LIGHT

There always were two ways to live in a world that is often dark and full of tears. We can curse the darkness, or we can light a light.” - Rabbi Lord Jonathon Sacks

Happy Chanukah and Happy New Year!

Tonight is the seventh night of Chanukah, a time of miracles, light, and joy. Later tonight starts a whole new year. It can feel confusing celebrating at a time like this. A time when we still have 100 of our people held hostage, including 2 little redhead boys.

One of her Instagram followers asked my grandmother what she does when she loses hope. She said, “When I lose hope I start singing. I sing for God, I sing for the people, I sing for myself. I sing for all the beauty even with all the problems.”

Because there are so many beautiful things in this world in this world that still hold little redheads, hostage.

My grandmother taught me that while it is important to never forget the Holocaust, it is equally important to remember the good. That is one of the reasons I chose to alternate the chapters in her book with stories of her childhood as well as her Holocaust experience. Trauma is not all there is and it doesn’t define a life.

My grandmother taught me that we cannot choose the way the world looks, but we can choose what to look at.

I remember I was at a wedding, sitting by the chuppah, and my view was the back of someone’s head. When I sat up a little straighter I saw the sun setting over the water behind a beautiful new couple. How you look at things can be everything. In a world of tragic headlines, I think it can be easy to look away from the beautiful things that are just as real.

I don’t think this means repressing your feelings or putting your head in the sand. Pain is real and it is there for a reason. When life gives you onions, it is okay to cry. I think what my grandmother was telling me is to find the beauty too and fill up your consciousness with the positive things that fill this world.

This past year has been dark in many ways, but it has also been full of light. On Chanukah, the darkest time of the year we celebrate the miracles that were and always will be. We celebrate the light we bring, shining from each window out into the world. We celebrate the little things, the tiny jar of oil that was found. And the little things end up being what lasts for eternity.

There is so much light. Like the Shabbos I just spent with my husband’s grandparent and all their grandchildren. Both my grandmother and grandfather were children in the Holocaust. To be with all of the children and grandchildren that came from them was to be with a miracle.

2024 was filled with a million little lights. I got to write more and read more. I met new friends and stayed connected to old ones. I enjoyed my family, my job, my holidays and so much more.

In 2025, I hope to carry the load with people in pain, but not let that load crush me because then I am no help.

Praying for a world where we don’t need to balance all this. Working on accepting the fact that it isn’t up to me.

Thank you for spending some of your precious time in 2024 with me and my grandmother’s story. It means more than you know. It is a light. I can’t wait to share more stories with you.

Let me know in the comments what brought you light this year and what you are doing to bring light into your new year!