Yet it comes at a time of such darkness. With the rise of ISIS throughout Europe and the Middle East, the increasing terrorist attacks in Israel, and one of the biggest foes of Israel as our president, there is darkness all around us. Surely the world today is a lot darker than the one of 30 years ago. Indeed it is a bright time for Johnathan Pollard, yet a very dark time for us.

There is though, a tremendous amount of inspiration we can glean from this light within the darkness. I would like to point out two lessons we may glean from these astonishing events.

1) NEVER GIVE UP - His lawyers, Eliott Lauer and Jaques Semmelman, as well as many other community activists, worked selflessly and tirelessly on his behalf. They left no stone unturned, and refused to desist until he was granted mandatory parole. From this we must learn of the power of prayer. Many times we are struggling and we plead to Hashem to help us. We know that we don’t always see an instant response and we have the faith to continue praying. This may last a few days, or a few weeks, or perhaps even a month, but after a while, we figure that for whatever reason Hashem is not listening to our prayer, or that the answer is simply “No,” and we give up. Have we ever thought of praying for something for twenty or thirty years?! If for close to 30 years they didn’t give up on Pollard, we have to learn not to give up on Hashem. While sometimes the answer is “No” for a reason only known to Him, if we would only have the patience and the persistence to continue praying, many times it would yield a different result.

2) THE DARKNESS IS SO BRIGHT. We never know when and from where a yeshua will come. The legal fight for Pollard’s freedom was met with many obstacles and hurdles that seemed to be insurmountable. Yet hope was never lost and the fight continued. Pollard too, though his life for the past 30 years was very challenging, he endured and never lost faith. When the circumstances are so dark, and there is no end in sight, sometimes that is the greatest sign of what’s about to come. We must only remain steadfast in our faith and not let the darkness blind us. Rather, if we stick it out just a drop longer, the great light of the yeshua will shine forth.

These messages are also deeply rooted in this time of year. The month of Kislev is the darkest time of the year with the shortest days. However, the Mazel representing the month of Kislev is a bow, which has much significance as it relates to prayer. Yaakov Avinu, before he dies says that he captured the city of Shechem “B’charbi Uvikashti,” “With my sword and my bow.” Unkelos translates these words as a reference to two types of prayer - “B’tzlosi ub’vausi.” The sword is used to fight an enemy who is close, whereas the bow is used to fight from afar. With prayer too, sometimes our prayers are “Near,” meaning, that we get answered quickly. But more often than not, our prayers are far far away, and we only see the answer much later, if at all. But we must realize that just as a bow launches an arrow, we must wait for the arrow to land to hit its target.  

The dark month of Kislev also ushers in the Yom Tov of Chanukah, illuminated by the menorah. It is a time when we celebrate the victory of the Chashmonaim over the Yivanim, a battle that was waged against all odds in one of our darkest times as a nation. Judaism was on the verge of extinction and it was literally only a handful of Jews that were strong enough to stand up and fight to bring it back. It was from this very darkness that they emerged victorious to bring about the miracle of Chanukah.

With the power and persistence of our prayers we can illuminate the world and bring an end to the darkness around us and merit the Eternal Light with the coming of Moshiach.