Thank You, Hashem!
Nava Edery, Ayelet Klein and Daniela Black
Grade 9 students, Ulpanat Orot
Chanukah is a special time for us to say thank you for all the little and big miracles in our lives.
Today we are going to tell a story that will show this idea:
A man was anxiously sitting in a taxi on his way to Jerusalem. Traffic was bad and he was worried that he would be late for his clients. He worked as a therapist, even though he didn’t speak Hebrew fluently. His supervisor agreed to only give him clients who spoke English, except for one couple. Every time he met with them, he would struggle a lot, considering they would scream at each other in very fast Hebrew. Usually, he was not able to follow along with the conversation.
As he sat anxiously, his supervisor called him. He begged his supervisor to give the clients to a different therapist that would be able to speak Hebrew, but she said that he would be able to do it if he kept trying.
The taxi driver looked back and asked the man what was wrong. Then he asked, “Did you forget to say Thank You to Hashem today?”
The therapist was very confused as to what the driver was talking about, but the driver kept speaking.
“Do you think that today is just another day? Do you think Hashem made these beautiful mountains with this sun setting into them for you to look out the window and frown at the wonders of the Creator? What happened?”
The man was in shock, but he decided to tell the driver about his situation, and about how he just didn’t know how to help the couple if he could not understand what they were saying to him.
The taxi driver turned around again and said, “I had a marriage like that too. We were always fighting. I can’t even remember what we used to fight about. But always fighting. And, I will tell you why. Because we didn’t know how to say thank you. Not to God. Not to each other. I’ve been divorced for three years now, but it could’ve ended very differently had I realized the problem.”
The therapist was at a loss for words and just didn’t know what to say. He mumbled “I’m sorry”
Suddenly, the driver began yelling. “No, don’t be sorry! It doesn’t help to be sorry. Help them. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and help them. Here take this.”
The driver turned around and gave the man a tiny blue key chain that had the words “Thank You” written on it in Hebrew.
“I can’t take this,” the man said, trying to give it back to him.
“Take it! Give it to them.”
“No, you don’t understand. A therapist can’t give gifts to their clients. It doesn’t work that way.”
But the taxi driver kept flinging it around as they approached the stop. The taxi driver said, “Hashem doesn’t make mistakes. Don’t forget. Today is not just another day.”
The man took the keychain and put it into his pocket. He breathed in and out in the hope to remain calm before the session.
As soon as the couple came in and sat down, they started to argue. After a few minutes, he finally spoke up.
“I don’t understand a word you guys are saying.”
The husband stopped yelling in mid-sentence as they turned to face him.
“Which part didn’t you understand?” the wife asked.
“All of it. Since you walked into the office. I don’t even know what you’re arguing about.”
They stared at the man in silence. He was extremely embarrassed. But, he knew that he had to try to teach them what the driver had taught him.
“Have you tried thanking each other for the little things? Maybe if you show each other appreciation you will be less miserable?”
The husband interrupted, “That’s the stupidest thing I ever heard. Our problems aren’t going to go away from thanking each other! Besides what do I have to thank her for?”
The therapist was ashamed, but then the wife looked at her husband while smirking. “Hold on, maybe there is something here. It’s true we don’t say thank you. Maybe we can try.”
The therapist pulled out the key chain from the taxi driver. The husband reached for it and cradled the tiny blue letters in his hand. “Thank you,” he read out loud, and for the first time, he smiled, putting the keychain inside his pocket…
Sometimes, we should all imagine having that keychain with us. We should remember to say thank you because everything we have was given to us by Hashem. Hashem custom made every single detail in our lives, and if we keep that in our minds, then being happy becomes easier.
Chanukah is a special time for us to say thank you for all the little and big miracles in our lives. There are blessings around all of us every moment, like going to a school where we can learn about Judaism and about Israel. We tend to complain and not really appreciate it, because we are more focused on tests and assignments and getting here on time every day, but if you take a moment to just say “thank you Hashem”, everything will become easier. So on Chanukah or any time of the year, just thank Hashem for all the blessings you are given in life. We can keep this key chain with us in all of our relationships in life – with our families, with our friends and with Hashem.
Happy Chanukah!
Make Peace, Not War: The True Celebration of Chanukah
Avraham Yosef Adler
Grade 11 student, Yeshivat Or Chaim
The word Chanukah is a combination of two words, “Chanu, they rested from the war,” and, “Kah,” “Twenty-five. (We rested from the war on the 25th of Kislev).
Why do we celebrate the day we rested, should we not celebrate the day we won the war?
HaGaon HaRav Yosef Shalom Eliyashiv, zt”l, in his sefer, Pininei Chanukah, writes the following: “We learn from this a lesson regarding war. The great warriors in history saw war as a means of showing off power and ruling their conquests. They celebrate the crushing of their enemies which is their goal in war. However, for some, war is first a means to remove a threat interfering with their real goals in life. For them, victory in war is not an accomplishment it is what they will achieve afterwards with their newfound peace. That is the fruit of their victory.”
The Chashmonaim may have been great warriors but only leshem shamayim. They did not enjoy battle. The goal was to serve HaKadosh Baruch Hu in the Bais HaMikdash. They yearned to connect with Hashem through the light of Torah. All this was not possible with the Yevanim ruling through harsh decrees meant to extinguish the light of Torah. The war was implying a means to an end.
It says in Mishlei 24, “do not rejoice in your enemy’s downfall.” Our victory was achieved not when the Yevanim were defeated on the battlefield, but rather the day we got back to the Beis HaMikdash and cleaned it up and restarted the avodah. We recognize the tremendous neis of the military victory, but also recognize that we do not celebrate the downfall of our enemies, rather we thank Hashem for our survival and ability to continue serving Him.
Baruch Hashem, we have the freedom nowadays to learn Torah and serve Hashem. We must be mindful, however, of any threats similar to that of the Yevanim to our performance and connection with Torah and mitzvot. May we all have the strength to stand up to assimilation and continue rededicating ourselves to the service of Hashem as symbolized by lighting the candles on Chanukah.
