Publicize The Miracle! (Clebrate with us!)

That is what we are told to do. Our Nesivot Sholom Chevra met at our gracious hosts' house in Passaic NJ. Why we learned the deep meaning of Chanukah we also were ivited to partake of as much delicious schnitzel and cholent as stomachs would allow. Previously we had the opportunity to learn from Shlomo Brevda on Tuesday Novemeber 27 2007 at Ahavas Yisrael in Passaic NJ.


Some of the greatest things we are blessed with as a people, as a nation, as Torah observant jews, are often simply not appreciated for what they are. We have miracles to be thankfull for every single day. We daven with all of our kavanah, and hope for a good things, and they happen. We face adversity, and pray to Hashem that we not fall victim to a negative outcome, and we are spared so many tragedies.

I was 18 years old and had the unique opportunity to live with my grandpaernts who lived in Poland duting WW II they survived the holocaust in hiding. One time I told my grandfather I was hungry. He looked at me in all seriousness, and told me that I do not know what it means to be hungry. I had heard his story many times even as a young child in Kindergarten so of course I instantly knew he was right. He went on to tell me that when I think I am hungry, I go to the refrigerator, "thats not what it means to be hungry".

One of my Grandfather's most often told stories was about the time he played chess for his life. Without giving over the entire story suffice it to understand that when he met with the man he played chess with, he was hungry. The man my grandfather played chess with happened to be the owner of a small bungalo in the off season at a time period in Poland when shelter for a jew must have been difficult to obtain (as I write this I am sure it is a gross understatement) in Poland during the war. I remember my grandfather's gestures as he spoke the very familiar tale.

As they sat down to play chess (my grandfather knew the art of schmoozing) his gracious host gestured casually to some fruit on the table and offered him something to eat. Oh no, my grandfather said, gesturing to his stomach as if he was full. Meanwhile he told me how hungry he really was! He made a gesture to his throat saying he would have taken a knife to his own throat before revealing to his host any clue as to how hungry he really was.

That was all my grandfather needed to say. There was no doubt in my mind that I did not know what it means to be hungry. I might add here that it is also most likely true that no one reading this truly knows what it means to be hungry. How often do we think to truly acknowledge in our hearts, minds, and neshoma how much of a miracle it really is that we and are children have never known hunger.

Aharon Moshe Sanders, 2007