DVAR TORAH: [C]han[n]uk[k/q]a[h]

Weight loss this week: 4 lbs of fat, 0 lbs of lean muscle.
Total weight loss (over 2 weeks): 14 lbs, 4 lbs of fat, 10 lbs of lean muscle

I realized that I neglected to write a Dvar Torah this past week, and as there is both a regular torah portion (Vayeshev) and Hanukkah, there isn't enough time for both. So if you want a Dvar Torah on Vayeshev, go see the first 15 minutes of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Let's move on to Chanuka.

I have been asked twice in the past week about the miracle of Chanuqah, from both sides of the spectrum. Last week at a lunch-and-learn at the UJ and yesterday by Catholic business associates of my father. The associates asked why the Menora was so important. The Temple needed light so that it could function. It took, in the ancient world around a week to prepare olives to become oil. It was vital that there be pure oil as everything in the Temple had to be pure. There was no way of sacrificing quality for quantity.

At the UJ lunch-and-learn, the question was raised as to what was the miracle of Hanukkah. I said it was not in the oil lasting eight days but that there was discovered a pure sealed cruse of oil in the first place. I found that something pure and intact in the defiled Temple is allegorical of a person who remains pure and innocent in a place of ill-repute. The Maccabees were not Hellenized, though they were surrounded Grecophiles. They never gave up. Could someone growing up in Nazi Germany or in Gaza City avoid being swept up in the depraved death cultures? Would it be possible to be immune to the brainwashing in schools and in places of worship? The professor really liked this idea.

Sorry I'm so scattered. I've been working on essays for a really long time.

If you haven't noticed, there are many ways to spell [C]han[n]uk[k/q]a[h], this just in standard US Sephardi pronounciation (ie: not chanuke, etc). Can you count how many possibilities there are?

It's gonna be the best Chrismahanukwanzakah ever!