The Hanukkah lights are meant to be a spectacle; they aren’t meant to have any purpose besides being lit for Hanukkah. We aren’t allowed to repurpose the lights for anything else, like lighting other candles, providing heat, or illumination. I think we are meant to look at them and simply feel something.
The literature about Hanukkah gives very little clarity about the purpose of the candles and what they represent. But we know some about the Hanukkah story that can teach us about the light. When the ancient Hasmoneans won back the Temple, they established their presence through sacrifice. They expressed themselves religiously and spiritually through sacrifice, and when they weren’t allowed in the Temple, their normal means of religious expression was denied to them.
The miracle of the oil lasting for 8 days as described in the Talmud mattered because it allowed for these ancient Israelites to return to normal rhythms of sacrifice and ritual. In a time when there was lots of religious disruption and change, the light that continued to burn was a symbol that they were granted ‘normal’ for longer than expected. That is what I hope to feel this year when I look at the candles.
Hanukkah is different this year for so many reasons. We won’t have home hosted potlucks and candle lightings, and we won’t have people in our homes to scarf down dozens of latkes and sufganiyot. But it is still winter and it is still dark outside, and I still have candles that I have set aside for all 8 nights of this holiday. I will place my Chanukiya on a table in the front window, and I will still try and put the colored candles in some pattern. And I will still sing the brachot and I will marvel at the beauty of the lights. While so, so much is different - is hard - I hope that for a moment, those candles will feel familiar.
When we look at those Hanukkah lights tonight and in the coming week, I pray that they help create a small slice of normal. While the lights won’t give us much heat and won’t give us illumination, perhaps the flames and the words that accompany their lighting will give us just a small bit of normal.
May the light of these candles rise up and reach the heavens, bringing our prayers with them. I hope you’ll join us on Thursday evening on Zoom for a community wide celebration at 6:30PM. We’ll give special gratitude to our Legacy Donors, and we’ll have an evening for all of us to celebrate our beautiful community, together.
Shabbat Shalom and Chag Urim Sameach, Rabbi Sarit
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