Our Congregation

Greetings friends

I hope you all had a safe and loving Thanksgiving.  More people travel to see friends, families, and loved ones at this time than at any other time in the year.

Now, unlike the twin festivals of freedom and light – Passover and Easter, Chanukah, and Christmas which have shared but also conflicting views, Thanksgiving contains the best of what we value —gratitude for abundance, inclusivity around our table, open hands, open arms, and open hearts. Thanksgiving is, in many ways, the summation of the heart of both Judaism and Christianity—faith, gratitude, peace, and brotherly love.  Maybe that is why it was such an important holiday—there are no exclusions.  Every day should be a day of thanksgiving.

Every year, Thanksgiving serves to initiate the Chanukah and Christmas season and time of miracles.

They’re both on the 25th, and Chanukah is about the miracles of life. We all have miracles, and we are all praying for the miracle of the hostage release. and there is a special Thanksgiving prayer recited at Chanukah and Purim, the al ha’nissim prayer—for the miracles –

Miracles occur in our lives all the time, and we use the holiday of Chanukah for acknowledging and honoring miracles.  Start to think of the miracles in your life and acknowledge them all the time.  You don’t have to wait for a special day.

One of the most celebrated of the Jewish holidays is Chanukah when we gather to light the lights of the menorah over the eight days.  When you light the menorah, you will be gathering with others all over the world—at the same time, on the same dates, lighting the same number of candles as we all come together.  It is a unification of people worldwide, as it should be all the time.  The Jewish people’s history for the last several thousand years is of being driven out of every home they have had, and the rededication of the temple of Chanukah is a rededication in the heart.  While I do not think the physical temple will be rebuilt, Israel has stood for 3000 years as the home to a people who practiced the same religion and spoke the same language for that whole time.

I believe Israel will be there forever as a homeland, standing as a beacon while we still all celebrate and unify in our hearts, souls, and spirits because that is the real temple to G0d.

This week’s reading is the life of Jacob, from when he left home to when he returned 20 years later.  It begins with the great dream of the stairway to heaven and shows us his marriages, his children, his accumulation of wealth, and his return.  Each stage of the journey picks up where he left off built on deception and fear.  We carry those with us, and they are the enemy within.

Jacob sets off, and his journey begins with a dream—one of the most famous dreams in the Bible, that of Jacob’s ladder with angels ascending and descending. This might have given rise to the maxim—be nice to those you meet on the way up because you will meet them on the way down—which is, of course, about karma.

These stories are about karma and how we set it in motion. Once set, it moves forward, and the length of time it takes for us to pay the fee is unknown.

While the cosmic Bible ended, this begins the mystical Bible as dreams become dominant for the next several weeks.  Dreams were and are extremely powerful messages.

One of the earlier interpretations of this particular dream was by the Hellenistic Jewish philosopher Philo, who wrote about sleep and dreams. He suggested four possibilities –

• The angels represent souls descending to and ascending from bodies.
• The ladder is the human soul, and the angels are God’s words, pulling the soul up in distress and descending in compassion.
• The dream depicts the ups and downs of the life of the “dreamer.”
• Finally, the angels represent the continually changing affairs of men.

There are many interpretations of this most famous dream, but we’ll save our talk of dreams for the story of Joseph, the dream master.

The journey of Jacob is a journey of someone who is ruled by fear.  He ran away out of fear, and that is the legacy that he brought and instilled in his family and which imprisons so many of us still to this day.  In fact, the most important holiday in the Bible was the holiday of freeing yourself from fear.

We all face fear at some point in our lives, but you must realize – fear is not real.  Fear is perceived. It is our mind alerting us to what we think might happen, and enough real things are going on that do instill fear.  Thankfully, most do not reach us, but we project something that might have occurred in the past or has not occurred and might never occur onto our present state and let the perception guide us and, in some cases, petrify us.

Watch as the marriages of Jacob show the unfolding of the fate we create and as fear, resentment, and hatred twist him to bitterness.

Last week’s emphasis was on brothers, and now it is on sisters.

Please share this episode with any you think might enjoy it, and, of course, enjoy our past audio and video episodes on our YouTube channel.

This episode will be posted on our channel. Click here to watch the Rabbi David Gellman Show in the 2025 cycle.

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Thank you all for allowing me into your homes, electronic devices, and hearts, as you are all with me in mine.

Be well, be happy, be healthy, be free, be kind, be forgiving, be compassionate, be independent of mind and deed, be mindful of your intentions, and be good to yourself.  Continue to celebrate freedom of choice in your life. Do not give in to the fear that is so prevalent, and enjoy the peace that comes from acceptance. As always, if you have any questions or suggestions or just want to say “hi,” please send me an email.  I love hearing from you.

Remember, anytime you do not want to receive these anymore, please send me an email so I can remove you.  And know that I truly appreciate you sharing your sacred time with me.

Enjoy and celebrate your life and the lives of others, and be happy in doing so. May you all sow the seeds of and reap the rewards of peace, love, and miracles. Make sure you also celebrate your unique individuality and your incredible awesomeness.

Continue celebrating love; continue celebrating freedom; send renewal and goodwill out to everyone in the world – it is an energy that cannot be stopped. And remember, your world is what you make it.  Just wish upon a star and continue to be a miracle in someone’s life, and light the light of love.

Blessings

RD