Shining Eyes - Reb Shlomo
Shining Eyes
From the Soul of Chanukah
Teachings of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach
Compiled by Rabbi Shlomo Katz
Copied with permission by Rabbi Shlomo Katz
On Chanuka we give G-d back His dream.
How do we do this?
When I see somebody else’s light
and I make a brachah,
I am fulfilling G-d’s dream
When the lowest person in the world was a child, he was dreaming about being the holiest, most glorious person in the world.
But something happened. Someone destroyed his dream, and he gave up on the world.
And here I want you to open your hearts.
On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we are doing teshuvah. We repent and we regret all of our mistakes. This is holy, but it is not the ultimate fixing. The ultimate fixing is when G-d gives me back the vision I had of myself, of what I could be in the world.
Why do we fail? Why is it so hard for us to make it in this world?
Because the world doesn’t usually help. Nobody really encourages our dreams.
On Chanukah, G-d gives me back my vision and my eyes begin to once again be connected to my dreams.
Do you know what a real friend is? A real friend is someone who gives you back that vision.
If someone can bring me back to the dream I once had, he is my best friend in the world. This is what Chanukah does. This is why Chanukah is the greatest, deepest holiday in the world. On Chanukah, G-d gives us back our dreams.
The question is: How?
How do we get back our dreams on Chanukah?
I want you to know the deepest depths.
When G-d created the world, He had a dream for it. What happened to His dream?
On Chanuka we give G-d back His dream. How do we do this? When I see somebody else’s light and I make a brachah, I am fulfilling G-d’s dream 1.
His dream was that people should say blessings over each other.’s light. G-ds dream was that people would love each other, that it would blow peoples minds when they see someone else’s beauty.
Let’s look at the first two brothers in the world. What was the problem with Cain and Abel? Imagine Cain would have said to G-d, “It’s true that I’m not high enough to bring my sacrifice to you, but I’m so glad you received my brother’s. How can I ever thank You for giving me a brother who is so holy?”
Do you know what would have happened? His sacrifice would have reached Abel’s!
But you know, friends, Abel was also imperfect. We can ask, ‘“Abel why are you so happy that G-d received your sacrifice? Why aren’t you crying over your brother’s sacrifice, that was rejected? Why don’t you go to Cain" and say ‘I’m so sorry that G-d didn’t receive yours’?”
I’ll tell you something stronger. If Abel would have said to G-d, “Thank you, very.much for receiving my sacrifice, but I don’t want You to take mine unless You receive my brother’s also,” do you know what would have happened? There would have been redemption for the whole world!
About Chanukah, it say‘s “mitzvas ner chanukah ish u’beiso” 2: The mitzvah of the plight of Chanukah is for a man and his whole household. I say to G-d, “Ribono Shel Olam, unless my children’s light will burn forever, I don’t want to live.”
I walk down the streets of the world and I see somebody else’s little light and I say “Rlb'ono Shel Olam, unless this light burns forever, I don’t want to live.”
What a world it would be.
Everybody had a dream.
On Chanukah, each of us can get it back.
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1 Based on Tractate Succah: 46a and Rambam, Hilchos Chanukah 3:4.
2 Tractate Shabbos 21b.