This article was previously published in 2017.
We are now celebrating Chanukah, and are about to celebrate the New Moon of Capricorn, or Tevet. And of course, as Kabbalah teaches, there are no coincidences. Therefore, the fact that the beginning of the month of Capricorn always comes towards the end of Chanukah is not an accident. During Chanukah, we have tremendous opportunity to elevate and connect to miracles. As we enter the new month of Capricorn, we can ask to keep that Light and those gifts we connected to during Chanukah with us even once Chanukah is over.
"Ask the Light to help us maintain the elevated state we achieved during Chanukah."
One of my favorite stories concerning the eight days of Chanukah and the gifts that we can receive from them is about a great kabbalist known as The Seer of Lublin, The Chozeh of Lublin. If someone gave him a piece of paper with a person’s name on it, he was able to see everything about that person, including how connected they were to the Light of the Creator. Often, people who could not travel all the way to Lublin to see him would send a friend or somebody to him with their name on a piece of paper.
One time, a messenger came to the Seer of Lublin and gave him a piece of paper with a person's name on it. The Seer of Lublin looked at it and said, "Wow, this person shines like the heavens! He is so pure and elevated.” Then he gave that person a blessing. Three or four months later, the same person asked the messenger to again take his name to the Seer of Lublin to get another blessing. When the Seer of Lublin looked at the paper, he said, "Take this paper away from me! This is such a terribly negative person that I do not even want to see his name." The messenger, of course, was taken aback, because just a few months ago the Seer was saying how amazing this guy is and how much his soul is shining, and now he is terrible.
So, he said to the Seer, "I do not understand. A few months ago I was here and gave you the same name, and you told me that he is a shining, elevated soul. And now you’re saying he is a terrible person?” The Seer stopped for a second, thought back, and asked the messenger when he had come last, to which he answered that it was in the middle of Chanukah. The Seer of Lublin then said, "What happened at that time is the person whose name was on the paper was lighting the Chanukiah andmaking the connection. Anybody, when they are making that connection, becomes elevated and their soul shines brightly; that is what I saw at that time. Now, it is after Chanukah, and he is back to where he was. So, that is the person I now see.”
Simply, what we want to take from this story, is that as we make the connection through the lighting of the Chanukiah and enter into the month of Capricorn, one of the most important things to do is to know the power of what is available to us, and ask the Light to help us maintain the elevated state we achieved during Chanukah even once it is over. Why? Because as this story shows us, we do not want to go back to being the same person we were before Chanukah. We want whatever Light, gifts, and elevation we received during these great days of Light to change us and stay with us.
