“The Western world is suffering from a crisis of purpose on both the individual and collective scales. Its… values are wearing thin. The pillars of democracy: honest press, free speech, pluralism, rationality… are wobbling.

Ancient Greece is considered the birthplace of many elements of Western culture, including the development of a democratic system of government… In contrast, Israel’s sense of purpose remains strong. A treasury of texts, wisdom and traditions… reinforce its importance and guides its fulfillment.

There is so much we have to share with the world, but the obstacle of ‘this opposite this’ is as active today as it ever was. Even still, our obligation to concern ourselves with the nations’ well-being requires us to find a way through the resistance (both ours and theirs).

The Chanukah menorot in our windows and doorways are beacons of light, radiating our well-wishes out to the world… A candle, says the Zohar,… is a living symbol that broadcasts the truth of Divine oneness into the psyche of those looking on.

Please, HaShem, as we shine our lamps out to the street,… let all the peoples of the world (including us), be touched and awakened to their purpose, in the deepest… sense of what that may be.”