What does your threshold say about you?
A few months back, we took a tour of one of the historic sites on Long Island. When we got to a house with a millstone in front of its threshold, the tour guide explained how that became a thing. I found confirmation of that here:
Accordingly, a threshold with a millstone in front of it expresses a desire for some visitor to carry away bad luck. In contrast to that, what do you find at the entrance to a Jewish house? A mezuzah. And on Chanukah, as per the Talmud (Shabbat 22a) , on theother side of the doorpost you'd find the menorah to surround anyone who passes through our threshold with kedusha. We don't wish bad luck on those who visit us; we wish them to be blessed and to carry away blessing from our homes because we know that the Source of all blessing is infinite.
I was thinking of the significance of this and the connection of thresholds to the holiday of Chanukah, particularly the eight and last day of the holiday, which is called Zos Chanukah. Generally, there is something a bit sad about the end of the holiday because it means a return to the mundane. But what we are told in the name of the last day of Chanukah is that we should rejoice in the day even though it will not be followed by the menorah lighting. This is the day in which we pack up all the spiritual gains of the entire holiday and carry it with us across the threshold into our day-to-day existence. The final day is a threshold in time, and like the physical threshold between our homes and the world beyond, it represents the connection to be made in a positive way, carrying over the inspiration, light, and warmth of the holiday into Teves and the months that follow.
Related: http://divreichaim.blogspot.com/2010/12/zos-chanukah.html
http://kallahmagazine.blogspot.com/2014/12/zos-chanukah.html
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Many a story has been told of a millstone that got away and fell through a floor crushing the gearing below, and possibly killing or injuring someone. In this time period millstones that hurt or killed someone, was considered unlucky and a perfectly good millstone was retired out of the mill. It often became a door step so the unsuspecting would step on it and carry the bad luck or evil away with them.
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| photo from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f0/Mezuzah-RS.jpg |
I was thinking of the significance of this and the connection of thresholds to the holiday of Chanukah, particularly the eight and last day of the holiday, which is called Zos Chanukah. Generally, there is something a bit sad about the end of the holiday because it means a return to the mundane. But what we are told in the name of the last day of Chanukah is that we should rejoice in the day even though it will not be followed by the menorah lighting. This is the day in which we pack up all the spiritual gains of the entire holiday and carry it with us across the threshold into our day-to-day existence. The final day is a threshold in time, and like the physical threshold between our homes and the world beyond, it represents the connection to be made in a positive way, carrying over the inspiration, light, and warmth of the holiday into Teves and the months that follow.
Related: http://divreichaim.blogspot.com/2010/12/zos-chanukah.html
http://kallahmagazine.blogspot.com/2014/12/zos-chanukah.html
Like and follow on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/KallahMagazine/
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