New and Improved: A Chanukah Message

While walking through the supermarket recently I found the laundry detergent, shampoo, body soap, and even paper towels, that I have been using for years are now “new and improved.”

If they were fine for the last four decades, I wondered, why do they now need to be “new and improved?” And, scarier still, what was “wrong” with all these products, products that I have now been using for the better part of my life, that they had to be remade?

And then, as if sent from G-d to help me with my “paranoia,” comes Chanukah.

You see, one of the most unique aspects of the Holiday and it’s observance, is the manner in which we light the Chanukah candles on the Menorah. The Talmud teaches us, that by lighting one candle on the first night, and adding progressively each night until the eighth night, we are fulfilling the Mitzvah (commandment) in the most scrupulous and devoted way possible.

So, even though on night one, by lighting one candle, we have “raised the roof” on our Chanukah observance, when it comes to the second night, yesterday’s “top of the line” just won’t cut it. As good as last night was, tonight must be “new and improved!”

And as good as tonight might be, tomorrow must be even better.

This is a fascinating thought when taking stock in what we have accomplished, and what still lies ahead. We often feel like we have “done enough.” We are “tired,” and quite satisfied with our body of work. And, in most cases, we are well within our rights to take pride in our achievements. Yet, the Chanukah lights, like my favorite bar of soap, insist that yesterdays “peak” must be today’s “springboard.” And that nothing less than a constantly upward climb, where every moment brings greater heights than the one preceding it, is considered “living.”

May we all be blessed with an “illuminated” Chanukah.

Let us all resolve to, like the Menorah, constantly bring more and more light into the world around us.

May the increasing light of goodness and kindness, usher in an era of prosperity and peace for the entire world. Happy Chanukah!

Rabbi Leibel Fajnland is the Director of Chabad of Reston-Herndon, Virginia.