Salvation Month
This week marks the new month of Kislev. We are all under the underlying tension of the Iranian threat – will there be a war or not? What's more, it looks like Israel, as usual, has only Hashem to depend on. At any rate, that's the good news. Kislev is a great month for the Jewish people. Why? The light of Chanuka awaits us.
One candle is enough to illuminate the pitch-black darkness. King Solomon compared the candle to the human soul. Thus, the Chanuka candles can teach us a lot about our inner selves.
Despair and depression are darkness. Judaism - particularly the Chanuka holiday - teaches that there is no room for despair and depression in the Jewish lexicon, no matter who threatens us with atomic weapons or with anything else. There's always hope. The Gemara teaches that even if a sharp knife is resting on your throat, don't despair - trust in Hashem's magnificent and merciful lovingkindness.
The Yetzer Hora, or Evil Inclination, wants us to lose hope. He doesn't want you to believe that redemption can be right now, at any minute, and that Moshiach is right around the corner. By convincing you that the Jewish notion of eagerly anticipating the Geula is false and ridiculous, he eventually convinces you that all of Torah is false and ridiculous, G-d forbid.
On the contrary, when a doctor tells an expectant mother that she must abort, that's false and ridiculous. When a person is told that he or she has a terminal disease, that's false and ridiculous.
The light of a Chanuka candle - which the holy Ariza'l says is symbolic of emuna, or faith - carries a person above the clutches of nature. Torah, Teshuva, and prayer do the same. A soldier can be pinned down, with no logical way out; yet, Hashem has solutions...
Continue reading Salvation Month in this week's stimulating issue of Breslev Israel web magazine.
Also featured this week:
Rabbi Shalom Arush: Start Enjoying Life
Rabbi Nissan Dovid Kivak: Every Little Movement
Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh: Rebbe Zusha
Rabbi Avraham HaCohen Kook: Parshat Vayetze - Rivalry
Dr. Cherie Murdock: Holy Sage
Rivka Levy: All Puffed Up and A New Start
Big Beams Blessings for a wonderful week! And yes, it's true - we'll be in the USA, G-d willing, from Dec. 5-19, 2011 - details forthcoming later this week right here on the Beams.
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