#ncsy

Trigger alert:

Over Chanukah, I’ve seen a bunch of posts, graphics and memes with the same theme: “Imagine your phone is at 10% and the battery lasts 8 days. Now you understand Chanukah.” Cute concept, and I enjoyed seeing the memes, until today. I’m not sure what triggered it for me, but I had an epiphany. Hear me out.

The location of the menorah in Jerusalem’s Holy Temple had an unusual feature. Built into the thick walls of the sanctuary were windows. Yet they were built backwards. Normally, windows are narrow on the outside if he building, and widen on the inside part of the wall, allowing light to penetrate and illuminate the interior from multiple angles. In the Beit Hamikdash, however, the windows were narrow inside, widening at the exterior of the building.

The message of this architectural oddity is that we utilize the light of the Torah- our internal light, if you will- to illuminate the world. We have no need nor interest in importing our light from external, less pristine sources.

On Chanukah, the internal light of the menorah burned brightly, reminding us to utilize our inner, Torah light, whereas during the Syrian occupation, many Jews had opened external windows, accepting cultural and even moral guidance from an alien culture. “Nuh-uh, sayeth the menorah (I’m fairly certain this is the first time in history that ‘Nuh-uh’ and ‘sayeth’ have been uttered in one breath). Windows pointing outward. We’re supposed to be a light to the rest of humanity, not the other way around.

There’s an app on my phone that gives me a weekly report of my’ screen time.’ I’m not going to share that number, it’s embarrassing. My phone, with all the good it achieves (I’m typing this on my phone, BTW), is a window in from the outside world, and it is a feature of my world that most definitely distracts me from many of the vital parts of living, and interrupts the flow of positive, moral, life guidance afforded by Torah’s instruction.

So I think that my meme is accurate. If the Chanukah miracle was to occur with cell phones, it would be to ensure that we use them less frequently, and spend more time developing the kind of moral clarity, social propriety and general goodness that can only be done with personal introspection, or with real live people.

I, for one am committed to taking this imaginary Chanukah miracle seriously, and I commit too make sure that when that creepy app gives me my totals next week, and the next, they will continually creep lower.

Thousands of North American teens gather in Israel for NCSY mega-event

Thousands of North American teens gather in Israel for NCSY mega-event Held under the stars, the event featured a massive barbecue, concert and talk from incoming Jewish Agency chairman Isaac Herzog.

(July 26, 2018 / JNS) On Wednesday night, more than 2,500 Jewish teenagers from hundreds of communities in North America gathered at the Latrun Armored Corps Museum near Jerusalem for the annual…