Page 9 - Issue 16

Chanukah’s message to us is that hope is

never irrational, even when we face

overwhelming difficulty. And here’s why: Hope
itself creates the ground for hope. It was only at

the moment that the conquered Jews decided to

hold closely to hope “and attempt the
impossible, precisely at that pivotal moment of

decision, [that] they were able to link up with a

force beyond themselves and achieve the
impossible. The Jewish people reached for that

which was beyond their grasp” and in that

seemingly irrational and useless act, initiated
events that would have been impossible without

their dedication and wild hope. What do we

hope for and what gives us that hope?