8th Night of Chanukah: Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai

Tonight is the 8th and final night of Chanukah. I decided to light candles honoring both Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai by lighting one Chanukiah will a full 8 lights (Beit Hillel) and one with just one candle (Beit Shammai). 

We gaze into the 8 flames of Hillel and feel full. Full of light that has crept into our darkened spaces. Full of learning and singing. Full of miracles. 

We gaze into the single flame of Shammai and breathe into it a sense of possibility.  Wonder at what is to come. Wonder at how each of us can make a difference in this world. 

Wonder at when this war will end and when our captive cousins will be returned home. 

Together we have made this Chanukah a holiday of meaning. Now it is time for some homegrown miracles to happen 

 #BringThemHomeNOW  #EndThisWar

 #PeaceonEarth  #PeaceForAllPeoples

Chanukah Sameach~ Happy Holiday of Lights

Parshat Vayeshev and Chanukah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa

As the year is coming to its end, we are in a time when our days are short and the night is long. A season where darkness has a definite impact on people. That is why almost every culture, every religion has its own way to celebrate light at this time. I’m sure that almost everyone in  America who is familiar in varying degrees with the December holidays - Christmas, Chanukah, and Kwanzaa.

Christmas is a holiday that at its origin is religious and commemorates the birth of Jesus. Over time it has also morphed for many people (but not all) into a cultural celebration.

Chanukah, as we know, is a post-Biblical Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem after a small group of Jews known as the Maccabees fought back and triumphed against the Seleucid Empire. It is also known as the Festival of Lights. According to Jewish Law it is one of our more minor holidays, but over time its cultural status has risen as a reaction to the majority culture celebration of Christmas around us. Finally, we have Kwanzaa, a week-long celebration held in the US and other nations of the African diaspora in the Americas to honor African heritage in African-American culture.  I recognize that I am not mentioning a Muslim holiday, however there is not one at this time of which I am aware. Please let me know if I am mistaken. (Note: all definitions and date checking taken liberally from Google.)

We live in a society that has become increasingly polarized yet three holidays of different cultures co-exist in the same week. The coming of the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year, and the feelings engendered by these overlapping holidays, impact even those whose cultures do not have a holy day at this time. 

For me, and some others who do not celebrate Christmas, it sometimes feels as if we are outsiders in our own home. There is a party going on that we are not only not invited to but also don’t necessarily understand. That is why it is so important to honor the differences among us. We must truly learn what lies behind the actions (and celebrations) of others before we can determine how we will allow it to make us feel. 

By understanding, we can celebrate with and for each other. We don’t need to be the host of the party or of the worship service/experience, but we can be guests at each other’s table with joy, honor and respect. 

In reading about Kwanzaa I saw the following suggestion (okay it’s from a Hallmark site but it’s still legitimate): 

“This year as your family gathers around your table to place your ancestral cloth, lay the mkeka, place the mishumaa saba in the kinara and light a candle, ask each person to reflect aloud how family keeps us rooted.” I love this quote. 

Let’s all emulate this beautiful Kwanzaa suggestion in our own way. Let’s gather around the symbols of our culture and reflect how it, along with family and community, keep us rooted.  Let us think about the cultures and celebrations going on around us and acknowledge how they keep others feeling rooted and safe and connected. 

This Torah portion this Shabbat, Vayeshev (Genesis 37:1-40:23), continues with the saga of Jacob and begins the Joseph stories. The lessons contained – the importance of family relationships, the do’s and don’ts of parenting, the idea that the trajectory of one’s life can change in a moment – are universal. They are so relevant for this time of year where light and darkness guard our days and our minds. We need to remember who we are as individuals and as a people in order to survive in a world where it has become too easy to become untethered. 

I bless all of us with connectedness and sanctity this Shabbat. I wish that we all take in the light of the holiday candles and let it fill all the deep, dark crevices within us – those places within that may not have felt filled with light for a very long time. Let us celebrate together.

I will end with a Hanukah recommendation for a wonderful website that provides us with different Chanukah videos for each night of the holiday (think 613, Maccabeats, etc):

https://forward.com/culture/436572/one-for-each-night-a-guide-to-hanukkah-a-capella-videos/

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Chaukah, the Festival of Light.

Miketz/Chanukah - A Single Person Can Make a World of Difference

Torah Portion Miketz (Genesis 41:1-44:17)

A common greeting for Chanukah is “Chag Urim Sameach,” meaning happy holiday of lights. The Haftarah that we read on the first Shabbat of Chanukah is Zechariah 2:14-4:7. It contains mention of Zechariah’s vision of the menorah and its lamps or branches that stood and will stand again in the rebuilt Temple.  As we are all well aware, light is a pervasive theme of Chanukah, in fact of most traditions that occur around the time of the winter solstice.  Light banishes the long night’s darkness during the winter months. Light spreads hope and openness and transparency. One looks into a flame and becomes mesmerized by the beauty and paradox of a constant light that is ever changing.

I experience a sense of awe, possibility and hope every time I kindle the Chanukah candles and gaze at their flames. There is something about fire. It is powerful and dangerous, yet also cleansing and mesmerizing. The light of the smallest candle can fill a space so much larger than itself. It tells us to take courage, to peer into the darkness, into the cracks and corners of our world and our lives. It illuminates the possibilities of our lives. It reminds me that if the flame of one little candle can breathe such potential, imagine the impact that each of us can make.

One person can make a difference. Witness the legacy of Joseph in the four Torah portions, including this week’s Miketz , that tell his story.  He goes from being  a bratty younger brother who is sold to slavers, is imprisoned in Egypt, becoming its second highest leader, saving the country from famine and finally, forgives his brothers for trying to kill him. If one person can do all of that, just imagine the difference that many people standing as one can make!

The Haftarah, meanwhilie, contains a prophecy about rebuilding the Temple. The prophecy that will be fulfilled in large part due to the pragmatic pluralism practiced by Cyrus the Great over the areas that he governed. Cyrus’ position was to respect and allow the traditions of the people of his empire. It helped keep the peace and ensured that taxes would be received. In many ways this attitude is a model of governing for our world today.

Zechariah contains the famous words Lo b’Chayil v’lo b’koach, ki im b’ruchi amar Adonai Tzva’ot “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit – said the Lord of Hosts.” (4:6)

This verse contains a powerful message both for Chanukah and for our world today. We recognize this timelessness and timeliness nightly in the second blessing over the Chanukah candles: bayamim ha-hem -- in those days, bazman hazeh – in this time. It takes more than armies and war and physical strength to make change and to live a good life. It requires faith – in God, in a higher power, in the goodness and possibility of mankind.  When I see the words “but by My Spirit” it tells me that I must nourish a personal godliness while recognizing that the godliness I see in others may be very different from my own.  It requires the moral strength of having one’s own belief while at the same time holding space and respect for others without feeling threatened.

That is what Chanukah represents to me, that Judaism is a constant light that is ever-changing. The faith we hold, the traditions that imbue our lives with meaning, those same traditions that we often fight against, the sense that being a Jew means something – to me this is the answer to the Sages question in the Talmud, Mai Hanukkah? What is Hanukkah?

Food for Thought: 

1. What does the concept of “light” mean to you?

2. Chanukah was a time of conflict not only against an oppressive ruler but it also was a civil war dealing with religious practices and ideas and the reality of assimilation. Who were the real winners of the Chanukah story?

Belated Posts of Chanukah Musings from Las Vegas

Shabbat Chanukah Greetings

The weekend is here and with it the chance to sit back, reflect, and spend some family time (and I hope that includes time that does not involve chauffeuring younger family members!). I'm in Las Vegas this Shabbat - a strange place to be for Shabbos I know. But I've found a lovely Reconstructionist service to go to tonight and a Torah study for tomorrow morning. That should keep me out of trouble.

Being here in Las Vegas is surreal - the lights, the noise, the casinos, the over-the-topness of it all. It feels like an alternate reality to the reality of life before I got here last night. A reality of more mass shootings in the US, more people killed and wounded in Israel, more people saying things publicly that you hope they really don't mean.

This week's Torah portion, Vayeshev (Genesis 37:1-40:23) also reminds us that life holds these contradictions and sometimes, to learn important values, we must view things in a mixed-up sort of way - Joseph's brothers sell him into slavery, Tamar disguising herself as a prostitute in order to fulfill a family commitment from her father-in-law Judah and Potiphar's wife trying to seduce Joseph and getting him thrown in jail after accusing him of attempted rape. These stories are all rather strange but at core they touch on fundamental human values - family, honour, promise keeping, loyalty.

This note to you is my transition into Shabbat. My time to reflect about what is important in life: family, community, love, peace. May we all take into account what our important values are and try to uphold them as best we can. May we pray this Shabbat for peace for all peoples and strengthen this prayer by doing acts of loving kindness.

Oseh Shalom bimromav, Hu ya'a'seh shalom aleinu, v'al kol Israel, v'al kol yoshvei tevel. V'imru Amen.

May the Awesome One who brings peace upon us, bring peace upon all of the people Israel and upon all those who reside on this planet. And let us say, Amen.

Shabbat Las Vegas Musing

It's strange celebrating Shabbat in a casino resort, a place that has no havdil/differentiation between day and night, light and dark. It's as if the Awesome One skipped this place during the first day of creation. I need to think on this a bit. 

Went to a lively Kabbalat Shabbat service at Pnai Tikvah Reconstructionist shul with Rabbi Yocheved Mintz and some very enthusiastic younger people. Really needed that to help usher in the existence of Shabbat.

Shabbat Blessings.....

May the light of Shabbat, along with the last lingering tendrils of light from the Chanukah candles, brighten this Shabbat with love, peace and tolerance. May our eyes be opened and our hearts accepting of all who come to us in friendship.
Shabbat Shalom u'M'vorach (Shabbat blessings of Peace)

Chanukah: Aps and Beer

Ever read J Weekly.com? It covers the Jewish news of the San Francisco area. I originally started reading it because a friend of mine, Rachel Freedenberg (and former babysitter for my children!), is a writer for the site. And I've kept reading even though I don't, in my itinerancy (is that even a word?), get anywhere near SF. It just has good articles in it. Case in point. This week there are at least two articles that caught my interest immediately.

The first is by Rachel and is called  "Eight nights of apps: iPhone programs put Chanukah in the palm of your hand." The description is:
Lighting the menorah, playing dreidel and other Chanukah traditions have gone virtual. A slew of Chanukah-themed programs for the iPhone and iPod Touch have popped up in Apple's iTunes App Store, all of which have a unique take on the ancient holiday. Rachel Freedenberg talks to two app developers who put their own spin on the Festival of Lights. "  (NOTE: I LOVE ipod aps!)

The second is called "Eight gifts for the beer-lover on your list." The description is:
Got a "beerie" on your Chanukah list? You can stop agonizing over what to get them. San Francisco author and beer expert Brian Yaeger has eight fabulous gift ideas that will delight any Jewish hops aficionado, from He'Brew to 8 Malty Nights.  www.jweekly.com/article/full/40637/eight-gifts-for-the-beer-lover-on-your-list

How could you not love something with that name? Especially if your family has a long relationship with beer as mine does. In fact, I remember asking my grandfather why I never saw him drink water - he only drank beer or coffee (and the occasional scotch). His answer? "Water rusts my pipes."
www.jweekly.com/article/full/40647/eight-nights-of-apps-iphone-programs-put-chanukah-in-the-palm-of-your-hand

I know I should be wishing people a Happy Thanksgiving today but I just don't seem to feel it here in Israel. So, let's get ready for Chanukah!
Kol Tuv, Arlene