A Great Miracle Happened There

The month of December has arrived and for many in the non-Jewish world it involves mistletoe and pine scented houses but for us Jews this is the time of year for the sweet smell of burning oil from latkes and sofganiot (donuts) and other heavy caloric foods that fill our houses and help make that familiar atmosphere that is Chanukah.
Chanukah is a unique holiday in the cannon of Jewish holidays because it has taken on such a major role in our American Jewish experience when in reality it is actually a minor holiday focusing on the mirth of joy and celebration rather than the intensity of religious fervor that makes up other religious holidays in our tradition.
Most scholars believe Hanukkah began as a second chance to celebrate the eight day festival of Sukkot. The Maccabees, busy fighting their enemies in the Judean hills, were unable to properly celebrate the fall harvest festival. On Sukkot offerings were brought to the Temple. But each day the number of offerings was reduced by one. To commemorate this second Sukkot, the great sage Shammai taught that the lights should be reduced each evening by one.
This is not, of course, our tradition. On Chanukah we actually increase the lights by one each night as the holiday progresses building to a crescendo of light and mirth as the holiday ends on the eighth day. The great sage Hillel gave a reason for this change in practice when he taught one of his most important teachings about being a human being,
“One should always go up in holiness and not go down in holiness.” Holiness and the ability to strive for goodness is what separates us human beings from the rest of the animal kingdom. Animals live according to their nature; they follow their instincts. As humans we need to rise above our nature, we need to strive to achieve higher and higher levels of holiness. So we increase our light each night as we increase our joy and learn the depth and happiness of what light can bring to the world. When we light one candle it can give great things to the world.
The reality is that in December we focus so much on the material aspect of the holidays we forget the inner joy of faith and light that can be brought into our world. My son Ari is constantly asking when Chanukah is, knowing that presents are not far behind and I am sure the same exists with our Christian friends who seem to feel the draw of the material aspect of their holiday, and sometimes forgetting the deeper meaning of faith and hope.
The truth is that Chanukah is a celebration of miracles, the simple miracle of being Jewish in a world that seems to push our faith so far away. We Jews suffered great persecution through our history but we also now suffer the struggle of relevance when our ancient faith seems so distant to many in our world.
The old tribalism of our past does not have the same draw that sustained the faith of the Maccabees two millennial ago. The struggle of being Jewish and maintaining a meaningful connection to our faith seems to befit the great miracle that surpasses the struggle the Maccabees fought so long ago. Today just lighting those candles can be a struggle when there is so much to push our people away from their traditions today.
I remember the first time in my youth when I saw a Christmas tree and wondered why I did not have one in my house. The beauty of that tree seemed to symbolize such great promise while the lights on our menorah seemed too small. But the great sage Hillel promised that the faith does not stop with one light but continues and builds and sustains us even in our darkest moments. There are enough people bringing darkness into the world.
A festival of lights has to bring more light into the world. And we do so by bringing more holiness into the world. The essential element of our holiday is to bring light into the world rather than curse the darkness around us. Hanukkah is the time to build the ladder of holiness.
Many thinkers have seen human beings as suspended somewhere between animals and angels from the most good to the worst. How can we move up from the animals and become a little closer to the angels? How can we keep spreading the light of holiness throughout the world and become the better angels we desire to be? That is the message we are displaying in our window as we increase the lights each night of Hanukkah.
This holiday we play our fun game of dreidel that has Hebrew letters on it that signify Nes Gadol Hayah Sham or ‘a great miracle happened there’. That miracle is of course speaking of the oil of the menorah that lasted for eight days instead of one but the true miracle we Jews celebrate each year at Chanukah is the miracle that happens here each year, that Jews light those candles and again recite the ancient prayer and make their faith meaningful to them in their life and pass that onto the next generation.
The Talmud says that the Nashamah Adam Ner HaShem, the light of man, is the candle of God and thus each year we light each candle to find meaning in our faith and bring a little light into the world rather than curse the darkness around us. Please join Beth Judah Temple Fri. Dec. 14 at 6:30 p.m. as we celebrate light and faith as we have our fourth annual Interfaith Chanukah service as we celebrate light and faith for all rather than curse the darkness around us.
Rabbi Jeffrey Lipschultz is the spiritual leader of Beth Judah Temple in Wildwood. He welcomes your comments at dvjewish@rof.net