The Light Lab Podcast Episode 2: We are the Luminaries (Or Chadash)

1:48PM Nov 2, 2021

Speakers:

Eliana Light

Josh Warshawsky

Ellen Dreskin

Keywords:

light

shine

prayer

melody

liturgy

words

meaning

spark

open

baruch

eliana

josh

people

torah

song

book

world

thinking

reform movement

moment

There is a spark it can ignite, and all you gotta do is bring the light.

cause a new light to shine, cause a new light to shine, time to get on up say tradition is mine... Hello, everyone and welcome to another edition of the light lab podcast. My name is Eliana Light. And I'm so excited to be here with Cantor Ellen Dreskin. Hello.

Oh, hello. Good to be back.

And Rabbi Josh Warshawsky.

Hello. So great to be with you.

So great to be with all of you. And I have a very important question for you this week, which is, what was a moment of light from your week. And you can interpret that however, you would like? Cantor Ellen Dreskin, what was a moment of light for you this week?

Oh my gosh, well, happy to say there are many moments of light. I'm feeling as we're recording this I'm feeling spring. And and we're recording this at a time where it's almost like this big spring flower things seem to be opening literally and metaphorically. So there's a sense of spaciousness, for me, particularly this week, a feeling of, of increased light, which is always lovely. And the only other thing that I would add is, sometimes there can be too much light. There have been moments this week when the light has been a little bit blinding. Or, and then I needed to, you know, soften it up a little bit. But never absent-I'll take even the blinding light is beautiful,

beautiful, blinding light, Rabbi Josh, what's a moment of light from your week,

I'm singing blinded by the light in my head now. I'm also I'm also feeling springtime, on Sunday, it was really nice and sunny, and there was a lot of new light. And so we went my wife and I went on a bike ride for the first time since the fall. And it was just another opportunity and reminder that that it's it's nice and Spring is coming and it's warm, and people were out and smiling. And that was really, really lovely. And, and so it was great to be just outside and experiencing the world again.

So beautiful, so beautiful. I'm thinking about a moment that I have this week where I got to sing with folks who are going to be counselors at Jewish summer camps coming up in a couple of weeks, some have already left. And it's been such a difficult year for everyone, especially these students who are in college and just the fact that they are giving their summer to our kids, and that I got to sing with them and see their faces light up and then moving. It just gave me a lot of hope. And that for me was a feeling of light this week. I think it was also a feeling of light because I felt the sense that something was being passed down, perhaps some sort of torch was being passed on that a light that I care about so much was continuing to shine through these young people. And it made me feel like I don't know, naches. Like, I was very proud. I didn't even know these kids, but they're great. And I love them all very much. Dear listener, you can think what was a moment of light in your week because light is certainly the watchword of our episode light or, Or Chadash which I am going to let I was going to translate it but then I thought, wait a minute, why don't we let Rabbi Josh share with us what this piece of liturgy is that we're going to be diving deep into today.

Alright, so we're sitting here in the in the central section of our of our morning liturgy. And it sort of makes sense that this the central part of our morning liturgy is all about light where we have this whole section, it begins with light it ends with light and these words that we're talking about right now, conclude this sort of section on light with a blessing about light Or Chadash Al Tziyon Tair a new light, cause a new light to shine on Zion V'nizkeh Chulanu M'heira L'oro and hopefully we'll all merit to receive this light will all merit to see it we'll all merit to experience it. And this is right after repeated multiple times, there's light coming in and goodness g?d is creating new light in the world. There's light that we can see there's light that we can create. And here it is to close it out Yotzeir Ha'meorot creator of lights blessed are you holy one who creates lights in our world who creates lights in the universe and in our lives.

Beautiful now this prayer has always meant a lot to me. First of all, because my last name is light and and so seeing saying my name I know it's

it's pretty big coincidence. Who knew Who knew? You know, it

is a coincidence. People ask me all the time, if it's a stage name, it is not. But I did learn a new word recently, which is the word aptronym. do either of you know what an acronym is never heard. This is a side tangent. But an aptronym is when someone has a name that is apt for them that is appropriate for them. So like if someone sewed clothes and their name was Taylor. So someone recently said, they taught me this word, because they said that my name was an aptronym, which was really kind and a really lovely thing for them to say. They said, because because you are light and it is your name. But anyway, let's say sweet to

me, this may be a bit of a tangent. But isn't it interesting that people got names like Taylor, because that was their profession. And now the aptonym is, oh, that happens to be your name. And you chose to be a Taylor. It's like bringing the whole thing full circle.

This is actually yeah. It's so good. And this is actually not a tangent at all. Because speaking of naming things based on what they do, let's talk about g?d names for a moment. Because this whole paragraph begins and ends with a blessing just like many different prayers, it starts out with the blessing formula Baruch Atah Yud Hey Vav Hey, Eloheinu Melech Ha'Olam, which is often translated as Blessed art Thou, O Lord, our God, King of the universe, I might translate that is we experience your blessing, Holy One of all time and space, but you can choose how you want to translate that Yotzeir Or U'vorei Choshech creator of former of light and creator of darkness. And then the end of the paragraph ends with a short version that kind of summarizes the whole thing the structure is found a lot in the Siddur. That's where we get Baruch Atah, Yud Hey Vav Hey Yotzeir Ha'meorot. Yud Hey Vav Hey is the spelling out of the name of g?d. I say that to distinguish it from Adonai, which means Lord, because if we look at the root of Yud Hey Vav Hey we can see being existence. All that is, again, this is choose your own adventure, g?d language time. But we have these two names of g?d that relate to light already Yotzeir, Or creator of light. And Yotzeir Ha'meorot, creator of the luminaries, I really like that translation. And we can imagine that as the sun and the moon as this and the stars. But perhaps we could also imagine that is ourselves. g?d is the creator of light, but also creator of the ones that shine. And when we shine, when we are our full true selves bringing peace and goodness and light into the world. We are reflecting the light of the Holy One, because another name for g?d that actually comes from the book of Isaiah is Or Olam and this is a name that really speaks to me in particular Or Olam, which can either be the light of the world Olam in modern Hebrew meaning world, or Or Olam an Infinite Light Or Olam in Biblical Hebrew, meaning infinity in time, bigness in time, not just bigness in space. So what does it mean to imagine g?d not as a Lord right now, but as the infinite light, the light that has no end the light that spreads over history and over space? And because we are the luminaries, we get to shine that light through everything we do.

I love your expansion of that, that word luminaries that it's not just because I know growing up one of the first things I learned about this whole prayer was okay, this is the prayer the for the sun, moon and stars and there's a morning version of it and there's an evening version of it and that the lights are the lights that we see no big deal well no big deal except of course it is a very big deal. And then I start to think about wow a light is really cool. It's the first thing at the book of Genesis that g?d speaks into being let there be light and then but as you read further into that first chapter Genesis it's kind of confusing because light is created on the first day but the Sun Moon and stars are not created until day wait for it you can fill in the blank yourself. Actually day four. So if Sun Moon and stars arrived those those luminaries arrived on day four, what was it that arrived on day one? What kind of g?d obviously says Yehi Or, let there be light and there it was. But if it wasn't those physical luminaries, what was it and our our ancestors begin to converse immediately about the light of awareness, and that there is an inner light, we can be the Lights, the Sun Moon stars can be the lights and within each of us even is in this inner light. And a lot of our rabbis take it to the this song that we sing Or Zarua l'tzadik, light is sown for the righteous and that there is a a hidden light within our core within the core of the universe. And that light of awareness, that's what was created on the first day. And it was new then and it's new now.

I love that idea, both with the newness and also in the in the rediscovery of the light within us, and also the light all over the place that maybe the light was created on day one, but we didn't, we weren't able to discern it, we weren't able to discover it to see it until until day four, we had to grow, we had to focus we had to think about it. And even you know, even just today when I was looking at these words, this is why I love going back to the liturgy over and over again is you get new insights, every time we look at it the same words over and over again. And here I'm looking at V'nizkeh Kulanu M'heirah L'Oro, the second half of that blessing. May we merit may we be privileged to experience this light quickly, soon. And and now that I'm thinking about it, I wonder if it's right, the light is there for us to experience but we need to open our eyes to it right, we need to rediscover it, we need to this light that's being created. It's it's there and it's renewed every single day M'chadesh B'tuvo right and happens right before here, a new light that's happening in goodness everyday. But we have to notice it right. That's what we're doing. When we wake up in the morning and open our eyes and and enter a moment of prayer. It's experiencing the world. So we have to be able to visualize the light, whether it's within us or without, we have to be able to search for it and see it. And hopefully that's going to happen soon for each one of us that will have this moment of inspiration of lighting up.

I'm so curious about translation all the time, when we use this phrase, it says Or Chadash Al Tziyon Ta'ir, which is pretty much just a statement of fact, a new light Ta'ir, its future tense, will be shining, or is is constantly shining. And we use words like cause because it's a prayer cause a new light to shine. But I love this idea that it's there. It's there. And the only thing we have to do to be worthy of it is just what you said Josh is just be open to it, tried to stay awake to it. And then the whole universe opens up.

Right? There's a reason that in our culture, one of the symbols for Oh, I understand or oh, I've got it is the light bulb going off. Right there is a click and awareness that happens. So, listeners, I invite you to think about a moment of awareness that you've had, how can you wake yourself up to the light of the world? And how can you be a luminary today?

So now that we've delved a little deeper into these words that are in the Siddur, and friends, there are so many more ways to dive, we invite you to take a look at the show notes where you'll see the text and some translations for it. It's gonna happen, I bet it's gonna happen future me, it's gonna happen. But often when we use this in a prayer context, we are singing it, we are chanting it, we are experiencing it. So friends, what are some of your favorite melodies to use for this piece of liturgy? Or Chadash? Ellen, why don't you kick us off?

Well, I grew up in the Reform Movement. And so I've been seen, and I'm also really old. So I've seen a number of different Siddurim. In my time in in the Reform Movement, Mishkan T'filah, the current siddur, this is now Siddur number three in my lifetime. And it's interesting because Or Chadash. This text is, as we've mentioned, already, as part of this larger prayer that we tend to call YotzeirOr in the Reform Movement, the line Or Chadash, disappeared. Years and years and years and years ago, I didn't know of it until I started to study liturgy more deeply, and the first Reform Siddur that this line appears in in my lifetime is the most current one. Mishkan T'filah Or Chadash just didn't exist. So one of my favorite melodies is a Debbie Friedman melody. It's actually her melody for the prayer Yotzeir Or, of the reason I'm so attracted to her melody is because even before it was ever considered as re entering the Reform liturgy and the reformed Siddur. Debbie, litigious that she was put Or Chadash back in her version of Yotzeir Or And in the same way that sometimes Debbie changed, Reform practice in terms of like insertion of Mi Shebeirach or something like that. I do believe that it was her lightbulb moment of Or Chadash really needs to be in this prayer for the Reform Movement. And now here it is. So she's she's my pre light. She's like the light going on for the Reform movement that you know what? We can start talking about new lights and being those luminaries, again, we are, Why'd that fall off the table? Let's put it back on.

Well, why do you think it did fall off the table?

Oddly enough, I'm not a scholar in terms of the Reform liturgy, I think it had more to do with a new light shining on Zion to tell you the truth. And, and I think that that's why it fell off. But I also love the fact that in cross denominational Jewishly now that we're all saying, you know, just because I have trouble with a piece of liturgy doesn't mean that it has to be taken out of Siddur. You know, we're Yisrael, let's struggle with, with all these liturgical passages, and let's struggle to help them to be relevant and make meaning in our lives today. I mean, that's what we're doing right here, right? That's what we're trying to do.

That's exactly what we're doing, saying, if there's a piece that doesn't feel exactly like my prayer today, that's totally fine. Because the Siddur is full of people's prayers from hundreds and 1000s of years ago, we don't have to just parrot what they said, we can allow those prayers to talk to us. And maybe we think of Zion as a literal place. Or maybe we think of Zion as a state of being a state of peace and harmony, a state of whatever you want to say. And you get to choose what to do with that, whether you want to keep the traditional meaning or find new meetings, find new old meanings, we get to choose that ourselves. by Josh, what is a melody you are connecting to today?

Yeah, I mean, just before I jump into that, I mean, I think you're absolutely right, I was thinking about what it means to shine a light on something. And in some ways, you shine a light on something, and you're illuminating it, and it's so powerful and positive. And sometimes we put a spotlight on something and we say, You know what, this is something that I don't I'm not connecting to right now, this is something that I'm not up for this is it, you know, not necessarily in a negative way. But I look at this and I'm opened up to something that I didn't I didn't expect to see here. And I'm I don't want to see it right now. And so there's a way that we can shine a spotlight to to allow ourselves to really understand what's actually happening in the text. And we say, You know what, maybe we'll maybe we'll move on from this one today. And we'll come back to it and try and find something different in it the next time. The melody that I was thinking of is a is a melody by Rick Recht. And I grew up in the Conservative movement and I learned to chant a lot of these words and especially in these paragraphs, I didn't know how to sing a lot of them except to the to the the nusach, the melody of the text. And so later on in my life, I was opened up by all these new melodies that I had never experienced before that there are other ways to sing the text. And so Rick's was one of the first melodies that I heard for these words, that wasn't this like just chanting. And and I really liked it because to me, it felt like it was like a light getting higher and higher, it's like, Or Chadash Or Chadash, right, it just goes higher and higher and moves up until it feels like it's like lighting up the whole experience or the whole world. And so I felt like this was one of those melodies, where the the notes that he was using, and the the melody that he created, really opened up the words to what I thought they were trying to say, which was sort of shining this light higher and brighter, and on more things every time you say these words.

So I'm thinking of a melody that I learned probably from you, Josh, when I worked at Ramah Wisconsin, because we do these prayers, of course, also with kids. And this was a fun and upbeat melody, where we asked everyone to get their suns up, right, suns up. That means make a big oval around your head. And you can't see us because we're on a podcast, but if I said sun's up, you can imagine what that was like. And we move our hands back and forth to make the sunshine Or Chadash Al Tziyon Ta'ir V'nizkeh Kulanu M'heirah L'oro Oh, baby, right..because it's fun. It's a

good thing that nobody can see us right now cuz we're dancing around the screen.

Dancing is great. You should be dancing at home and then we get to do a little disco point. Baruch ata adonai yotzer ha'me'orot. yotzeir ha'meorot Clap, clap. It's so fun. Especially if the person leaving it does it with some light and excitement and verve. It's hard praying with anybody at 7:30 or eight in the morning or wherever we're doing it especially in the summer when It's hot, but it's a reminder that there is lightness and brightness in the world. And if we can help illuminate this for for our young people, then they get to be the the passers on of that light. So that's the melody that I'm thinking of today.

One thing we haven't mentioned, and maybe it's going back a little bit perhaps, but B came to my mind because I was talking about Or Zarua Or al tziyon ta'ir, that this is something that's going to happen in the future. But I love the idea that the chatimah particularly Elliana that you brought up and that we say Yotzeir Or or Yotzeir Ha'me'orot, this is not future this is present tense constantly going on. So it all feeds together that back to that point of this is happening around us all the time in every generation and every moment.

So, we are now at our prayer song explosion here. And I get to begin this section because our song is brought to us today by Eliana. And surprisingly enough, the song is called a new light. So yeah, really, who knows? So, Eliana, start with a little bit of background? Where did the impetus for this song come from? What was it all about for you?

So I wrote the song quite a long time ago, either while I was still in high school, or on my gap year to Israel might have been on the gap year to Israel, I think Josh and I actually did together. Many moons ago, I can't tell what came first, the idea for the song or the title, because I always kind of knew that if I made Jewish music, my first album would be called a new light, because it just, it just had to I like when things work out that way. You know, I've already thought, of course, about what my best of collection in 50 years is going to be called. And it's going to be called, going to be called Eternal Light. Like the, like the light that stays in the sanctuary anyway, but it had probably been after I had done some learning about the Conservative movement. We're learning about these different movements today, which I really love. And, and what they tried to impart to us was that Conservative Judaism was about taking the tradition and keeping it and making it yours that what Judaism has done, from time immemorial, was survive through adapting survival through adapting is actually I think, what all of Judaism is doing, it doesn't matter what the movement is, everyone's doing survival through adapting. But I love this idea of saying, What if we flipped it on its head and the Or Chadash is actually what we are bringing to it. I think I was also a little frustrated in my, like, youthful frustration of people who said, Oh, there's nothing in Judaism for me, or I can't connect to any of this. Because you can't actually connect to it unless you are in dialogue with it unless you've opened it up, and allowed yourself to be open up to it. So the song is a plea. Really, for us to open it up, we get to cause a new light to shine we get to make tradition, ours, once we've taken the time once we've opened the book and seen it for ourselves,

it's it's just so amazing. And I love the idea of turning it so that we are meant to take responsibility. It's very empowering. Much appreciated.

Thank you

I love the the imagery and in a lot of the lyrics that you're giving us right I can imagine like pulling out this dusty book and like blowing the dust off the pages and open reopening our our mind to to what the words say in this book. I'm wondering if you have a favorite line in the in the song that you wrote? Or is there something that really opens up the song to the liturgy and the connections for you?

Yeah, I'm, it's interesting. The song was off the first album, I don't think about it a lot, but it really is one of my absolute favorites. What's a favorite line? I kind of like they say there's 70 faces of the Torah to share, look in the mirror and you'll see one there, which is a bit of a stretch, but I like the idea that that each of our faces can also be a face of Torah that each of us has something to add to the light there is a spark it can ignite but all you've got to do is bring the light like it has to be coming from you. And it's where you and the tradition meet that something really beautiful can happen. I love that.

That idea, again, the and it's a it's a Kabbalistic idea too, as well that in order to shake up the heavens above, it has to start from below it, you know, the light can be on the entire time and I can be sitting in my closet with the door closed. So I'm the one who has to say, to say, Oh, what's that peeking out from under the door, I think I'll I'll open the door. Oh, what's on the other side? That, that it really is the responsibility impetus on my part to be interested to be in relationship with.

I think this is a really important idea that, that I never learned when I was when I was a kid, I think which is that it's not just about the words that are on the page, but it's about what we're bringing to them, right. And I think that this is something especially when in, in today's world where I think people are searching for for meaning and connection and inspiration, and are looking at all these different texts and all these different traditions. And in some ways, it's got to be what you're able to bring to those texts and traditions and rituals, right. And so if you're able to open up your eyes that some of so much of the impetus has to come from you in the search. And if you're just going to show up at the building and sit in the pew and just open up the book and sit there right now, nothing's gonna happen even though you're going through the motions, right? It has to be this light that's coming this this spark that you're talking about that's coming from from within also,

I also want to say that sometimes we can hear doom and gloom about the state of American Jewry. But I don't see doom and gloom at all. I see people within and without institutions, in big cities and in rural places, people of all different backgrounds, people who grew up Jewish people who didn't, all different sorts of people, bringing their own light and their own spirit, and renewing our heritage and so many beautiful and creative ways through all different sorts of mediums, through all different sorts of kinds of communities. I'm really fired up by seeing the kind of creativity that's happening, and I think that's also part of what the song is about. That all of that is welcome. All of that is part of what Jewish life can be.

I well after this wonderful discussion Eliana, would you please share the song with us I'm dying to hear it again.

I would love to

the dusty pages of a worn-in book, don't mean thing unless you take a look. It may seem faded it may seem square, but hidden inside it has so much to share. passed on down all through the line given different meanings in each space and time, there is a spark it can ignite and all you got to do is bring light- Cause a new light to shine, cause a new light to shine time to get on up say tradition is mine. Cause a new light shine, cause a new light to shine. Once you've taken the time there's so much you can find. In the Torah you will see the laws and stories of our history. But it's just words, no matter how true, until you find the fire inside of you. L'dor Va'dor the tradition is passed. We make it our own and so we make it last. They say the 70 faces of the Torah to share :look in the mirror and you'll see one there- Cause a new light to shine, cause a new light to shine. Time to get on up, say tradition is mine, cause a new light shine, cause a new light to shine. Once you've taken the time there's so much you can find. Cause a new light to shine, cause a new light to shine, gotta get on up say tradition is mine, cause a new light to shine, cause a new light to shine. Once you've taken the time there's so much you can find. You gotta add your spark to the fire of our nation you gotta light the dark, add your voice to g?d's creation you gotta be yourself, and shine with all your might. add your own small light and

keep the fire burning bright. Or Chadash, Al Tziyon Ta'ir

V'nizkeh kulanu m'heirah l'oro. Or Chadash, Al Tziyon Ta'ir

V'nizkeh kulanu m'heirah l'oro Cause a new light to shine, cause a new light to shine. Time to get on up, say tradition is mine, cause a new light shine, cause a new light to shine.

Once you've taken the time there's so much you can find. Cause a new light to shine, cause a new light to shine. Time to get on up, say tradition is mine, cause a new light shine, cause a new light to shine. Once you've taken the time there's so much you can find.

Fantastic. Thank you Eliana. Josh and I have both agreed that as long as we're thinking about, you know, gee, what should be the theme song for the light lab Gee, I wonder. Yes, and you know, you're singing about about Torah and also this idea that, that we look not only at the Torah and bring our own lives and make it make the tradition ours, the fact that we can do this with the sea door as well. And and with the understanding of the Siddur is this collection over years and years from human beings. And while we take that we don't change the words of Torah, we interpret them. The liturgy is wide open for just say, for light to come shining through. So right so Josh isn't, and my vote is that this be the theme song for the light lab.

I absolutely love that maybe we'll have to rerecord it with a version where we say Siddur instead of Torah everywhere, but they're all combined as you said, they are it is our heritage that we are so blessed to learn and grow from. And even though we haven't brought it up, I think that's why the name the light lab has been floating around in my in my mind for so long that we have this light, all of the different pieces of liturgy, the pieces of Torah, whatever we have, is filtered through that light. And we get to hold these gems of our liturgy up to the light, and let it shine out of us in new and brilliant ways. Thank you so much everyone for going on this journey of light with us. As we try to do on this podcast. We're not just talking together, words are helpful, but they're only one part of the story we experience and we feel we try to find that light. So if you're in a place where you can I invite you to sit up a little straighter, to imagine that you are like a ladder reaching from heaven to earth, connected to the heavens and grounded in the earth, opening up your chest, allowing your arms to rest on your lap hands open, palms open or closed. Close your eyes or focus on a spot in front of you gently and start to follow the pattern of your breath, in and out. In and out.

I invite you to think of a source of light in your life. Where do you find this light. However you want to think of it the light of the universe, the Light of Hope, the light of Torah, the light of love, what is the source of light in your life. And from that source of light, can you imagine a spark of light. Just see it in your field of vision. A tiny spark of light that within it contains that beautiful and Infinite Light. And with each breath I invite you to imagine that light growing through every breath. That spark of light gets bigger and brighter. bigger and brighter until it is covering your whole field of vision and it spills out of your field of vision through the top of your head. That light coming into your body. illuminating your face, your ears, your nose, your mouth, your eyes. That light growing even further illuminating your neck, your chest, your arms, your fingers. That spark of holy light, it is glowing in your belly, and your legs and your toes that your whole body is now filled with this light that you are luminous. And as you continue to breathe, imagine that with each breath, the light spreads even farther. The light flows into your space, your room or your car flowing flowing, your light overflows into the buildings next to you into every tree into every blade of grass, the light continues to pour out of you it is infinite, there is no end, across your town, across your city, across your country, into the oceans, let that light flow out of you illuminating everything until there is light illuminating the entire world knowing that that light contains the light of every being on this earth, that it is indeed the light of the Holy One, the light of the universe, the light, that of all that is. And now as sad as it might feel, we need to shrink that light down. So we can carry it with us. When the next breath, collapse all of that light back into that tiny point of light that contains the infinite and plant it inside of your heart. For that light is always there. Baruch Atah Havayah Yotzeir Ha'me'rot or wrote we experience your blessing. Holy One of all that is creator of those that light. Thank you so much for joining us today my friends. Cantor Ellen, Rabbi Josh, any final thoughts for us today?

I was uh, yeah, you know, in that beautiful, beautiful intention and prayer practice, I was thinking back to that primal spark. And going back to that original moment. And first of all, just thinking about both the word spark and nitzoz it's which is the word in Hebrew and it just it feels like a jolt, or what's the word for when a word means what it? It's what it sounds like.

That onomatopoeia Yeah,

that's what I thought, right? It's an onomatopoeia the spark and the nitzotz it's, it's like you can feel it like light opening you up. And in that original primal spot, right, especially when everything else was darkness. And then this tiny light came out. But in the most infinite darkness that tiny light probably shined like you were saying on the on a whole city on the whole world that illuminated everything just from that one little spark. And so what can that be like inside of us, even in a world that sometimes feels very dark, even when we're having a dark day, if we can find a moment a spark a moment of light that it can hopefully find a way to illuminate everything even even more so because of the darkness? In spite of the darkness? That's that's where that's where I went when, when you were guiding us. Thank you.

How many times do we use phrases about light or sing songs like you light up my life? Or that someone's you know, when someone walks in the room? It's like the whole, the whole room can light up? Or how are a smile can illuminate. And just I'm sorry that everyone cannot see us but I'm staring at y'all's faces right now. And I'm thinking well, here's a light in my week and here's a light of my time to be able as Eliana you opened up before about being in relationship with, there's a great story about the rabbi who visits the congregation who hasn't been around in a while, and sits down in front of the fireplace and separates one of the embers from the rest of the fire. And after a while that that ember without being connected without being in relationship to the rest of the coals goes out. But when we when we come together, you know, it's like rubbing sticks together. It's like, this is what's creating the fire. This is what's creating the heat. This is what is it's the new light that will enable us to continue to survive and be lights to the world.

Well, thank you so much, both of you for being such lights in my life for us, bringing the fire today bringing the light. If you have any thoughts on today or want to be in touch with us, there will be a way for you to do that. At some point. We hope that you will share and continue to be in relationship not just with us but with the liturgy with the prayers allow them to bring a new light into your life. Thank you so much everyone. We'll see you again soon.

Thank you Eliana.

Thank you.

Cause a new light to shine, cause a new light to shine