Hanukkah Lights, Miracles and Reading

When I started thinking about what I wanted to say in this December newsletter I thought a lot about Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights. In this darkest time of the year, when even a drive home at 4:30PM seems dark and dismal, it would be easy to talk about the warmth of the Hanukkah holiday. I thought about the glow the menorah makes as my sons light the candles and my mother says the blessings. I thought about the brilliant bedazzling light of our Hanukkah celebration at Or Chadash, when we collectively light our menorahs and the light radiates throughout the sanctuary. I thought about the Hanukkah miracle that allowed a small amount of oil to be stretched for eight days and allow us to overcome some very dark forces.

After considering all of these as topics I then turned my attention to the holiday itself, the frenzy of shopping, the urgency to have the right gift for someone and the desire to try to put some meaning to this holiday season. As all of this was percolating in my head I took Matthew shopping at Barnes and Noble during "black Friday" yesterday. I live in a family of readers. Everyone in our family loves to be pulled into a good book. Most of the Hanukkah gifts on my sons' piles this year will be books. Books open our minds to new worlds, they teach us to understand other perspectives and allow us to shed light on things that might remain otherwise dark. I cannot think of too many things as miraculous as reading.

This year I would encourage you to think of reading as one of our Hanukkah miracles. Imagine a world where children don't have books to read or people to read them. Imagine a world where books are banned and you can only read what is allowed. Imagine a world without books. It would be a dark world indeed. This year, let's see if we can help shed some light on reading for someone who needs it. I have no specific ask of you other than that you do something that helps shine a light on the miracle of reading. Give a book as a gift to a child, donate to a charity that supports literacy, share a good book with a friend, or just curl up by the light of your fireplace and read a good book. In between the holiday parties and the shopping for X-box games let's try to find the miracle of Hanukkah in a good book.

Happy Hanukkah and Happy Reading!

Kim

It has probably happened to everyone at least once. That unsettling moment when the customer support person's solution for your malfunctioning computer/phone/tablet (select one) is to simply "push the reset button to restore your settings to the original format". Sometimes, the best solution to a technological problem is to rewind and to go back to square one.

Daily life is filled with lots of challenges. The goal for many of us is to try and find activities that provide that "reset" feeling, a clearer head and increased focus--without the angst! For me, my yoga functions as a reset button. Ninety minutes of concentrating on balancing, strengthening and flexibility in a heated room makes me feel empowered.

In more traditional settings, Shabbat is celebrated for 24 hours--one seventh of a week! Talk about an "old school" reset. My mini-Shabbat restore button involves baking challah on some Friday afternoons, as I knead the dough and am surrounded by the aroma of challah baking in the oven.

Last year we instituted some meditation breaks during Religious School to instill that sense of calm. We showed this video, "One Moment Meditation: How to Meditate in a Minute" last year to our Or Chadash students. (A kindergarten class at Spruce Run School, Clinton Township is using meditation thanks to Or Chadash member and school nurse, Faith Fuhrman's thoughtful information share!)

The end of our secular calendar year--the school concerts, shopping for family and friends, parties, cleaning up the house for company or planning travel to visit family can challenge all our sensibilities and may require an "extra strength" December restore. Maybe discovering additional personal "restore" techniques " will be one of your 2016 goals?

Happy Hanukkah,