It’s a rare occurrence. The Jewish festival of lights, Chanuka, meets with a pleasant secular American celebration called Thanksgiving this weekend. It’s an occasion for hoda’ah (“giving thanks and conceding God’s greatness”) as well as for hodu (“turkey”). That’s what we can look forward to this weekend. But, that does not even come close to capturing the light and holiness that exudes from Jerusalem as we approach Chanuka. All is light, even the stones are light. The air is holy, and the people are all sharing in the rarefied air. Any unpleasant news, about “agreements” or otherwise, just does not affect this atmosphere. The city levitates over such worldly matters, somehow avoiding them completely. The Jerusalem atmosphere enables us to dive into some deep words on the Torah portion, found at http://www.jerusalemconnection.org/weekly For something a bit lighter, if you would like to know what’s happening with Chabad in Jerusalem, go to our site, http://www.chabadjerusalem.org And if all that is not enough for you, and you seek to further your spiritual growth with some good books, go to http://www.jewishspiritualbooks.com Something for everyone…
We seem to be off by about one week. Generally, we can detect a correspondence between the weekly Torah portion and at least some current events. Last weeks’ encounter between Jacob and his brother on some level corresponds to the ongoing contest of wills between Israel and the American president regarding how to deal with Iran. The Biblical encounter ended when Jacob’s brother got a sudden “love rush” and kissed and embraced Jacob. No such rapprochement has occurred between Washington and Jerusalem, at least not yet. However, the Biblical narrative has moved on, even while the US-Israel contest remains in full force. This week it is Jacob’s son Joseph who is the protagonist, and Joseph takes the action down to Egypt. Even though it looks like Joseph was having a hard time in Egypt, he ended up on top. Moreover, whatever he seemed to be doing in Egypt was a mere front for what was really taking place. So, we also need to be aware of the “soul” dimension in everything that we are doing – Joseph certainly was, and that’s how he came out on top. For more on that, visit us at http://www.jerusalemconnection.org/weekly And if you have a hankering for more soul food in the form of books, go to http://www.jewishspiritualbooks.com/shop Look forward to seeing you there!
Coming into Kislev…
3 NovToday is Rosh Chodesh Kislev, the Hebrew month that more or less corresponds to December on the secular calendar. Kislev is the month of freedom, the month of light, the month of warmth projected into the upcoming cold winter. It’s the month when we celebrate Chanuka, that famous Jewish holiday in which we light candles, increasing in number from the first to the eighth day of the holiday. There are also a whole set of Chasidic holidays that occur this month…
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