Victory!

When we fight our battles properly victory will be ours.

Family life has a lot in common with the holiday of Chanukah. Chanukah is the story of light triumphing over darkness weak over strong humble over arrogant. It is the story of faith in Hashem and all that’s fair and right: good prevails in the end. And so it is in family life. Goodness prevails.

The War at Home

Chanukah has much to inform us about the war we fight in our family lives. Yes war happens at home as well and often it feels as if it involves a life-and-death battle. We are always “the good guy” and our opponent is the evil one (at least in our eyes). Sometimes it’s our own mother we are fighting (the battle has been going on forever). After all these years she is still attacking and we are still defending our fragile fort. She is the strong powerful enemy; we’re little in comparison. Or perhaps it is Father who is still towering over us intimidating and controlling holding a supply of arrows strong enough to penetrate deeply when we are not vigilant.

Sometimes the enemy is our husband. A cruel domineering man of war he crushes our spirit. (Or it is our wife — a cold heartless queen who slices through us with her bitter tongue.) Sometimes the enemy is our parents-in-law. They use their power to pull our spouse away from us. They step on us. They demand absolute obedience and threaten to cut off our supplies should we demur.