A Message of Healing

By Rabbi Aron Moss

We are devastated. We have lost friends and loved ones. Our children are scared. Our peaceful city feels violated. We are hurt and shaken, stretched and exhausted, trying to help but not sure where to go from here. And all this on Chanukah. The festival of joy and light. The festival of the weak defeating the mighty. Well, right now we feel weak, battling a mighty heaviness looming over us.

There must be a message of wisdom—a glimpse of hope—that Chanukah can offer us in our broken sorrow. Here is a thought.

After lighting Chanukah candles, there is always a mess left behind. Melted wax. Burnt wicks. Leftover oil. A pile of what once produced light. What do we do with the remnants? How do we clean up after Chanukah? Jewish law mentions two customs. One option is simple. You gather everything up, wrap it carefully, and dispose of it with dignity. The light has done its job. The remnants are put aside.

But there is another custom. A more powerful one. You collect all the remaining oil, wax, and wicks, and you light them together. You make one large flame and let it all burn at once. What was once scattered light becomes a single, intense fire. The remnants are not discarded. They are elevated.

This year, Chanukah has left us with more than melted wax. Lives lost. Families shattered. Innocence taken. A pain that cannot be neatly explained away. And so, we face the same two choices. We can try to wrap up the pain, put it to the side, and return to normal as quickly as possible. This is an acceptable response. But it is not the only response.

We can do what our tradition teaches us. We can gather the pain, face it honestly, and let it fuel a greater light. That means more Jewish pride, not less. More love, not fear. More unity, not retreat. More light, not silence. We owe it to the souls we lost that their deaths not be the end of the story. This must be a turning point, a new beginning. For each of us, and for all of us. Evil tried to extinguish our light. We can’t let it win. Do a mitzvah. Heal a broken relationship. Help someone who needs you. Take in the pain. Channel it into a light of goodness. The light of the souls we lost, merged with the light kindled in our own souls, can change our city, our country, and the world.

Good Shabbos and much comfort and healing,

Rabbi Aron Moss