Every day is a special day. Today is unique. 

Today’s date is  a palindrome, which means 120221 can be read that way backwards or forwards. 

It’s also an ambigram, which means whether you read it right side up or upside down (if you put it in an analog calculator) it will read the same thing. 

That’s something that not everyone might notice. 

It’s all how you look at things. 

It’s how you look at something today. 

It’s the 5th night of Chanukah. 

On Chanukah we celebrate the victory the Jews secured over the Syrian-Greeks 2188 years ago in the year 167 BCE. 

It was a miraculous victory of a small band of Jewish fighters against the vast army of the Syrian Greeks. 

There was however a second miracle. Once the war was over, the Jews reclaimed the Temple which had been ransacked. In order to light the menora, the candelabra, oil was needed. The priests searched for an unopened, pure vial of oil. They were successful in finding one such jug which had enough oil to burn one day and miraculously the oil burned for 8 days straight-hence the 8 days of Chanukah. 

You might ask, and you wouldn’t be alone, why 8 days? The jug had enough oil to burn for 1 day, the miracle was the subsequent 7 days? 

Shouldn’t the holiday then be for 7 days?

The miracle of the 1st day was that they even looked for the oil at all!

When the Jews arrived at the sacked Temple and all was destroyed they made the effort to search for oil. Finally they found enough to light for 1 day. They knew it would take 8 days to make more oil. The situation seemed hopeless. Why bother to light one day if there won’t be any light for the next 7?

How many of us would say, forget it, if I can’t do the job properly, if I can’t be successful I might as well just give up!

They didn’t give up. 

That’s the miracle. 

In life we are often hampered by our fear of failure. 

What’s the point of overcoming my negative character traits or being a better spouse, parent, child, sibling, colleague? 

I know I will mess up!

But if we have clarity! 

If the light of the Menorah can be our beacon, we can see that not all is dark and it’s not all or nothing. What can we do now?!?

The Greeks thought they had successfully made everything impure, they thought they had made the future totally dark, but the Jews saw a chance for light. 

There is enough for today. 

Today is the reality!

We can focus on what we can do today to help those in our orbit, to make a commitment to make someone’s reality  brighter today. 

To do better ourselves just today. 

We worry so much about the future and that anxiety allows the darkness to creep in and the fear that is created will stop us in our tracks!

The Bluzhover Rebbe was a beloved Chassidic Rabbi who was incarcerated in Bergen Belsen concentration camp during WWII. He was a tremendous source of comfort and support to his fellow Jews and saw everything in a positive light. But even he was flummoxed when it came to lighting the first Chanukah candles one night in Bergen Belsen. 

His Menorah was a primitive clog, the wicks were threads pulled out of a camp uniform and the oil from some black shoe polish. The Rabbi began reciting the blessings in the barrack. This in and  of itself was punishable by death. He made the blessing over lighting the Chanukah candles, then he made the second blessing over the miracles that happened to our forefathers at this time. And then the Rabbi paused, with a questioning look and turned around. 

He then continued with the Shehechiyanu blessing which is said only the first night and celebrates our bring alive at this time. 

When he was done one of the inmates rushed over to him and said, Rabbi, I can understand your making the first 2 blessings, but how could you thank Gd for keeping us alive for this time, this day. We are standing in a death camp in the shadows of our unimaginable loss? (The Rebbe had lost his whole family too!)

The Rebbe answered by saying that he too had the question, he was not sure if he should make the blessing which is why he had turned around to search the crowd for an answer from some of the other esteemed Rabbis present. 

But, when he turned around and saw the crowd of people standing there, willing to risk their lives to perform this mitzva, their faith intact despite the horrors, he saw things in a completely different light. He was then able to  make the blessing whole heartedly with all those people in his mind, people who could see beyond the darkness and be on such an elevated spiritual level. 

That is what seeing things through the prism of the lights of Chanukah means. 

No matter which way you look at it, the little lights can help us see what is really before us. They can shine the way through the blackest and darkest night and allow us to focus on the here and now and give us the ability to know our actions count. We will see clearly that we have a purpose and we cannot allow ourselves to be deterred despite how bleak the future may seem. 

The light of Chanukah gives us pure 20/20 vision, no matter how you look at it!

Happy Chanukah!

Hoping to see you all at our event this December 8!  

Can’t wait to SEE each other in person. 

Shabbat Shalom and so much love!