Hanukkah: The Inside Scoop

Every thing and event is a paradigm.  Judaism believes that we inhabit two planes at once.  One plane is the level of what we deem to be physical reality; the things that we work for and do.  This plane is where we labor for income, save for the future, agonize over missed opportunities…   The other plane is the metaphysical realm.  This is the universe of paradigm.

You know the story of Hanukkah well, at least on the first level, or plane.  Let us take a look at the other view of Hanukkah, the paradigm view.

Hanukkah is about the struggle for independence.  It speaks to the notion of religious and personal challenge, overcoming obstacles.  For the ill, Hanukkah is a time when God shows that hope exists even when we feel hopelessness.  It is a fight against apathy and an empty, vapid existence.  Any time we fight for others or ourselves who cannot defend themselves, the spirit of Hanukkah is invoked.

Lighting the candles involves using the shamash, the worker candle, to bring light to the rest.  Implicit in using the shamash to light the others is the idea that we bring redemption to one another.  Even though the shamash looks identical to the rest, it is needed to fulfill the mitzvah of the candles, or bring wholeness to the event.  Each of us is needed to restore balance.

One of the mitzvot of Hanukkah is to place the Hanukiah in the window to show that we are proclaiming the miracle of long ago.  We have remained faithful and we advertise this publicly.  A Jew needs community.  We encourage one another, and ourselves, when we place the Hanukkiah in a conspicuous place.  The great miracles of God and the quieter ones too, like birth and health and breath need to be acknowledged and shared.  It makes life more meaningful.

The dreidle that we spin had four letters scribes on each side, nun, gimel, hay, shin, which has the numerical equivalent of mashiach, messiah.  We spin the dreidle in the hopes of winning, never really knowing which letter will turn up.  So we play the game of life and expectations, ever hoping that the dreidle will be spun revealing our ultimate salvation.

On the Shabbat of Hanukkah we read from the book of Zechariah which states the antithesis of the story that we tell, “Not my might, nor by power but by My spirit, says the Lord of Hosts” (4:6)  True strength, the prophet implies, comes not from raw strength or largesse.  It is something infinitely greater.  God’s spirit and the wonderful endowment that we all possess is the real source of our strength.  The soul triumphs over human adversity as it contains an endless reservoir of resiliency.

Enjoy the warmth of Hanukkah.  It is the holiday of lights, both internal and external.