In this month's Rosh Chodesh blog, Rabba Yaffa Epstein, Senior Scholar & Educator in Residence at The Jewish Education Project, explores how to choose action and hope even amidst profound loss. This Tevet blog is written in honor of Yaffa's nephew, Yakir Yamin Hexter z”l, who fell in battle in Gaza last year, on 27 Tevet.

The month of Tevet begins with the holiday of Channukah, a holiday marked by the addition of light and a celebration of miracles. Tevet is also the new moon closest to the Winter solstice, and while it is still cold and grey, the darkest days of the year are behind us.

The Talmud in Tractate Avodah Zarah 8a discusses the moment when Adam, the first human being, discovers the solstice. We are told that as the days began to get shorter and shorter, Adam doesn’t understand why this is happening in the world. Imagine, if you don’t know that winter is coming, it can be a pretty terrifying experience to experience the encroaching darkness. What did Adam do? He looked around the darkness and wondered if perhaps it reflected on his own behavior, assuming it must be connected to his sin. After all, he knew that his actions could have disastrous consequences. He decided to pray and fast, imploring God to forgive him for the sin that must have caused this darkness.

Then, as the season of Tevet approached, and the days began to get longer and longer, Adam realized that this must be the way of the world, and not a sign of his imminent death. In relief and celebration, he created a festival of eight days. Remarkably, in both cases - when encountering the dark, and when encountering the light - Adam took action! He responded to the darkness with prayer and fasting, and he responded to the light with a festival, a time of praise and thanksgiving. He did not sit passively, worrying about the future, he made a choice to respond to the world around him.

While Tevet is a time of the restoration of the light, for me personally, Tevet has become a month of immense darkness. Our family, and indeed the Jewish people, suffered a tragic loss just one year ago, on the 27th day of Tevet. The loss of my beautiful, brilliant, kind nephew, Yakir Yamin Hexter z”l, who fell in battle in Azza at the terribly young age of 26.

Yakir was a hero in so many ways, not only in his fearless sacrifice on behalf of the Jewish people, but in how he lived his life. He was a person of immense integrity and action. He was a doer, working harder than any person I know, never wasting a minute. Although he had incredible conviction in his own religious and political beliefs, Yakir was able to speak with every person he met from any background, culture, or belief, and connect to them, treating each person he encountered with dignity and respect.  He was always an optimist, even in the darkest days in Gaza, Yakir’s colleagues-in-arms speak about how he made them laugh and smile, returning them to positivity, and hope.

I do not believe that there is any light to be found in his death, but there is much light to be found in his life. That is the light that I am taking with me this month of Tevet. As the days begin to grow longer and longer, and as the sunlight begins to overpower the dark, I will hear Yakir’s voice, reminding me to smile. Reminding me that there is always a reason to be positive, there is always more work to do to heal our world, there is always the decision to act, to build, and to rebuild.

In his work, the Messengers of God, Elie Wiesel z”l writes: Expelled from paradise, Adam and Eve did not give in to resignation. In the face of death they decided to fight by giving life, by conferring a meaning on life…One moment of life contains eternity, one moment of life is worth eternity… God gave Adam a secret - not how to begin, but how to begin again…”

In these incredibly dark times that we are living through, it can feel like only more darkness will come. Elie Wiesel is teaching us that we always have a choice. We can be like Adam choosing life, choosing to add more light to the world, choosing to begin anew. We can be like Yakir, choosing action, never wasting of minute of the precious life we are given, respecting every person we encounter – to bring more optimism, hope, and goodness to those around us.

May we merit to be people of action who bring more light into the world, and may we see that light overcome the darkness.