Happy Hanukkah from Magan Avraham Omer

Written by Devora Greenberg, Rav Siach Director and Rabbi Arie Hasit, Educational Developer from our sister congregation in Israel

Hanukkah is a holiday of many miracles, yet all of them share the theme that light, be it actual or metaphorical, has the ability to expel even the most powerful darkness. The following study includes a number of texts from Jewish and Israeli sources. These texts reference the struggle between light and darkness, exploring together what darkness is in our world right now and how are you able to bring light to it, what can small minorities do when they see a darkness caused by a group stronger than they are.

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Whether you view the miracle of Hanukkah as the military victory of the Maccabees over the Greeks, the spiritual victory of Judaism over those who sought to eliminate it, or the miracle of a small cruise of oil which outperformed all expectations, we are grateful for the miracles in which we are able to overcome adversity and let our values shine.

May we succeed in shining light where there is darkness, today as we were in days of old.

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Throughout Hanukkah we will present the face of Masorti Judaism on our movements Facebook pages. Each day we will meet activists who spread light through their activity in the Masorti Movement. We will honor them with lighting the Hanukiah. For the first night we met Rabbi Jennifer Gorman, Director of MERCAZ-Canada & Canadian Foundation for Masorti Judaism, who is involved in many projects to spread light in Toronto to the Jewish community and beyond.

Rabbi Gorman has traveled across Canada teaching a Jewish unity program for Tisha B’Av called “Our Kotel: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow,” that focuses on the bonds that connect Jews from across the religious spectrum. Additionally, she was proud to help build homes for the needy alongside a team of interfaith clergy for Habitat for Humanity’s “Clergy Build”.

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Shirat Machar Hanukkah Song
Filled with Love

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משחק הסביבונים - a game for kids, youth and anyone who loves dreidels

Divide into small groups of five participants per group.
Each group receives a dreidel with the letters "נ", "ג", "ה", "ש"
After each participants guesses (gambles) the letter which the dreidel will fall on, the winner, in accordance to the letter they chose needs to answer the following:
Nes – a special occasion or a "miracle" that happened to them, a story with serendipity that took place in their life.
Gadol – Something important/significant that happened to them recently, or a historical event they participated in, a significant event they took part of.
Haya - an interesting story (unfamiliar) from their past, their family’s past, their town, etc
Sham – a special experience they had in Israel, a question about Israel, a hope for Israel.

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Rav Siach is the Hebrew word for a multi-party discourse, and it is the name chosen for a program initiated by the Masorti Movement in Israel and the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, designed to provide Conservative Masorti congregations worldwide and Masorti communities in Israel with a platform which would enable them to connect and form relationships between Israeli and Diaspora rabbis and their respective communities. Rav Siach aspires to cultivate a dialogue between the communities, which will grapple with key issues confronting Israeli society and Diaspora communities.
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We currently have a special Skype study group with our sister synagogue in Israel where we discuss Rav Siach.
If you're interested in attending, click HERE.