Light in Darkness. 2 We speak of 'dark deeds', we speak of the 'darkness' in the souls of those who commit them. How can we bring light to play on these? How can we 'bring things to light' that others have buried deep down in the hope that nobody will see them? What will this achieve, will the light of Day clarify what has been done, dissipate the darkness of the deeds? Bring justice to both the perpetrators and the victims? Even God needed Light before God could ''see that i

Up there, on a shelf, a chanukkiyah, unlit, in a film, signifying that here live Jews. Is it inherited, a mere decorative ancestral memory, alone, atop books? The chanukkiyah, alight, in a window, perhaps lit with brachot, perhaps not, a signals to the world that mir zaynen do, we are here, we survived, we exist. A chanukkiyah lit before the Shabbos candles, and after Havdalah candles, the light of all of holy time and our victory time, says to all that we are alit with more

Alternative first stanza of Maoz Tzur The traditional text of the first stanza of Maoz Tzur does not reflect the way I see God and Gods ways. The words reflect state of the Jewish communities in the Rheinland, after the massacres of the crusades. My challenge starts with the second verse: Prepare the house of my prayers And there I will offer thanksgiving offerings. It is a prayer for the building of the third temple, which is called a Bet Tefila (Yeshaya 56, 6), where after

One of the first things we learn in Genesis chapter1 is that just because Light has been created does not mean that Darkness is eliminated. No, one can simply learn to distinguish between the two. Each has a place in the scheme of things. So Darkness remains.... Nevertheless, We prefer the Light. We are diurnal creatures, not nocturnal. We fear the darkness and whatever threats might lurk within it. We feel better when the sun rises again each day. We have eyes that do not s

The very first action of God is to create light – “y’hi or” and God immediately saw “ki tov”, that it was good (Genesis 1: 3-4). Ever after light has been seen as the positive side of existence and life on this planet is impossible without it. But sometimes evil sources reverse the qualities of light and darkness. Isaiah said (5:20) “Ah, those who call evil good and good evil; who present darkness as light and light as darkness; who present bitter as sweet and sweet as bitt

In our daily prayers we remind ourselves each morning that God is “yotzer or uvorei hoshech” – both the “fashioner of light” and the “creator of darkness”. In the Kabbalistic understanding of the four worlds, “beriyah” – “creation” is a level above “yetzirah” – “fashioning”. What makes darkness transcend light? One explanation is that the “darkness” God creates is actually light, but a powerful light that is so dazzling that it blinds our eyes with its brilliance. We experi

Just as the world was created on the twenty-fifth of the month - for the world was created on the twenty-fifth of Ellul, and when people say that the world was created in Tishri, this refers only to the creation of humanity; the beginning of Creation was on the twenty-fifth of the month - so too is Chanukah [begins] on the twenty-fifth of the month [of Kislev]. And just as the beginning of creation was 'Let there be light', so too is the commandment of Chanukah concerning lig

M Wise, who added light motifs to the 'crests' of the institutions he founded: The first creative word was,ויאמר אלהים יהי אור ויהי אור And God said, Let there be light; and it was light.' Light is the proud ornament and crown of creation; light is joy, whilst darkness is pain and mourning; light is life, but darkness is the grave and death; light is wisdom, but darkness is ignorance and folly; light is virtue, but darkness is sin and vice; light is truth, but darkness is fal

On Sunday evening the 18th of December we will light the first candle of Hanukkah and then we will celebrate the holiday of lights for 8 days, adding one candle each night until all the 8 candles of the Menorah are lit. But like everything in Judaism, we have two opinions in the Talmud regarding the correct way to light the candles, Bet Shammai says we light 8 candles on the first night and then every following night one candle less, comparing it to the way the sacrifices wer