These past eight days have been all over the map.
On one hand, Chanukah is the holiday of light and joy. Especially at Chabad, we take the opportunity to spread the light and message of Chanukah very seriously. We usually kick off the holiday with a wonderful celebration at the Riverwalk together with 500 fellow New Orleanians. On the other hand, this year with the shadow of COVID-19 hanging over us like a dark cloud, we had to go virtual. On the other hand, that allowed many more people to be a part of it because they were able to watch the live stream or check out the recording later. To date it has been viewed over 1250 times. https://youtu.be/WrLH0INWMLA or https://fb.watch/2sCg6mgaJG/.
On one hand, during Chanukah the first vaccines were administered to the frontline healthcare personnel. On the other hand people continue to die from this disease, including the father of a classmate and cousin.
On one hand, our whole family was together for the first time in six months. On the other hand, we all ended up in quarantine because some tested positive for COVID…
On one hand, our Mobile Menorah Parade encountered mostly empty streets due to COVID. On the other hand, a “chance” note from a reporter on my windshield, resulted in a nice whimsical story about the Mobile Menorahs. See here for the story - https://fb.watch/2sCGAKRwlu/.
So this Chanukah has been a bit of a chocolate and vanilla swirl.
But actually that’s just it. The Chanukah miracles infuse us with a message of resilience. Imagine if the Maccabees had decided that the Syrian Greek army was just too much for them to handle… Imagine if the children in Judea had decided it was just too dangerous for them to secretly study Torah in the caves and forests… Imagine if the priests had given up looking for pure oil after they hadn’t found any despite great efforts… Imagine if the High Priest had decided that one jar just wasn’t enough and they would just wait until new oil was procured…
But they didn’t and we won’t. We will persist, and we will ultimately come out on top.
Wishing you a joyous, bright and meaningful 8th day of Chanukah and Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Mendel Rivkin