Ohev Shalom Voice
Teves - January, 5769
Rabbi’s Message
For the miracles, the redemption, the mighty deeds, the salvation, the wonders. (Chanukah Prayer)
The first and second days of Teves are celebrated as days of praise and thanksgiving for the miracles of Chanukah. The tenth of Teves is a day of mourning and fasting marking the onset of tragic events which led to destruction and dispersion. Our religious calendar is interspersed with days that mark both glad and sad events of the past.
A cursory glance at this might lead one to challenge the need to harp on negative events and to perhaps even question the need for remembering any occurrence of the distant past. When exercising a deep, perceptive analysis, one will fully understand the need for remembering both the negative and positive events of the past and tying it to the present.
A meaningful life is only achieved upon bonding the past and future with the present. The present alone has a duration of only a fleeting wink of an eye. The past by itself is meaninglessly gone and the future that is yet to exist is intangible. A temporary existence equals a life of no value. We are fortunate that we were given תורת חיים a Torah of real life whose timeless nature bonds us in a grasp of eternity.
Throughout creation there is no existence without a fusion of negative and positive forces together completing a live circuit. Respiration is a series of inhaling and exhaling; digestion is a series of intake and excrement; light of day and darkness of night; sleeping and awakening; negative and positive poles of electric circuitry; speech and silence; love and fear; pleasure and pain; virtually all facets of life are made up of both negative and positive components.
Torah observance marking the negative and positive, endows us with a complete circuit of life. We must bear in mind that even though we recognize the need for the negative, the Torah teaches us to emphasize the positive over the negative. The majority of our religious days mark events of joy and gladness. The Penitential prayer of the Tenth of Teves reads:
My King, my Holy One, change to well being,
to joy and gladness, the fast of the tenth month.
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