Monday, December 29, 2008

Belated Chanukah message from the Rebbe

As Chanukah comes to a close—-shkiyah (sunset) in Chicago is in just a few minutes—I’d like to reprint something Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson z”l (the Lubavitcher rebbe) wrote about Chanukah in 1980:
The Chanukah Lights remind us in a most obvious way that illumination begins at home, within oneself and one’s family, by increasing and intensifying the light of Torah and Mitzvot in the everyday experience, even as the Chanukah Lights are kindled in growing numbers from day to day. But though it begins at home, it does not stop there. Such is the nature of light that when kindled, the Chanukah Lights are expressly meant to illuminate the “outside,” symbolically alluding to the duty to bring light also to those who, for one reason or another, still walk in darkness.
Let us pray that the message of the Chanukah Lights will illuminate the everyday life of everyone personally, and of the society at large, for a brighter life in every respect, both materially and spiritually.

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