By Miriam Cohen:

Hakhel- is the year after shemittah and the first year in the cycle- representing Chesed- love

Ahava- gematria as Eched- one, unity

The energy of the year is love and unity

This year we will focus on how to find the energy of love within the energy of the months.

The month of Kislev is well known and loved, mainly for the holiday of Hanukkah, which symbolizes the essence of the month and our ability to perform miracles, to bring light to “dark” places, and to step out of complete darkness into marvelous light.

How can we illuminate our lives this month and make concrete miracles?

1. Etymology

The Word is broken into two parts ( כס לו). Kes means hidden lamed vav, the gematria of 36, which is the 36 candles of Chanuka. Within the month is the hiddenness of the 36 candles of Chanuka. 

The fact that Chanuka, which is a holiday of miracles, falls out in this month signifies that this month is a special month.  This month stores the energy of miracles and brings light into darkness. 

2. Tetragrammaton of the month-

VAV HEY YUD HEY

Yud- Chocham, a seminal point of G-ds wisdom and inspiration

Upper Hey- Binah feminine dimension which takes the spark and expands upon it

Vav- 7 emotions within that are drawn down into our heart

Final Hey- Malchus- being embodied within us, and our thought, speech, and action

VAv and Yud are masculine they are the givers, and the two Heys are the receivers of the feminine dimension 

It starts with Vav- our participation in drawing down the light this month- empowering. 

 Kislev- end of the month, the days start getting longer

The month's energy is darkness, and we don't see the light, but then we start seeing the light. 

What gives us the ability to find the light within the darkness?

3. The six months of winter and six months of summer are interconnected. 

Kislev is the 3rd month of the winter and is connected to the 3rd month of the summer, Sivan- giving of the Torah but more connected to the outer Torah.

Kislev- receive the secrets/ inner dimensions of the Torah.  

Which is associated with light/ candles where the hidden part of the Torah is revealed in this month. 

Water is connected to Torah, and Oil (miracle of Chanuka) is connected to the inner Torah( connected to the 19th of Kislev, the victory of the inner Torah).

We must make a habit of learning the inner dimension of the Torah bc that is the only way to illuminate the darkness of the light and the world. 

4. How is the inner dimension of the Torah compared to the candle?

The inner aspect of the Torah is like a candle. We live in a world with a lot of darkness, and the inner Torah allows us to see through the darkness at the truth of the world. 

The inner aspect of the Torah goes into the illumination and revelation that the physical world is spiritual, and all the craziness is for a deeper purpose and deeper layers of reality that we have to tap into. 

5. Element of this month Fire- candle

“Ner Hashem Nishmat Adam”-  As much as we are human, We are a candle- we are light bodies- we have a soul within us that is constantly on fire. The way we coax the fire and illuminate the fire within is through learning Torah (Mystical Torah and doing mitzvot- 

Fire- gevurah ( Inwardness, our participation from below to above to create the vessel to bring down the light and miracles and going into out inner darkness and obstacles, fears to bring light- love is on the other side of fear- that’s the love and chesed which is the source of the gevurah. 

6. Third Month- Tiferet 

The flood started in Cheshvan and ended in Kislev (40 days)

Rainbow- Keshet- rainbow- G-ds compassion that Hashem would never destroy the world. 

7. The letter of the month is Samech and Gimmel

Cheshvan was the letter Nun- the juxtaposition of these two months spells Nes (miracles)

Samach- “Somech Hashem School Hanoflim”- 

Hashem is picking us up from our falling- Hashem is carrying us and giving us the ability to reach light through the darkness.

The element of trust- Bitachon- that we are in the dark, falling, and we say that Hashem is going to pick us up. 

Kislev- Kislam "In Hashem I put my trust” 

Trust makes the vessel receive the light, to receive the miracles!

Active trust- that we are building the vessel and looking for the light- the story of Chanuka, they searched for the jug.

Vav- our participation ( committing to learning inner Torah, Gevurah going inward into our dark side (shadow)- facing our fears bc that is how we find our light!!

Together spells one of the names of G-d "Sag/ 63”. 

This name is connected to raising the sparks of Tohu (chaos), which is raising the material to the spiritual. When we eat and drink, we are taking the lights of chaos (sparks of G-dliness) and raising it to a higher place by having the proper consciousness and saying a blessing. 

This is connected to the idea of Kislev, which reveals the hiddenness within the spiritual ( revealing the hiddenness of the candle).

8. Sense of the Month is Sleep

Torah portions of this month, Jacob is sleeping, Josephs's dreams, and Pharaoh's dreams. It's a dreamy time. Sun sets earliest (dark and cold time)

Two types of dreams:

1. Imagination- When a person dreams anything is possible, they dream things that are not possible.

When Moshiach comes, we will realize that we “were like dreamers.” We are dreaming from a place of a lack of consciousness. 

2. A dream that appears beyond the veil of the natural/ material world. We see something that cannot be observed not be on the verge of a prophecy, and therefore, dreams can be prophetic. Dreams can tap us into a transcendent state. 

These were the dreams of Joseph, Pharaoh, and all the forefathers and mothers. 

Dreaming is not just something that we do when we are sleeping.

Imagination and Dreaming are potent and necessary.

Redemption is waking up to something new all of us can tap into the energy now to realize that there is a lot more hidden beneath the surface. All of us must start believing in ourselves and dreaming big about the possibilities for ourselves and the world- believing in our light!!

Then there is a  dream that is like a prophecy where we see the world beyond the opaque shelling we see beyond the darkness, the hiddenness, like the candle that reveals the details that were hidden.

Sleep- is connected to trust bc the more we are in a place of connection to our unconsciousness, the more peacefully we will sleep. 

9. Stomach- the organ of the month 

The stomach is called the second brain, there is the most amount of neurons besides the brain. 

The stomach thinks involuntarily as part of the autonomic nervous system. 

It can sense which food is good for it and which is not and need to be excreted bc it “ just knows”- there is a level of intuition-  tapped into a subconscious transcendent state.

Digesting food and also digesting things that they are going through)

When we are overthinking, when we're trying to control the world bc we are in an unhealthy dreaming state- the stomach/ subconscious part of ourselves feels it.  

When we allow the brain to shut off and give up control and we are a little foolish, then the stomach is healthy.

Joseph was considered a foolish boy, and his brothers called him “a dreamer.” He was dreaming of the deepest of things that did happen. He was thinking out of the box, and everyone was making fun of him.

Sometimes we need to be foolish and think out of the box and not take this world so seriously. 

That allows miracles ( think big about the possibilities in our life) to be a reality bc this world is miraculous, and we have to allow ourselves to want them and to dream about them.

10. Tribe of Benjamin

 He is called in kabbalah the “Tzaddik tachton,” the lower level tzaddik, and Joseph is called the higher level tzaddik. 

He represents ascending and elevating the world ( from below to above, like a candle). He is involved in the world, a part of the world but realizes that it is an expression of G-d in the world.

Temple in Jerusalem is on the tribal land of Benjamin. Temple is all about the revelation of G-dliness. People would go to the temple and see the above nature reality of this world, and they would take that revelation to their everyday life. 

11. Constellation- Sagittarius or the bow

Depending on how far back you pull the bow, the higher and farther it goes. It's the recognition that what we see is not always what when we pull back, it allows us to see much more. 

Kislev is when we go into the darkness and see the light. 

12. Practical lesson

Gratitude- ״להודות ולהלל לשמך״ praise and thank G-d is the essence of the Holiday- we are recognizing that we receive all that we have as a gift and having gratitude. 

Like with the bow we have to pull back, gratitude is connected to gevurah -the left side of the sefirotic tree of pulling back. It's not natural.

Work on yourself and go deep but with gratitude and positivity. 

Being grateful is the tool to receive the infinite light of G-d 💞

Chodesh Tov, everyone 🙏