The Pintele Yid
By Bracha Kurzter
It's cold outside with a little chill; the air is still with only a touch of wind every few moments. I lug an armload of Menorah equipment up the outside stairs in order to get our two Menorot ready for lighting on the fifth night. As my sister and I are outside lighting the candles and singing "Al HaNisim," I am having a great bit of difficulty lighting the fifth candle. It appears that the wick is completely drenched in oil, and will not give to the flame of my Shamesh. I repeatedly try to light it, approaching the wick from all angles. I stand there for around five minutes with my candle to the wick with no results: it won't light. My sister comments from the side," Bracha, why don't you just throw it out and put in a new wick?" I think to myself and then reply, "hold on a minute." I take the container out of the Menorah's socket and dump out the oil that's surrounding the wick. I try to towel off the wick so that the oil won't prevent it from being lit. I then take my Shamesh to the dry wick and light it. The wick roars with fire, and I put the bottle and wick back into its socket. As we finish singing, I look at the Menorah: the fifth light is burning the brightest.
As I stared at that 5th light it struck me: he is the Pintele Yid! He is the Jew that can't be lit, the one who is so full of oil that no flame will take to him. He is the Jew whose prospect is yet to be discovered, who just needs to be cleansed of all foreign ideas in order to burn brightly. In the end, if he isn't disregarded and given the proper attention, he has the potential to glow brighter than all the others.
Chanukah is a time that reminds us of what was fought "in those days, at this time." We fought, and are fighting, against an attitude that urges us to bask in deceit and crave falsehood. There are thousands of us out there who have fallen prey to the temptation of 'the beautiful life,' hundreds of us who have assimilated without a second thought. We have drenched ourselves in nonsense and prided ourselves in waste. So many of our brothers and sisters lay dormant, waiting for their inner spark to ignite, yet they are saturated with foolishness and materialism.
The Maccabees, a band few in numbers and power, fought to save those who were absorbed into the Hellenistic culture. They did not forget about them and give up; they did not "throw them out and replace them." Judah was not about to go down without a fight. He brought his men out there for one purpose: to defeat the overpowering desire to give up. He gave an example to all whose sparks were sleeping, saying, "no matter how hard it gets, not matter how powerless you think you are, don't give in! This IS conquerable!"
Rabbi Akiva is a great example of such bravery and fortitude. At age forty, the man did not know one Hebrew letter, but by the end of his life he was easily the greatest Rabbi of his time and times to come! In modern education it is important not to give up on the one who doesn't take to wisdom the first time they encounter it. Sometimes souls are drowned with so much external stimulation that deep wisdom does not resonate the first, second, or even tenth time they come across it. But instead of disregarding such a soul, we should embrace him and help him see the beauty of being fresh, clean, and open to a higher existence. And once given this chance these neshamot, these sparks of divine light, have the potential to blaze more brilliantly than anyone around them.
Chag Sameach
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