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"It is better to take refuge in Adonai than to trust in human beings; better to take refuge in Adonai than to put one's trust in princes." -Tehilah 118:8-9



Of Miracles and Lights

The greatest Hanukkah lesson I heard taught this year was from Rabbi David Wolpe, who remarked on the idea that miracles begin when human beings step out in faith. Were it not for the faith of the person who hid the oil, or the faith of those who lit the menorah on that first night, HaShem would never have been given the opportunity to reveal Himself in Spirit and in Truth. Miracles happen because we are willing to step out in faith; they do not drop from the sky upon our asking or manifest because we wish for them to happen.

We have grown soft in our comfortable, modern existence. We have grown susceptible to anti-Biblical ideologies because we are so distanced from the lives of the men and women written about in Scripture. We are cushioned by our own construct of reality, a structure that has carefully boarded out any remnant of the discomforts of our past. We fool ourselves into thinking that talking is action, forgetting that actions testify to the words we speak. We congratulate ourselves for forging alliances over breakfast tables that begin to decay by dinnertime. We have created for ourselves a very silly, sad and foolish world. Most frighteningly, we have put our faith in our creation.

Miracles happen because we are willing to stand up for what is right. The Maccabees had a false reality imposed upon them, one that contradicted everything they knew to be true and right. The Greek reality was the antithesis of who they were as Israelites. So, they fought back. It meant blood, injury, death. It was gruesome, ugly, fearful. It lasted more than a half hour, day, week, or month. It was not ended by third party negotiation or compromise. Judah Maccabee and his ragtag guerilla army of rebels, out-manned and out-flanked, won because they believed in a reality greater than any human being could ever create and couch themselves in. They won because they stepped out in faith--politically, religiously, and culturally.

And when the Jewish people can once again step out in that kind of all-encompassing faith, we will win, because our G-d has already claimed the victory.

Chanukah Sameach. This year, don't just light the lights. Strike a spark in your neshama and fight back.

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posted by Shoshana @ 11:15 AM

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