Fifth Night • Sparks of Light 5783
Yael Diena and Gila Grauer, Grade 10 On Chanukah, we light the Menorah for eight days to commemorate the miracle in the Beit HaMikdash, where a small jug of oil meant to last only one day burned for eight days. The custom is to use olive oil to light the candles, as they used in […]
Fourth Night • Sparks of Light 5783
The Deeper Meaning of Beit Shammai’s Opinion Nava Edery and Aleeza Glogauer, Grade 12 Chanukah is a beautiful holiday filled with light and joy, but it also has contradictions about how we create this light. We review the dispute between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai each year concerning the order of lighting the candles. Beit […]
Third Night • Sparks of Light 5783
Lighting up the Chanukah Lessons Tali Wercberger, Grade 12 Chanukah is known as a holiday to celebrate because of the miracles Hashem did for us. He gave us an unpredicted win in the battle against the Greeks, as well as an extraordinary miracle of the scant amount of oil in the Beit HaMikdash burning for […]
Second Night • Sparks of Light 5783
Mia Beldeb, Grade 12 Every holiday in the Jewish calendar follows a similar pattern; we repeat the same rituals every day. For instance, we shake the same lulav and etrog every day throughout Sukkot; we blow the same shofar on both days of Rosh Hashanah; and on Pesach, we read the same Haggadah both nights. […]
Introduction to Sparks of Light • Sparks of Light 5783
Introduction to Sparks of Light Rabbi Seth Grauer, Rosh Yeshiva & Head of School Dear BAS Community, It is that time of year again when we once again send out our Sparks of Light series. For the next eight nights, each of our campus communities will receive short divrei Torah and inspirational messages from faculty […]
First Night • Sparks of Light 5783
Reena Straus and Hannah Oziel, Grade 12 The Chanukah story tells of all the struggling and suffering the Jews faced under Greek rule while Antiochus was king. We learn that the Greeks did not care about annihilating us physically, but rather they wanted to Hellenize us in order to extinguish the light of […]
Eighth Night • Sparks of Light 5782
Inside Out Lights Sarah Paskowitz, Grade 11 Light is a common theme in Jewish ritual. We have Shabbat candles, Havdalah candles, and Chanukah candles. But what is similar about these different candles? Hashem commands us to light Shabbat candles to bring שלום בית, peace in the home. Shabbat candles are meant to be used and […]
Seventh Night • Sparks of Light 5782
Chasing Away Inner Darkness Ayelet Brodt and Lia Sonderling, Grade 10 One of the most self-evident explanations behind lighting Chanukah candles is that we are publicizing the miracle that took place during the times of the Maccabees, the miracle of a flask of oil that lasted eight days, when it should have only burned for […]
Fifth Night • Sparks of Light 5782
Learning by Example Leora Tenenbaum, Grade 12 The source for adding one candle every day of Chanukah comes from the Gemara in Masechet Shabbat 21b where it says: “מצות נר חנוכה נר איש וביתו… והמהדרין מן המהדרין… בית הלל אומרים מוסיף והולך” This means that according to Halacha, every household technically only needs to light […]
Fourth Night • Sparks of Light 5782
Lessons from the Shamash Bella Novokolsky and Meeya Weinberger, Grade 10 The Netziv says at the beginning of Parshat Beha’alotcha, that the Menorah represents all forms of wisdom. As we know, Betzalel created everything for the Mishkan. Hashem told Betzalel to make the Menorah out of one solid piece of gold. He was unable […]
