Tonight’s guest post was written by Rabbi Oren Postrel, a friend and colleague. On this seventh night of Hanukkah, he talks about how we find joy in Jewish study and learning. R. Jill
The Path With Heart community continues to kindle the bright flames of Hanukkah. Over the past seven nights, we have looked at Dedication/Hanukkah, Hope/Tikvah, Gratitude, and Increasing the Light. These are core Jewish values. On this 7th night, we explore the miracle of learning.
The Joy and Miracle of Study
Talmud Torah (making time for Jewish study) by its very term is a sacred interaction, with Torah at the core. It’s also a joy. The joy of learning is deeply Jewish: by deliberating and extrapolating, Jewish learning is Jewish life with an elevated joy.
We have ancient texts and their contemporary readings; we have the scholarly, and we have the easily approachable, the rarified, and quotidian.
Adon Olam, is one of the beloved piyyutim (poems) in our prayerbook. It is an anonymous thousand-year-old sacred poem that opens with a deeply intimate statement of spiritual trust: “In your hands, I place my spirit.”
In Hebrew, this phrase is: b’yado afkid ruchi, and it brings me incredible assurance and joy.
Study & Doing Good
The rabbis believed that study and learning encourage us to do acts of goodness and lovingkindness (mitzvot). For example, we read in our prayerbook:
“These are the things for which a person enjoys the dividends in this world while the principal remains for the person to enjoy in the world to come. They are: honoring parents, loving deeds of kindness, and making peace between one person and another, but the study of the Torah is equal to them all.”
Talmud Shabbat 127a
What could be a fuller celebration of Hanukkah, than to learn?
Light is a symbol of Torah. When we light the candles on our Chanukiah, we bring the light of Torah to our neighborhoods and our entire world. By this, we don’t mean to proselytize but to demonstrate what we believe is valuable.
To our sages, the value of study is connected to mitzvot, shedding more light into our world. It is fixed into our spirituality and one of the most ancient practices of our tradition.
Another teaching that reflects this idea is: “When we pray we are speaking to God, and when we study it is God speaking to us.”
Sefat Emet: A Great Illuminator of Torah
Rabbi Yehuda Leib Alter of Gur (1860-1900) was a great teacher of Torah. He wrote a monumental collection of Torah and Bible teachings. It is called by his name “Sefat Emet.” We study it today.
Many years ago, I wrote my rabbinic thesis on one concept Yehuda Leib developed: unio mystical, the indescribable connection between human beings and the Divine.
Sefat Emet is translated as “The lips of truth.” This is a phrase-fragment that comes from the book of Proverbs (12:19). The very name of the commentary is an exercise in intertextuality, a weave of learning and interpretation. And Sefat Emet is only the first half of the Bible verse. The second half is: that the lips of truth will endure forever. We value not only learning, but also truth-telling.
The ways we interact with Jewish text can bring us the joy of study and the miracle of learning.
Text study enables me to put my trust, my spirit, and my intellect in divine hands like in Adon Olam and Sefat Emet.
Jewish study is both meditative and active, a practice that we cultivate for ourselves, and for the greater mitzvah of passing learning onto others.
Let this seventh night of Chanukah be devoted to a fully optimistic and attainable miracle: the joy of Jewish learning and Jewish study.
Learning: we nurture resilience and develop a practice of compassion.
Study: we connect more deeply with our tradition and form a basis for a truly contemporary Judaism.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks of blessed memory once wrote:
“As long as the Jewish people never stop learning, the Jewish heart will never stop beating.”
May his teaching inspire us to keep our Jewish hearts beating and our minds to continue learning Jewishly.
On this night, let us add an extra prayer: “May our lips speak the truth of Torah, our hearts beat with the joy of learning, and may the lights inspire us to bring greater peace and understanding to the world.“
Rabbi Oren Postrel
Tonight is the seventh night of Hanukkah,
we light the shamash (helper candle)
and then seven candles.
Click here for the Hanukkah Blessings to say each night.
From Our Community
We asked members of our Hineni Spiritual Community what brings them joy and this is what they shared:
Seeing my children start adult lives of their own.
Alice Krull
First, my children (Emma and Sara) are my biggest lights. I also am grateful for my golden doodle, Luna, who was a gift from my mom (blessed memory). I get a lot of joy from teaching yoga and meditation, as well as my job!
Elizabeth Hornak
Music, sweet music. Healthy trees, flowers, plants. Clean water n nature, espcially creeks and rivers. The sky, be it impossibly blue or black, sunsets & sunrises. Starts and planets. Being smiled at. Anyone who is nice to me.
David Strong, Austin TX
My family and my mare.
Nechama Alcaras
My family… husband, sons, their wives, my granddaughters, and my sweet new dog, Rosie.
Aimee
Children and grandchildren and the best little dog in the whole world.
Franny Alexander
My grandson is the light of my life. November 30 is his 6th birthday, and he loves to light the Shabbat candles and say the blessing. He’s really looking forward to lighting the Hanukkah candles.
Sue Rodriguez
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Happy Hanukkah,
Rabbi Jill and the Path With Heart Community Team
Thank you, Rabbi Jill. To you and your beautiful family, wishing you many blessings, good health, prosperity and joy in 2025.
Thank you Linda. I wish the same to you and yours.