LIGHT AND HOW TO ACHIEVE IT
Dear Family,
I hope everyone is well.
I already wished Channah and Rivky Mazal Tov for their birthdays, but today is Rivky's actual birthday.
This time of year always reminds me of the births of Channah and Rivky, because I have vivid memories of the Chanukkah lights burning at the sides of their cots in the hospital when they were born BH!
And there is so much to do with LIGHT at this dark time of year in Kislev:
(in the Northern hemisphere)
1. The most obvious one is Channukah which will start celebrating on Sunday night.
2. The 19th of Kislev is the Rosh Hashanah for Chabad Chassidim. It is the day when the Alte Rebbe was freed from prison and when Chassidus started to spread in the Jewish world. The Alte Rebbes name was Shneur Zalman, and Shneur means TWO LIGHTS. People say that this refers to the 2 lights of Torah, Nigleh (Revealed Torah) - he wrote a Shulchan Aruch, and Chassidus - his famous book is the Tanya, which we start learning again every 19th of Kislev.
3. It is still a week away, but Liora Davidoff's birthday is on 30th Kislev, and Liora means LIGHT IS TO ME.
4. And all the births in Kislev (and any month) brings increased LIGHT to the world BH.
For the 19th of Kislev celebration this year we heard a delightful talk from Rabbi Shisler of Johannesburg.
He spoke extensively about LIGHT, and I will try and select some examples that he spoke about, showing us HOW WE CAN EACH INCREASE OUR OWN LIGHT AND THEREFORE MAKE THE WORLD A LIGHTER PLACE.
There is a very big difference between a light room and a dark one.
If one turns on the light on in a dark room, it vividly reveals what is already there. It brings clarity because previously we may not have understood what all the items in the room were about.
In a similar way Chassidus shines a light on Torah, so that we can understand concepts with more clarity
Step 1
An example given was : it says in Gemorra 'that even although a Jew sins he is still a Yisrael.'
So one can just understand this in its simple sense, which makes no one any the wiser.
But Chassidus comes along and explains how high is this level of Yisrael (as we learned last week), and he is even at this level at the time he is in this 'low' phase of his life. This apparent low phase is ripe with tremendous potential when he is really very close to his inner Essence which is closely linked to Hashem. And it teaches us to look deep at any Jew, and recognise this Essence and greatness.
Step 2
Here we make decisions to take on work which is not in our comfort zone, like Torah and Mitzvos which seem boring, or going out of our way to help others etc
He brought a humorous story of someone who went to a hotel, and he phones down to reception saying that he is trapped in his room. So the receptionist says just go out of the door. So he replies that there are 3 doors - one goes into the bathroom, one goes into the cupboard, and the other one has a sign on it which says 'Don't Disturb!'
To get out of our prisons we need to tackle the areas where we don't want to be disturbed.
Step 3
If we do go ahead and work in this area, it is usually difficult, but we can work on ourselves and push on like a soldier or servant, and of course, we may make excellent progress and achieve. This is usually the case with hard work.
Step 4
Chassidus teaches us to do this, not only as a duty, but also with great joy, until one really enjoys it, and understands the great joy and rewards. Like shining a light on the darkness. At this stage one would not give up this way of life for anything, even though it seems difficult to others, and may actually be difficult!
Step 5
This brings one to a personal Redemption, creating much LIGHT and understanding, and is part of the general Redemption for the whole world.
And Channukah comes along to tell us to keep increasing the light - on the first night 1 candle, on the second night 2 etc
And in the same way, to learn Chassidus in a conscientious way
Wishing everyone a Gut Shabbos and a Happy Channukah, with much light.