Lighting of Hannukah menorah tells humans a light shines for us
Jews around the world have just finished celebrating the 8 days of Chanukah that begins each year on the 25th of the Hebrew month of Kislev. Hannukah commemorates two events: the military victory of the Maccabees in 165 BCE and the miracle of a small cruse of oil, which burned in the temple for 8 days.
The most enduring lesson of Hannukah, is not the military victory, but the victory of the spirit. Lightning the menorah after reclaiming the Temple was ultimately an act of hope in a time previously filled with utter despair. We emphasize the miracle of the oil over the military victory to show that our future is not predetermined. The menorah is the symbol of the holiday and is fundamental to the celebration. There are rules about how the menorah should be shaped, when it should be lit, who should light it, and in what direction the candles should be lit from. However, above all else, the menorah should be lit - no matter who does it or where they are. Today when we light the menorah we honor those that went before us who have passed down a great history and depend on us to continue that heritage for them, for ourselves and for future generations. The flame in the menorah is our expression of the metaphor that within each of us glows a spiritual ember that is ready to burst forth to fulfill our spiritual potential.
As a child, I couldn't wait for Hannukah. The rituals and traditions surrounding lighting the menorah and celebrating with family and friends were anticipated by all. Hannukah has always been a joyous holiday. One of my favorite memories of Hannukah was walking outside with my grandfather and his friends to look at all of the menorahs twinkling away in our neighbor's windows. I remember thinking how pretty all of this was. My grandfather, a survivor of Nazi Germany, was often moved to tears. For him it was a privilege to live in a country where such an event could happen. His hopes for freedom had been answered and the menorahs openly displayed for all to see were a visual answer to his prayers. Hannukah is after all a holiday that teaches us that many of our most improbable victories are created from life's most unbelievable turns.
The first two lines of Genesis read "In the beginning ... the earth was empty ... and darkness was upon the face of the deep." The command "let there be light" then banished the darkness. According to the sequences of events presented in the Torah, the luminous heavenly bodies including the sun and stars did not come into existence until much later. This first "light" therefore must be understood not as light in a conventional sense, but as the light of G-d and the essence of spirituality. The lighting of the Hannukah menorah tells us in the most basic way that even in the darkest of times, a light shines for us.
Thousands of years after the first Hannukah lights were lit, no matter how much darkness surrounds us, we still light the menorah. The gift of Hannukah is hope and our belief in a divine spirit that will bring us out of the darkness and into the light.
Chava Lee is a member of the Juneau Jewish Community and Chair of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations Pacific Northwest Small Congregations Committee.