06/05/2026
The sun was shining, but the light that radiated from the Gowanus rooftop at last night’s Evening of Celebration was something very different.
A beautiful space filled with so many wonderful people. A diverse crowd. United with the shared belief in Jewish community. A shared passion for Jewish life.
We were celebrating 5 years of Dirah’s growth. Celebrating the hundreds of people that make it all happen. The thousands of beautiful moments. The immeasurable impact. But most of all, we were celebrating the light that we continue to shine in our community.
The Talmud describes our job description from G-d as “day workers (Eruvin 65a).” Simply it means to give an allowance to sleep at night without feeling bad that we’re not spending that time immersed in studying Torah. Our contract with G-d to study Torah, so to speak, is a daytime job.
But there’s a beautiful Chassidic teaching (quoted in Hayom Yom) that reads it differently:
We are "day workers.” Day means light. Our work is to illuminate, to enlighten the world with the light of the Torah. Besides the necessity of maintaining our own light properly… our work is to share this light with others so they too will live with intention and purpose.
Our role as Jews is not to work during the daylight, but to create it. To shine a light of moral order and spiritual clarity to a world that so desperately needs it. And each of us has a unique light of Jewish faith to discover and share.
This week’s Parsha opens with the instruction for Aaron, the High Priest, to kindle the Menorah. Beyond the literal meaning, this is also a metaphor for Aaron’s role as spirtual leader and community builder: to kindle the hearts and souls of the Jewish people.
When you light a candle, the new flame takes on a life of its own and remains burning even after you walk away. Aaron’s job - and all of our jobs - wasn’t just to shine a light to the Jews around him, but to uncover the light they had within them, and kindle a flame that is genuine and a unique reflection of that individual. By doing so, he empowered every Jew to find their light and that can illuminate and give light to others.
The Zohar sees the 7 branches of the Menorah as the spectrum of the Jewish people. We are all different, but each have our own unique Jewish light that can, and should, illuminate our lives and the world.
This is the vision that the Rebbe inspired for Chabad and the calling that underlies Dirah’s mission: to be the light and to spread that light to our neighbors, our community, our city and the world.
Thank you to everyone who joined us last night, all those who support our vision and to everyone involved in creating this wonderful community. We are uncovering this light within ourselves and amplifying its reach around us.
We pray that we complete our “day job” and our light illuminates the world with Divine clarity and purpose and bring the world to its perfected state with Moshiach!
Shabbat Shalom!
