Are you ready to meditate with Kari?
Are you ready to be so so still and quiet in your bed?
Try and keep still so that your body can relax.
You can let go of your day and start to unwind ready for sleep.
Heidi,
Cherry and Veya were in bed.
They were unwinding.
They were sleeping over at their friend's house.
William,
Claire and Catherine.
The kids were talking about Hanukkah.
Cherry didn't know very much about Hanukkah at all so she found it very interesting.
Cherry was all about Christmas,
Any kind of celebration really,
So she was listening.
She was completely enthralled.
Heidi happened to know a lot about Hanukkah because Heidi likes to read and you know she was interested so she read a book about it.
Veya was falling asleep,
Smiling just listening to everyone talk.
Mmm me so tired.
This bed is so comfy and warm and snuggly.
Oh this is so nice to just be with friends and my sisters and it's so close to the holidays and it's just so nice.
Cherry said I know I know Veya you just snuggle down you get comfortable.
Cherry potted her sister's head and stroked between her ears.
Veya closed her eyes but still carried on listening to everybody chat about Hanukkah.
Now now said Cherry,
Let's get to some important stuff shall we because since you know I like to party and I love to celebrate and I love to eat and I like to be with people and friends and family and anything that involves a nice time right I like it so that being said tell me about Hanukkah because I don't know very much at all and I want to know about Hanukkah.
The kids all looked at each other and started chatting away and Heidi said well I read once in a book you guys are the experts you can tell me if this is correct that there was a bad horrible king at one time called King Antiochus I think that's how you say it King Antiochus.
He turned up he was Greek I believe and he turned up in Jerusalem and he said no more of this Jewish stuff I say we abolish Judaism I say it's gone and you have to do exactly what I say.
Cherry said OMG did that really happen he doesn't sound like a very nice person does he you know and he was a king is that right.
Heidi said yes he was king that king that king that king antibody whatever he was called Heidi said you mean King Antiochus yeah him that King antibody and actually that suits him don't it because an antibody no no it doesn't because antibodies bite off infections and he was actually like an infection so that's not correct anyway just my mind doing its thing my mind is so amazing you know just goes absolutely everywhere it just wanders off here and there and everywhere let me bring it back mind come back right now I'm on it so let me get this right so far Hanukkah was a thing right or no no no it wasn't a thing Judaism was a thing yeah and and and and this bad king came along and he came to Jerusalem and he said stop it stop what you're doing stop it follow what I say otherwise you're going to be in trouble you're going to be in so much trouble that you'll be in trouble what did he do when when they didn't do what he said Heidi said oh he wasn't very nice sometimes it even killed people it was a very mean king OMG that's absolutely awful all right okay so I'm getting it now he's even more of an honorable king and he comes along and he makes people stop believing in their religion and doing what they want to do because Jew Judaism Judaism Judaism Jew Judaism anyway that that is a religion right is it is it something like that Heidi and the kids nodded yeah right okay so so right then they said you're not allowed to do it just like that didn't they they said no the king said the king said no and he's men did he have men Heidi said yes he had a lot of men yes him he said no no way Ozzy are you allowed to do this anymore and if we do then we're going to be we're going to be really mean to you and and and that's not good and you know what we're going to do we're going to we're going to be as mean as we possibly can is that what I said Heidi said yes he did and he even destroyed the temple the temple was the place where they used to worship and in the temple they used to burn oil in cups on the menorah to celebrate their religion in there Jerry said golly gosh he was a mean guy that that king antibody guy right okay so he even demolished where they worshiped he broke down the temples did he smash them up with like a baseball bat Heidi said no because they didn't have baseball bats no no not not back then I don't believe so he probably just bashed them up with something else oh that's awful the kids said yes and and they messed everything up and put garbage in the temple and and they destroyed the cups and they couldn't burn the oil in the temple they were just awful oh so cherry that's absolutely OMG awful right so I'm really getting a picture of this dude he's not very nice tall is he anyway so what happened I mean did they did they have to stop did they not do the Jerusalem anymore I mean what happened Heidi said well luckily there was a very very brave man that came along that was called Judah Maccabee Judah Maccabee decided that it wasn't right for anyone to tell anybody who to believe in and how to worship and what religion to follow and it was very wrong of the king to do that to their people so he decided to get a bunch of people together a bunch of Jews all got together and decided that they were going to get rid of this horrible king they were going to find everything he was doing somehow even though the Jews didn't have any weapons so it was very difficult for them to protect themselves and take care of themselves but eventually they did it it took a very long time but the Maccabees that was what they were eventually known for these Jews these bunch of Jews that followed Judah Maccabee eventually took back Jerusalem and they took back Judaism which meant they could finally go back into the place of worship back into the temple and light the light again and everything would be good so that's how it ended but what happened was there was only a small amount of oil enough for one night to burn the light when they went back into their place of worship it was destroyed it looked horrible there was garbage and stones and mud and rubbish absolutely everywhere and the poor people had to tidy up all of the temples but they did luckily find this small amount of oil and that small amount of oil lasted eight days they had eight days and eight nights of light that's all that they had until they could find some more oil so now today when people celebrate Hanukkah they light a candle for every day to remember the miracle of Judah Maccabee and all the Maccabees and how they helped to change things back to the way that they wanted things to be so that they could celebrate Hanukkah.
Oh!
Said Cherry thank goodness thank goodness because you know thank goodness that there's some brave people in the world right because if you know if you think about it it's like being bullied at school if no one stands up to those bullies everyone keeps getting bullied and bullied and bullied and the bully thinks it's okay to be a bully and they just bully and bully and they bully one kid and then they bully another kid and then they bully another kid and then eventually it's like what happens is all the kids that were bullied turn around and say no way Jose I'm not taking it anymore no way you you you bully you you're horrible horrible bully we're gonna rise up we're gonna rise up we're gonna come together as a team and we're gonna rise up against you and we're gonna say no more bullying you we can we can do what we want and we can be who we want and and and you can't bully us anymore and that's exactly what the Jews did didn't they that's what they did they stood up to that horrible king whatever his name was Mr.
Auntie Auntie Auntie whatever him with they stood up to him and they said no more and even though it took a really long time they eventually did it didn't they they did it they won and they got back their religion and they got back the temples and they cleaned them up and then they did the candles and I like that idea I mean I like candles I like scented candles I like you know different colored candles I mean candles are so lovely aren't they they always give a really nice relaxing ambiance in a room you know like when you just have the lights out you have the candles on and it's so nice yeah I think any religion that has candles is a nice idea well in this particular case cherry Heidi said the lights weren't candles they were oil but I understand what you mean about candles the oil or the candles represent finding light in the darkness always trying to find good in people always trying to see lighting others to see light in the world to see light in a situation to see light in everyday things oh well why do they need to see light said cherry well said Heidi the light represents goodness goodness to see goodness when it's surrounded by not so great things to see goodness in people to see goodness in the world or goodness in a situation that's what that means oh I get it oh it's a shame for you to sleep she would have really liked that you know she's so sweet and kind like that ain't she her little heart would have gone oh that's nice yeah I like that idea I think I like Onika guys my little friends I think I like Onika I think it's got a really nice premise to it you know it's like got good meaning on it and I totally get it candles are not just candles you know what I'm never going to look at a candle again the same I'm always going to look at a candle and go I see the light in you I do I see it I see the light in you in fact I'm going to start saying that if I don't you think that's something like what they say when they mean what you call it what's that what's that word that Kari uses that she sometimes she sometimes uses at the end of meditations that's it she goes namaste I think that's something to do with that too do you think namaste has something to do with Onika Heidi said no I don't think so but you know you're right cherry in a way it is about seeing the light in someone else namaste is a very similar message I see the light in you I see the good in you like I see the good in me or what the what is good in me is good in you that kind of thing so yeah you're right well spotted cherry said Heidi cherry said I know I know you know so good at this religious stuff I know so much I know so much I mean I know you medical friends know so much thank you and I know Heidi thank goodness reads books and she knows so much thank you but you know I think I think I would have deep down I would have known all that anyway because deep down I think I could be Jewish I think I could be Jewish because you know really if you think about it we're all probably mixed up because you know try and keep try and keep you know the you know how would you say it like try and keep the grains of sand separate on the beach you couldn't do it could you because all the grains of sand kind of mingle together and before you know it you'd be like where's my grain of sand and and you're surrounded by millions of grains of sand and all those grains of sand mixed together and all the black pieces of sand mixed together and all the white pieces of sand mixed together and all the yellow pieces of sand mixed together and the green I don't think this green anyway you get me point they all mixed together don't they and then you're like oh that's just a lovely color all of it mixed together makes the loveliest color sand and you don't see the colors and you don't see the separation and you know what that means that means I could be Jewish I could be I could be Muslim I could be Jewish I could be Christian I could be any others but it Buddhism I could be I could be Catholic I think that's all I think I think how that's all I know yeah I could be all those things mixed together just like the hush just like the beach yeah just like the beach and the beach that's me and if I close my eyes and I think about it I think I would have known everything about Onika just because of the light in me I've got so much light in me right that's it that's it that's all I have to say all right I think we should go to sleep now everyone I think we should go to sleep because we've been talking about this king this this nasty king for too long and this nasty king as far as I'm concerned it's just in the past his history now all there is is candles and the memory of the candles right and what the candles mean and all that good stuff anyway yeah let's go to sleep because I'm really tired within a couple of seconds cherry was out like a light fast asleep just like a candle then Heidi fell asleep and then the kids fell asleep everyone was fast asleep each one of them was dreaming about how lucky they were to be alive and to have each other the end
