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| Tuesday, November 13, 2007 |
30 Second Sermon
This is part of our Nov/Dec 2007 issue.
In most households across the world, each person lights their own Chanukah menorah corresponding to the night that it is.
For example, on the third night, every member would light three candles. In truth, though, there are three levels in lighting the menorah. The basic way is where the head of the house lights one candle each night for his whole household. The second level is where each person in the household lights one candle each night. The third level, the ideal way, is where each person in the household lights according to the night that it is. Why specifically concerning the lights of the menorah is there a concept of an "ideal way"?
As with all things Jewish, we can answer one question with another. What was the reason for the Greeks' decree of forbidding the Jews from performing the Temple service, specifically the lighting of the menorah? This decree against the Jews was divine punishment due to the fact that the Jewish people were negligent in performing the service of lighting the menorah.
We see from this that when we are lazy and negligent in doing a mitzvah, then it's possible we'll lose the opportunity to perform that mitzvah. Concerning Chanukah, therefore, we have the concept of an "ideal way" to rectify our past negligence in this mitzvah.
This provides us with an important lesson. As the famous adage goes, "If you don't use it, you lose it." If you don't take care of something it will eventually be lost. For example, if you don't nurture a plant and attend to it, it will wither and die. All the more so this is true for spiritual matters such as God's commandments. If we don't invest time and energy, we cannot expect our desire to do the will of God to last. If, on the other hand, we constantly and consistently infuse within these mitzvot our fullest strength and effort, then we can expect them to be sustained and remain meaningful to us for a long time to come.
-- Text by Rabbi Ezra Cohen / Photo by Sam Norval
This is part of our Nov/Dec 2007 issue.
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