541.488.7716 185 N. Mountain Ave Ashland, OR 97520

Hanauka 5733

Dear Hevra,

People wonder sometimes how after two thousand years Yerushalayim is still the center of our hearts and the Beis Hamikdash is still our address. The answer is very simple: because on Chanuka, wherever we are it is Yerushalayim; our house is the Holy Temple and every Jew is the High Priest. Why don’t we confess our mistakes on Chanuka? The answer is that on Yom Kippur, only the High Priest walks into the Holy of the Holiest. On Chanuka when we light the candles every Jew is the Holy of the Holiest.

On Yom Kippur only the High Priest walks into the Holy of the Holiest but when I see what the Greeks do to my children, how they destroy the holiness of their fires, how they defile the soul of their souls, then I have no other way but to take my wife and my children into the Holy of Holiest. And everybody knows that in the Holy of Holiest you don’t talk about mistakes. You don’t say bad things – even about yourself. You don’t even say bad things about the world. You just want G-d’s light to reach the four corners of the world. So, our holy rabbis tell us that Chanuka is the light of the Messiah; the deepest, deepest, most hidden light in the world… a light that reaches the most hidden place in our hearts. We kindle the lights by the door or window of the house because on Chanuka all the doors and the windows of hearts are open to each other. G-d’s Oneness, the Oneness of all of Israel and the Oneness of all the world is revealed to us in the most glorius way.

While we look at the Chanuka candles, I bless us to be together with all the people we love as the light of Chanuka is shining into our eyes.