Weekly Letter: A Timely Message About Chanukah, With a Timeless Application

In this weeks letter, the Rebbe shares a timely message about Chanukah, with a timeless application for all places and situations in our personal lives and in our Jewish history. The letter, written originally in English, is from the archives of the Rebbe’s trusted secretary Rabbi Nissan Mindel.

By the Grace of G-d
Chanukah, 5736
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Mr.
Ont., Canada
Greeting and Blessing:
I appreciate very much your thoughtfulness in sending me a copy of your esteemed publication in which appeared excerpts from what was said at the Yud Tes Kislev Farbreingen. What is most gratifying is that through this medium many people will have been reached who otherwise could not have been reached and I hope with practical results and benefits. Since this is a benefit for the many, it is truly a public service and the Zechus Horabim will stand you in good stead.
As it is customary among Jews to connect everything with a timely topic in Torah, a word in connection with Chanukah will be in order, especially as this year the 19th of Kislev occurred on the first day of the week, with Chanukah beginning at the end of the same week.
One of the basic lessons of Chanukah is that Jews should never be discouraged when they find themselves in a situation of “weak and few” confronting the “mighty and many,” so long as they are dedicated to the Torah( as indicated in the prayer of V’Al HaNissim). At first glance it seems useless to even attempt to fight in such a situation of overwhelming odds. However, a Jew is expected to do all that he can in the natural order of things, since ultimately it is the spiritual strength that will prevail and if necessary, with obvious miracles.
The same situation that determines the course of Jewish history in relation to the outside world, applies also to an ideal or good idea, which for one reason or another may not be popular and those supporting it are few and outnumbered, etc. But eventually the truth and the good must prevail, though it is a pity that sometimes it takes a long time until this actually comes to pass.
While the above is a clear message of Chanukah, anyone who knows Jewish history and the course of Yiddishkeit, right up to the present situation, can see that Chanukah only bears out a definite pattern which runs through our history like a golden thread.
I hope and pray that the spirit of Chanukah as it was displayed in those days, will assert itself also at this time. Just as we light the Chanukah candles after sunset, when it gets dark outside, so we demonstrate that Jews do not feel discouraged by the surrounding darkness. On the contrary, that is the time to spread the light and not only within the house, but also to light up the outside and to do so in an ever growing measure.
May G-d grant that you, too, will use your influence to spread Ner Mitzvah v’Torah Or – the true light of Yiddishkeit – in like manner.
With esteem and blessing,
P.S. In considering in what language to send you the above acknowledgement, the obvious assumption was to write to you in our Holy Tongue. However, precisely in the spirit of Chanukah, which is to spread the light among those to whom the contents of this letter may be somewhat strange, at this time at any rate, I decided to write it in English, so that you might make the utmost use of it. As a matter of fact, your own publication bears this out, for in view of its Jewish content, it should have ideally been published in Yiddish or Hebrew, yet for practical reasons, as above, it is published in English.