Experience the miracles when you make Hashem your ultimate pillar.
Mazel: bow and arrow (keshes)
Letter: Samech ס
This month of dark, long nights that culminates in a weeklong celebration of our nation’s miracles—then and now— is the opportune time to channel our own personal darkness toward sincere, heartfelt tefillah.
According to the Ibn Ezra, the root of the word Kislev (כסל), means a pillar to lean on and trust. The round letter samach, which is the letter associated with Kislev, also alludes to full support—from all angles, a cocoon of security. Its root of somech reminds us that Hashem is the Someich noflim, the One who holds up the fallen. This is not only true for bayamim haheim, the days of the Yevanim, but very much too bazman hazeh, yes, in our days.
With this understanding of the spiritual propensity of Kislev, we can appreciate why the mazel of this month is a bow and arrow. As the Shem MiShemuel explains, the tighter you pull the bow, the higher the arrow reaches. The more desperate our tefillah, the more powerful an impact it has in the Heavens.
There’s a long month we have to get through in order to reach the light at the very end, and even on Chanukah itself we light the menorah one candle at a time, night after night, until we’re finally enveloped in its full glow. What keeps us going throughout is the hope we hold on to, the recognition that we are enveloped in Hashem’s support, and the tefillos we say from the depths of the darkness. We women, especially, are great at this waiting game. It’s what we call “patience for the process.” We know what it means to endure a seemingly endless pregnancy, buoyed by the anticipation of what’s to come, b’ezras Hashem. In fact, it’s because we women were able to wait out Moshe Rabeinu’s return from Shamayim with patience, and we thus did not participate in the cheit of the eigel, that Rosh Chodesh was rewarded to us as our special Yom Tov.
But as much as we have it in us to wait it out, there’s also a place in us that is itching for wholeness, for the salvation we’re aching for. This is our time, dear sisters, to access the desperation we feel for a particular yeshuah.
Want to tap in to the greatest spiritual propensity of this month? Recognize that Hashem is the ultimate Pillar of support to lean on—and turn to Him. When we do that, we don’t only become vessels for untold yeshuos and miracles, but just the feeling of being supported gives us so much comfort and enables us to feel more radiant and whole. We usher so much light into our life. Let’s make it happen!
Here’s how to maximize the potential of this month:
1. Once per day this month, reflect on your current life circumstances and choose ONE issue that is pressing on your heart, one place where you’re experiencing darkness.
2. Every morning of this month, take a few moments to zoom in on this issue.
Stretch the bow as taut as possible, concentrating on just how desperate you are for a change/improvement in this area. Allow yourself to feel the DESPERATION for the salvation by exploring the emotions that this challenge brings up for you. (It may be pain, hopelessness, frustration, failure, angst, fear, confusion, aloneness, and/or disappointment.) Remember: It is through allowing ourselves to feel the darkness that a world of light opens up for us.
3. Now’s the time to fling that arrow as high as it goes: Lean on Hashem by turning to Him for His support.
Picture yourself inside a cocoon, cushioned by Hashem’s loving, ceaseless support from all sides. Feeling held gives way to genuine tefillah; we only pour our heart out when we feel that we’re being heard and that our words are given full attention.
The more DESPERATE the tefillah the more sincere and thus effective it’ll be. (“Hashem, it bothers me so much that… I’m at such a loss when it comes to… I am desperate for… Please grant me the wisdom… Please guide me toward the right shaliach to help me out… I know that You and only You could bring about the miracle/change we need.” If you don’t yet feel this sense of trust: “Hashem, I so want to lean on You and put my full trust in You. Help me believe that You and only You can bring about my yeshuah in an instant.”)
This Kislev, like the Chashmonaim before us whose only ammunition was Bitachon in Hashem, let us harness the spiritual propensity of the month: leaning on Hashem from our desperate state, which culminates in heartfelt tefillah. May our “arrows” reach the highest of places and help usher in untold miracles and brachah into our lives. The word Kislev is a composite of kis, a pocket, in lev, our heart. May we merit finding the pockets of light in our heart and hold on tight to them until we are zocheh to experience our long-awaited miracle.
To receive this month’s free Radiance Renewed poster, write to info@lahavinitiative.org with RR Poster in the subject.
|