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Chanukah: Finding Light
in the Journey
through Darkness

Chanukah: Finding Light in the Journey through Darkness

12/19/2022

"Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness"

Anonymous

What do you do when you feel like grief and your story of loss are your only possessions? It dominates your every waking moment. It has sucked the light out of your life, leaving a darkness that you feel is surrounding you, blinding you from seeing new hope and new life. It encompasses your very being and you cannot move forward.
What can you do?
Whether you are “hitting bottom” now or feel as though you’ve been in a vicious cycle of getting better only to get worse:

Honor it. Allow it.
No one needs to be brave all the time.

Share it. Express it.
While grief is a very private emotion, it can also be all-consuming if it is not shared. We all need others who can carry us when our own strength has waned. Allow yourself to take a brave step to find the support you need.

Seek the Light.
The ideal way to light the Chanukah candles is to place them within ten handbreadths (called t’fachim) of the floor. The Talmud tells us that the Shechina, the Divine Presence, never dwelled below ten t’fachim. On Chanukah we are bringing the light of the Divine Presence where it had never been before.

If you are surrounded by darkness that you can not chase away, let’s just do our best to create some light. We can’t see G-d’s goodness with sunshine clarity from within our pain, but our faith can be a candle that gives enough light to see where our next footstep belongs.
Chanukah comes when the days are short and cold, the days when we need light the most. There are dark places in all our lives. A candle in the sunshine is useless, but a candle in the dark is a powerful tool. We can’t take away all the pain and suffering, but we can try to carry colorful candles in our hearts and leave strands of the Divine light in our wake.

Wishing you all a Freilichin Chanukah.

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