There is a lot of talk and excitement about how Thanksgiving falls out on the first night of Chanukah this year. Or is it the other way round, where the first night of Chanukah falls out on thanksgiving? Either which way, it is a rare occurrence. The last time this happened was in 1888 and the next time some say will be in 70,000 – 80,000 years, which means it will never happen again. I’m confident Jews will be around then, but I doubt that there will be anyone celebrating an American holiday in such a long time in the future. So what does this all mean?

Nothing happens in this world by coincidence. The Bal Shem Tov, the founder of the Chassidic movement, says we must learn from every occurrence that passes through our lives. So what can we learn from the coinciding of Chanukah and Thanksgiving?

I’m in Australia now where we are not celebrating Thanksgiving, though if I were in America I would see an opportunity to invite every last secular Jew I could find to a grand Thanksgiving dinner. And then, at the beginning of dinner, we’d light the chanukiah and sing Chanukah songs. After a dinner of turkey and latkes, I’d make sure everyone goes home with a pledge to light Chanukah candles for the next seven nights. Thanksgiving this year is an opportunity to get more Jewish people involved with Chanukah who would otherwise not be involved.

In my family we only have a party on our Hebrew birthdays and we don’t celebrate our secular birthdays with the exception of my birthday. My Hebrew birthday always falls out after the festival of Sukkot, though my English birthday is in October which often coincides with Sukkot. This means we can invite lots of relatives and friends to my birthday party in the sukkah. For just a sukkah party they may not come.

So use thanksgiving this year as an opportunity to invite people and share the massage of Chanukah…and the massage of thanksgiving for a wonderful harvest of potatoes which made the latkes!

The following is an email I received that I thought I would share with you all.  There is no author credited, but if you know who wrote this originally please let me know in comments! Enjoy!

Chanukah on Thanksgiving in 2013: Potato Latkes and Turkey! WOW

Therefore, 2013 is the only time Hanukkah will ever overlap with Thanksgiving. Of course, if the Jewish calendar is never modified in any way, then it will slowly move forward through the Gregorian calendar, until it loops all the way back to where it is now. So, Hanukkah will again fall on Thursday, 11/28…in the year 79,811

Parshas Vayeishev: Everything is for the Best

Baby Levi

Baruch Hashem, last Friday we had a beautiful bris for our second son, whom we named Levi.  We were very touched by the calls, emails, gifts, and attendance of the community.  Our community in Adelaide may be small, but it is very much alive.  It is the kind of place where each and every Jew can truly feel how special and important (s)he is in his/her contributions.

You may have heard the saying that every cloud has its silver lining, meaning that even in a difficult situation there is something good, if only we look for it.  So too it is true in a place like Adelaide.  Being small, we notice when someone makes the effort to come to Shul to help make the minyan.  We notice when someone helps out in the Shul kitchen or calls to wish another Jew mazal tov.  In big communities, these contributions can often go unnoticed or be taken for granted, but not so here!  Here every person’s specialness shines forth in each and every little mitzvah we do.

In this week’s parsha, Joseph has quite a few difficult experiences.  Yet, he finds the silver lining to every cloud.  This is called emunah, faith, and Joseph’s emunah in G-d never wavers.  No matter what his situation, he finds something good in it.  For instance, when his brothers sell him as a slave, the merchants are carrying spices.  Normally Arab merchants on that route would have been carrying tar and naphtha, which smell terrible, but Joseph’s new masters were instead carrying delicious-smelling spices.  Joseph recognized this as a blessing and a sign that G-d was there with him in his time of need.

Ultimately, this is what each of us must do in our own times of need.  When we are up all night with a crying baby, we must remember to be grateful that we have a baby.  When we lose a job, we must have emunah that something better is coming to us and we must work to find it.  When our car breaks down and needs a repair, we must be grateful it is our car that has broken and not our body.  For everything in life, there is always something to be grateful for.  There is always a bonus, always a silver lining, if only we choose to seek it.

This week we wish you all that you should have such beautiful silver linings that you cannot fail to notice them!

Shabbat shalom!

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Parshas Vayishlach: Births and Blessings

Just before last Shabbos we had the blessing of welcoming our second son into the world.  It is with gratitude to G-d that we are now able to look forward to his bris and future Bar Mitzvah.

We are very grateful to live in a time and a place where childbirth has become relatively “safe.”  In Judaism, childbirth is recognized as a life-threatening condition, and the mother is considered to be in mortal danger even for three days after giving birth.  Thus if a woman is in labour, even if it is on Shabbat, we are permitted to do almost anything that would break the Shabbat.

Fortunately today, childbirth is not as dangerous as it once was.  Today modern medicine ensures that women in labour and her baby are both constantly monitored by professionals who can identify when one or the other has reached a critically life-threatening point.  At that stage, options like surgery are available to save both lives.  Because of modern sanitation, surgery is not as dangerous as it once was.  The Torah teaches us that we are given doctors and medicine in order to use them for the purpose of saving lives.  Both saving another person’s life and making the decision to choose life by seeking medical intervention when necessary are tremendous mitzvot.

Sadly, in this week’s parsha another Rachel gave birth but did not fare as well.  Rachel Imenu died giving birth to her son Binyamin and was buried on the road, as opposed to being buried with the other patriarchs and matriarchs in the Cave of Machpelah.

The death of Jacob’s favorite wife was no doubt a tragedy in their family.  And yet, it was ultimately part of G-d’s plan and an act of divine mercy.  By being buried on the road outside Jerusalem, Rachel’s tomb is in a place where Jewish exiles throughout the ages have had to pass.  When passing by, the Jews have traditionally stopped to pray and beg for Rachel’s intervention on their behalf.  Rachel Imenu cries out for her children and begs G-d for divine mercy in her merit on their behalf.

We cannot always understand G-d’s plans.  But we certainly should and must express our deepest gratitude whenever we can.  This week, we are extremely grateful to G-d for the safe delivery of our son.  We are also very grateful for all the help and kindness the community has shown us.

We are looking forward to celebrating our son’s bris this Friday morning and we hope you will all be able to join us.

Shabbat shalom!

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