Miller's Musings for Chanuka: As The Flames Ascend

As the final flames of Chanuka flicker out, the last embers fade into the darkness of the night and we bid goodbye to this beautiful festival of lights, we must look for a final message to carry us through these cold winter months.  It is interesting to note that those last eight candles would actually be only one were it not for the rule to follow the opinion of Beis Hillel, to start with one rising to eight, rather than that of Beis Shamai who thought it more fitting to begin with eight and finish with one.  We know that in all debates between these two schools of thought, although both are considered equally valid expressions of the will of Hashem, we ultimately follow that of Beis Hillel.  The Vilna Gaon however tells us that in the World to Come we will in fact light according to Beis Shamai. 

It is no surprise to us to note that these two ways of lighting carry within them a hidden depth and, as Reb Shimshon Dovid Pinkus zt’l writes, two pathways in the service of Hashem.  The one of ascension symbolises the path in which we work each day on another aspect of our personal growth, never being satisfied with what we achieved yesterday, constantly striving for new levels of attainment.  The method of descent represents the route we take in which we focus on one particular aspect of our character or our observance and hone it to perfection, removing any impurities and falsehood until it is refined into its purest and simplest form.   

This world is one in which we are here to build.  To create who we want to be in the Next World.  Once we are there, we only have whatever we have brought, nothing else. The focus in this world has to be to keep adding to our reserve of good deeds and traits.  The path of decontaminating those parts we have already gained is certainly a legitimate way to live, as evidenced by it too being a genuine position imparted by Beis Shamai, but it is not where our focus should be.  That is in fact reserved for the Next World.  There all we take is the amount of good we have generated and all we can do once we are there is peel away the layers of spiritual negativities in the harvest we have reaped. 

Chanuka is almost over but if we hold on steadfast to the light it has brought we can keep it with us no matter where life finds us in the ensuing months ahead.  We have to keep rising like the flame itself, ever ascending, ever reaching heavenwards.  This is the life we were created for and this is the creed we must live by until we ignite the eternal, purest light of Moshiach and end all darkness forever.   

May the fires of the Menorah kindle our souls and light up our lives.

 

לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם