December 6th, 2018
Fire is passion. All passion comes from the fire of the soul:
“The flame of G-d is the soul of man.”
Like a flame, a soul always reaches upward, licking the air in its search for transcendence, only to be restrained by the wick grounding the flame to the earth. The soul’s fire wants to defy the confines of life; the free spirit wants to soar ever higher, always reaching for the heavens. Like fire, the spirit ablaze cannot tolerate the mediocrity and monotony of the inanimate “wick” of materialism. Its passion knows no limits as it craves for the beyond.
How to Handle the Fire of Your Soul
Each of us contains a powerful soul, with fire in its belly. Each of us will, at one point or another, encounter spiritual opportunities; passionate moments which will entice and light up our fires, craving transcendence – the need to get beyond the daily grind. Transcendence can take on many shapes: Spirituality, music, romance, travel, or sexuality, to name a few.
The challenge is great. The choice is ours. How you act in these times – when the flames of your soul are ablaze – will define the destiny of your life. The search and need for transcendence, the craving and yearning for a spiritual high, is healthy and a necessary ingredient in the human journey. All man’s greatest achievements, his noblest acts, his deepest loves – draw from the soul’s passionate fire.
The Dangers of Fiery Passion
But just like it can be the source of our greatest strength, the fire of the soul, like any fire, can also consume and annihilate us. As with all powerful things, great care must be taken that the spiritual experience doesn’t “burn you up,” but is integrated in your life.
Just as we must actualize our passionate souls, we must also ensure that our passion does not cause us to expire in ecstasy and escape the universe, no matter how appealing that choice may be. Rather, we need to harness and channel the passion toward transforming our material world into a Divine home.
What Determines Whether the Fire of the Soul Will Be Constructive or Destructive?
The determining factor whether the soul’s fire will be a constructive or destructive force is the person’s motivation, and how you begins your spiritual journey: If it’s a self-indulgent experience, driven primarily by personal desire and interest, then you will not wish to turn back from your private ecstasy to the needs of the world, and the fire will inevitably consume you. If, however, it is driven by the selfless dedication and all-out surrender to your Divine higher calling, then within this ecstasy, the desire ultimately to return and sanctify the world will always be implicit, and the fire will lift you and your world to exalted heights.
The Fire of the Soul is Our Greatest Asset
The passion that burns in the unfettered spirit can overcome any challenge. Yet, our success in harnessing these powerful flames is in direct proportion to our humility and selflessness in appreciating them. And carefully protecting and nurturing these flames.
The question we must always ask is twofold:
- Are my fires burning?
- What will I do with these fires – will I indulge myself in them or will I allow them to lift me and the world around me to greater places?
Exercise: Find the fire within yourself. Use it for a constructive purpose. Journal about it in your MyMLC journal.
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November 29th, 2018
A single spark of fire can cause a raging wildfire, burning acres of land and devastating many lives. A single spark of kindness can cause ripple affects of goodness, spreading love and touching many hearts. This demonstrates the power of a single spark in the physical world.
Everything in the physical world has a spiritual counterpart, something at the soul level. What are spiritual sparks, and how do they effect our lives? The 4000-year-old tradition of Kabbalah reveals it:
What Spiritual Sparks Are
The great Kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria taught that every object, force, and phenomenon in existence has a “spark of holiness” within it — a pinpoint of divinity that constitutes its soul, its spiritual essence and design. This spark embodies the higher plan and purpose of this thing, and its function within the big picture and overall purpose for creation. When a person utilizes any object or experience to serve a higher cause, he penetrates its outer shell of mundanity, revealing and realizing its inner essence.
Every soul on earth is allocated its own unique sparks scattered about that individual’s life span. These sparks are embedded in every object and experience we encounter in the world. Everything that comes your way in life contains these sparks — your home, relationships, furniture, work, car, food, entertainment, activities, travel destinations. You are charged with the responsibility to discover and reveal these sparks by directing all your activities to a higher, spiritual purpose.
It is to this end that we all have been dispersed across the face of earth: so that we may come in contact with the sparks of holiness that wait to be raised in every corner of the globe. These sparks are spiritual opportunities, brimming with potent energy waiting to be released. The sum total of these sparks define our missions in life: to redeem each of these sparks, by utilizing every situation and encounter toward a virtuous and transcendent objective. The soul’s mission is not complete until it has redeemed the sparks under its responsibility. Thus a person moves through life, impelled from place to place and from occupation to occupation by seemingly random forces; but everything is by divine providence, which guides every individual to those possessions and opportunities which carry the sparks related to that person’s soul.
How to Raise a Spark
Our work must not only consist of the “big things” in life, it must include all aspects, down to the smallest details. Nothing should remain neglected. Every part of our lives can and needs to be redeemed — each single spark matters.
The Kabbalah teaches us that we’re not alone in this world. We are channels for higher energy. Each of us has something to contribute that’s unique: we’re on a mission. And we are charged to use our strengths, our talents, our unique opportunities to reveal a deeper, spiritual dimension in everything we do; to spiritualize the material world we live in. For example: when we take the next bite of food in our mouths, it’s not just an act of sustenance or indulgence, but rather a spiritual act — there are spiritual sparks in that food waiting to be released by us. Every time we eat, we can do so with the intention to do good with the energy derived from our food; the sparks of holiness contained within this food are thus redeemed and unified with their source — and become part of refining our universe.
Every time you meet a new person or someone that you know, there’s a spark to be revealed or redeemed in that experience. This recognition transforms, in an unbelievably gratifying way, how we live our lives, and how we approach every one of our interactions. There are no random experiences. Wherever you go and whatever you do, there’s a spark waiting to bond and connect with you, and for you to bond and connect with it.
This also adds a sense of urgency, a sense of purpose to all that we do. Whatever you encounter in life — just imagine: that encounter was waiting from the beginning of time for you to elevate the experience to a higher level!
Exercise: Seek out the kernel of good in a situation or encounter. Raise the spark. Journal about it in your MyMLC journal.
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November 22nd, 2018
“G-d, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” This prayer, written by Dr. Reinhold Neibuhr around 1932 and adopted by the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1940, is familiar to millions of people, many who have never set foot in a 12-step meeting. It expresses a fundamental idea in spiritual growth and self improvement: there are things that transcend human control, or at least your individual control, and trying to control that which you can’t will drive you crazy.
And yet, despite what’s at stake, we don’t always know what is beyond our control what we can do ourselves. Fortunately, the 4000-year-old tradition of Kabbalah has some answers:
What You Cannot Change
You cannot change the past. However, once a person has messed up or has been messed up by others, he has the power not only to correct his ways, but his past can teach him (and all of us) new ways to reach heights that people without those experiences can never reach. This is not to say that suffering is preferable or justifiable — we have to avoid causing pain to others at all costs and treat those who suffer with compassion. But we cannot turn back the clock, and need to ask ourselves: How can I grow through my experience, and: What do I do next?
What You Can Change
The mystics teach that you can change yourself, and changing yourself has the power to effect the world through a spiritual ripple effect. By recognizing our weaknesses and potential failings, by being accountable and assuming responsibility, by rectifying our errors – we actually demonstrate the ultimate human dignity: To repair a broken a world. After all, trust is built not on perfection but on accountability. It is human to err; it is Divine to repair. When we rise to the occasion and correct a crime of the past, we manifest the majestic Divine Image in which we were created – the ability to transcend our mortality, go beyond our humanity, our offenses, even beyond our pasts, and come out stronger than before the fall. The power and ability to transform our pasts is to use the newfound knowledge and methods that came from painful experiences to open up unprecedented channels of holiness and sanctity.
The Wisdom to Know the Difference
Wisdom comes from humility. A full cup cannot be filled. When you’re filled with yourself and your needs, “I and nothing else”, there is no room for more. When you “empty” yourself in the face of something greater than yourself, your capacity to receive increases beyond your previously perceived limits. Humility is the key to transcendence; to reach beyond yourself. Only true humility gives you the power of total objectivity. Humility is sensitivity; it is healthy shame out of recognition that you can be better than you are and that you can expect more of yourself.
Exercise: Examine a mistake from your past. What can you learn from it? How did it offer you the opportunity for meaningful change in your life? Journal about it in your MyMLC journal.
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November 15th, 2018
Of all the forces that impede our ability to achieve success, one root cause stands out among them all: Insecurity. Insecurity has many names and many faces: Doubt. Fear. Distrust. Uncertainty. Skepticism. Cynicism. Indecisiveness. Avoidance. Ambiguity. Complacency. The list goes on. To be insecure for a short period of time is natural. But when insecurity persists, and takes on persistent indecision, and time passes, a deep paralysis begins to fester and grow inside. On the surface level it can often appear completely functional: Insecurity can be explained away and be even justified as healthy caution, when in truth it really is nothing more than a mask for fear and doubt.
If you are in a pattern of self-sabotage and/or underachieving, it is healthy to evaluate your sense of self-worth and your self-confidence. Our fears, inhibitions, and low self-confidence thrive when we don’t have clarity. To build the confidence you need to be successful, look at your insecurity and its causes carefully. What has shaped you?
Your current environment
How much does the external world shape you? We live in a world that is often not supportive of us. Modern society is a competitive environment in which people use each other; a “rat race” often driven by the cardinal rule: survival of the fittest. Is your work or social environment toxic? What expectations and pressures are you subject to? How to they impact your choices and your self-esteem? The constant pressure to perform — to keep up with and satisfy others, instead of living up to your own inner voice, inevitably leads to feelings of inadequacy. It brings on doubts whether you will disappoint others and, in turn, erodes your confidence. Are you being shaped by your inability to measure up to unreasonable expectations from outside yourself?
Your childhood
Children are naturally confident; they have an innate sense of adventure and fearless exploration. Children begin to develop feelings of self-doubt and fear due to the adults and peers in their lives who project their own fears and subject impressionable children to criticism and judgment, undermining children’s inborn confidence. What kind of childhood did you have? If you were invalidated and criticized, you’re probably already living on the defensive. Did you parents or teachers give you the message that you were not good enough or that you were incompetent? Did the adults in your life support you or shut you down?
Your relationships
Romance and intimacy bear and reflect on your self-esteem. Do you seek relationships to fill a void — to compensate for your own inadequacies and lack of love? Are you desperate? Self-destructive? How high are your standards? Does your intimate life cause you to experience cognitive dissonance? Do your romantic relationships build you up or break you down?
Exercise: Evaluate and identify the origins and roots of your insecurities. How do you currently reinforce your negative self-image? Find ways to overcome a fear. Act with confidence. Do something that you think you are not capable of. Journal about it in your MyMLC journal.
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November 8th, 2018
When you have regrets about your past actions and experiences, it’s hard to face the reality that you cannot turn back the clock. The question arises: What can you do when you have regrets but cannot turn back the clock? The answer lies in the following:
Our Deeper Reserves
Do you look at the inner core of human beings — including yourself? Are you distracted by the outer tattoos, scars and other superimposed blemishes and issues? No matter how deeply etched they are, no matter if they may even be naturally irreversible, the fact remains that the inner essence of a person is beautiful and can prevail over any difficulty.
We all have our (physical or metaphorical) scars, wounds and bruises — some from the abuse of a dysfunctional childhood, others from errors of judgment, ignorance or inexperience. Some of these “defects” may be irreversible. Once we have lost our innocence, by imposition or by choice, and tasted from the “forbidden fruit,” we can’t always turn the clock back.
But that doesn’t mean that things are lost. It means that we have to dig deeper. Even if our scars are etched into our skins and beings, even when our wells get clogged, we have the power to burrow beneath them and discover deeper reserves.
At the heart and soul of the human being lies a supra-conscious state which transcends the common laws of society and the limited resources of our conscious faculties. The only way to free ourselves from the psyche of our desperate universe is to access this dimension within ourselves, and align our conscious lives with our supra-conscious identity, so that our daily activities are infused with the vision and clarity of our inner selves.
The Necessary Change In Attitude
In today’s society we have been programmed to think that we are dysfunctional “damaged goods,” most of us living lives of “quiet desperation” (as Thoreau put it). As we project this desperate attitude (quiet or loud) it then becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy of doom, and any scars we assume just feed our resignation, with temporary bouts of respite. This attitude is categorically wrong.
The default state of social attitudes is a negative one, if for no other reason than simple empirical observation. Perspective defines everything. If we see man as inherently greedy and selfish, ready to do anything to survive, then our scars only feed into this depressing view of ourselves, that we can work around our blemishes but we can’t ever transcend them.
Freud, Darwin and other contemporary thinkers saw man this way. Essentially animalistic by nature – Freud’s id – with superimposed moral laws to keep society from falling apart. If, however, we see man as inherently Divine in nature – created in the “Divine Image” and carrying at the core a higher “supra-conscious,” than any scars or wounds only affect the outer layers, not our essential state.
Dig deep into your inner self — that is where you will find the resources that will allow you not to turn back the clock, but to transcend it.
Exercise: Start looking for your inner self. What do you know about it? What is your character below the surface? Do something that turns your inner self outward. Journal about it in your MyMLC journal.
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November 1st, 2018
How should we react to violence and hatred? Our outrage is very profound, but productive outrage is not expressed through fear, but through positive action, and ultimately recognizing that there is a calling that we have to live up to.
Console and Love
First and foremost we need to console and comfort the families and community of the murdered martyrs. We must offer them moral support. But even more than that: We are all one family. One organism. Their loss is our loss. Their pain is our pain. Their grief is our grief. Though we have no answers — and no answer would ever be adequate — we cry together. And in some mysterious way, empathy and crying together empowers those suffering and infuses strength in the entire organism.
Wake-up Call
We must see this as a unique opportunity to wake up: Perhaps this is our time to affect real change. It is time to start thinking differently, speaking differently, acting differently. A loud call has to ring out that we — all people, not just Jews — will not tolerate such atrocities. A brutal attack has to be treated and prosecuted in the strongest way possible — to send a message to anyone out there who may harbor hateful feelings. We simply cannot tolerate hatred in the name of killing Jews (or any other ethnic group). But there is also a larger lesson, as the mystics teach that we have to learn from everything.
The Spiritual Lesson
Adding in acts of goodness and kindness has always been the Jewish response to hatred — never an “in kind” type of response. Obviously we protect and defend ourselves, but we increase in acts of goodness and kindness to demonstrate that light is stronger than darkness, and good is more powerful and vanquishes evil. Every time there’s a community, a city or a country that faces challenges we have to come together in study, prayer, and purpose — ultimately being a living example of what it means to live a meaningful life. We must demonstrate what it means to love our fellow humans. It is our work to stop anyone from falling back into spiritual slumber — especially ourselves.
Strengthen the Foundations
The only thing that stands us in good stead in uncertain, insecure times like this are our spiritual foundations. We are in need of absolute faith and belief in our inner and higher value system. We are in need of passion — a passion for our cause and calling, a passion no less than the passion of those waging war on us. You can have all the tools and weapons in the world, you can devise the best schemes, but if you don’t believe in your cause, and you don’t believe that you can and will prevail, you will not be able to achieve victory. Victory is for those that believe in it the most. Persistence will always win over complacency. A committed individual is more powerful than a hundred uncommitted people.
Exercise: It all begins with the absolute conviction and commitment to your cause. Define your cause. Do something to advance it. Add one good deed. Journal about it in your MyMLC journal.
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October 24th, 2018
Morality lays at the heart of every healthy society. An ethical set of values is what creates wholesome relationships and families.
If the idea of morality makes you think of dogma and didactic scolding, the following look at moral choices could change your perspective: A just society must be based on the kind of values that ensure respect for every individual. Each one of us has the power to make choices that lend themselves to an equitable society.
Here are a few basic principles that will help you assess your value system:
Belief in a Higher Power
Morality must be built on a truth higher than our own self-interest. A person who wants to lead a moral life must ask himself: What is my Higher Power? And why do I need a Higher Power in my life? Am I accountable to anyone but myself? How you answer these questions will define, more than anything else, who you are and how you live your life, for answering to a higher calling is at the heart of human life. It affects how we behave at home and in public, how we treat our family and our co-workers, and how we see our role and responsibility in life and in society.
Respect for Human Life
Ask yourself: How much do you value and respect life — your own life and the life of others? Do you consider life sacred? Do you take responsibility for your fellow man? Every human being was born with a specific purpose in life. Every single moment is meaningful and precious, leading the individual to how or her destiny. Each person matters; each person is irreplaceable. Do you hold precious every person you encounter? A healthy life is one in which you respect your own life and the lives of your fellow humans.
Respect for the Family
A healthy home is a macrocosm of the entire universe, helping make the entire world a divine home. Harmony at home, between family members, translates into harmony between communities and nations. When there is no harmony between blood relatives, how can we expect to create harmony between strangers? A healthy life is one in which you preserve the sanctity of your home and family.
Respect for Others’ Rights and Property
Respect for others is not just valuing their lives, but also their property and possessions. Money is life energy — it represents a person’s time, effort, and innovation. It is an extension of a person’s life. Stealing it, therefore, is like taking a piece of another’s life. A healthy life is one in which you honor the rights and property of other people, down to minutiae that might seem like they don’t matter.
Exercise: Look closely at your moral choices. What choices are you making? Do something to respect your fellow human. Look for opportunities to heighten your sensitivity to everything you encounter. Journal about it in your MyMLC journal.
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October 11th, 2018
One of the healthiest things you can do to find balance and harmony is to build a spiritual oasis in your life.
Creating an oasis is not escapism; it is pragmatism. In order to survive the emotional and physical wear and tear that the world subjects us to, we need a firm spiritual foundation. When unpredictable floods are going wild, you have the power to create an oasis — a protective womb — that lifts you and your loved ones to an eternal place, which shelters you from the storm. This oasis — a spiritual “ark” of sorts — help us ride through the stormy seas of information overload which hyper-stimulates our senses, and all the demands and expectations which can overwhelm us. The following suggestions can help you to grow solid spiritual roots — on a daily basis, at home — that you can always return to.
Designate “Oasis” Time Throughout the Day and Throughout the Week
Morning: When you awake in the morning, while you are still lying in bed, think for a moment: What does it mean to be awake and alive? Begin each day with a prayer; thank your Higher Power for the new day. Acknowledge your inner self. Think about what you would like to accomplish that would make today a meaningful day. If you train yourself to do this every morning, you will begin to see your life in a new, sharper focus.
Evening: End your day just as you begin it. As you prepare for sleep, review the day and how you used its opportunities. Recognize that you have been put here for a purpose, and that all your activities should express that purpose. Go to sleep with the resolve that no matter how good — or difficult — today was, tomorrow will be better. By doing so, your sleep will be more peaceful, and your waking more meaningful.
Weekly or Daily: Take time each day, each week, or on weekends – designate any time that works – to gather your family together and study, read a spiritual thought together, or pray together.
Create An Oasis-like Physical Space
Surround yourself with sacred words, insulate yourself with spiritual values and ideas. The next time you are sitting in your living room or sharing a meal with your family, ask yourself: Do I truly feel at home? Do guests feel welcome here? The following are a few suggestions for improving your physical space so that you can answer “yes” to the foregoing questions:
Keep Out Negative Influences: A beautiful home must also be free from influences that can pollute its wholesomeness and spiritual grace. A great challenge we have today is with technology. We cannot allow a constant stream of video, television, and all sorts of media to rule the home and control the minds and hearts of our young. People today recognize the damaging effects that overexposure to the hypnotic effect of TV has on impressionable children, and, for that matter, on teenagers and adults.
A Space for Gathering: The spiritual oasis is a foundation for the family’s shared sense of purpose while providing a springboard for each member to pursue his or her own goals. Schedule quality time for family get-togethers. Strive to have a home where your family stays up late talking heart-to-heart about what’s on their minds. Children crowd around grandparents to hear stories. Teenagers debate meaningful issues with each other and with their parents. The whole family gets together — and not just on holidays — for evenings of songs, games, and reminiscing. A cozy living room, a big kitchen table — create spaces that are conducive to meaningful conversation.
Charity: Place charity boxes in various rooms of your house. Why? Charity reminds us not to be consumed by self-interest. The more you focus on acts of goodness and kindness the more powerful is your oasis. This is especially true for monetary charity, which is the most powerful way to elevate your soul, for it means giving a piece of everything that you are — your abilities, your efforts, your ambitions, your compassion. Charity boxes elevate a “normal” home from the mundane to the transcendent. They turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.
Exercise: Introduce some of the suggestions above to your home. Make a daily effort to build your oasis. Journal about it in your MyMLC journal.
Go deeper into this subject: Financial Anxieties | Rosh Hashanah: New Year 5763 | The Spiritual Meaning of Straw | Kabbalah of Kabbalah | The Last Jew | Your Daily Life Is Everything | The Key to Happiness | The Importance of Home and Family | Money: A Blessing or a Curse?
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October 4th, 2018
Perception is not always reality; sometimes the things we take for granted as “true” are not, especially when it comes to how we perceive ourselves. Our negative life experiences, as well as the media and culture-at-large, give us misinformation about who we are and about what the world is like. The following steps can help you to transcend the state of deception that you might be living in.
Recognize the Falsity Around You
The mere fact that we live in a world in which people can say one thing and mean another demonstrates that the world is inherently a “deceptive” one. In a world of truth two-faced behavior would simply be inconceivable. In a seamless universe, there would be no place for any duplicity.
Half the cure of the disease is knowing that you have it. To free yourself from the shackles of this lying universe, you have to first recognize the falsity around you and not get caught up in it. Every day life is replete with dissonance and deception (intentional or not). Identify them and you are well on your way to freeing yourself and discovering truth.
Focus on Unity and Seamlessness
When an entity is completely aligned with its purpose, there is no dichotomy and no room for disunity. Deception is caused by duality – a result of an entity becoming misaligned and disconnected from its soul, its purpose – its essence.
But therein also begins our search for truth; our search for our inner self. Our seeking out what makes us human and the entire universe tick. Our search for connection — the antithesis and antidote to disconnection. Because after all is said and done, no matter how duplicitous life can be, there is a voice inside of us that seeks seamlessness and is not at peace with fragmentation and duality. We are disturbed when we are torn apart by scattered agendas. We gravitate to connection and are repelled by disconnection.
Integration resonates with us. Truth resonates; dishonesty does not. We feel at home when we are, well, at home – when all of us, our inside and our outside, is aligned.
Deconstruct Subjective Reality
There are two ways to reach truth: Interpolation or extrapolation. One is through rigorous inquiry in search of reality, looking for glimpses and signs of deeper truths. The other is through the process of elimination: By recognizing the falseness of life and the frailty of existence, by dissecting and deconstructing reality as we perceive it and challenging our very perception or perception itself, we come to discover, by contrast, an alternative, higher reality. And that higher reality introduces a higher unity, which connects and unifies the duality and multiplicity of our lives.
Exercise: Introduce a daily exercise, in which you identify deception in your life. Make a daily list of both your true and false experiences. Journal about it in your MyMLC journal.
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September 29th, 2018
As heard in 2004 from a Holocaust survivor, who was an eleven-year-old child in the camps. At the time (in 2004) he was 71 years old and living in the United States.
Chanukah 1944. Auschwitz.
It was exactly 60 years ago. Time moves very quickly and very slowly for me. 60 years ago is both like yesterday and like a 1000 years ago. Those horrible days are frozen moments that never go away. Yet they are also very distant and apart – from another universe, another era.
I will never forget the last Chanukah in the barracks. Most of us were so consumed with scrapping together any morsel while avoiding the attention of the guards that we had no inkling which day in the year it was. Especially in those last weeks before the liberation, the Nazis were particularly unpredictable and cruel, and the chaos only made matters worse.
Yet there were a few who always knew the exact dates. They would tell the rest of us that today is Shabbos, Pesach and other significant days.
On this particular day a man would tell me that it was Chanukah.
That morning I went to the infirmary to try smuggling out some balm – anything to help relieve my father’s open sores. His disease – I am not sure whether it was Typhus or some other cursed ailment – was eating his body away, and whenever I could sneak over to see him I would see him silently struggling for some relief. As a child I was completely overcome by the sight of my suffering father.
That particular day, when I finally snuck over to my father’s bunk – if you could even call it that, it was more like a cattle pen – he was no longer there. I became frantic.
An older gentleman, who I did not know but I often saw talking to my father, came over to console me. He too did not know when my father was taken – to this day I don’t know if it was the disease or a Nazi bullet that took my father to heaven – but his was a calming presence.
Today was Chanukah and we celebrate the victory of the few weak over the many powerful oppressors.
He told me that today was Chanukah and we celebrate the victory of the few weak over the many powerful oppressors. We light the candles to demonstrate that our light is stronger than any darkness. Your father would be very proud to know that you carry on his light despite the blackness around us.
I was so moved by his words – and all the memories it brought back from my earlier years in Lodz – that I suggested to him enthusiastically that we should light the menorah tonight. He sort of smiled to me the child – a smile hardly concealing his deep anguish – and said that it would be too dangerous to try. I insisted and made off to get some machine oil from the factory.
I was so excited. And for this brief moment I was able to put aside my grief. I slowly made my way back, so not to be noticed, to the barrack with my treasured bit of oil. Meanwhile the strange gentleman had put together some wicks, apparently from clothing or some other material.
Now we needed fire to light our makeshift menorah. I noticed at the end of one building smoldering cinders.
We agreed that we would wait till dusk and at an opportune moment we would light our Chanukah lights.
Wait we did. As we were walking over to the cinders a guard, one of the especially ruthless ones, noticed us and grabbed away the oil and wicks we were concealing. He began cursing and frothing at us. A miracle seemed to happen when his superior barked some command that apparently needed his participation, and he ran off with our precious fuel.
The miracle however was short-lived. The animal yelled back at us that he will soon return to “take care of us.”
I was terrified. The gentleman was absolutely serene. And then he said to me – words that are etched into my every fiber until this very day:
“Tonight we have performed a miracle greater than the miracle of Chanukah. We have lit a flame more powerful than the Chanukah lights.
“The miracle of Chanukah consisted of finding one crucible of oil, which miraculously burned for eight days. Tonight we preformed an even greater miracle: We lit the ninth invisible candle even when we had no oil…
“Make no mistake. We did light the Menorah tonight. We did everything in our possible power to kindle the flames, and every effort is recognized by G-d. G-d knows that we were deprived by forces that were not in our control, so in some deeper way we lit the Menorah.
“We have lit the ninth flame – the most powerful one of all, so powerful that you can’t even see it.”
The man then promised me: “You will get out of here alive. And when you do take this ninth invisible flame with you and let it go free. Let it fly like a bird.
“Tell G-d that as great as His miracle of Chanukah was, we preformed an even greater miracle: We lit a candle even when we had no oil.
“Tell the world – show them the light that has emerged even from the darkest of darkness. We had no physical oil and no spiritual oil. We were wretched creatures, treated worse than animals. Yet, we in some miraculous way we found a ‘crucible’ where none existed – in the hell fires of Auschwitz.
“The fires of Auschwitz annihilated not just a Temple. They burnt to ashes the people themselves. In the Temple’s destruction the Divine wrath was released on ‘the wood and the stones.’ Here they have consumed our lives.
“So there was no oil. Not even defiled oil. No oil, period. Yet we still lit a flame – a flame fueled by the pits of darkness. We never gave up.
“Let the world know that our ninth flame is alive and shining.
“Tell every person in despair that the flame never goes out.”
As he finished these last words, the Nazi beast returned and viciously led him away behind one of the barracks…
I made my escape. A few weeks later the Russians arrived and we were liberated.
Here I am today to tell you the story of the ninth flame.
* * *
Editor’s afternote:
Chassidic thought explains that the light of Chanukah is rooted in a place that is beyond light and dark. It therefore has the power to illuminate and transform even the darkest darkness. As stated in Psalms (139:11-12): Surely the darkness will shadow me, then the night would be light around me. Even the darkness conceals nothing from You, and the night shines as day; the darkness is as the light.
Perhaps the mysterious gentleman was referring to the secret Chanukah light that is beyond darkness and light, which only emerged in place with no oil.
Our world is once again in need of a ninth flame, a miracle that will surpass nature’s limits of oil and light and illuminate the darkest of nights. We are ready for the ninth flame to shine bright once and for all.
Tags: miracle, Chanukah, holocaust, fire, youth, Holy Temple, menorah, survival
Posted in Bereishit, Weekly Parsha, Chanukah, Soul & Mystical, Months & Holidays, Miracles, Beliefs & Concepts, Kislev, Personal Life, Spiritual, Torah, Mikeitz, Personal Stories | 18 Comments »
