December 11, 2020
A Chanukah Letter to Prison
Vayeishev/Chanukah, 5781
In November I received a letter from the wife of a man who is currently incarcerated in a Maryland State Prison. This woman was asking for assistance for her husband to be allowed to practice his religion freely—to learn about the mitzvoth and to observe important mitzvoth like making Kiddush and wearing tefillin. Unfortunately, her husband had been facing some resistance in this area from prison officials. Thankfully through the efforts of our fellow worshipper, David Balto, we have been able to successfully advocate for this man and for other prisoners as well.
This woman turned to me because of the efforts of our congregation to be involved in the spiritual life of the prisoners.
Four years ago I received a letter from a prisoner in a maximum security Maryland State Prison in Cumberland, Maryland, asking for religious guidance and for help leading occasional services. The letter moved me very much because I believe it is a great mitzvah to assist a prisoner. Every single day –three times a day -- we praise Gd at the beginning of our Amidah for releasing prisoners from captivity (matir asurim). As Jews we are commanded to imitate the ways of Hashem. Thus it is an essential aspect of our spirituality that just as Gd helps the imprisoned we too must help prisoners. This does not only mean that we help find relief for those prisoners who are imprisoned unjustly. It also means that we help those who are imprisoned for terrible crimes find redemption within the confines of their own prison cell.
The spiritual imperative to release a prisoner goes beyond helping people in the physical confines of a cell. There are many of us who are imprisoned by the circumstances of our life. Being redeemed from captivity can have meaning for each of us when it means that we are able to transcend the limitations of our situation and connect to Hashem. In part this is why our congregation observed the 19th of Kislev this past Shabbat by not reciting certain mournful prayers. The 19th of Kislev is a holy day because the Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Shneyer Zalman of Liadi was physically released from prison where he was unjustly being held. But it is also a holy day because it reminds us of the symbolism of being released from a confining situation in order to properly serve Hashem.
When I received the request for spiritual help from a prisoner four years ago, I turned to David Balto and asked him if he would consider leading our shul’s efforts to provide outreach to the prisoners. David embraced this task and has been leading our congregation’s efforts to serve this population with great energy and dedication.
Here is a partial list of what David Balto and our congregation have been able to do with these prisoners over the past four years:
- up until the pandemic provide regular shabbat services and services for the
chagim - provide matzah and grape juice for all of their services
- provided recordings with our own teachings and Shofar blowing for the High Holidays
- provide scores of siddurim and chumashim
- provide dozens of books to individual inmates to further their studies in Torah, Talmud, midrash, mussar, literature and numerous Jewish subjects
- On two occasions David brought their personal handwritten prayers from the prisoners to Israel and placed them in the Kotel
- Members of our congregation of all ages have corresponded about Torah teachings with over twenty prisoners
- Advocated with the Department of Corrections to get them to reverse policies so that the prisoners could light Chanukah candles and possess and put on tefillin, which they put on daily
- Secure tefillin for 5 men and taught them how to put on tefillin
- Secure tallis and tzitzis for several men
- Written letters to support parole
- Secured counsel and assisted in ongoing litigation to improve access to kosher food
Members of our community have provided books, ritual objects, spiritual decorations, and educational videos for the prisoners. Since David has taken over this task there has not been a single week where our congregation has not received correspondence with the prisoners and we have received over 300 letters. Many of these letters ask questions about observance and beliefs as the men try to grow in their faith. It is very expensive for the prisoners to afford the money for stationary and postage but this task of corresponding with us stands at the center of their lives, in their striving to become more Jewish and find closeness to Hashem.
One important lesson we have focused on with the men is tzedakah and tzedakah can be very challenging when a typical inmate earns between 90 cents and $2.75 for an eight-hour day of work. Perhaps the most moving donation I have ever witnessed in my life was when –during the early months of the pandemic--the prisoners pooled their very, very meager resources and sponsored a day of learning in our congregation.
During these difficult days of the pandemic it is especially difficult and dangerous for the prisoners. They are on “lock down” confined to their cells 23 ½ hours a day. Safety requirements have severely limited their ability to receive in person spiritual visits and to have communal worship. Recently, after the prisoners were told that they would not be able to light Chanukah candles this holiday as it is too dangerous, David asked me if I could write a letter to the prisoners with a Chanukah message.
Here is my letter to the prisoners for Chanukah, 5781:
Dear Brothers and Sisters who are in Prison:
This week we celebrate the eight-day holiday of Chanukah. Throughout the holiday whenever we pray, we recite a special prayer called al hanisim thanking Gd for the miracles that occurred at this time. We say:
And we thank You for the miracles, for the redemption, for the mighty deeds, for the saving acts, and for the wonders which You have wrought for our ancestors in those days, at this time.
The Talmud tells us about the miracle of oil that occurred on Chanukah:
What is Chanukkah? That which our Sages taught: On the 25th of Kislev - the days of Chanukkah, they are eight, not to eulogize on them and not to fast on them, for when the Greeks entered the Temple, they polluted all the oils in the Temple, and when the Hasmonean dynasty overcame and defeated them, they checked and they found but one cruse of oil that was set in place with the seal of the High Priest, but there was only enough to light a single day. A miracle was done with it, and they lit from it for eight days. The following year the Sages fixed those days as a holiday for praise and thanksgiving (Shabbat, 21b).
For this reason –because the oil miraculously lasted for eight days --on this holiday we light candles in order to remind ourselves of this miracle.
How are you supposed to celebrate this holiday and commemorate the miracle of oil when prison authorities do not allow you to light candles because it is too dangerous to light candles in a prison?
One answer to this question relates to a verse from Vayeishev, our Torah portion this week. Says the verse:
“Ve-lo zachar sar hamashkim et Yosef vayishkachehu. The Minister of the Drinks did not remember Yosef. And he forgot him” (Genesis 40:23).
When Yosef was imprisoned in Egypt he interpreted a dream properly and predicted that the Minister of Drinks would soon be released from his captivity and elevated to his old position in Pharaoh’s regime. Yosef asked the Minister to please remember him and put in a good word for Pharaoh (40:14).
The great commentator, Rashi, teaches that Yosef was punished two extra years in prison because he put his faith in the Minister of Drinks instead of trusting in Hashem.
Yosef’s sin was not so much that he asked for help from the Minister but rather, that he didn’t ask for any help from Hashem. While a Jew is supposed to always work to improve our position in life, we are also required to recognize that our ultimate salvation comes from Hashem and not from Pharaoh. While the text says that Yosef sought help from Pharaoh, nowhere in the text of the Torah does it say that he prayed to Hashem for help.
The following story is told about the great Sabba of Navardok (Rabbi Yosef Yoizel Hurwitz (1847-1919) and it illustrates the importance of trusting in Hashem.
One time the Sabba was sitting in a secluded hut in a forest studying Torah all alone. It was very late at night and the Sabba kept studying Torah by the light of the candle. The Sabba was so immersed in his Torah study that he did not realize until it was too late that his only source of light—the candle---had burnt out. So the Sabba sat in the dark and was extremely distressed that he could no longer study the words of his holy books.
The Sabba said to himself I am certain Hashem will help me figure out a way to continue to study Torah.
The Sabba was so certain that Hashem would help him that he suddenly got up and opened the door to the hut.
At that exact moment a man he had never seen before stepped out from the trees of the forest and gave him a new candle. Just as quickly the man disappeared back into the forest.
For the next twenty-five years the Sabba kept in his house a remnant of this candle as a reminder of the miracle that occurred to him that night and to remind his students of the power of trust in Hashem. He showed his many visitors the “miracle candle” and taught them about having trust in Hashem.
After twenty-five years a terrible event happened. There was a fire in Navardok and many houses burned down including the Sabba’s house. This “miracle candle” was also destroyed in this fire.
The Sabba then told his family: “The ‘miracle candle’ was destroyed in order to remind us that we shouldn’t need to demand proof in order to have trust in Hashem.”
For most of us in the world we are not anywhere close to the spiritual greatness of the Sabba, therefore we need the lights of the Chanukiah to remind us to have trust in Hashem.
But you are sitting in a prison. Therefore, your circumstances are far more challenging than most of us could even imagine. On a daily basis you are facing incredible spiritual and physical challenges. I know from the spiritual depth that I find in the letters you send me that your incredibly difficult circumstances help you realize with far greater depth than most that the only way forward in life is to have complete trust in Hashem.
In this respect you have internalized this powerful message of the Sabba. You don’t need to be reminded of the miracles of Hashem by lighting a candle. Your daily life is dependent on trust in Hashem and is a reminder of the miraculous candle of Hashem.
This year –since you cannot light a Chanukiah--I encourage you to learn about the story of Chanukah and to spread your own light in the world by helping others in prison find inspiration.
There is also a second answer to the question of how you can celebrate Chanukah without physically being able to light a candle.
For this second answer we turn to the powerful words of the prophet, Zechariah, whose vision we read about in our Haftorah for Chanukah (2:14-4:7).
Zechariah is encouraging the Jews of his time to return from Babylonia and rebuild the glorious Temple in Jerusalem. As part of his prophecy, Zechariah tells the story of a Kohen Gadol, a High Priest named Yehoshua.
Yehoshua the High Priest was a holy man but he had also made a fundamental mistake. Unfortunately, he had not educated his children properly and so they had married in a manner against Jewish law (see Ezra 10:18, Sanhedrin 93a).
For this reason a prosecuting angel (Satan) stood before Hashem in the Heavenly Court and argued vigorously for Yehoshua to be punished (Zechariah, 3:1).
Gd told the Satan that he must leave Yehoshua alone. Yehoshua cannot be touched for he is an “ood” — a firebrand plucked from the fire; a burning log saved from a fire (Zechariah, 3:2).
The Talmud understands this literally and explains the backstory to Zechariah’s prophecy (Sanhedrin, 93a).
There were two false prophets named Achav and Tzidkiyahu. They angered the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar with their lies and so he decreed that they be thrown into a fiery furnace. They demanded that they have a third person join them in the fiery furnace as previously had happened when three other prophets –Chanania, Mishael, and Azariah—had survived a furnace. They selected that Yehoshua the Kohen Gadol join them in the furnace. A miracle occurred. These two false prophets died in the fire, but Yehoshua was saved from the fire. Only his garments were singed.
Nebuchadnezzar asked Yehoshua to explain why his garments were singed whereas the garments of Chanania, Mishael, and Azaria were not damaged at all. Yehoshua explained that his garments were burned because he was surrounded by wicked sinners.
So when Hashem turns to Satan and says you can not touch Yehoshua because he is a firebrand, what Hashem is saying is that Yehoshua represents the true fire in that he was surrounded by others who had sinned and yet he maintained his deep faith and commitment to Hashem.
This is your situation. You have the opportunity to be a firebrand for Hashem. In the middle of a prison you have an opportunity to be a firebrand—a true fire of Hashem.
In his vision, the prophet Zecharia describes the Menorah of the Temple. One of the special aspects of this Menorah is that the oil will flow into it miraculously (Zechariah, 4:2-3).
The reason why the oil is miraculously made for the Menorah is to remind us that true light does not come from an army or physical strength, but from the Spirit of Hashem (Zecharia, 4:6).
The message of Zechariah is speaking directly to you. It is a reminder to you that you do not need oil in order to celebrate Chanukah. True oil is not made by humans. True oil comes from Hashem and is present whenever we recognize that it is our responsibility to serve Hashem.
You won’t be able to light a physical fire this year but you can most certainly light the true oil of the spiritual fire— a fire in yourself and in others—by being a firebrand for Hashem.
When you do that that, then we can be certain that the other words of Zecharia’s vision will be fulfilled through you. Hashem will remove any “filthy garments” from upon you and replace them with “clean garments.” Hashem will place a “pure turban” on your head so that you can soar beyond the confines of your cell into the upper realms (Zechariah, 3:4-5).
This year even without the physical light of the Chanukah candle may the words of Zechariah be fulfilled in your dwelling place as it states: “Rejoice O’ Daughter of Zion for I will dwell in your midst” (Zechariah, 2:14).
With Blessings for a Beautiful Chanukah!
Shmuel Herzfeld
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You can now watch a YOUTUBE recording of Rabbi Herzfeld’s D'var Torah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dB2P64ps_M&feature=youtu.be
