Erev Erev Xmas

On Friday, December 23rd, we had a lovely night of Chinese food and latkes planned for Erev Erev Christmas. But the blizzard blowing through Chicago crashed our party, so over a hundred Mishkanites gathered virtually to light candles and sing Hanukkah tunes. Today’s Shabbat Replay is the delightful message that Rabbi Deena delivered to kick things off, plus some singing featuring Rabbi Lizzi.

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Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed by Kalman Strauss.

Transcript

Have you been inspired this year by the songs, sermons and services from Mishkan on this very podcast? Then we invite you to consider a donation of any sides to help us bring more inspiration in the new year. There's a link to donate in the show notes. This is a song from the vantage point of food. I am so except that I cannot tell you I'm sitting in this blender turning brown and made friends with the onions and the flour. And the cook is scouting while in that town. I sit here wondering what will come up me. I can't be eaten looking as I do. I need someone to take me out and cook me or I'll really end up in a royal suit. I am Aloka I am Aloka and I am waiting for Hanukkah to come I am Aloka I am Aloka and I am waiting for Hanukkah to come. And Willow and welcome to a very contact Hi conica Part Three. Oh the miracle of Hanukkah. These episodes never run out. On Friday, December 23 We had a lovely night of Chinese food and latke was planned for error there of Christmas. But the blizzard blowing through Chicago crashed our party. So over 100 Mischka nights gathered virtually to light candles and dissing Hanukkah tunes. Today's Shabbat replay is the delightful message that Rabbi Deena delivered to kick things off. Take it away, Rabbi I am. I am Alaska. And I am waiting for Hanukkah to come my Alma laka I am. So nice to see all of you. This takes me back to my early days at Mishkan when we all just hung out on zoom all the time. So last night, those of you who are in Chicago might and have passed might relate to this. I looked at the weather and it was extremely cold. And I looked at my dog and I said how badly do you actually need to go to the bathroom dog. And it's seven o'clock. She didn't need to go that badly. But by nine or 930 I had to face the fact that either the dog and I were going out in the cold or she was peeing on the floor. So I bundled up, put on her coat. I take her out, we step out the door and my dog who is part Husky takes one look at the snow leaps into the air and yips with joy. And I was like, You know what, what the heck, it's late. It's deserted. And we just started sprinting down 11th Street towards the park. I'm giggling like a hyena. She is leaping into the air with delight every few feet and dipping into snowbanks. And we're both having the greatest time of our lives and we get to the park and we run around and play for like 45 minutes. And that moment of like, turning into this moment that was actually so fun and lit up my whole night. That's Hanukkah. It's a minor holiday. It comes in this time of the year that we can feel kind of Ugh, kind of like, oh do I have to, and it tips us towards delight. It's dark, it's cold, it's snowy. We're months past the High Holidays. And we still have months to go until the other major holidays like Purim and Passover. And so we're in this in between time where it's so easy to feel like what am I even doing? How am I going to make it through. And then Hanukkah comes. And there's really studies that show that people who make New Year's resolutions have all of the best intentions and they hold on to them for like a month or two and then within a couple of months. Those intentions have slipped away from us a little bit, which I think is the moment of Hanukkah as well. The High Holidays in the energy in the intentions that we set months ago. Those might be buried under the weight of life or just slipping behind us in the rearview mirror as we try to continue living. And then we get this holiday Hanukkah literally means dedication. And so we dedicate our thing ourselves to things that are delightful like fried foods and gifts and games and candles. That Hala ha the law of Hanukkah is actually that you're not supposed to use the light of your Hanukkah candles for anything but joy. Like the mitzvah of Hanukkah, the essential task of Hanukkah is to sit there and just look at your candles and enjoy them and let them make you happy. You can't use them to light up your room. You can't use them to light up other fires You just look and say to yourself, these are so nice and beautiful. I love these. And when I think about my happiest, most fulfilling moments in my life, they're all times that I am blessed to share delight with others. Whether that is savoring a good meal with friends, or seeing a kid's face when schlumpy the sloth puppet waves at them are being in the room with all of you a couple of Shabbat when the vibes are electric, and the music and the sound and the energy and the love is flowing. And I think that's what this Shabbat Hanukkah is for. Even though we are not in person to rededicate ourselves to the delight of being with other people and being cozy and being happy and leaning into things that we like. So as you as we transition to lighting candles, which I'm going to turn it over to Rabbi Steven in just a minute to do that. I want to invite you as the candles are lit to actually fulfill that Mitzvah of Hanukkah and look at them and let them make you smile and smile at them and try to call up that feeling of delight that light bubbly feeling of being full of wonder and joy and gladness to be in the moment. And maybe the candles themselves do that for you and maybe you take this moment of contemplation as a chance to check in with another memory that makes you feel that delightful. And then hold on to that feeling. Hold on to that feeling as we welcome and Shabbat and you welcome in that extra Shabbat soul and hold on to that feeling as we move through the darkness so that it's there for you to access whenever you need it. Hanukkah is almost over we're on night six tonight if you're still putting candles in your honey pa but it is never the wrong time to play in the snow even when it's cold out and to eat fried food no matter what's going on in your life and to spend time with loved ones and just light a few candles and look at them for a little while because you have the time and they're beautiful and delight is always worth it. Judah love LA I wonder if you'd like to sing candlelight. I'll tell a tale tell tale can Maccabees and you stretch L M L M when the Greeks tried to sail sail sail sail. It was all to no avail l l l no more when on and not until the mighty Greeks were Yeah sometimes spinning we see Niecy oh by the candlelight. Oh, hang on. Well, this is a little high. Maybe we need to bump it down a little bit. Oh, I don't want to do I told you once. Oh, yeah, I told you twice. Vera took the field field field field. Their rival saw Are they for real real real real. But those McAfee's never yield yield yield yield they charged ahead with sword and shield shield shield yeah yeah the war went on and on and on until the mighty Greeks were you yeah, I forgot my luggage is in the air sometimes seeing it just wanting to celebrate for me nice light the candles we sing on my oh Stewart. Oh yeah for Olli nice then we played by the candlelight. Now what told you was now I told you twice and the great man for eight days and kept on burning was returned to learning because mascot mascot mascot mascot dog saying it, spending Nigeria This one is likely can we see? Oh yes. Then we played your ad Now I told you Yeah, I told you twice that the mere Shabbat replay is a production of Mishkan Chicago, our theme music was composed and performed by Calvin Strauss, you can always see where and when our next service will be on our calendar. There's a link in the show notes. And if you appreciated the program, please rate and review us on Apple podcasts. I know you've heard it before, but it really does help. On behalf of Team Mishkan. Thank you for listening