Do We Really Say Goodbye?

Chanukah may be officially over, but do we really say goodbye?

Sometimes when look at the world we see it as such a dark place. Then we think that how can little me make such a difference in a world that's so big and so confusing??

Shlomo Hamelech wrote in Mishlei that a mitzva is compared to a candle. Every time we do a mitzva it is as if we are lighting a candle. And what happens when you light a candle in the dark? The room will become a little brighter. Every candle that you continue to light will light up the room even more until it becomes fully illuminated.

It is now more than ever that we should never give up, because every mitzva we do not only brings us spiritual fulfillment, but will also light up the whole world!

Just like the oil in our very special menorah rises above the water, 

the Jews rise above their challenges and their enemies and always succeed. 

When you look at those tiny lights, remember that you are like the 

oil and the flames of your menorah. You have the ability to rise up.

We think its a miracle that the oil lasted for 8 nights. It certainly is. 

But who said oil was supposed to light? That in itself is a miracle.

Those little flames should remind us that HaShem is always there for 

us, and makes miracles for us every single day.

Have an amazing last few nights of Channukah! Take it in, and light 

up the world with your little flame. 

Hey Everyone! Happy Chanuka!

First Off, I am sooooo excited to be submitting on the blog! This is such an awesome website. I saw two things recently that I thought I would share with everyone. One of them is the comic strip, just because it's hilarious.




























Aside from that, I saw a very cool article about the neurological response to prayer that Elisha Karan sent me and I found it very profound. 
It points to the idea that the brain uses the same parts during prayer as it does in the experience of friendship communication. 

In other words, prayer is actually deepening your 'relationship' with G-d quite literally. To see more on this.. here is the link to the article. It's really interesting: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/this-is-how-your-brain-reacts-during-intense-prayer/

Anywho, Happy Chanuka! If anyone has thoughts on it, I'd love to hear from you guys.

Post by, Rabbi Gershie Meisel

Bringing Light into the Darkness

Chanukah is about bringing light into the darkness.

This idea of bringing light has always fascinated me. Partially because I happen to love fire, particularly how one spark of light can make an entire room brighter. Taking that physical phenomenon into an intellectual concept, though, we can infer that even one ounce of "goodness" will light up a room, a school, an entire world. I guess it's no coincidence that NCSY's logo is a flame. It's such a beautiful symbol of passion, intensity, and illumination.



Story time:
I am a freshman at WashU, a secular university in St. Louis (Washington University in St. Louis is its full name, but it's a bit long to use all the time). In my dorm, I am the only Jewish girl who considers herself "religious." In the beginning, it was daunting; in the beginning, sometimes it's hard to be different, to stick to what you believe. As time went on though, I became more comfortable with my floormates, and they with me. We started to have open and stimulating conversations about religion; they were absolutely fascinated with ideas about keeping kosher, keeping shabbos, and being shomer nigea.
After plenty of conversations, and also just hanging out, a few of my new friends even said to me, "Sarah, you're the first Jew that we can really ask questions to!" I was speechless. Although I often see myself as small, as one of billions of people, for my floormates, I have become the one Jew they feel comfortable asking questions to. It's a pretty unbelievable honor, in my opinion.

Sometimes, we are presented with daunting yet awesome opportunities of bringing light into the darkness. Every night, we add a candle, we add more light; with more time, we can spread more light, we can bring more light into the darkness.

The miracle of channukah

In the Jewish calendar there are two holidays which we have that were established by the Rabbis and not by the Torah: Purim and Channukah. However, there is a difference between the two of them that seems strange at first. We know that we have a tradition that when good things happen to the Jewish people we say a special prayer, called Hallel, which gives thanks to HaShem for all the good things He does for us. On Channukah, along with all the holidays from the Torah, we say this special prayer, but on Purim we don't. What is the reason for this difference?

The Sfas Emes offers a beautiful explanation. He writes that on Purim we were, after the war, still under the leadership of Achashveirosh, whereas on Channukah we were no longer under the rule of the Greeks. However, history tells us that we were not completely free from the Greeks after the war. The Sfas Emes explains further that after the war with the Greeks we were able to serve HaShem by lighting the Channukah candles despite still being without a Temple and still in the feeling of Galut (exile), and do so with a tremendous feeling of happiness and Jewish pride. This, says the Sfas Emes, was the true miracle of Channukah that lasted from the very beginning of the first night through to the very end of the last and even beyond-that we were able to overcome the world around us and still realize what was meaningful in the world and that is the serving of HaShem.

We should all merit to take the light of the Channukah candles and internalize it and see the candles as a message to help us remain strong in our serving of HaShem throughout the rest of the year.

Eight Miraculous Days

My daughter came home from school with this question, and I don't have anybody to answer it:

Why is the first night of Chanukah also considered a miracle if there was originally enough oil to burn for the first night of Chanukah? It is understood that there wasn't enough oil for the other nights, but what was so special that we call the first night of Chanukah also a miracle? Thanks.

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Your daughter has asked one of the most famous questions in rabbinic literature! Rabbi Yosef Karo (16th century Israel) offered three possible answers, and scholars have offered an endless stream of answers through the years. There is even a book called "Ner L'meah," by Rabbi Yerachmiel Zeltzer, that lists 100 answers to this question! Here's a sampling:

(1) The oil was divided in eight parts, and the Kohanim lit only one-eighth of the oil each night. But this small amount miraculously burned throughout each of the eight nights - including the first night. (Beit Yosef)

(2) Since the Temple had been desecrated with pagan idols, the Maccabees lit their Menorah outside in the courtyard. Normally, a flame exposed to the open air will burn more quickly than one sheltered indoors. Nevertheless, on all eight nights, the oil burned as long outdoors as it would have inside the Temple. (Chasam Sofer)

(3) Having returned to the Temple and found it in shambles, the Maccabees had no reason to think they would find pure oil. But they were so eager to perform the mitzvah of lighting the Menorah, that they began what seemed like a hopeless search - and they succeeded! This commitment to battle all odds for the sake of a mitzvah is what we commemorate on the first day of Chanukah. (Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik)

(4) The first day commemorates the miraculous military victory. (Pri Chadash, Kedushas Levi)

(5) We tend to take "nature" for granted, yet the burning of oil is inherently no less miraculous than would be the burning of water. Therefore, the first day commemorates that even the "normal" burning of oil takes place only because God created it so. (Rabbi David Feinstein)

Have a happy Chanukah, and may your daughter's future be as bright as the Chanukah lights!

-Aish.com

It's almost time for Chanukah!!!