A Chanukah Message From Dr. Terry Segal
Each year when we light the candles, I experience an immediate overlay of the past, present, and future.
Dr. Terry Segal is a licensed Marriage & Family Therapist with a Ph.D. in Energy Medicine. She is the author of "The Enchanted Journey: Finding the Key That Unlocks You.”
Chanukah, for me, is always about family. But then, everything is about family. Each year when we light the candles, I experience an immediate overlay of the past, present, and future. I’m not sure if unconsciously Scrooge from “A Christmas Carol,” featured in the world out there, creeps into my inner world, but I become introspective.
I recall the first Chanukah my dear husband and I shared as newlyweds, almost 35 years ago. I look at photos of my pregnant belly, in various stages, as we lit the candles, and first Chanukah celebrations with each of our three children as they arrived into the world. And the next generation began with the birth of our grandson, who is now old enough to graduate from the Velcro cloth flames to the real ones he can light himself.
All of us light our individual menorahs. Grown children delight in the ones they made in preschool using tiles for the base and bolts as candle holders, with two bolts elevating the shamas. We have one menorah from Israel that our children bought for us when they were on Birthright, and a tiny one that my mother, of blessed memory, gifted to our youngest.
Although they’re not birthday candles, each year when I light them, I make a wish. This year, more than ever, I wish for each of us, everywhere, to become the candles that carry light, that will light each other’s candles until the world is illuminated with love.
Happy Chanukah!
Dr. Terry Segal is a licensed marriage and family therapist and a regular contributor to the AJT.
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