Chanukah celebrates miracles–the miracle of a small army defeating a large one, of a small jug of oil that should only have burned for one day lasting eight days instead.

This year Chanukah and Christmas fall during the same week. Christmas is about miracles,too–the miraculous birth of Jesus.

It doesn’t really matter if you believe either of these stories are true. Our wisdom teachers–the Kabbalists in particular–tell us that this is a time when we can access the energy of miracles.

As we soak in the light of the Chanukah candles–or any candles–we can become receivers of miracles. Like the oil put into receptacles used to create light, we can make ourselves receptacles for God’s goodness.

Light has always been associated with God. And the Kabbalists say God created us as receivers. We need only open ourselves to that light, allow it in…make room for it in our lives and with ourselves.

How do we do this? I suggest we spend eight days considering the miracles in our lives already. Gratitude is the strongest prayer of all, so why not consider the miracles we already have in our lives, and be thankful for them?  Each night, thank God for a small or large miracle you now experience or have experienced over the last year.

Bask in the glow of miracles.

If you want, you can also imagine the miracles you’d like bestowed upon you in the coming year. Offer gratitude for them–as if God had already graced you with them.

Bask in the glow of these miracles as well.

Eight days of miracles…When you spend more than a week considering miracles, you’ll realize you live a miraculous life all the time. You’ll appreciate the miracle of life and the miraculous nature of God.

That’s the miracle of truly observing Chanukah.

During the season of gift giving, it’s easy to get caught up in the commercialism of the holidays. However, you can make the season meaning-full and spirit-full by giving gifts that come from your heart as well as from your soul.

Most people find it easy to give heart-centered gifts. By simply thinking about the people we love and considering the things they love, we can give thoughtful gifts that feel loving, filled with love and that come from a place of love.

Giving soul-centered gifts may feel harder. Doing this involves giving gifts you feel come from your soul purpose. You must, therefore, have a sense of what your soul purpose is. Do you have a passion? Are you good at something? Do you feel you feel gifted in some way? Do you sense that you are supposed to do something while here on this earth? If so, this likely constitutes your soul purpose.

If you can find a way to give from that purpose, you will give a soulful gift. One way to accomplish this involves creating something you can share with others that also fulfills your purpose. To do this, take some time to imagine what you would like to manifest or create that would fulfill your purpose. It could be anything…a book, a garden, a daycare center, a professional speaking job, quilts for the homeless, time for your children, jobs for homeless people, beautiful jewelry, how-to articles, unique meditation spaces, drivers for the elderly…

Now take some time to focus your energy and thoughts on manifesting it.

• Imagine first that you are connected to the Source of all abundance. You are one with the One.
• Then sense your purpose pulsing within you. Get a clear feeling or picture of that purpose.
• Now feel the energy of wanting to create something. What is it you want to create? Focus your thoughts on it. Develop a clear and concise though of what you desire to manifest that will fulfill your purpose.
• See yourself going through the necessary and the inspired action steps required to bring this desire into physical manifestation. Imagine how good it will feel to take those action steps and to see them come to fruition.
• Imagine what it would be like to actually create this desire and fulfill your purpose not only by manifesting it but also by sharing it with others. Feel what it would be like to give what you have created to others and, thereby, to fulfill your soul purpose.

Now, go out and begin doing what it takes to give soulful gifts. If you can create them in time for your holiday (or if your holiday has passed), give the people you love an IOU. They’ll understand and appreciate your intention.

If you enjoyed this exercise, you can find similar ones in my ebook, The Kabbalah of Conscious Creation.

The winter holiday season offers us a wonderful time to focus on hope, faith and miracles.

Chanukah revolves around the idea of miracles—a small band of Jews fought against a large army while trying to preserve their religious freedom and won. They had hope and faith and a miracle occurred. Plus, during the rededication of their temple, a small jug of oil lasted not for one day, but for eight—another miracle.

At its most basic foundation, Christmas revolves around the winter solstice and the hope and faith that the short winter days will once again grow long. Additionally, it focuses on the miracle of the birth of Jesus. No matter what story you want to believe about Jesus, he lived a miraculous life that offers many people hope and faith.

The tradition of giving gifts at this time of year, one more common to Christians but adopted by Jews as well, allows us to turn our attention to consciously giving to others. While I’m known to criticize the commercialization of these holidays, giving from the heart consciously is a good thing. We all need to learn to give consciously, and the holidays season provides as good a time to start as any.

Sometimes giving consciously creates its own set of miracles. Try giving every day of the holiday season and see what happens. You might be amazed. In fact, this action alone might restore you faith and hope in many things. Don’t just give because it’s a holiday; give all month long…and then continue giving. These can be small gifts of energy or time. A prayer is a gift. A hug or a smile is a gift. Give a gift that fulfills your soul purpose; these can be the most powerful gifts of all. Just give consciously. See what happens.

Tonight marks the first night of Hanukkah. My daughter is in New York in college this year. My son and I will be alone; my husband just left on a business trip. We just got back from a trip ourselves and with Hanukkah falling in the middle of the week and no preparation made or presents purchased, the holiday doesn’t feel very festive.

However, I received an email from Idit Klein, executive director of Keshet.  Keshet’s mission is to ensure that gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Jews are fully included in all parts of the Jewish community. The email talked about teens like Esther, Sasha, Aaron, and Sarah of the Gay-Straight Alliance at the A. J. Heschel School in New York coming together to light the first candle of the holiday with a kavannah (intention around the blessing). They provide a superb example of the fact that the most effective way to “make things better” lies in allowing young people to make it better for themselves and their peers, in their schools, congregations, youth movements, and communities.

Please take a look at the video they made for Keshet introducing themselves and using the kavannah below for the first candle.

We dedicate this first night of Hanukkah to knowing one’s identity and standing strong against external forces. As we light the first candle, we dedicate this light to each person in our community who needs support to be steadfast, to stay grounded in an inner space of calm and courage.

(Light your candle here)

Our tradition teaches us that each good act gives forth another, one spark makes others, and a string of candles awaits us this week. We hope you will join us this Hanukkah in spreading the light of hope and strength to everyone in our community.

(Adapted by Keshet from http://www.chabad.org/theJewishWoman/article_cdo/aid/1348517/jewish/Eight-Meditations-for-the-Eight-Nights-of-Chanukah.htm.)

In that email I mentioned, Klein wrote, “We’re grateful to youth groups like BBYO for taking a strong role and forwarding the Jewish Community Pledge to their 30,000 members. But we need your help to reach every corner of our community and ensure that no young person has to feel alone or have to hide who they are during this Hanukkah or any other time. Please pass this email along to your friends, and ask them to sign the pledge as well: www.jewishcommunitypledge.org.”

Keshet helped support students at Heschel in the planning of the first school-wide program about homophobia. Learn more about Keshet’s work supporting student and teacher efforts for GLBT inclusion.

I decided it would be my gift to children all over the world today to forward her request along and to share the video and candle-lighting intention above with the hope that others will take on this cause. No child should feel alone or different. Both my children have felt this way too often. As a mother, it breaks my heart. As children, teens and young adults, this experience has colored my children’s perception of who they are. Kids don’t have to be gay or lesbian to feel different or separate or to be teased or bullied. My son, in particular, has always felt most accepted at Jewish camp and in BBYO.

This Hanukkah, give the gift of your support to Jewish children all over the world who feel different in any way–and to help teach others to accept all types of people. It doesn’t cost a dime. I’ve already signed the pledge. (You don’t have to be Jewish to do this.) Will you do the same and share this post?

I couldn’t let the last night of Chanukah pass without posting some sort of teaching. (I know I already posted a blog today…) I knew I had read something somewhere about the importance of the eight night, and then I remembered! My friend Rabbi David Zaslow posted this on Facebook:

The symbol for 8 is an infinity sign ∞ standing and joining heaven to earth. The 8th night of Hanukkah is a mystical night called “Zote Hanukkah,” meaning “this is Hanuakkah.” It’s what we’ve been lighting toward all week – a deep sense that heaven and earth, spirit and body, are really one. We light all 8 candles and silently mediate on them as they burn…that’s when the miraculous becomes evident.

So, there you have it. A wonderous teaching for the last night. Thanks Reb David!

Plus, it’s Shabbat…If you want to read about the doubling the light tonight, check out this article.

The Kabbalists talk a great deal about the “light.” Through our actions we draw this Divine light into the world, thereby, increasing the light—or we push the light away, cover it up, and diminish its presence. In the Zohar, the mystical text of Kabbalah, there is a teaching that says that everything is new when seen in the light beyond the sun. The light we bring in by lighting Chanukah candles consists of this light beyond the sun. It’s the light beyond this world, a light of pure potentiality, a light of miracles. When seen in that special light, the world looks like a miracle…many things look miraculous.

According to halachah, or Jewish law, however, when we light the chanukiah, the Chanukah menorah, we are prohibited from using its light for any purpose. That means we can’t light the candles and then read by their light or do some other task by their light. We can’t hold up the chanukiah and look at the wold around us. Instead, we are told to simply look at the light.

Typically, when we light a candle, we look at what the light allows us to see— what we see in the light. On Chanukah, however, we focus on the light itself—on seeing the light…the light that is pure potential, the light that symbolizes the spiritual realm, the light that is God. We want our eyes to become filled with this light, so that when we turn away from the candles we see the world as if illuminated by this light. Our eyes illuminate it, and we see the world anew.

Just as Chanukah offers us a reminder that miracles are possible, and the Kabbalists tell us that during Chanukah we can access the energy of miracles, the light of the Chanukah candles reminds us to see everything as miraculous. Typically, we go through life seeing everything as normal and ordinary. We don’t see miracles.

Occasionally, I attend a gathering called “Miracles and Intentions.” During this gathering, we are asked to give voice to the miracles we’ve experienced over the last month. People talk about all sorts of things…large and small. A check that arrived in the mail unexpectedly. A cat coming home after being lost. A reconciliation. Waking up feeling well. A call about a potential job. The car needing only $100 worth of repair work. A new client. I love this gathering, because it reminds me to be aware of miracles, to look for them every day in all sorts of places, to acknowledge the miracles in my own life. I remember that miracles exist in the eyes of the beholder.

We are told that God stopped performing miracles here on Earth. I don’t believe it’s true. As Albert Einstein said, “There are two ways of looking at the world—either you see nothing as a miracle or you see everything as a miracle.” If you believe in and look for miracles, you’ll see them. (God’s hand is still at work.) At least try to spend some time looking at the Chanukah candles burning brightly and fill your eyes with the light of potential so you can be reminded to look for miracles. Afterwards, I’m sure if you try, you’ll spot an occasional miracle here and there.

As we get ready to light the first candle on the chanukiah, marking the first night of Chanukah, I want to remind everyone that afterwards we are supposed to place it in the window to shine its light outward into the world. This is a way of reminding the world of the possibility of miracles as well as bringing more light into the world.

I think at this time in history, we need this light more than ever. We stand on the brink of change, at a time in our evolutionary history when mankind – indeed, even the Earth itself – is undergoing huge transformation.  Every ounce of light, by which I mean higher consciousness, helps this process.

Look at the houses decorated for Christmas. They are beacons of light. And many of them have candles, albeit electric ones, shining in each window.

I’d like to suggest that each Jew go beyond simply placing our lit Chanukah candles, shining brightly in their chanukiah, in the window for all to see. I’d like to suggest that we see ourselves as a candle shining light brightly into the world not just from the comfort of our homes but each time we go out into the world. (Of course, non-Jews can do this as well, and I’d love it if you would!)

It is said that our soul is God’s candle. Thus, we light the way for God here on earth. Our soul also consists of a spark of Divinity. It is the part of us created in God’s image. And when we let it shine through, we light up the world not just with our own light but with God’s light as well. In truth, they are one and the same.

How do we let our light shine? By allowing ourselves to be our true selves without worry about what others think, without fear of judgement. We do this by allowing our actions and words to come from our heart, by acting on our passions, by loving others, by doing what we know is right, by fulfilling our soul’s purpose.

If that feels difficult, try this. Close your eyes and image that you’re are a candle. Your body is the actual candle stick and your soul is the flame. As you identify with this candle, experience yourself as a great light. Visualize the light of your soul radiating and shining brightly in this world. How will it help light other candles? How will it ignite the souls of others? See yourself like the shamas,  the helper candle that lights all the other candles on the chanukiah, lighting other candles – other souls – without ever diminishing your own light, your own energy source. In fact, see your flame burning more brightly with each candle you light.

Now, go out and be a shamas. Shine your own light this Chanukah.

Here’s a nice song for Chanukah to get you in the mood to shine your light…

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For most Jews, it feels difficult to get into the Chanukah spirit when the whole world seem so intent on getting into the Christmas spirit. Everywhere you turn, you see Christmas decorations, sales, lights, articles, candy… It’s almost impossible to walk into a store, doctor’s office or non-Jewish friend’s house without hearing Christmas music, not to mention finding a radio station that doesn’t play at least one Christmas song each hour.

When my kids were young, I used to decorate the house with tons of Chanukah decorations. Albeit, this was not much different than what Christians do, but it helped my kids–indeed, my whole family–get into the Chanukah spirit. Last year, we pulled out a few at the last minute. It felt sort of anticlimactic. There was no “umph” to the whole holiday, because we were busy with school and work.

That’s the other problem. Christians get time off for Christmas, but unless Chanukah falls during that “Christmas break,” Jews have to fit the holiday into every-day life. It can be hard to find time to make latkes and play dreidle when you work all day and the kids have activities and homework.

Yet, Chanukah brings with it the energy of miracles. The Kabbalists said that during the eight days of this holiday, it was possible for humans to access that energy and create miracles in their lives. If we remember that one fact, we can make Chanukah feel magical even in the midst of homework, dishes, work, soccer, dance, and errands. We can focus on the possibility of miracles happening all around us.

I’ve heard it taught that we must actually raise our consciousness to the level of miracles–rather than expecting miracles to “befall” us, or for God to bring miracles “down” to us. If the Kabbalists are right about this fact, then despite our busy lives, during Chanukah we can work on raising our consciousness above the mundane to a higher spiritual level. By doing so, we access that miracle consciousness.

This doesn’t take much really…a little time spent offering gratitude, a few moments focusing on your breath, a quiet moment of prayer–even while driving, an awareness of God’s creation all around you, a blessing for another day of life as you awaken, a focus on the little miracles that happen in your life all the time.

Anticipation also brings us into the Chanukah spirit. Maybe that’s what my decorations accomplished. Putting them out a week or three or four days prior to the holiday helped me build energy around the holiday. Jews often do this by cleaning prior to a holiday, just as we do each week before the Sabbath. We can build energy by getting out our chanukiah, buying candles, making sure we have potatoes for latkes, purchasing gifts or getting brand new dollar bills to offer as “gelt” for the children, or putting out special Chanukah place mats. Or we can anticipate by meditating on the miracle that created the holiday…and the miracles we’d like to create during the current holiday.

We can purchase Chanukah music and play it not only during Chanukah but before the holiday begins. We can read about Chanukah and find new rituals and traditions to make part of our yearly observance. We can have a Chanukah party. (Read about the party I used to throw and the one the president throws in the White House here.)

Really, there’s no excuse to not get into the Chanukah spirit. It’s easy to look around at the Christmas spirit building and to become a grinch, grumbling about how everything is all about Christmas from Halloween all the way until New Year’s Eve…but wouldn’t it be better to get into the Chanukah spirit and create some miracles instead?

The story of Chanukah revolves around two main points:  The success of a small Jewish army over a large Assyrian one in a fight for religious freedom or, maybe more accurately, against assimilation and the miracle of the sole jar of oil found in the temple that burned not for one day in as expected but for eight during the rededication of the Jewish Temple, which was defiled by the Assyrians.

Thus, the special eight-branched menorah, or chanukiah, provides the primary symbol of Chanukah. While most Jews today light candles in their chanukiah, it’s more traditional to use oil in memory of that small, miraculous jar of oil. Either way, the flame itself holds special meaning, and the Kabbalists, or Jewish mystics, had a special practice of candle gazing that can be especially powerful during this holiday, which is said to hold the energy of miracles. So, today, I’d like to share some information about candle gazing and candle light.

In fact, last year I was scheduled to give a talk at a New Thought church during the month of December. I asked the participants of a Jewish renewal list serve to share with me their thoughts and wisdom on the subject of “light,” so I could construct a speech that would be relevant to both Jews and Christians alike. Someone shared this information with me, and I’m doing the same in the spirit of “each one teach one.” I personally love this information, and I needed a review myself so I could take the most advantage of the candle light or light from my one oil chanukiah this year! I hope you’ll find it “enlightening” and useful.

A flame has three parts:

1. The inner part of the flame that hugs the wick and consumes the oil is the chashmal, the black or dark blue part of the flame. It represents the physical world, because of its physicality, its action of burning, transmuting and consuming the oil or the wick.

2. The main body of the flame is the aish or fire. It provides the principle source of light to the word around the candle; as such it is the spiritual element of the candle. It represents the Light of God. In Kabbalistic terms, we God created the world the Infinite One had to first create a space – a void – for something else to exist. In this void, creation happened. A light – Divine Light – was sent into the void to create the world as we know it. In many traditions, God is equated with Light.

3. The third part is called the nogha, the brightness surrounding the flame. This constitutes the subtle halo or aura around the rim of the flame. Sometimes we must adjust our eyes to see the nogha. In fact, stop for a minute and think about the Shabbat candle-lighting ritual: Jewish women cover their eyes after lighting the Shabbat candles supposedly because the blessings are usually said before an action, but you can’t do that in the case of lighting Shabbat candles; we can’t work after Shabbat begins and lighting candles represents work.  However, there’s another reason women cover their eye while saying the blessing: After they open their eyes, their pupils dilate, and it becomes easier to see the nogha surrounding the flame.

So, why do we want to see the nogha?  Because while the chashmal turns the physicality of the oil or wick into the spirituality of the aish or fire, the nogha moves the flame into the realm of pure potentiality. The nogha represents the future of the flame, the new height it aspires to be.

By looking at the chasmal and then at the aish, we move from physicality to spirituality, from physical being to soul level. When we then look from aish to nogha we move from soul level to the real of pure potentiality. When we gaze at the nogha we are looking at the place where miracles are created.

Interestingly, the nogha corresponds with the name for God given to Moses at the Burning Bush – the unpronounceable name Yud Hey Vav Hey, which means I will be what I will be or I am becoming what I am becoming.  This is the level of potential.  The nogha taps into the energy of that which has not yet come into existence but will be born. 

I’ve been told that we can access the energy of miracles during Chanukah. Maybe this is how…by tapping into the energy of the nogha, by accessing the place of pure potentiality. Now, we can find that any time, with any candle however, right? Ah, but Chanukah is a special time for this.

Let’s look at candles another way. In Judaism, we are told that the soul of a human being represents the candle of God.  If we are using a wax candle, the wax equals the energy – the thing the flame needs to keep burning. If it were oil, the oil would equal energy. The Kabbalists would have used oil for their lamps and candles. The Kabbalists took notice when two words have the same letters or the same root. It’s no wonder, therefore, that they noticed that while the Hebrew word hashemen means “oil,” the Hebrew word neshemah means “soul.” Notice that the two Hebrew words use the exact same letters.  What does this mean to us? In the wisdom of Kabbalah, the soul equals our energy. It’s our energy to do things and to get through things. It provides our potential to get through when things seem the darkest.

Let’s look at how this relates to the holidays we celebrate at this time of year: For the last two thousand years, Jews have lit candles on a moonless night at the darkest time of the year.  (This year, the first night of Chanukah actually fell on the Winter Solstice.) No matter how bad things looked, they remembered the miracles of the past, and knew God would deliver them.  Therefore, Chanukah demonstrates the certainty of light even in the greatest darkness. We remember that even when things are the darkest, the light always comes. The days get longer again. The potential for light exists even at the darkest moment.

The lesson seems clear to me. If we can uncover the spiritual opportunity hidden in life’s challenges, we will be strengthened and transformed through them. The winter solstice, which falls just at the time of the winter holidays – both Chanukah and Christmas (and Kwanza), helps humanity find the light of faith in the darkness of despair.

Sometimes when we find ourselves in the dark, and we feel despair, we just don’t have the energy to light the candle…to do what it takes…to ignite the fire that will transmute that oil into the potential for something else.

Our soul may be God’s candle, but it is also a spark of God, a small flame burning inside us made from the Divine Flame. Thus, as long as the neshama – the soul – is still in you, you have what it takes – the energy to get through to create miracles.  My rabbi has a friend who likes to say, “If God leads you to it, God will lead you through it.”

The Kabbalists have a nice teaching that corresponds to this. One the first night of Chanukah, we light just one candle – one light.  But, in fact, there are two lights. The shamas (helper) lights the light of the first candle and never leaves any one candle to burn alone. The shamas is symbolic of the Shechinah, the Divine Feminine Indwelling presence, and she come to see to it that each night has its Light.

In the same way, she stands with each soul to give that soul exactly what it needs to keep shining – to give it its oil, its energy. She ignites each soul out of Her own Essence and does all she can to keep them all lit up. In turn, just as the shamas lights the other candles, just as the Shechinah lights our souls, we can ignite the souls of others. We possess the potential to help others, to fuel others without diminishing our own energy source. I’ve heard it explained this way: A candle rising up on its own can have an infinite number of other candles lit from it without detracting from its own fire.

In addition to liking words, The Kabbalist liked numbers. They discovered that if you look at the sum total of all the candles for the eight nights not including the Shamas there are a total of 36 candles.  1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8 = 36  Some connect this 36 with the number of hours the primordial light at the beginning of creation shone in the Garden of Eden before the exile from the garden and before the hiding of that primordial light. Some say we don’t normally have ready access to that primordial light, but we do get temporary access at special times of the year. Chanukah is a time of access.  As such, it affords us a chance to see with great clarity and purity – so much so that we can have prophetic vision, we can see what is to come. Maybe access to that light also allows us to access the energy of miracles, to not only see into the future but to begin creating the future.

If you want to try the gazing meditation, try this on the last night: Begin by gazing at the first candle and focusing on one…the idea of one God…the one Creator…All that Is…lighting the many. There’s a unity that comes as the rest of the candles are lit. And as we plunge into the One, we move through the many. Follow the candles, gazing until you end up at a place of Unity – the seventh candle. Seven is the place of Completion.  God finished creation on the seventh day with the creation of the Sabbath, the day of rest and of rekindling the soul. On day seven, we achieve shalom, completion, the place where we are One with the One. 

Then, move beyond to candle number eight, the final candle. There we enter Infinity. We go beyond what we know, what has been created before, to enter a new realm, a realm of Infinite possibilities in connection with the One. Eight lights represent a miracle…beyond seven, seven represents the ordinary, the known, the revealed world created in cycles of seven.  Eight candles moves us beyond the known, beyond the cycles, beyond limitations and boundaries, into the extraordinary, into a place of transcendence, into the place of pure potentiality. Continue looking at the eighth candle while bringing the other candles also into your line of vision and see potential.   

Notice the special quality of the candle light emanating from the chanukiah. This is the eternal light of God, the hidden, holy light that existed before creation and that Adam and Eve saw briefly in the Garden.  Take a moment to try and connect with the primordial light and to see not only back to the beginning of creation but into the extension of creation.

(You can do this part of the exercise on any night of Chanukah.) Now, look at the center of one of the candles, at the chashmal, where it consumes the physical wick or the oil, transmuting the energy.  Allow the light of the candle to shine on your own life. Ask yourself where your energy is consumed? Where should you be placing your energy? What provides you with a source of energy?

Look at the aish, the flame itself, the spiritual center of the candle that sheds light on the world. Allow it to shine on your life and your world. Ask yourself, What you need to see more clearly? Has your soul been ignited? Do you need more light in your life?

Now, close your eyes briefly, and then reopen them and try to see the nogha, the aura around the flame that exists in pure potentiality. What does it tell you about what you are becoming? What does it tell you about your soul’s purpose? Can you see the potential in your life

Close your eyes and image that you’re are a candle. Your body is the actual candle stick and your soul is the flame. As you identify with this candle, experience yourself as a great light. Visualize the light of your soul radiating and shining brightly in this world. How will it help light other candles? How will it ignite the souls of others? See yourself like the Shamas, like the Shechinah, lighting other candles – other souls — without ever diminishing your own light, your own energy source. In fact, see your flame burning more brightly with each candle you light.

Visualize the chanukiah.  See the shamas growing larger and leaning forward toward your flame, adding energy, adding light. See your flame growing taller, stronger. Feel the increased energy within you, the increased spiritual force, the growing potential. As the shamas, separates its flame and moves back to the chanukiah, retain that feeling. Allow the vision to fade and still retaining the feeling as you come back to normal awareness.

This Chanukah, as many of us feel the constraints of the current economic conditions and darkness not only of the time of year but of the current world situation, may we all enjoy the light of our chanukiot filling our homes and our lives with  the possibility of miracles!

And if you are not, Judaism has a beautiful and very mystical prayer called the Ana B’Choach that can help you also untie the tangles you may have created in your life. In fact, the translation for the first line means, “Please, God, with the strength of your right hand, untie our tangles.” We are told that if we recite this prayer, God will, indeed, help do just that.

The following is how Rabbi Sheba Gold explains the prayer and a practice for using it. Since Reb Shefa is known for her chants, she doesn’t use the whole prayer but rather just the first line. You can listen to the chant here.

“Clearing The Way“

  Ana b’choach gedulat y’mincha Tatir Tz’rurah
      

 

 
Please, with the strength of your right hand, untie our tangles.           (Siddur)

 

 

This is the first line of a magical prayer ascribed to Rabbi Nechuriah ben Hakanah. The whole prayer contains 42 words, the initials of which comprise the secret unpronounceable 42 letter name of God.

With this practice we call on that aspect of God that moves through obstacles, dissolves resistance and opens the way forward for us.

Begin by asking, “What is the obstacle (inner or outer) that is getting in my way?” Lay that obstacle lovingly on the altar of the chant. As you chant, allow the power of God’s right hand to move through you forcefully opening the way ahead and delicately untying the tangles within you.

 

 

Interestingly, I was on Facebook the other day and noticed that one of my “friends” had noted her status as “praying the ana b’choach with a group of friends.” What a great idea I thought – not only to pray the ana b’choach, but to do it in a group. It seems the world itself has tied itself in many a knot and is in need of a grand untangling. It’s a good time for us all to say the ana b’choach together and individually, for ourselves, for each other and for the world.

If you would like to say the whole payer in English or in Hebew, here it is:

 (For a little clearer version of this, go to http://neohasid.org/resources/ana_bekhoach_liturgy/, which is where I found it.)

May the energy of miracles that fills the holiday of Chanukah also help you untie any tangles you may have made of you life since this time last year.