It is told about HaRav HaKadosh of Bluzhov זצוק”ל that after he passed through the terrible Holocaust he lived in the United States, and there he would draw our Jewish brothers close to their Father in Heaven. One of his acquaintances was a man who also passed through the terrors of the Holocaust, and to the sorrow of every heart he left the path of the Torah and distanced himself from it. But from time to time he would come to the Bluzhover, mainly at special times. And behold, one year during the days of Chanukah that man appeared and came, and in his hand was a special gift for the Rebbe: a royal and magnificent menorah for Chanukah, made entirely of pure gold and adorned with many carvings, astonishing in its beauty.
The menorah had belonged to HaRav HaKadosh of Ruzhin זיע”א; his ancestors had bought it for a vast sum of money, and now he came to the decision that it was not fitting that such a holy and special menorah should be in the house of a wicked man like himself, and therefore he was giving it as a gift to the Rebbe.
The Bluzhover was very moved by the special gift and gazed at it for a long time, and suddenly the Rebbe turned to that man with a question: “Tell me please, what was your feeling toward this menorah when it was in your house?” The man answered the Rebbe: I will admit the truth, that every time I would see it in the center of the display case, I would be ashamed of my deeds, and I would stand near it and cry greatly over my evil path that had distanced so much from those righteous ones who used this menorah. “If so,” said the Rebbe, “I cannot accept this gift from you. Leave the menorah in your home so that at least some spark of Judaism will remain within you.” With no choice, the man returned the menorah to his home, and indeed after some time he began to return to his origin, and in later days the man thanked the Rebbe for not agreeing to accept the menorah from him, and in its merit he returned in complete repentance.
We stand at the threshold of the days of Chanukah, about which the righteous have said that the spiritual influences that one can receive during the days of Chanukah cannot be attained throughout the entire year, particularly at the time of lighting the candles and contemplating the candles. Therefore, it is fitting that we be wise to make good use of the holy time and to prepare in advance the place where the menorah will stand, and of course to approach the lighting with awe and love. And after the lighting, not to flee immediately like a child running away from school, but rather to linger near the candles and contemplate them, we and our children, and to grasp every drop of light that enters and illuminates the soul.
