Hanukkah: A Primer

 Hanukka (also spelled Chanuka and other ways) comes on the twenty-fifth day of Kislev.  While the English date varies, the Hebrew date remains the same.  Eight days long, the holiday concludes on Tevet 2.

Hanukka means “dedication.”  The holiday is a celebration of the date when the Temple in Jerusalem was recovered, cleaned, and rededicated to God.  Hanukka is also called the Festival of Lights for that is the main observance of the holiday.  

In 165 BCE a heroic group of Jewish warriors called the Maccabbes triumphed after a long war against the Syrian-Greek king, Antiochus Epiphanes.  Despite the fact that Hanukka recalls a military victory over an enemy who wanted to eradicate the Jewish faith, Hanukka celebrate the lights, not the conquest.  

As related by the Talmud, the Maccabees recovered a single jar of oil that had remained intact throughout the years of the Helenizers still retaining the seal of the Kohen Gadol, high priest, from many years before. Expecting the oil to last for a day it burned for eight nights, enough time to manufacture oil to keep the Lamp of God burning uninterrupted.

Finding Light

 "A person is obligated to say, 'The world was created for me’."  This statement from the Talmud is our instruction on how we are supposed to look at the world.  On the face of it the sages are telling us to view everything through the lens of personal needs.  Doesn’t this advice seem a bit arrogant and egotistical? 

 

Actually, the sages are trying to convey the opposite.  If we view our surroundings, taking personal responsibility for all that is, we will be more appreciative and deliberate about how we treat it.  After all, who would throw dirt or empty containers on their carpet?  Who would treat their personal possessions with derision?  And we see this kind of indiscriminate behavior around us.  The Talmud is advising a different attitude.

 

We are not supposed to see the world through the lens of selfishness but responsibility.  The world was not created to absorb our abuse but garner our appreciation. Thus, we acknowledge that “the world was created for me’” as a reminder that everything that exists is a gift.  Just as we repair our car, paint the house, mow the lawn, so too we are supposed to treat every encounter as if it belongs to us.  Nobody will come along with a lawnmower and do it for us!  We take care of our possessions because we are responsible for them.  Likewise, we have a unique responsibility to the world.  It belongs to us.

Legend:  Two Angels were dispatched by God to gather sentiments and bring them back to heaven.  Descending to earth the first angel was instructed to gather complaints and criticisms while the second collected thanks and gratitude.
When the two Angels completed their assignment and returned to their Maker the first Angel carried a basket overflowing while the other was almost empty.  

 

Hanukkah is a time of celebration, the uplifting of light and illuminating dark days with rays of hope.  Who does not feel the lightness and joy touch their soul during these days of celebration? 

 

And yet. How do we merge with the joy of the season when there is so much evil in the world?  When we are overwhelmed with evil carried out by the nefarious enemies of Israel?  Does this sound like we are speaking of the Maccabean revolt against the virulent hatred of the Syrian--Greeks?  Or the wicked Hamas bent on abuse and murder?   

 

History does have its way of repeating itself because people give vent to their worst impulses.   What Hamas did to us has happened before.  That is why the brilliant minds of centuries ago taught that from life’s inception we are to cultivate gratitude for everything.  With an attitude of appreciation, we develop different insight: we see life as full of opportunity and meaning even when it is dark….or especially when darkness descends over the world.

 

Our task is to never release our grip on hope.  That is why we light candles on Hanukkah. That is why we refuse to canonize the wars of the Maccabees.  War is not glorious.  Instead, we tell tales of light; we speak of defeating evil even when the odds are against us; and we bless God even as we mourn.

 
A prayer: Let me be in Your eyes and in mine, Lord, a vehicle of goodness and generosity and not of despair.

Taking Responsibility

 Blame is easy.  All we have to do is shirk responsibility.  

The Torah speaks of the victim of a murder being found near a city.  In that instance where the killer cannot be found the Torah demands that the elders of the closets city gather at the place where the crime was committed and say, "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done.”   ~ Deuteronomy 21:7.  In other words, even though they did not know the perpetrator or perhaps even the victim they are called to take responsibility for a crime that occurred in their vicinity.

While the natural human reaction to being blamed is to pass it on or make excuses for what happened, the Torah tells us to take responsibility.

A story is told of the famous Rabbi Hayim Brisker who had a Hasid as a teacher.  The Hasid trained Brisker from a young child in the ways of Torah.  One day the Hasid took the young lad to see his rabbi.  At that time, the young man took a fruit from his bag and began to nibble on it.  The elderly rebbe was surprised that the young man did not say a blessing first.  “You should have taught him how to say the proper blessing before he eats!” he scolded the Hasid.

The boy looked up and retorted, “You should have taught him to teach me!”  ~ told by Rabbi Louis Jacobs

 

Perhaps if we take greater responsibility for the  things that happen in our family and community we wil become more responsible.

Joy and More Joy

 There are always many ways to view our life, our present and past.  We can look at it from the angle that we are rich and amply blessed.  More than any time in history we have more than enough food, we are protected by police and armed forces, we have devices that save time, and so much more.  The same person can look at their life and complain that they do not have more of what other people have.  Another person in the same position, may walk about in a depression because their children have not done well or that people are cruel.

While our faith offers many great gifts, one of them is getting used to making daily statements of appreciation for things we may otherwise take for granted.  Take for example, the early morning blessings which express gratitude for eyesight, legs, working arms and a body that can rid itself of toxins.  We are told to begin each day by reciting a series of berachot which acknowledge what is not wrong along with what is right.

A while back reporters asked Jerry Lewis why he was perpetually clowning around whether he was on or off the stage.  He was asked, “You are always ‘on.’  Why?  Don’t you ever get tried of being comical?  Why are you never just a person off stage?”

He replied, “Because my parents were show people and they wanted me to be a star.  I tried, how I tried, but they were never satisfied.  They always expected more and more.  They were never satisfied.  So to this day I must keep trying.”

There are two ways of viewing Lewis’ statement.  One is that he lives forever in the shadow of his oppressive parents who made him so relentless.  How sad!  He can never be free from their oppressive expectations.  The other way to look at it is Lewis’ parents made him into the star that outshone their lights and made him one of the most famous comedians of all time.

The Baal Shem Tov once said, “There is no accident in the world.”  What the Baal Shem did not mean was that only good things happen to us.   He was no Pollyanna!  What the Baal Shem did mean is that we always have a choice about how we interpret life’s stumbling blocks as well as blessings.  We choose whether we will be a victim or learn from every experience.

Life is not easy but it need not be a misery either.  Our Sages, of blessed memory, teach that one of the purposes of life is to grow, to learn.  Every day we are to told to exact lessons from life and add them to our storehouse of knowledge that makes us better people.  That takes effort.  

Learning from life’s events does not always come naturally, without intention.  Yet with a mindful set to begin the day with words of appreciation and a desire to grow, perhaps we can achieve what we deserve: joy.