Hanukkah gives us the opportunity of living eight days of extreme joy and happiness! 

One of this week’s most joyous moments was experiencing the special “Hanukkah in the Park” program led by our very own Frances Ghitis.  The many families and kids in attendance had tremendous fun: face-painting; dreidl-spinning; doing arts and crafts; participating in the Hanukkah candle lighting; and singing along with Frances.  To be sure, nothing was left out!

And Hanukkah, the festival of lights and miracles, is also a most appropriate time to be reading this week’s Torah portion of Miketz which centers on Joseph and his amazing dream interpretations, which we see are absolutely coming true.

And speaking of dreams, we’ve all wondered what they are and what they may be trying to tell us.

Sigmund Freud believed that dreams reveal not the future, but the past – especially our past “secrets” which we need to recognize in order to better live our current lives.  On the other hand, the rabbis in the Talmud believed that dreams do not necessarily reveal something about the future or past, but they teach us something about the personality of the person who experiences them.   

Though difficult, I believe that we all have the possibility of better understanding ourselves through our dreams and of “turning our dreams into blessings”!

During these days of Hanukkah, please take advantage of the opportunity of observing the face of children as the candles are lit. The flames illuminate their faces and they see the candles and their light as miracles.

Dreams, too, are a kind of miracle and we should strive to better understand them so as to improve our daily lives!