Page 39 - HaMizrachi #25 Chanuka 2020 USA

HOLIDAY READING

Rabbi Efrem Goldberg

advantage of one moment and then The menorah is on the right side as we then put it outside my home or on my
become complacent. Chinuch requires exit our homes and head out into the dining room table, do I fulfill the mitz-
ְ
ך ֵ לֹוה ְ ו ףי ִ סֹומ, to always add on, teach street. There, we, and our children, vah? The Gemara concludes ה ָ ק ָ ל ְ ד ַ ה
more, share more inspiration, and to will encounter foreign values, outside ה ָ ו ְ צ ִ מ ה ָ ׂשֹוע, the mitzvah is to light,
continue the conversation of life. Our influences, pressures of assimilation kindle and ignite a flame. This is our
children never truly graduate from and challenges to our faith. We see the duty with chinuch, to light the flame in
the academy of our homes and they light of the menorah as we head out those around us.
never complete the teachings of their and remind ourselves of our duty and
parents. responsibility to illuminate the world, Revealing What Was Inside
dispel the darkness, and share the light
ְ
We must be ך ֵ לֹוה ְ ו ףי ִ סֹומ, continue to of Torah. Lastly, the purpose of the candles is
influence, inspire and motivate them to illuminate the darkness. When we
each and every day, never allowing The Role of the Kitchen light the menorah, we reveal what was
ourselves to feel too tired to transmit a Table in Chinuch there all along and simply needed a
lesson or too exhausted to take advan- light to shine on it.
tage of a teachable moment. The halacha continues that הָנ ָּ כ ַ ס ן ַ מְז ִּ ב
in a time of danger, we bring the In chinuch, says the Piascezno, we are
On the Way in and on the Way Out menorah inside and put it on the table. just revealing what is latent inside the
child all along. We illuminate the way
I believe that similarly in chinuch,
The Gemara continues: ה ָ ו ְ צ ִ מ ה ָּ כֻנ ֲ ח רֵנ for him or her and allow them to break
ץּוח ַּ ב ִ מ ֹותי ֵּ ב ח ַ ת ֶ פ ְּ ב ּ ה ָ חיִּנ ַ ה ְ ל, the proper when it is a time of danger in which through and become the people they
place for the menorah is just outside we are losing children to unhealthy are meant to be.
of the home. The simple understand- behaviors, lack of spirituality or obser-
ing is that this placement will allow for vance and more, we need to bring Michelangelo put it best when he
the greatest publicizing of the miracle, them into the home and to our tables. described his process of sculpting: “In
which is our ultimate goal. Nothing can substitute for the impact every block of marble, I see a statue
of spending time with our children as plain as though it stood before me,
But there is something deeper. We are and doing so around the table with shaped and perfect in attitude and in
told the menorah goes on the left side discussion, singing, conversation, gen- action. I have only to hew away the
so it is opposite the mezuzah and we uine interest in their lives, sharing of rough walls that imprison the lovely
are thus surrounded by mitzvot. It is stories and divrei Torah, and a healthy apparition to reveal it to the other eyes
strange, however, that we would vio- exchange of ideas. as mine see it.”
late our usual rule of giving deference Many studies have shown that drug
to the right side in order to be sur- use among teens is inversely propor-
rounded. Why not light the menorah tional to the number of nights the Rabbi Efrem Goldberg is the Rabbi of the
right under the mezuzah and have family has dinner around the table Boca Raton Synagogue (BRS), Florida,
both on the right? Because right and together. הָנ ָּ כ ַ ס ן ַ מְז ִּ ב, bring the menorah and serves on the National Board of the
RZA–Mizrachi.
left aren’t absolute directions; they are inside and to the table.
relative to one’s perspective.
In truth, both the mezuzah and meno- Igniting the Flame
rah are on the “right” side of the door. The Gemara debates
The mezuzah is on the right when whether ה ָ ו ְ צ ִ מ ה ָ ׂשֹוע ה ָ חָּנ ַ ה
one walks into the home. We take the or ה ָ ו ְ צ ִ מ ה ָ ׂשֹוע ה ָ ק ָ ל ְ ד ַ ה. Is
values that the mezuzah represents the obligation to light
and stands for and remind ourselves of the menorah, or rather
the unity of Hashem’s existence, about to place a lit menorah in
loving Hashem and loving others, and the proper location? For
about bringing holiness into our lives example, if I light a meno-
as we enter our home. rah in the bathroom but

The fate of the Jews in the diaspora was, is and predictably will
be, determined by their commitment to Jewish education.
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