We have just entered the month of Kislev which is a month of celebration, when we commemorate many joyous occasions. A recurring theme throughout the festivities of Kislev is freedom and liberation.
On the 10th day of Kislev, 1826, the second Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Dovber (the Mitteler Rebbe), was released from his incarceration in Czarist Russia for his work in spreading Jewish teachings.
Decades earlier, on the 19th of Kislev in the year 1798, his father, Rabbi Shneur Zalman, the founder of Chabad Chasidism, was released from imprisonment on trumped up charges of anti-government activities. (Two years later, when Rabbi Shneur Zalman was imprisoned once again, he was also released in the month of Kislev, on the third night of Chanuka.)
And on Chanuka, which is celebrated for eight days beginning on the 25th of Kislev, we celebrate the victory of the Jewish people over their mighty Greek oppressors, and their subsequent freedom to once again follow in the ways of the Torah. We also celebrate the freedom of our Holy Temple, which the Hellenists had defiled and desecrated. Once the Jews cleansed and purified the Temple, it was free to be used for its holy purpose, bringing the Jewish people closer to G-d.
Torah in general, and Chasidic teachings in particular, help free and liberate us from our personal or self-imposed “prisons.” Throughout the month of Kislev, then, it is appropriate to increase in our study of Torah. Surely this study will help us reflect upon how best to use the opportunities available to us today because of religious freedom.
We are currently in such great need for freedom and liberation from all our enemies. The month of Kislev whose theme is supercharged with historical accounts of miraculous events relating to freedom and liberation is therefore the perfect and most auspicious month to see it through to ultimate victory during these most trying times.
May we all merit the ultimate freedom with the coming of Moshiach as a result of our intensified efforts towards Torah Study, Prayer and Good Deeds.
