spent the entire evening polishing them. When the man returned home his wife presented him with a bag of coins. The next morning the man brought the coins and gave them to the Rebbe. When the Baal Shem emptied the coins onto the table he was taken aback by their shining brilliance. He blessed the man and asked how the coins had gotten so shiny. The man had no answer.

When the man returned he told his wife what had happened at the Rebbe’s and asked her where she had found such shiny coins. The wife answered that the coins weren’t shiny when she got them. However, since she knew that they would be in the presence of the Rebbe she stayed up for hours polishing them until they sparkled.

In a few weeks we will all stand in the presence of the All Mighty…Our Father, Our King. Even though we might be a bit dirty we should take this opportunity to polish ourselves up a bit so that we can shine before Him. Let’s pick one or two things that we feel we can “polish” in ourselves and work on them for the next couple of weeks. Even if we feel we won’t be able to keep it up for the long term at least we will be shiny and polished for the High Holy Days. It’s not hypocritical; it’s just taking one small step at a time and being the best we can be right now.

** This essay can be found in Deep Waters: Insights into the Five Books of Moses and the Jewish Festivals

It was told that in the shul of the great Chassidic Master, the Chozeh (Seer) of Lublin, they sang and danced on the night of Rosh Hashanah. When the Misnagdim, the anti-Chassidic proponents, heard of this they were taken aback. How could the so called great Rebbe allow dancing on the awesome Day of Judgment? They decided to send a spy to the Chozeh’s synagogue to investigate.

The undercover Misnaged traveled to Lublin on the eve of the new year and witnessed the community diligently preparing for the holy day. That night in the synagogue of the Chozeh the mood was serious as the Chassidim fervently prayed for a favorable heavenly judgment. Everything seemed very proper until the services ended. Then the Chassidim moved the benches to the side and began joyously singing and dancing with all their might. The Misnaged, unable to contain his anger, ran up to the Chozeh and reprimanded him. “How can you allow this merriment on the Day of Judgment?” Without replying the Chozeh placed his hand over the man’s eyes allowing him to see a vision. In the vision the man saw the gates of the Garden of Eden within which a group of Jews danced fervently in a circle. Outside of the gates stood one man, watching and crying, unable to enter. The Chozeh removed his hand and the Misnaged realized that he was the solitary man in the vision prevented from entering the Garden of Eden. He began to cry and plead with the Chozeh. “Rebbe, how can I too

How many times we think about doing something but never end up doing it because we feel it is something that is perhaps good for others but not something that we could ever do? We see others singing and praying and we wish we could have the same spirit and fervor. We see others doing Mitzvot and wonder how it would feel if we did them as well. We think, “how good would it be if we could attend prayer services every Shabbat”.

The Chozeh of Lublin gave us the secret of success and fulfillment. If you want to join the Jews that are dancing in the Garden of Eden, just join them and dance. Just sing and pray and do mitzvoth and go to shul. Don’t just think about it. Try it. Do it. See how it feels for you.

On Rosh Hashanah we pray to God for health and peace, the things we have no control over. For everything else we need to make the effort to have a sweet year. Much of it is in our hands. If we want to have a great year of growth and success, make it happen. Just dance.
** This essay can be found in Deep Waters: Insights into the Five Books of Moses and the Jewish Festivals

Yeah, I know that sounds simplistic, but it’s actually incredibly deep. You see, each mitzvah contains within it tremendous spiritual energy and power to affect us and our surroundings. When we perform a mitzvah we unleash this energy into the universe. That energy transforms negative energy into positive and illuminates darkness. Since all the energy in the universe is connected, the positive energy that you activate and release by performing a mitzvah can literally have an effect thousands of miles away.

Now, it might not feel like anything is changing, and you might consider your actions as insignificant, but trust me…each mitzvah you perform, no matter how seemingly insignificant, is affecting the world in a powerful way. Even though it works even if you do it without realizing it, it’s much more effective if you have an awareness of what you’re doing. In other words, “Kavannah”. Therefore, take a second to be aware of the mitzvah before doing it.

Some suggestions of easy to perform mitzvot that pack a whole lot of spiritual power:
1. say a blessing before eating
2. put some money in a tzedaka box
3. be nice to someone
4. say a prayer for someone who is in trouble

Let’s help illuminate the world…and ourselves.

At the end of the chapter relating to Tu B’Av the Talmud recounts a story. In the future Hashem will gather all of the righteous in a circle and will sit in the middle of them in the Garden of Eden. All the righteous will then point at Hashem and say, “this is the God that we have trusted in and who has saved us”. This is obviously a very deep message with hidden meanings, but why is it connected to Tu B’Av?

Tu B’Av is the fifteenth day in Av. In the Hebrew Tu B’Av can also be read as “the fifteenth letter in the Alef Bet” (Av is Alef Bet, the Hebrew alphabet). The fifteenth letter of the Alef Bet is Samech. The letter Samech is written as a circle. A circle represents completion. It also represents a continuum. The Jewish calendar can be viewed as a circle with points marking specific spiritual energies. For example, Pesach has the energy of freedom, Sukkot – trust in God, and Chanukah – miracles. As we go through the cycle of the year we experience these energies anew every time. To further bolster this idea of cycle the Jewish year begins with the energy of Teshuva, which means Returning. We start the year by returning to the beginning of the cycle.

The one important thing about this cycle is that we are obligated to use the energies of the year to learn and grow. When we begin the cycle anew we should be doing so having reached new heights of growth and awareness from the previous cycle. History is also a cycle. It repeats itself constantly. Those who learn from the past avoid its mistakes but those who view it as linear and never look back fall blindly into its traps.

Tu B’av is the last holiday in the yearly cycle. It is the last point in the circle and therefore is the point from which we can look back at the entire cycle passed. It also directly follows the most tragic period of Jewish history and is therefore the perfect vantage point for looking back at our history. As we look back at our year and our history we need to search for God in the events that have transpired. Often it is only through hindsight that we can recognize the hand of God. If we search for God in everything that happens in our lives and in the world we will merit to be those righteous that sit in the circle and can actually point to God and say, “oh yes, now I see God so clearly in every part of this circle of life.”

This Dvar Torah is an excerpt from Deep Waters: Insights into the Five Books of Moses and Jewish Holidays by Rabbi Arnie Singer

Let’s analyze this. What is the outcome of exile, besides the obvious physical displacement? There is disorientation, resulting from being cut off from everything that is routine, comfortable, and safe. We are forced to reevaluate, to start over. The self imposed exile that follows the judgment of the High Holidays is an opportunity for us to extract ourselves from the whirlwind of our lives, and reevaluate our goals, relationships, actions, and behaviors. The Sukkah serves as our own personal decompression chamber, from which we can emerge from, and return to our lives, refreshed, reoriented, and re-energized.

Well, today things changed. You see, in order to put up the frame of the Sukkah, I needed to get right next to the railing. At first I was nervous, but as I focused on the work, instead of the drop, my fear began to dissipate. Once I put the canvas up, which blocked the view, I was fine. I could walk right up to the edge with not even a tinge of anxiety. The 18 story drop was still just inches in front of me, but because the canvas was preventing me from seeing it, I acted as though it was not even there.

The Hebrew word for world is “olam”, which also means “hidden”. God is “hidden” in the world. He is revealed only to those who actively seek him out. The rest see a world ruled only by the law of nature, where evil flourishes, and the powerful dominate the weak. Divine justice and judgment are hidden behind this “canvas”, allowing Man to act with free will. All we need to do is to peek behind the canvas to see the awesome truth. Most of us would rather continue living in our illusion of safety. It’s so easy to do just that. The Sukkah reminds us that that safety is really just an illusion, hiding the awesome truth.

May we be blessed with the clarity to see behind the canvas of our own Sukkah.

When the man returned he told his wife what had happened at the Rebbe’s and asked her where she had found such shiny coins. The wife answered that the coins weren’t shiny when she got them. However, since she knew that they would be in the presence of the Rebbe she stayed up for hours polishing them until they sparkled.

In a few weeks we will all stand in the presence of the All Mighty…Our Father, Our King. Even though we might be a bit dirty we should take this opportunity to polish ourselves up a bit so that we can shine before Him. Let’s pick one or two things that we feel we can “polish” in ourselves and work on them for the next couple of weeks. Even if we feel we won’t be able to keep it up for the long term at least we will be shiny and polished for the High Holy Days. It’s not hypocritical; it’s just taking one small step at a time and being the best we can be right now.

Here are a few suggestions: being nice to someone every day, appreciating your parents, studying a piece of Torah daily.
Please add your own suggestions in the comments…

** This essay can be found in Deep Waters: Insights into the Five Books of Moses and the Jewish Festivals