- there are 70 faces to 
Post by alon on Dec 21, 2016 21:41:40 GMT -8
Another look at why we start lighting our Chanukkiah wth one candle, then add one more each evening:
We start with just one candle, and notice how that one pierces the darkness. Like the light of truth, it cuts through the darkest night to illuminate all it touches. In fact, the darker it is the brighter that light seems to shine! This is what happens whenever one person does on act of kindness or shares even one eternal truth.
And as each night we light another candle, we see in this how our positive influence spreads out to touch others- people we may never know, separated as it were by up to “six candles.” And each new candle adds its light to bring hope to a dyeing world.
Look also at how the candles are lit. We first light the shamash, or servant candle, and then we use it to light the candles on the Chanukkiah. This is analogous to accepting Yeshua (lighting the shamash) and allowing His Ruach to work through and in us.
Unlike with the Chanukkiah, we usually don’t know what HaShem’s strategy is in using our willingness to help others. But we can rest assured no mitzvah is wasted. Something is accomplished each time. And if that person accepts Yeshua, his shamash is lit and as he lights one candle then another his light is added to ours and the darkness driven farther back!
So in the Chanukkiah we can see a picture of “tikun olam,” the repair of the world. Elohim working through His people to spread the light one mitzvah at a time. We end the week having lit eight candles. Eight, the Biblical number of completeness. We eagerly wait for that eighth day when the Chanukkiah is all lit up; just as we await he day when our job is finished and we can look in wonder at a world without sin, death or decay. A time where the presence of God illuminates everything all day and all night, forever banishing the darkness.
Chag Chaukkah Sameach!
Dan C
We start with just one candle, and notice how that one pierces the darkness. Like the light of truth, it cuts through the darkest night to illuminate all it touches. In fact, the darker it is the brighter that light seems to shine! This is what happens whenever one person does on act of kindness or shares even one eternal truth.
And as each night we light another candle, we see in this how our positive influence spreads out to touch others- people we may never know, separated as it were by up to “six candles.” And each new candle adds its light to bring hope to a dyeing world.
Look also at how the candles are lit. We first light the shamash, or servant candle, and then we use it to light the candles on the Chanukkiah. This is analogous to accepting Yeshua (lighting the shamash) and allowing His Ruach to work through and in us.
Unlike with the Chanukkiah, we usually don’t know what HaShem’s strategy is in using our willingness to help others. But we can rest assured no mitzvah is wasted. Something is accomplished each time. And if that person accepts Yeshua, his shamash is lit and as he lights one candle then another his light is added to ours and the darkness driven farther back!
So in the Chanukkiah we can see a picture of “tikun olam,” the repair of the world. Elohim working through His people to spread the light one mitzvah at a time. We end the week having lit eight candles. Eight, the Biblical number of completeness. We eagerly wait for that eighth day when the Chanukkiah is all lit up; just as we await he day when our job is finished and we can look in wonder at a world without sin, death or decay. A time where the presence of God illuminates everything all day and all night, forever banishing the darkness.
Chag Chaukkah Sameach!
Dan C
