Published November 2021
“The Internal Menorah”
Whenever I see the lights of the Chanukah menorah, I am reminded that the brightest light is not in the outside world, but inside the menorah located in our hearts and souls.
Jacques Lipschitz, the sculptor, understood that truth very well. He spent his youth in Paris where he was a close friend of Soutine, Modigliani and Chagall. One day another painter complained that he was dissatisfied with the light he painted on his canvasses. He went off to Morocco, seeking a change in light. He found that the light in his Moroccan canvasses was no different. Lipschitz then told him; “An artist’s light comes from within, not from without.”
Even as we are all artists in life, we must strive to kindle the light within. All that we see about us, all that we touch and feel only serves as a stimulus. The true creative spark is that which lies within the heart and soul of all of us.
We must learn to kindle our inner spiritual light and to keep the glow warm and strong. We can do this by developing the ability to trust ourselves and our own judgments. The light within must be shielded from the cold blasts of callousness and indifference. The nurturing of the inner spiritual fire is a lifetime enterprise. We must follow that light wherever it leads us.
Happy Chanukah!
Rabbi Alvin Kass
Chief Chaplain of the NYPD