The end of Kislev is upon us and with it comes the blessing of the darkest nights of the year. Our tradition calls for us to fill those nights with light, but the halacha of Chanukah candles is that they are not to be used for practical purposes, but to “make famous” the miracle that is rededicating a place of kedusha, of holiness.
When a place of holiness is desecrated, made inaccessible, or even conquered, leading to us and our tradition being injured and excluded. Just as this happened with the Jerusalem Temple, it can be a source of great heartbreak.
Chanukah reminds us that heartbreak is so important to feel, as is our refusal to accept the status quo that causes it. In such a rededication, there is also the possibility of redemption, there is the possibility of liberation. Rabbi Yosef Berman shared in the name of Eli Kasargod-Staub who learned from Rabbi Avi Strausberg from the Netivot Shalom:
"The essence of it boils down to this: that the energy of redemption becomes possible for a person — or a people — when two conditions are present. First they have to truly feel their brokenheartedness at the situation in which they find themselves. And second, they have to refuse to accept that the status quo in which they are is the only way reality can be organized. Then, and only then, can the energetic [energy] of redemption enable seeds that were already there to grow into new redemptive possibilities.
So it’s not that good follows the bad automatically, or that hitting some kind of low or bottom automatically creates the conditions in which something better emerges.
Rather, it depends on our capacity to fully feel how brokenhearted we actually are and to steadfastly refuse to accept that things must be this way. Both of which can be enormously hard to do. And both of which are made easier when not doing so alone.”
May we take this season as a true rededication to feeling the heartbreak and refusing the status quo. May it be a season of reinvestment in Kadima such that the status quo is not only something that breaks our heart, but is something we alter through our collectively.
I hope to see you at Kabbalat Shabbat tonight, and please make your End of Gregorian Year contribution to Kadima before January 1.
Shabbat shalom,
R’ David
When a place of holiness is desecrated, made inaccessible, or even conquered, leading to us and our tradition being injured and excluded. Just as this happened with the Jerusalem Temple, it can be a source of great heartbreak.
Chanukah reminds us that heartbreak is so important to feel, as is our refusal to accept the status quo that causes it. In such a rededication, there is also the possibility of redemption, there is the possibility of liberation. Rabbi Yosef Berman shared in the name of Eli Kasargod-Staub who learned from Rabbi Avi Strausberg from the Netivot Shalom:
"The essence of it boils down to this: that the energy of redemption becomes possible for a person — or a people — when two conditions are present. First they have to truly feel their brokenheartedness at the situation in which they find themselves. And second, they have to refuse to accept that the status quo in which they are is the only way reality can be organized. Then, and only then, can the energetic [energy] of redemption enable seeds that were already there to grow into new redemptive possibilities.
So it’s not that good follows the bad automatically, or that hitting some kind of low or bottom automatically creates the conditions in which something better emerges.
Rather, it depends on our capacity to fully feel how brokenhearted we actually are and to steadfastly refuse to accept that things must be this way. Both of which can be enormously hard to do. And both of which are made easier when not doing so alone.”
May we take this season as a true rededication to feeling the heartbreak and refusing the status quo. May it be a season of reinvestment in Kadima such that the status quo is not only something that breaks our heart, but is something we alter through our collectively.
I hope to see you at Kabbalat Shabbat tonight, and please make your End of Gregorian Year contribution to Kadima before January 1.
Shabbat shalom,
R’ David
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