Dear all,
Truthfully, my channukiah isn't such a beautiful channukiah. It's a series of eight blue ceramic balls plus a shamesh. I bought it because it was the cheapest one in the tourist trap store on the Sunday before Channukah, with one hour to catch the bus back to base. My love for it has grown ever since the first candle last year.
You may remember my email from last year. For me, Channukah with my soldiers was one of my most emotional moments as a mefaked. To stand before them and realize that I was leading a group of "Modern Maccabees" was an incredible experience. But even more so was the light from the first candle. In case you don't remember, last year I spent the first two nights in the "shetach," the training wilderness, pretending to be an enemy for miluimnikim (reservists) to "attack." I was sent down to the shetach with another machlaka for some reason that I don't remember, and upon finally reuniting with Glazel and the boys the first thing I did was light that little ceramic channukiah. The whole day had been wasted waiting for a way to go down to the shetach. We spent our time doing nothing, only to be moved to the shetach where we did more nothing, but this time in the cold. That one little candle, lit on the background of the dark expanse of the Negev made the whole day worth it. One tiny little light, an "or lishma," good for no purpose other than its own light, lit up my heart in such a way that thinking about it a year later still makes me feel warm.
There is a song in Israel, "Banu choshech l'garesh, b'yadeinu or v'aish. "Darkness, we have come to expel you, in our hands we hold light and fire." This is the first candle. The tiny flame, full of fight and, as Reb Shlomo teaches, shaking with yearning and desire, extinguishes the darkness. Suddenly there is what to hope for. Suddenly it doesn't matter where you are or what you are doing, life is bright. The first candle brings light ot the world and establishes a hope.
The second candle is just as special. Where the first creates a new reality, the second joins the first in that reality. For the first time the candles do not stand alone. Once there was one flame, a single entity, individual and special in its mission. Now there are two individual flames, but both of them work together to make even more light. Two flames, like two eyes, complementing each other and peering out through the darkness of the world. Little by little the light grows until eventually the channukiah fills up. Eight holy lights, "l'ma'alah min ha'teva," a level of existence above the natural(seven represents the highest natural state- shabbat etc.) fill the room with their light.
In Otniel we have been discussing the dynamics of the individual within a community. In the discussion that took place on Thursday in memory of members of the yeshiva that have been killed in various terror attacks over the eyars Rav Re'em stated that one who davens by himself and does not feel the need to daven with a community is sinning. Avodat Hashem, the worship of G-d, takes place in a unique way in every individual. There is special spark that each person holds. But the spark is no good on its own. A light that remains by itself, that is not joined by another light, that does not fill both its natural and supernatural purposes, is useless. As Rav Yehoshua Shapira, the Rosh Yeshiva of Ramat Gan, said on Thursday, a person who chooses his halachic standards and his ways of avodat hashem only according to what he feels is proper, one who neglects the accepted ways of the community, does not worship G-d. "Religion is the heroin of the masses," contains a partial truth. G-d is in the masses. Religion does not lie in one person's belief, rather in the people's belief, with each person contributing their spark to the greater fire. "Banu choshech l'garesh, b'yadeinu or v'eish." The song continues: "Kol echad hu or katan, v'kulanu or eitan." "Everyone is a small light, and altogether we are strong light."
May we all learn from the essence of the second candle and join each other in lighting our lives, our people, and the world.
Channuka Sameach!
love,
Yoni
