

GOOD MORNING!  Hanukah is coming soon - the first night is Friday, December 19th (be sure to light before sunset!). It's a wonderful family holiday. After we light the candles, we sing Maoz Tzur, eat jelly donuts, tell stories, have quizzes about Hanukah - all in the light of the Hanukah candles. Memories are made up of a collection of precious moments. Hanukah can provide you with many wonderful memories!





Therefore, we light Hanukah candles (or better yet, lamps with olive oil) for eight days. One the first day, two the second and so forth. The first candle is placed to the far right of the Menorah with each additional night's candle being placed to the immediate left. One says three blessings the first night (two blessings each subsequent night) and then lights the candles, starting with the furthermost candle to the left. The Menorah should have all candles in a straight line and at the same height. Ashkenazi tradition has each person of the household lighting his own Menorah. Sefardi tradition has just one Menorah lit per family. The blessings can be found on the back of the Hanukah candle box or in a Siddur, prayer book. The candles may be lit inside the home. It is preferable to light where passersby in the street can see them - to publicize the miracle of Hanukah. In Israel, people light outside in special glass boxes built for a Menorah or little glasses with olive oil and wicks.


Torah Portion of the Week



Dvar Torah
based on Growth Through Torah by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin

When Jacob meets his brother Esau, he tells him:

"I have lived with Laban."

According to Rashi, the father of all Biblical commentators, it was an implied warning to Esau not to start up with Jacob. How was it a warning?

Rashi tells us that the word "garti" (Hebrew for "I have lived with") has the numerical value of 613, the same number as the number of commandments in the Torah. Hence, Jacob was telling Esau, "I dwelt with Laban and still kept the commandments; I did not learn from his evil ways."

The simplest understanding is that even someone on the high spiritual level of Jacob could have been influenced negatively by living in such close proximity to an evil person; it was a great accomplishment not to have been influenced by his environment.

Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman, however, quotes his Rebbe, the Chofetz Chaim, that Jacob's statement can be understood to mean that Jacob was finding fault with himself. When Laban did something evil or improper, he did it with enthusiasm and energy. Thus, Jacob criticized himself that his zeal in doing good did not reach the same level as Laban's zeal in doing bad.

The Chofetz Chaim used to say that today we need to learn from the enthusiasm and energy of the spiritual descendants of Laban. Whenever you see someone running to do something improper, ask yourself if you run to do good as fast.

CANDLE LIGHTING - December 12:
(or go to http://www.aish.com/candlelighting)

Jerusalem  4:01
Guatemala 5:15  Hong Kong 5:22  Honolulu 5:31
J'Burg 6:36  London 3:33  Los Angeles 4:25
Melbourne 7:13  Miami 5:13  Moscow 3:41
New York 4:11  Singapore  6:43


The most important things in life
are not things.

In Honor of the Wedding of
Maya Ezratti &
Andrew Rosenblum

with love,
Malcolm Dorman