War Stories  

Here we are, Chanukah.

Sources say that the Yamim Noraim really, really extend to Zos Chanukah, when time will have shown if our commitments were genuine. Current events have many feeling that we’ve never left that holy season. “If an army besieges me, my heart won’t fear; should war arise, of this I am sure. One thing I ask of Hashem, this I seek: to live in the house of Hashem all the days of my life” (Tehillim 27:4, said from Elul through Hoshana Rabbah).

A lichtige and miraculous Chanukah to one and all.

Send My Veggies to Kiryat Shmona

I don’t get how it helps Israel if I tone down a Chanukah party, or feel worried or broken. Eating string beans doesn’t feed people in India, and coffee without sugar, like some of my friends are doing out of solidarity, isn’t putting anyone’s life back together.

There are different responses to crises. Some people shut down because war, captured Jews, and worldwide threats, are too enormous to face. Forcing yourself to feel heartache beyond your emotional capacity can cause you to fall apart and be unable to function.

But there’s also the possibility that you need to deepen your outlook or stretch yourself further. Gaza seems far away, life’s busy, and pain is painful, but learning to carry another’s burden is important.

In 1948, in Lakewood, Rav Aharon Kotler taught that separating oneself from the distress of others, especially the broader distress of a tzibbur, is a chillul Hashem. That’s both for acting as if life is fine, and even just feeling that way. “This is applicable to each of us when those who live in Eretz Yisrael are in jeopardy, when our enemies plot to destroy us like Haman Harasha in his time, and when this is relevant to the survival of the Jewish people everywhere…” (Mishnas Rabbi Aharon 4:76-81).

Empathy isn’t string beans. Here’s how it works: