 | Thanks to how this year's secular and Jewish calendars interact, the approaching Festival of Lights will be the second Hanukkah of 2025. Hanukkah is one of Judaism's most popular celebrations. For centuries, our people voted with our candles and community gatherings, as will we several times during the weeks ahead. In this month's Rabbi's Corner, R. David offers two ways that perhaps we can make this year's Hanukkah uniquely meaningful, rooted in the deep well from which Hanukkah springs. Don't miss the light shining at Shir Ami! |
By Rabbi David
Happy December, Shir Ami! The short days and wintry weather mean that Hanukkah is around the corner.
First Light is Sunday, December 14. As a community, we'll gather in Darien at 6:00pm Tuesday, December 16 (third candle)... and again at the home of Joan and David Green at 6:00pm December 20 (seventh candle: bring your hanukkiyot and candles!).
But let's not call it "Hanukkah 2025." Thanks to a quirk in how the secular (solar) and Jewish (lunar-solar) calendars align, we already had a Hanukkah 2025: the seventh and eighth candles of last Hanukkah were on January 1 and 2, 2025. The Hanukkah that soon begins therefore will be our second Hanukkah of 2025.
How will we make this second Hanukkah of 2025 different from the first?
In one sense, Hanukkah is what it is – candles, latkes (jelly donuts for Israelis), songs, dreidels and gifts for kids. Jewishly, Hanukkah is a "minor holiday," not at all an equivalent or answer to Christmas, as Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert's sang in "Can I Interest You in Hanukkah?"
Yet the deep meanings of Hanukkah – how it began (whether we buy the "miracle" version), and what we can make of it – are so much more. And they offer two important ways for us to make this second Hanukkah 2025 different from the first.
Happy December, Shir Ami! The short days and wintry weather mean that Hanukkah is around the corner.
First Light is Sunday, December 14. As a community, we'll gather in Darien at 6:00pm Tuesday, December 16 (third candle)... and again at the home of Joan and David Green at 6:00pm December 20 (seventh candle: bring your hanukkiyot and candles!).
But let's not call it "Hanukkah 2025." Thanks to a quirk in how the secular (solar) and Jewish (lunar-solar) calendars align, we already had a Hanukkah 2025: the seventh and eighth candles of last Hanukkah were on January 1 and 2, 2025. The Hanukkah that soon begins therefore will be our second Hanukkah of 2025.
How will we make this second Hanukkah of 2025 different from the first?
In one sense, Hanukkah is what it is – candles, latkes (jelly donuts for Israelis), songs, dreidels and gifts for kids. Jewishly, Hanukkah is a "minor holiday," not at all an equivalent or answer to Christmas, as Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert's sang in "Can I Interest You in Hanukkah?"
Yet the deep meanings of Hanukkah – how it began (whether we buy the "miracle" version), and what we can make of it – are so much more. And they offer two important ways for us to make this second Hanukkah 2025 different from the first.
| 1. Social Justice: "Not By Might" Debbie Friedman's wrote her "Not By Might" Hanukkah song for real reasons. In popular lore, Hanukkah began as a battle for Jewish self-determination against the ruthless occupation and persecution by King Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who outlawed Judaism in 168-167 BCE and sacked the Temple. | |
The "Maccabees" – an armed guerrilla group – drove out Antiochus' forces and restored the Temple, finding enough pure olive oil for one night that lasted eight. Hanukkah was born.
But in truth, as Rabbi Joseph Telushkin and other scholars teach, Antiochus was far less the ruthless antisemite than a secular ruler intervening in a Jewish brawl between traditionalists and civic modernizers, in which traditionalists drew first blood. When Maccabee forces drove Antiochus and his army from Jerusalem in 164 BCE, they took the side of traditionalists – and ruthlessly so. They took the chance to rid Judaism of inter-marriage and diversity.
The rabbis did not want Hanukkah to develop as a holiday, fearing it would valorize violence and especially religious violence. When people voted with their candles anyway, the rabbis went along – with a twist. They de-emphasized Jewish zealotry in favor of the miraculous, and linked Hanukkah to the prophet Zekhariah hundreds of years earlier when he heard, "Not by might and not by power, but by My spirit, says the Lord of Hosts" (Zech. 4:6).
If Hanukkah would celebrate liberation, it could only be through the sacred – not by human might or power, battle, extremism, exclusion, lineage or bloodline. Hanukkah – and Debbie Friedman's "Not By Might" – stand for a Judaism that is sacred because it is inclusive.
What if we dedicate our Hanukkah to its original social justice principles of inclusion? What if dedicate the spirit of each candle to a cause – and back it with our care and our giving?
But in truth, as Rabbi Joseph Telushkin and other scholars teach, Antiochus was far less the ruthless antisemite than a secular ruler intervening in a Jewish brawl between traditionalists and civic modernizers, in which traditionalists drew first blood. When Maccabee forces drove Antiochus and his army from Jerusalem in 164 BCE, they took the side of traditionalists – and ruthlessly so. They took the chance to rid Judaism of inter-marriage and diversity.
The rabbis did not want Hanukkah to develop as a holiday, fearing it would valorize violence and especially religious violence. When people voted with their candles anyway, the rabbis went along – with a twist. They de-emphasized Jewish zealotry in favor of the miraculous, and linked Hanukkah to the prophet Zekhariah hundreds of years earlier when he heard, "Not by might and not by power, but by My spirit, says the Lord of Hosts" (Zech. 4:6).
If Hanukkah would celebrate liberation, it could only be through the sacred – not by human might or power, battle, extremism, exclusion, lineage or bloodline. Hanukkah – and Debbie Friedman's "Not By Might" – stand for a Judaism that is sacred because it is inclusive.
What if we dedicate our Hanukkah to its original social justice principles of inclusion? What if dedicate the spirit of each candle to a cause – and back it with our care and our giving?
| 2. Little Lights: The Art of Blessing the Day The poet Marge Piercy, now approaching her 90th birthday, wrote "The Art of Blessing the Day" about how to bless the seemingly small things. Her words also speak to Hanukkah and the big miracle of little light. Unlike the first Hanukkah of 2025's seventh and eighth candles, the upcoming second Hanukkah with first lights in the darkness. | |
Our practice of lighting progressively more Hanukkah candles – from little light (first candle) to great light (eighth candle) – takes one side of a Talmudic debate that might have gone the other way. (If you're interested in why we light from less to more, and why some adopt the reverse tradition, ask me or check out this tiny snippet of Talmud from Shabbat 21b).
The point is this: we start Hanukkah by blessing over the littlest light – the miracle that even a small light can vanquish darkness.
From my heart to yours, may this season of shortest days galvanize us to bless the Power to vanquish darkness and receive Hanukkah's light where it's needed most.
The point is this: we start Hanukkah by blessing over the littlest light – the miracle that even a small light can vanquish darkness.
From my heart to yours, may this season of shortest days galvanize us to bless the Power to vanquish darkness and receive Hanukkah's light where it's needed most.
RSS Feed