The lights of our spirit

PLEASE TUNE IN TO THESE EIGHT “LI(GH)TE BYTES” FOR EVERY NIGHT OF CHANUKAH Candle number two THE CANDLE OF SPIRIT A story about creation and light. G-d Shares a deep infinite light with the world at the very beginning of creation.After the divine realization that this light was too“intense”,there is a massive energy”recalibration”and Hashem quickly withdraws most of the light and stores it in the celestial warehouse to be enjoyed exclusively in the upper realms by all the metaphysical residents of the heavenly community of angels,souls and the occasional seraph here and there. What of the rest of the light though ? According to our mystical tradition Hashem gathered the remainder of the light and buried it in the Hebrew letters and words of Torah! The war that the Greeks waged on the Jews was not on the culture of Judaism, they actually enjoyed that, but rather it was an assault on the spirit of Judaism,what we might call “YIDDISHKEIT.They said “keep your bagels and lox” and we’ll even incorporate “oy vey” and “kvetch”into our Greek language but forget about G-d and spiritual light” ! The miracle of Chanukah on the books is that we won the war and the oil lasted for eight days.The Kabbalah/inner miracle of Chanukah is much deeper though.The Jewish people proclaiming loud and clear their truth, “we are all about light and discovering the light that was implanted inside of Torah and our heritage,we are not interested in the hellenization of Torah that seeks to pretend that there is no light”, was equally miraculous and significant. When we light our menorahs tonight that is a reflection of OUR desire for a deeper awareness and a light/spirit oriented experience with Torah and Judaism,one that feels real and fosters a sense of true connectedness The renaissance of Jewish life and awareness that we see today,both here on the North Shore and throughout the Jewish world is our modern day Chanukah miracle. As we gather around the menorah tonight, surrounded by the people we love we realize that G-d had yet another hiding place for his light,right inside the upper realms of each and every one of us! Sending out much love and light Yossi