The Miracle of Chanukah

Once again the feeling was brought home to us that there is nowhere like Israel during the holidays and Chanukah was no exception.
Think about when you go into a mall from anytime after Halloween and you are greated with decorations, carols, and even Santa Claus. Well when we went into the mall this is what we saw:




Imagine, walking around downtown and turning a corner and coming to a square filled with people watching a beautiful fireworks menorah and then a whole fireworks display in honour of the fourth night of Chanukah. Imagine that everyone joins in song together after watching the chanukah lighting.



Imagine everywhere you go special Chanukah arts and crafts and programs......for Chanukah! Imagine treats being given out that your kids can eat! Imagine walking the streets and seeing Menorahs everywhere! Imagine arriving to a hotel in the middle of the Negev at candle lighting time, no explaining to do to the hotel staff about your strange custom of lighting candles at dark, just head into the lobby and join everyone and light your menorah. Imagine being wished Chag Sameach (Happy Chanukah) with every purchase you make!

Now imagine lighting the candles with your children 5 months after their arrival in their new home...........each makes their own bracha......and out comes the most beautiful little brachot in little israeli hebrew accents. For this year that was our most precious Chanukah Miracle: four seemingly happy/content children making their brachot in their homeland, the place where Chanukah took place, and beginning to understand and speak such a beautiful Israeli Hebrew. Shehechiyanu v'kiyimanu v'higiyanu le zeman haze.......thank you Hashem!

Off to Maarat Hamachpeila

Before the last intifada there was a minhag on our yishuv. Every Friday morning prior to Rosh Chodesh a group of people from the yishuv would set out in the dark for maarat hamachpeilah in Chevron and get there in time for davening. At the height of the intifada the roads became too dangerous and the minhag was put on hold. Recently a group restarted the minhag and Darrell has gone once with the group. The kids were on Chanukah break and this was the only time I would have the opportunity to join as no one was needed to get the kids ready and off to school. Darrell and I woke up around 5:30 a.m. and were at our neighbours house by 5:45. We were met there by the Sussmans (Josh and Romi and boys made aliyah to Neve D. one year before us. We all climbed into his bulletproof jeep, we picked up (uncle)Dan Jacobson and his brother on the way out and as we came to the front gate we fell into line behind the other cars. It was quiet and dark and it felt very special to be driving through the country at this hour, watching the sun begin to rise over the judean hills (although it wasn't so easy to see through the bulletproof glass)on the way to visit our mothers and fathers!




I had not been to maarat hamachpeilah for over twenty years and could barely remember my last visit. We drove down past tsomet hagush and entered what felt very different than the highway north of the tzomet. Where we live you drive on a highway and can see Arab villages off the highway......here you drove through the villages. There are yishuvim that are situated next to villages with only fences or maybe a valley between them. Wow,I thought , people who live here are really idealists with a mitzirat nefesh beyond. We arrived at Maarat hamachpeilah in Chevron ...one of our ancient and holy cities, it was surreal. We davened shacharit and walked around to the kevers (not the actual ones which I gather are not accessible). There was a very tranquil and special feeling being there and I felt as though I had visited a family members kever to which I had not been to in a long time. You just cannot help but feeling directly connected to Avraham, yitchak, yakov, Sara, Rivka and Leah. People always refer to our forefathers...........and here we were at Maarat hamachpeilah, at their kevers, just as it was written in the chumash, how many times had I read these pisukim with my kids!!!!!!!!!!!

Someone once said to me "well the one place I would not go to is Chevron,it is definately a little crazy or unsafe to go there ". I may also have said that once also or maybe during the height of the intifada. I am not going to try and convince anyone to do or go anywhere they don't feel comfortable. I just ask that people begin to open their minds, and examine the real facts about what is or isn't "dangerous" here. There are areas that are higher risk areas,and I must agree that Chevron is one of those but that doesn't mean there aren't ways to get there in a "safer" way. For instance, I do not go south of tzomet gush without bulletproofing, that is a guideline I feel I must have for myself my family. I just feel that when I drive through those villages I prefer to have bulletproof glass between myself and our cousins. So to go to Kiryat Arba I would have to take a bus and not drive my car. Many people travel those roads daily in their personal cars and I don't think they are negligent or careless but it is just not for me at this time. I guess what I am trying to say is that unless we find ways to visit our holy and treasured places, there is more reason not to keep them...........if you don't use them you lose them! For all of you coming to visit soon, look into taking your kids to Kever Rachel and Maarat Hamachpeilah in armoured bus tours etc. it is a very special experience they and you will have forever and we don't know what will be with these places in the future.



We arrived back home in Neve Daniel before 8:00 am, to a quiet house, no one even knew where we had been or that we had even left. It felt odd, as I felt as though we had been a world and a time away and here everything was the same!