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Kislev, Month of Miracles

It is when we believe we are in the dead of night that the light begins to reveal itself.
Kislev is the Hebrew month which represents the first arrow shot from the arc of light towards the center of darkness, which is our ignorance, the sleep of the spirit.
On the 25th day of this month begins the feast of Chanukah, which we celebrate with the simple tool of light.
All it takes to celebrate this holiday is a candelabra and candles.
This candelabra, the Menorah, must support 9 candles: the Shamash, central candle, and 8 others in the number of days of the feast.
Each day of Chanukah we light a candle and we proceed in ascending order, to arrive at the end of the holiday at 8 candles.
The driving idea of ​​this action over time is to understand that the light of our hearts, at first imperceptible and hidden, can increase and multiply more and more, until the point where it is released and spread throughout our universe.
The Hanukkah miracle reflects historical events that confronted our Sages with the arrival of the way of life and the values ​​of Greek civilization, in a relationship of domination that threatened the Hebrew tradition.
The Masters of Judaism saw that the injustice and lack of humanity of the Greek armies was followed by philosophical and stoic brainwashing which subdued the spirits after conquering the bodies.
The revolt of the Maccabees represents the rebellion against passive fatalism, the death of the heart, advocated by Greek philosophy.
Because these fatalists tell us the Sages, are cold hearts who live on the toil and suffering of the most destitute, while allowing themselves the luxury of cynical deliberations on the meaning of existence.
The only role reserved for the destitute and conquered was to accept the wrath of the false Greek gods, and to endure the destiny of subjugation which was doomed to them, like the Dalits at the time of the Hindu castes.
Thus Chanukah represents the fight and the progressive victory of the light of the heart against the defeatist and fatalistic obscurantism which threatens the spirits in every age.
We must remember the simplicity of the beginning. Love is that beginning. As it’s written:
עולם חסד יבנה
The world was built on love.
Subdued passivity eventually leads to oblivion, and to the need to tire of creating a new identity, based on unfounded values, for the short term subject to sudden change.
And if these values ​​are individualistic, any point of reference is obscured.
The progressing light, the new lamp that joins with the other lamps, always returning to the first candle, remaining aware of its beginning in simplicity, is a light which can bear witness to the miracle of love and carries it through time for each generation.
In the age of global electricity, the Internet, artificial intelligence, Hanukkah reminds us not to get lost in oblivion, passivity, and submission to fate.
Our little inner light can ignite our entire inner universe and even illuminate and warm the other hearts around us, to bring them back to life.
A light is shared it is a Tzeddek, a righteous action which joins another as it is written
צדק צדק תרדוף.
This sharing is what defines the Tzaddik.
By doing the Hanukkah Mitzvah, we realize the importance of nourishing our souls with the light of the Torah which teaches us the Tzeddek of sharing.
So even the simplest heart awakens, grows and flourishes by studying the shining words of wisdom and true Love of the generations of our Masters, the Tzaddikim, who are the living lamps of each generation.

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