Eighth Night • Sparks of Light 5785
Mrs. Rina Deutsch Judaic Studies These last eight nights have flown by, each adding a little more light to the world than there was the night before. Through it all, it was the Shamash that lit the way. The first candle to be kindled, and the one that shared its own flame with every other […]
Seventh Night • Sparks of Light 5785
Rabbi AZ Thau Shaliach and Judaic Studies One of the most well-known discussions pertaining to Chanukah is the mitzvah of lighting candles. Many questions have been asked regarding the details of the mitzvah—for example: What is the most ideal fuel source to use? Can I use wax candles? How long does your fire need to […]
Sixth Night • Sparks of Light 5785
Mrs. Shira Lipner Director of Judaic Studies, Ulpanat Orot The world feels like a crazy place these days. Everything has seemingly gone dark for the Jewish people in our once safe havens, entire regimes are being overthrown in incredibly short periods of time, and it’s hard to imagine what the future will hold. In times […]
Fifth Night • Sparks of Light 5785
Ms. Miriam Bessin Dean of Students, Ulpanat Orot A really neat feature of candles is that you can light as many candles as you’d like and it won’t diminish or take away anything from the original candle. This idea is mentioned in the Midrash in Shemot Rabba 36:3: כִּי נֵר מִצְוָה, מָה הַנֵּר הַזֶּה כְּשֶׁהוּא […]
Fourth Night • Sparks of Light 5785
Mr. Jonathan Parker Assistant Principal & Director of Education, Yeshivat Or Chaim In seeking to understand the proper time for lighting on Chanukah, the Gemara (Shabbat 21) notes that it is “עד שתכלה רגל מן השוק ועד כמה אמר רבה בר בר חנה אמר רבי יוחנן עד דכליא ריגלא דתרמודאי”—until the “תרמודאי” have stopped walking […]
Third Night • Sparks of Light 5785
Mrs. Sharon Fixler Assistant Principal, Ulpanat Orot The Yad Vashem website famously contains the verification of this remarkable picture. According to Yad Vashem, “On Hanukkah 1932, just one month before Hitler came to power, Rachel Posner, wife of Rabbi Dr. Akiva Posner, took this photo of the family Hanukkah menorah from the window ledge of […]
Second Night • Sparks of Light 5785
Rabbi Eddie Shostak Menahel, Yeshivat Or Chaim The Talmud rules that the ideal way of fulfilling the mitzvah of Chanukah lights is by lighting them at the entrance to the house, so that they are clearly visible to passers-by. (Shabbat 21b, SA OC 671:5) Where else do we see a halachic event taking place next […]
First Night • Sparks of Light 5785
Rabbi Seth Grauer Rosh Yeshiva & Head of School Among the most famous questions posed for Chanukah each year is the question about the length of the holiday. Why do we celebrate this holiday for eight days when, in reality, the miracle was only seven days? One day’s oil lasted for eight, but there was […]
Eighth Night • Sparks of Light 5784
Ms. Miriam Bessin Dean of Students I heard the following idea from Rav Johnny Solomon, who notes that we take pride in the mitzvot we perform so we often raise mitzvah objects for others to see. For example: we raise the lulav and etrog when waving them on Sukkot and we lift the Sefer Torah […]
Seventh Night • Sparks of Light 5784
Zot Chanukah – This Is Chanukah Mrs. Rina Deutsch Judaic Studies As we all know, there is a debate between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel over how we are meant to light our Chanukiot. Beit Shammai says we begin with all eight lights aglow and we take one away each night until the last night […]
