RACHEL KRAUS

MIRACULOUSLY MUNDANE: KISLEV FOR ETERNITY?

BY RACHEL KRAUS

David ben Gurion once said, “Anyone who doesn’t believe in miracles isn’t a realist.”

This statement reflected a necessary mindset at a time when the fledgling State of Israel was surrounded by enemies and its day-to-day existence was a result of the unity, the dedication and the determination of the early pioneers – a belief that out of the ashes, a Jewish State can and will rise.

Kislev is a month characterized by miracles. We acknowledge these miracles with the recitation of Al Hanisim on Chanukah, as well at the Brachot on the lighting of the menorah, thanking God for the miracles “bayamim hahem, bazman hazeh” - “of the past and the continued miracles today.”

The Gemara in Masechet Shabbat 23b states that the madlik, the one who engages in the physical activity of lighting the menorah, is required to make the birkat hamitzvah (the blessing recited upon performing a mitzvah) of “li’hadlik ner shel Chanukah” as well as the birkat hoda’a (a blessing of thanks) of “sheasa nisim la’avoteinu bayamim hahem bazman hazeh.” The Gemara continues that the ro’eh, the observer, a passerby, has an obligation to recite birchat hoda’a on merely seeing a lit menorah. This statement sits in radical opposition to other mitzvoth when we do not recite Brachot on someone else’s mitzvah.

The madlik is performing the mitzvah, why should the ro’eh, the observer, respond with a bracha? Even though we do not hold, al pi Halacha, that the ro’eh makes a bracha, the statement in the Gemara is drawing our attention and intuiting something unique and worthy about our recognition and blessings of gratitude.

A number of years ago I participated in a heritage trip to Eastern Europe. As a Jew, citizen of the world, and as the grandchild of four Holocaust survivors, this trip was deeply personal. When we arrived at the gates of Auschwitz, the survivor who accompanied us asked that relatives of victims or survivors from Auschwitz step forward. I have both, two grandparents that survived and great grandparents and countless relatives who were murdered, and I was standing in their exact footsteps, at the gates of Auschwitz. As we stood together, silent and feeling the shadows of history, the survivor asked us to join her and, in full, loud, projected voices recited, B’shem Hamalchut, “Baruch Ata Hashem Elokeinu Melekh Ha’olam, sheasa li nes bamakom hazeh” — a blessing of gratitude for performing a miracle for me in this very spot. A miracle happened to me here, my grandparents survived, and my very existence is a miracle.

Perhaps the Gemara was calling our attention to the ongoing miracle of Jewish survival. Seeing the flame of a chanukiah flickering in a window demands our attention, to pause in our steps, and to say, “sheasa li nes bamakom hazeh,” a miracle is happening right here, “sheasa nisim la’avotenu bayamim hahem bazman hazeh.” Jewish survival is a miracle. It was a miracle then and it is a miracle now. The enemies may change, the geography and scenery may be different, and the threats are sometimes from external sources and sometimes from internal conflict, but the battlefield continues to rage and there should never be a moment that we take for granted the miracle that we are.

Our very existence is testimony to the miracles that surround us each and every day, and we bear witness to that miracle. The flames of the chanukiah that illuminate windows and entryways, are a call to illuminate and magnify the gratitude and recognition that we just acknowledge. Even when merely the ro’eh, we pour out our gratitude to God for allowing our identity to burn from our windows for the world to see: “sheasa nissim la’avoteinu bayamim hahem bazman hazeh.” We thank God for the miracles performed for us then, and now.

Bazman hazeh, we face a rise in antiSemitism, frightening assimilation rates and, in the wake of COVID-19, isolation and loneliness combating our unity. Our sense of unity will be restored as we pause and recognize that a single candle burning in a window is a testament to the miracle of our existence.

SIYUM HASHAS INSPIRES COMMUNITY TORAH LEARNING

BY RACHEL KRAUS

Two Minute Torah with Rachel Kraus

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In January, the global Jewish community gathered to mark the seven-and-a-half-year cycle of the completion of the entire Talmud. Communities all over the world gathered, in stadiums, in Synagogues, in classrooms, in Batei Midrashot and convention centers.

The women in our community, along with thousands of women from Jewish communities around the world, joined forces with Hadran, an organization in Israel dedicated to encouraging women's Talmud study, to mark the first ever Women’s International Siyum HaShas in Jerusalem.

As part of the milestone, communities of women throughout the world adopted a Masechet of Talmud to collectively learn all 2,711 pages. Women of the KJ community adopted Masechet Avodah Zara and joined in a Siyum held at KJ, where we learned together and celebrated together with the Hadran Siyum in Israel as well as communities of women around the world.

Our Siyum was shared by a beautiful cross section of women in our community, with over a 70 year age span, highlighting the accessibility, relevance and beauty of our texts and tradition.

Since the Siyum, many members of our community, both men and women, have committed to the study of Daf Yomi. To delve into the daily study of Gemara, is to access conversations, insights, wisdom and knowledge of our past, our value system and our mesorah. To see the questions and curiosity come to life in dynamic conversation, heated debates and structured reasoning, is a portal to the past that enables and strengthens our future.

In echoing the words of the Hadran, recited upon completion of each section of Talmud, ןָניִמ יֵשְׁנְתִת אֹלְו ךְָניִמ י ֵׁשְנֽתִנ אָל .ןָלֲע ךְָּתְעַדְו ךְָלֲע ןָּתְעַּד ,ןָלֲע ךְָרְדֲהְו ךְָלֲע ןָרְדֲה

We will return to you, and you will return to us; our mind is on you, and your mind is on us; we will not forget you, and you will not forget us, the completion of our learning is an invitation to do more and join the conversation. It is never too late to begin, it is never too late to start and whether it is daily study of Torah, Nach, Mishna, Talmud, Halacha, Chassidut or Mussar, the commitment to become stakeholders of our texts is our birthright and will deepen our understanding, strengthen our identity and solidify our future.

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