A Chanukah Message from Dena Schusterman

Night one: One tiny spark of a match, the flicker of a flame, just like that — it is no longer completely dark.

With this tiny light, I have the clarity I need to see what it is before me.

Night two: My vision restored; I listen now.

As the flames dance, I hear the crackle and hiss; I am present, I await their message.

Night three: The light is growing, I am too.

Night Four: Light is wisdom and knowledge; without it, I am ignorant.

Night Five: The flames are increasing; I feel their energy and warmth enter my skin and settle in my bones.

Night Six: I am thawing.

Everything is growing stronger, the light in my mind, the feelings in my soul.

Night Seven: I am distracted. Determined to do their job, and despite me, the lights still illuminated my path.

Night Eight: It is so bright, for a moment, I want to close my eyes and not see, just feel. I want to feel what is. Here. Right now….

The world is brighter, this I know. I feel safer with the menorah’s glow.

Now, with each passing hour, the lights get dimmer.

The warmth stays within me until it, too, is gone.

When Chanukah ends, where does the flame of the menorah go?

It is the light of logic, reasoning, and knowledge that lives inside the Torah.

In the warmth of a mitzvah, of knowing that I am linked in a golden chain of the Jewish people.

Where can I find the light of the fire?

Where can I feel the warmth of the flames?

If not ever-present, something of both will always inspire the other — my intellect and my emotions. Never extinguished, they remain in my soul.

Borne out of Chanukah’s light.

Dena Schusterman is the director of the Intown Jewish Preschool.