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Don't Let the Light Go Out

 Dear Friends,


As we approach Chanukah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa I want to share some thoughts about religious freedom.

In this week's Torah reading (scriptural reading which begins with Genesis Chapter 37) , we are reading about the beginning of the Joseph narrative.  When Joseph is sent out to find his brothers he encounters someone who in Hebrew is called "Ha ish," the person.  That person asks him "for what are you looking "mah t'vakeish?"

The person is not identified and could be anyone.  It is a reminder that any of us have the potential to impact someone's life.  If the person doesn't tell Joseph the best way to look for his brothers and he finds them too soon, they might kill him instead of throwing him in a pit. Ultimately Joseph is taken to Egypt where he interprets Pharaoh's dream and saves humanity from the famine.  (please read Genesis 37 and the next several chapters which through the end of Genesis tell the saga of Joseph and his brothers with an interruption to discuss their sister Dinah and the story of Judah and Tamar...very entertaining, enlightening, and educational:-))

How many of us find ourselves in situations where we could make a difference for another human being?  We know that in the Mishnah Sanhedrin, we are taught that if one saves one life, one saves an entire world. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks in one of his commentaries on the portion VaYetze, when Jacob leaves his home, quotes the following:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt, “Citizenship in a Republic”, speech given at the Sorbonne, Paris, 23 April 1910.

I hope that we will each stand up and face the challenges of fighting for freedom by remembering that a small band of people Judah and the Maccabees) were able to save the Jewish people back in the day, providing us with the story of Chanukah.  May we be the little bit of oil that will enlighten our world so that each person's effort will  encourage others to work for religious freedom that will live far beyond eight days and eight nights.

Finally, in our contentious world, let's read (or listen to) the lyrics for "Light One Candle" by Peter, Paul, and Mary and not let anger tear us apart.

May we do our share to ensure that the light of freedom does not go out.

Happy Holidays to all,

Rabbi Bruce Aft



Light One Candle
Song by Peter, Paul and Mary
OverviewLyricsListen
Lyrics
Light one candle for the Maccabee childrenWith thanks that their light didn't dieLight one candle for the pain they enduredWhen their right to exist was deniedLight one candle for the terrible sacrificeJustice and freedom demandBut light one candle for the wisdom to knowWhen the peacemaker's time is at hand 
Don't let the light go out!It's lasted for so many years!Don't let the light go out!Let it shine through our hope and our tears. (2) 
Light one candle for the strength that we needTo never become our own foeAnd light one candle for those who are sufferingPain we learned so long agoLight one candle for all we believe inThat anger not tear us apartAnd light one candle to find us togetherWith peace as the song in our hearts 
Don't let the light go out!It's lasted for so many years!Don't let the light go out!Let it shine through our hope and our tears. (2) 
What is the memory that's valued so highlyThat we keep it alive in that flame?What's the commitment to those who have diedThat we cry out they've not died in vain?We have come this far always believingThat justice would somehow prevailThis is the burden, this is the promiseThis is why we will not fail! 
Don't let the light go out!Don't let the light go out!Don't let the light go out!
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Peter Yarrow
Light One Candle lyrics © Songtrust Ave, Warner Chappell Music, Inc

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