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We are pleased
to extend
Hanukah
Greeting’s
to our friends
and customers
Roswell Seating Cc
Manufartnrers and
Distributors
of Auditorium Seat in ft
Roswell, Ga. Tel. 51
mrcheats
Attention: Builder pany is now featuring
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Custom type kitchens at mass production economy, proven by
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Del-Mar Cabinet Co., Inc. Manufacturers
P. O. Box 7, Station A — 2865 Gordon Road
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
20
strength of his spirit. He lived
out his life as the light.
What is it that will enable
us to grow straight in the
strength of our spirit that we
may live out our life as the
light? On this Festival of Re
dedication we may well ask
ourselves: “What principles,
what ideals so motivate us that
we are ready to dedicate or
rededicate our lives to them?
What cause is so dear to us
that we would be willing to
work for it, struggle for it, suf
fer for it and die for it, if need
be? A creed? A creed is a rod
that may smite us with react
ionary evil. A crown? The
royalty of Antiochus was of
darkness.
There are those who are phy
sically alive, but spiritually
dead; those in whom there was
once a light that flamed up
briefly and then fluttered fee
bly before being extinguished.
They insist that they are burn
ed out. Nothing interests them.
Nothing stirs them,. Nothing
vitalizes them. Nothing ignites
them with the resplendent fire
of enthusiasm. They have sub
mitted to cynicism, yielded to
pessimism, and capitulated to
futility. They have quit on life,
and tolerate the years only be
cause they enable them to mark
time in the inexorable march
to the grave. They do not grow
straight in the strength of their
spirit. They rot and disintegrate
in the weakness of their des
pair. They do not live out their
lives as the light, but are cast
alive, as it were, into an un
seen graveyard of unlighted
candles.
On this Feast of Lights we
have to see more than gleam
ing Hanukah candles, more
than dripping tallow and form
less wax; but with spiritual in
sight behold a symbol, a design,
and a summons “to live out thy
life as the light." A candle that
is not ignited is meaningless. It
is a symbol of futility. It is tal
low and wax that has not ful
filled its purpose and its po
tential of giving light. A hu
man life that is not ignited by
a great purpose is not fulfill
ing its potential. It, too, is a
symbol of futility—waiting for
the touch of flame that will
ignite it with purpose, with
meaning, with burning signi
ficance. Is it not the highest
treason to self, and a betray
al of the God within us to deny
the divine motivation that im
pels us to quest for beauty,
hunger for truth, seek opport
unities for service, and to pur
sue the values that sanctify life
with the quality of holiness?
Isn't it an unpardonable sin
against the divinity within to
permit those qualities to re
main dormant, buried, encrust
ed with hopelessness, lethargy
and futility — to permit the
wick of the spirit to be un
touched by the flame that
might enable us to live out
our lives as the light?
What was it that recharged
the waning spirit of Judaism
throughout the centuries? What
provided the strength, the im
petus, and forced the rekindl
ing of the Jewish spirit when
nation , after nation sought to
extinguish the light of faith?
It was not a creed. It was not
a ritual alone. It was not the
might of arms. It was not the
crown of national sovereignty.
Is was what Montesquieu call
ed “enthusiasm.” It was what
Swinburne called the “strength
of spirit,” and what the tea
chers of Judaism called the
“spirit of God” summoning Is
rael to a sacred mission: “I, the
Lord have called thee in right
eousness, and have taken hold
of thy hand, and kept thee, and
set thee for a covenant of the
people, for a light of the nat
ions; to open the blind eyes, to
bring out the prisoners from
the dungeon, and them that sit
in darkness out of the prison
house.” It was to this mission
that Israel dedicated itself. It
was this — the hope of fashion
ing a world of decency, truth,
and peace — that kindled and
rekindled the flame of the
Jewish spirit, and the will of
Jews to live out their lives as
the light.
In an age of atomic fire, ,the
world desperately needs the
burning intensity of the Jewish
faith that seeks to illumine
life with the incandescent light
of holy purpose. Those who ig
nore Hanukah do more than
ignore a significant festival.
They ignore the symbolism of
light to which Judaism is dedi
cated. Unfortunately, they lose
a precious and exalted opport
unity to receive the strength
that comes from heaven. We
need that strength. We need
the power, the light and fire
of the Menorah in our homes,
in our hearts, and in our world.
We need Hanukah with its en
thusiasm, and its rededication,
and its rekindling of the eter
nal values of decency, freedom
and morality.
At this season, may we res
pond to the wisdom of the
Chassidic rabbi: “My children,
let each of you meet the chal
lenge of darkness by lighting a
candle.” When we kindle the
Hanukah lights may some of
the sacred fire of divinity touch
our souls so that motivated by
the luminous power that comes
from heaven we may rededi
cate ourselves to a holy pur
pose. remembering that we do
not rededicate ourselves to a
creed—a creed is a rod. We do
not rededicate ourselves to a
crown — a crown is of the
night. But this thing is God—
this is divinity in your life and
mine: “To grow straight in the
strength of thy spirit, and to
live out thy life as the light.”
The Southern Israelite