Hannukah - First Night (2025)

Dvar Torah - Timeless Resilience

Rabbi Dr. Akiva Posner served as the last Rabbi of Kiel before the Holocaust. This famous image (see below) of mind-boggling juxtaposition was taken from the window of the Posner family home in Kiel, Germany in 1931.

Hannukah, in its essence, is a celebration Jewish resilience. In the face of spiritual and cultural decimation at the hands of the Seleucid Greeks, the Maccabees raised the banner of Jewish pride and led by divine miracles, succeeded in restoring Jewish rule to the land for over 200 years. That hope and resilience has been handed down generation to generation, each lighting the Channuka candles in changing circumstances, some in calmer times others in more tumultuous ones.

On the back of the picture of the Posner family Menorah, Rachel Posner (Rabbi Akiva’s wife) inscribed:
"Death to Judah"
So the flag says
"Judah will live forever"
So the light answers

The Posner family went on to make Aliyah to Israel, where the family thrives to this day, still lighting the same MenorahToday we were reminded yet again that the story of Hannukah is not yet over. The forces of darkness still seek to prevail over the Jewish people.
Following the atrocities of Bondi Beach today our response is clear:

Am Yisrael Chai!
So our light answers

(Photo courtesy of Yad Vashem website)

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