Light When It's Dark

There are two kinds of places where life might take you.

Life might take you to a good and happy place, and all the darkness in your world flees before your light.

That’s the light of Shabbat candles.

But sometimes life might take you to a cold and dark place that seems forever.

You might kick and scream, “Get me out of here! I didn’t ask for this, it’s a mistake!”

Yet even there you’ve come for a reason: to find a small spark of hope and goodness within this dark place.

And when you do that, you transform dark into light.

That’s the light of Chanukah.

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One Day at a Time

Pure Oil

By Tzvi Freeman

From the wisdom of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of righteous memory; words and condensation by Rabbi Tzvi Freeman. Subscribe and get your dose daily. To order Rabbi Freeman’s latest book, Wisdom to Heal the Earth, click here.

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6 Comments

Brenda Toronto, Ontario, Canada November 30, 2020

That darkest place is found within us so that we project it outside as the world 2020.

It appears that everybody is forced to be separated from each other by an invisible enemy, a lethal virus. When we attempt to return to our normal life it attacks us again and banishes us to ourselves.
It won't allow us to enable us to continue to benefit ourselves at the expense of others. We must move away from a mindset of individualism, self-success, competition and divisiveness. These qualities will destroy us in a global world that G_d has arranged for us.

To initiate the process to act as one harmonious system, He needs us to first recognize our dark place of self-love. So Coronavirus pauses our bad connections and forces us to reflect.
Then only are we able to relate in a way in which we don't have any intentions to harm others.
This is Chanukah. A time to inactivate our harmful relationships until we are ready to use our energy in a good way towards others. His Light enters our hearts. Reply

David Harold Chester Petach Tikva, Israel December 1, 2020

in response to Brenda :

Brenda, What "dark place of self-love" do you mean? Its not dark at all, and without first having this love we cannot be expected to love others including G-d.

Hillel the Elder asked:
"If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But being for myself alone, what am I ? And if not now, when ?" Reply

Brenda Toronto, Ontario, Canada December 4, 2020

in response to David Harold Chester:

David, we are all driven by our natural, innate attribute of self-love, our ego.
It is given us precisely to comprehend what Love is. We instinctively care to please ourself, feel good, have food, shelter, wealth, status, knowledge.
Our ego constantly grows until now we realize it does not serve us well in an interconnected global world. Divisiveness competition, conflict
selfish rights that harm others, present a dark world under global conditions.
You are correct, we need to realize the feel of what Love is. That is the purpose of our ego. It provides us an example of love.
Now that the egoistic development is complete, G_d has arranged an integral network for humanity in which we must direct this love towards care of others so that finally when we have everybody caring for everyone else, we do not need to worry about self-love!
Then we rise above our ego to reach a new world to connect with G_d, the source of Love, the true source of all fulfillment! Reply

Brenda W Toronto, Ontario, Canada December 6, 2020

in response to David Harold Chester:

The second part of your question: "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But being for myself alone, what am I ? And if not now, when ?"
This seems to say: Everything is in the hands of man, and everything is in the hands of G_d! So who is the performer?

The problem is that we can't perceive that "there is none else besides Him". We can't sense that we all are part of one integral, unified system governed by Him. He is the source of everything.

So we act simultaneously in a feedback system. I make a request to Him and He responds. He planned it all for me in advance and I am compelled to act!
We act as partners in response to each other to achieve the goal He organized fo me. As dance partners, it takes two to Tango!
In the end, I must strive to perceive that everything is interconnected and interdependent, within a single governing Force. Reply

Brenda Toronto, Ontario, Canada December 9, 2020

in response to David Harold Chester:

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But being for myself alone, what am I ? And if not now, when ?"

This seems to say: Everything is in the hands of man, and everything is in the hands of G_d! So who is the performer?

The problem is that we can't perceive that "there is none else besides Him". We can't sense that we all are part of one integral, unified system governed by Him. He is the source of everything.

So we act simultaneously in a feedback system. I make a request to Him and He responds. He planned it all for me in advance and I am compelled to act!

We act as partners in response to each other to achieve the goal He organized for me. As dance partners, it takes two to Tango!

In the end we must strive to perceive that we are in an interconnected and interdependent unified system with a single governing Force. Reply

David Harold Chester Petach Tikva, Israel November 30, 2020

Even when we do have some light, the claims for better seeing powers still apply. Its not the light by itself that is so necessary but our ability to see better with it. That is why the candles of Chanukah can be quite small, yet the ideas behind them are much more significant. Reply

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