Shalom,
Recently many of you asked whether I received your emails commenting on Shalom From Jerusalem, and I realized that they were not getting through to me!I By clicking "reply" your emails went to the shul and not to me. I apologize for this and I am happy to inform you that I can now receive these emails as well. You can always contact me at Cantor@agudathsholom.org
On Chanuka, as we all know, we light one candle on the first night and then we add one candle each day. This seems to be one of the most well known practices of the holiday. The Halacha tells us that if one does not have a sufficient number of candles on hand, or just cannot afford enough of them, then one should light one candle every day. However, even the poorest people, throughout the generations, would put in the extra effort to make sure they could light an increasing number of candles every day.
It is interesting to note that actually there was a debate between Beit Shamai and Beit Hillel, regarding the number of candles we light every day and what the practice should be. Beit Shamai claimed that on the first night one should light eight candles and every day decrease the number of candles by one until we come to the first day, when only one candle is lit. The Talmud teaches us that in fact Beit Shamai's reasoning was more compelling than the argument given by Beit Hillel! However, we do follow Beit Hillel and increase the number of candles each day. Why is that?
The Talmud states: Ma'alin Bakodesh V'ein Moridin; in matters of sanctity we should always rise to a higher level rather than descend. I think that in spite of the fact Beit Shamai had better arguments from a technical point of view, we follow the opinion of Beit Hillel since it incorporates the whole philosophy and principles of Judaism. In all that we do, we must move forward, progress and increase our commitments and spirituality. We never go backward and we never decrease. The light we spread must illuminate more, not diminish. We use a candle called the shamash to light the other candles. Even though the shamash is being used to light eight candles, its light does not decrease. One of the lessons of Chanuka is that we adhere to the concept that there is no going back, we have to make the best of the present, and look forward to a bigger and better future.
May we grow and move forward every day of our lives,
I'm looking forward to seeing you all in shul on Shabbat.
Shabbat Shalom and Happy Chanuka,
Cantor Arik Wollheim
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