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36
by R. Rosenberg
When I was little we used to go to my grandparents
apartment in Brooklyn during Chanukah to light
the Menorah. My Aunts and uncles and cousins
would all be there and after we each lit, we would
sit around the living room window. We would gaze
at the radiant menorahs, their flickering flames like
living gems against the dark window. We would sing,
unhurried and joyous, the young children sitting on
their parents’ laps and the older children playing
draidel. The old windows would creak from the wind
but you could hear the ancient steam humming in
the background and the warmth was palpable. The
smell of latkes, and the sound of sizzling oil from
the kitchen left my mouth watering, and from the
living room I could see the paper bag sitting on
the counter with grease staining its side, filled with
freshly fried sufgoniot dipped in sugar.
Now we go to my parents home and although it is
a different place and a different time, the same
feeling of warmth and love permeates the air. My
father lights the candles with the same joy and love
for the mitzvah as his father before him. Lighting
the Chanukah menorah is a mitvah that has spanned
many generations, but my father and grandfathers
generation truly experienced the miracle of
Chanukah for themselves.
In the days of the Macabees, the Yidden were
in danger of losing the Bais Hamikdash. They
were under siege and were in a place so low and
desperate, but with Hashem’s Yeshua were able to
rebuild and raise themselves up to where they had
once been.
In the times of the Holocaust Yideshkeit was in real
danger of being wiped out. So many lost, so many
people whose faith could have been challenged
and yet when it was all over, the survivors raised
themselves up and rebuilt the Jewish world to where
we are today. After the war, when people would see
a child, they would cry from happiness because it
was such a rare sight, today we cannot count the
yeshivas and chaiders that full our communities with
the sound of Jewish children learning Torah, a sound
that the survivors thought they would never hear
again.
The Jewish world today consists of a plethora of
communities, numerous Torah centers, yeshivas
abound, kosher grocery stores rival supermarkets.
We are blessed with gedolie hador and rebeim and
a myriad of chesed organizations and Kollels. We
are very fortunate to have such a spiritually secure
environment to bring up our children.
What strength and resilience of spirit enabled
the holocaust survivors to come so far from the
depths of destruction? What miracle did they find
in themselves that allowed them to build this world
we know today?
Within the word Nesayon is the word nes. When
Hashem gives a person a nesayon, accompanying
it is a nes. The nes is that Hashem gives them the
strength to persevere through the nesayon. How
often do we witness people living through horrible
tests and admire their strength and resolve and see
how perfectly they are playing their part. This is the
nes that Hashem gives with the nesayon. This legacy
that our fathers and grandfathers gave us is truly a
miracle in our time.
Now, I sit with
my father and
my children
and witness
the story of
Chanukah
come alive
as they
perform
t h e
lighting
of the
Continuation at pg. 38