December 2005 Bulletin Column

This coming month our community will join with Jewish communities throughout the world in celebration of the festival of Hanukah. Most of us are quite familiar with the story of Hanukah and the miracle that our tradition has us celebrate. We learned as children that, when the Maccabees rededicated our ancient Temple in Jerusalem, they found enough oil to light the Menorah for only a single day. God’s miracle, we learned, was that the oil that should have lasted but one day lasted rather for eight days. 

 

The rabbinic sages, in an attempt to explain our ritual lighting of the Hanukah Menorah, recount for us in the Talmudic Tractate of Shabbat the miracle noted above. Many of us might wonder whether such a miracle ever occurred. After all, it seems quite improbable. And, if it did not occur, we might even question why we ought continue to observe the ritual lighting associated with this supposed miracle.

 

In order to understand the continued significance of Hanukah’s Menorah-lighting, it is important to explore in greater depth the manner in which we light the Menorah. In doing so, we can acquire a deeper and enduring appreciation of the ritual lighting; one that chronicles a miracle that we are living today at least as much as it commemorates a miraculous experience of the Maccabees and their followers long ago.

The Talmud instructs us to observe Hanukah's ritual lighting in accordance with the practice of the sage Hillel’s rabbinic academy. We are to kindle one additional flame for each successive day of the holiday. On the first day we kindle one flame, on the second two flames, on the third three flames, etc. The Talmud also presents a dissenting opinion, that of the sage Shammai’s rabbinic academy. This alternative suggests that we ought eliminate one flame for each successive day of the holiday. In other words, on the first day we would light eight candles, on the second day – seven candles, on the third day – six candles, etc.

 

At first glance, the reasoning for Shammai’s alternative approach to the ritual of lighting flames for Hanukah seems most compelling when one considers it:  Over two thousand years ago, when the Temple was rededicated, enough oil was found to last for one day only. However, in recounting the miracle of this one jar of oil that lasted eight days we ought recognize that, despite our rational conclusion to the contrary, there was in actuality enough oil on the first day of Hanukah to last eight days, on the second day of Hanukah to last seven days, and so on. In other words, Shammai suggested that the proper way to recount the miracle is to acknowledge the reality of what once occurred from the perspective of one who knows the outcome of the event. After all, we do know the outcome of the event, at least inasmuch as our tradition records this story!

 

Still, the Talmud instructs us to follow the ruling of Hillel’s academy. I believe that Hillel's view prevailed because it reflected a belief that the ritual lighting of Hanukah was more than commemorative; it is, very much in the present tense, experiential! Standing outside the miracle, remembering it historically as Shammai did, one might focus on how much oil remained from day to day. However, when we relive the miracle, when we live it in our present, when we experience each day of it anew, we cannot be certain that our oil will last yet another day. We cannot know with absolute certainty that the lights that we revisit from our ancient Jewish past, or even those which we strive to preserve and nourish today, will endure. Will the Jewish flame of our era burn forth unto our children and our children’s children?  Are we any less at risk of losing our light than the Menorah in the Temple was so very long ago?  Might it have been the case for the rabbis long ago, that the "miracle" of Hanukah was a metaphor for the unlikely but persistent survival and flourishing of our People and its message, against all odds? Is it possible that the miracle that we celebrate in our own era, when we kindle our own flames of Hanukah, is the ever constant miracle of our presence in this world as a Jewish entity? 

 

Think about it. The miracle of Hanukah parallels the miracle that occurs everyday that we live Jewish lives. And the miracle that occurs everyday that we live Jewish lives is no more real and true than the miracle of our ancestors’ spiritual and cultural triumph over Hellenism so long ago. Their flame burned beyond any duration that could have been expected. Our flame, too, continues to burn despite the many challenges that we face. As our ancestors were blessed with God's miracle of Jewish continuity so long ago, so are we blessed today!

 

However, we mustn't take this blessing for granted. It provides for us an extraordinary opportunity to strengthen our People and to pursue our Divinely-endowed purpose in this world. As a synagogue community, our work must be not only to preserve the light of our People but to spread it, with love, with passion, and with a deep sense of Jewish purpose. In doing so, we relive miracles of our ancient past while we generate the miracles of our present.

The flames of Hanukah, as Hillel had us kindle them by adding one more flame each day, express our enduring faith that our Jewish flames will grow ever-stronger, in our own generation and beyond it. The flames that we kindle on Hanukah represent our commitment to the work that we must do to enhance and clarify the light of the Jewish People and the beauty and depth of Jewish spirituality. Ultimately, from within the yearly miracle of Hanukah, we might even come to recognize that we, ourselves, are the flames that need to be kindled and rekindled. We are the enduring miracle of Hanukah, if we make it so.

 

Chag Urim Sameach - May we all be blessed with a joyous festival of our Jewish light!

Rabbi Isaac Jeret

Spiritual Leader