So, we’re on to night THREE already! Tomorrow we’ll be halfway through Chanukah and how the time slips away! Have you made parties yet? How many doughnuts have you eaten? Did they like their presents? Did you feel, maybe, that in all the lovely fuss of ‘things’ you had less time than you wanted to just ‘be’ with the candles and feel the message of the day?
Tonight instead of being thoughtful over the candles, I was exhausted from frying way more latkes than eleven people could possibly eat. Then I was giving presents. Then I was serving. Then I was clearing. Then I looked and the candles had gone out and I’d missed my chance.
But I have a story, just a quick one, that I think could make me and all the people around me stop, just for a minute, and think about the reality of the world that’s taught to us on Chanukah. That there’s more than meets the eye. Let me know if your kids liked it.
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A few weeks ago, a friend made a bar-mitzvah, and she had these cute balloon sculptures made. The best one was of a boy, wearing tefillin and holding a microphone, making a speech. On the microphone was the barmitzvah boy’s name: Yoni. It was like a giant, life-sized cartoon of the boy, and made a great centrepiece. There were one or two smaller sculptures too, of similar things, also made entirely out of balloons.
She works in a chessed organisation, and of course it was second nature for her to try to find someone who could benefit from these funny centrepieces for their simcha after hers had finished. So the following day, on a Whatsapp group we’re both on, she posted some pictures of the balloon sculpture, with a message: Do you know anyone making a bar-mitzvah this week who’d like to have these?
After the obligatory, “I’ll ask around” messages, one person said they did know a family making a bar-mitzvah in a few days’ time. But, she asked, what about the word ‘Yoni’ on the microphone – could it be taken off?
So while my friend investigated what the stuck-on Yoni was made of and how to get it off, the other lady called the mother of the bar-mitzvah boy-to-be.
A few minutes later another message appeared on the group:
B”H – this was meant to be – the bar-mitzvah boy’s name is Yoni!
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The goal of these stories is to remind us all, while we sit with the Chanukah candles, that Hashem is behind the scene, that the natural world is not where it ends. There’s more than meets the eye and the more we look for it, the more we receive.
If you have a story like this, please send it to saradevorahtimeacademy@gmail.com.
Click below to be sent the Stories of Chanukah each of the 8 nights:
sara devorah time academy 