Joke - I just didn’t sign the checks.”

 One Chanukah, a mother decided that she was no longer going to keep nagging her children to write thank-you notes for the presents they received from relatives. It was time for them to decide what was right for themselves without her cajoling and reminding them. 

As a result, their generous grandmother never received any acknowledgment of the generous checks she had given them—not a single tiny peep of thanks from either of these kids. It seemed as if they were not ready to properly experience or express gratitude. 

It was a real disappointment.

The next year, things were already different, however, and both mother and grandmother were thrilled at the sudden shift in behavior. The grandmother’s eyes twinkled as she told a friend triumphantly, “The children came over in person to thank me.” 

“How wonderful!” the friend exclaimed. “That’s very impressive. What do you think caused the change in behavior?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” the grandmother replied. “This year, I just didn’t sign the checks.”

Story: Hope in Auschwitz

Rabbi Hugo Gryn. Hugo Gryn (1930-1996), was a Holocaust survivor, a community
leader, educator and broadcaster for the BBC, was born in Berehovo,
Czechoslovakia in a home filled with great warmth.
Hugo Gryn was 13 years old when he, among 10,000 Jews confined to the
Berehovo ghetto in April 1944. All were sent to Auschwitz on May 28, 1944.
He and his father were sent to work; his brother and grandfather were sent to the
gas chambers.
Hugo Gryn and his father, together with 2,600 Jews were later sent to the death
march from the Lieberose camp to Mauthausen. Less than a thousand survived that
march. Hugo was freed in on May 4, 1945, but his father died a few days later from
typhus and exhaustion.
Rabbi Gryn once related: When I was a young boy my family was sent to Auschwitz. For a while my father and I shared a barrack.
In spite of the unspeakable horror, oppression and hardship, many Jews held onto
what scraps of Jewish religious observance as they were able.
One midwinter evening one of the inmates reminded us that tonight was the first
night of Chanukah, the festival of lights. My father constructed a little Chanukah
menorah out of scrap metal. For a wick, he took some threads from his prison
uniform.
For oil, he used some butter that he somehow obtained from a guard.
Such observances were strictly “verboten,” but we were used to taking risks.
Rather, I protested at the “waste” of precious calories. Would it not be better to
share the butter on a crust of bread than burn it?
“Hugo,” said my father, “both you and I know that a person can live a very long time
without food. But Hugo, I tell you, a person cannot live a single day without hope.
This Menorah is the fire of hope. Never let it go out. Not here. Not anywhere.
Remember that Hugo.”

CHANUKAH STAMPS

A woman goes to the post office to buy stamps for her Chanukah cards. She says to the clerk "May I have 50 Chanukah stamps please."

"What denomination?" says the clerk.

The woman says "Oy vey...my god, has it come to this?

Okay, give me 6 orthodox, 12 conservative and 32 reform!"

Well, friends, I am proud that in our shul we have Jews of every denomination and background. What matters in our sanctuary is not labels, but souls.

1938 Chanukah Miracle

It happened shortly after Kristelnacht in 1938 that a Jewish family was
trying to escape Germany on a train bound for Holland. They worried that the
Gestapo agents at the border would find fault with their papers and find an
excuse to detain them. This was the last night of Chanukah and the family
had not had a chance to light the Chanukah candles. When they arrived at the
border a long line of Gestapo agents boarded the train, but as they began to
examine the passports the lights in the entire station went out. The father
of this Jewish family pulled out his Menorah and quickly lit eight candles
in succession.

The lights attracted unwanted attention and the little cabin quickly filled
with unsmiling Gestapo agents. But these agents did not pay the Jews any
attention. They simply used the candle light to perform their duties and
inspected the passports of the train’s passengers. When the last passport
was examined the agents turned to the Jewish family and thanked them
politely for providing emergency lights. So grateful were they that they
forgot to check the passports of the Jewish family thus saving their lives.

As soon as the agents left the train the lights in the entire station came
back on and the train crossed the border.

A modern Chanukah miracle. The lights went out to save this family and so
long as their Chanukah lights burned they were safe. It is truly an amazing
story. But for our purposes this story has a message. So long as the
blinding lights of the station burned the Jew was in danger. So long as the
lights of economic success burn we live in a bubble of illusion that
jeopardizes the true purpose of life. The glittering lights of success blind
us from the inspiring message of life’s true meaning and we continue to live
the illusion. Once the lights go out, the new realization can dawn. The
former false lights are replaced by lights that illuminate the true meaning
of life. The former lights of transient value are replaced by lights that
allow us access to eternity; lights that radiate a heavenly message and
impart a humble truth.