Efrat Barzel: Why Is It Important to Give Interviews and Tell Stories?

I don't know if it came to me through the publication of miracles or through small vessels, in the context of a small jug and the days when we received our oil.

Maybe something in the combination of the two?

I don't know if it came to me through "the daughters of extra understanding" or through the eight days.

Maybe something in the combination of the two?

A few years ago, there was a big discussion at home about where to place the menorahs, focusing on the matter of publicizing the miracle.

I love the halachic debates at home: one person brings an argument from here, another takes out a book from there, his brother refines something here, and the youngest runs to bring her notebook. In the end, I move it, do what they tell me, as long as they clean up the cups of oil afterward, and also the spills on the table. That's not my job.

If I understand correctly, the accuracy of the halachic debate was to enhance the mitzvah and do it properly.

That is to say, publicizing miracles is important. If they could discuss the placement of the menorah for so long, and the purpose is for publicity, then it's an important enough reason.

I hope I understood correctly.

Come with me for a moment, to the small vessels.

From them, we learn how truly great people appreciate the small details of attention. How each vessel has its prestige, especially during Chanukah, when the miracle material is inside the vessel. What would have happened if we hadn't noticed one small vessel?

We wouldn't have had the miracle. We wouldn't have had the victory.

I hope I understood correctly.

I'm pausing for a moment to look at the small details and our important role in publicizing miracles.

I add a cover of gratitude and praise from above, the wise sons, the eight days, to explain a subtle foundation in the soul of those who bring out their mixers on Chanukah nights, grind potatoes finely, and want to create an atmosphere of a bright, good, and tasty Jewish home.

I want to touch on what sits inside the hearts of those who add sweet potatoes, zucchini, and pumpkins to the mixture.

Many women have been asking me in recent years,

Why do we need to give interviews on communication?

Why does one woman need to tell a reporter what happened to her?

Why do women wish to share with one another?

What's the need to speak out loud about how I was saved?

Why all these women's performances on Chanukah? On Sukkot?

I'm putting aside for a moment the arsenal of personality that we were created with, like nine portions, a speaking spirit, which isn't just ours but fits right in here, a tear that's always ready, firm sensitivity, and the ability to understand one thing from another.

That is to say, a type of intelligence like this, understanding, when you get something, especially if it's about your own life, you want to quickly understand the next thing from it as well.

I hope I understood correctly.

There is a foundation in our soul related to the Jewish kindness of passing things forward.

Every woman who encounters within herself, during her life, some lack: lack of love, lack of appreciation, material lack, lack of children, lack of health, lack of satisfaction, it doesn't matter now, any lack -

Any woman who encounters a lack,

and as a result, something good happens inside her, even if it takes time,

something that can be called a miracle, can be called working on her traits, can be called growth through coping, personal growth,

it doesn't matter what we call it now -

the process is like this: a woman who faced difficulty, who faced lack, and did something, within herself, even if nothing is seen on the outside, she did something, from the lack, from her heart, within her thoughts, within a change in her personality, that made her transition correctly from a fall to reliance on Hashem. To the transition between the letter 'N' and the one next to it, the letter - 'S', from a fall to support for the fallen, to a miracle, and today she's different – grown, feeling better, full of insights. Grateful for the trial,

a woman like this, whose small, personal, and private jug, filled with intelligent oil –

will definitely want, you can check with all the Jewish women in the world, such a woman will want to give from her knowledge, from her insights, to other Jewish women. She will want to publicize the victory.

She will want to share her vessels' miracles.

She will want other women to benefit from what she discovered within herself. She will want to help with the kindness of advice; she will want the goodness that came to her to be part of other women's lives.

Therefore, women need a place to publicize their small, personal miracles. Creations that are the result of their journeys. Through what? Through writing poems, through performances, through drawing pictures, capturing photos, through chains of flowers.