As the last of my Chanukah candles are slowly dying out I think about the meaning of dedication. Chanukah is the holiday where we remember and celebrate the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem by the Hasmoneans (the Maccabees) after the Greek-Syrians defiled it.
Dedication to an ideal or an activity is something that most of us find hard to do day in and day out. It's normal to get excited about doing something the first few times and then as time goes on the excitement peters out.
It's easy to get distracted by the things that we think are important and sometimes are important - the news, politics, mundane daily activities and errands. For example, food shopping truly is important otherwise there may not be dinner on the table that night.
It's easy to know when we're hungry and didn't make it to the supermarket. Our stomachs growl, and we may get grouchy. What may not be so easy to figure out is when we are spiritually hungry. We have no physical symptoms to tip us off.
This Chanukah may be the time to dedicate just five minutes a day to feeding our spiritual side. Where will you find your five minutes? When you first wake up? On your way to bed? Or perhaps as a pick-me up in the middle of the day? Wherever you find those five minutes make sure to allow what you are learning excite you and let it impact your life.
Tonight I am rededicating myself to learning five minutes a day - away from the television, away from email and Facebook, away from distractions - to feed my soul. I hope you do too.
Happy Chanukah! Remember a little bit of light pushes away a lot of darkness.