Chanukah Day 5
Tonight we light Five!
We have five senses. All of them are sources of awareness [zehirut].
Before we light the candles, we recite the blessings, and the great Mussar teacher, the Alter of Slabodka, tells us:
When a blessing is recited with concentration and deep reflection, how much joy and pleasure does it grant a person, as one becomes aware of one’s senses anew, and appreciates a new life as if one is right now being birthed into the air of the world.
It’s such an important teaching because it is so easy to become indifferent and inured to the awareness of the information, inspiration and connection that awareness of sensory experience can give.
And so, as the five flames dance …
· See the candles.
· Touch the dreidel as you set it spinning.
· Hear the blessings and the songs.
· Smell the latkes frying.
· Taste the sweetness of the suf ganiyot, the special Chanukah donuts.
One of the laws of Chanukah is that we are forbidden to fast. Why? Because this festival is a time of joy, and we need to open ourselves to experience the joy brought to us by our senses. See, touch, hear, smell and taste – delight and give thanks!
Sensational! I will quote in your name, R' Jamie. Thank you.
Post Hanukkah blessings. As you likely know, the introduction to Orchot tzaddikim highlights the five senses כוחות, as essential parts of the anatomy of the soul, bringing the world to the heart, so that the midot can radiate those sensations back to the world - its own cycle of creation. I have come to link each of the six words of the blessing formula to one of the senses
Baruch - touch
Atah - sight
Hashem - awareness itself / zehirut
Eloheynu - sound
Melech - taste
Haolam - smell
Sensational !