Happy Chanukah!
Dear Glacier Jewish Community,
Happy Chanukah – FINALLY!
And, Merry Christmas to the many members of our Jewish families who celebrate this festive and sacred day. There is great beauty and value, as well as deep connection to many of the through-stories of our long Jewish history, in the thoughtful and creative approaches Jews and their Christian spouses utilize to build families and communities that embrace difference and celebrate common roots.
A lot is said at this time of year about increasing the light. One of my favorite Israeli Chanukah songs is Banu Choshekh Legaresh. The lyrics, in Hebrew below, exclaim: We come to chase the dark away. In our hands are light and fire. Each individual light is small, but together – the light is mighty. Flee, darkness and night! Flee, before the light!
בָּאנוּ חוֹשֶׁךְ לְגָרֵשׁ בְּיָדֵינוּ אוֹר וָאֵשׁ
Banu choshech legaresh, b'yadeinu or va'esh
כָּל אֶחָד הוּא אוֹר קָטָן וְכֻלָנוּ אוֹר אֵיתָן
Kol echad hu or katan vechulanu or eitan
סוּרָה חוֹשֶׁךְ הָלְאָה שְחוֹר סוּרָה מִפְּנֵי הָאוֹר.
Surah choshech, hal'ah sh'chor;
surah mipnei ha'or
GJC’s 2024 Chanukah party.
When we shake off the common and stark binaries of our vocabulary, we recognize quickly that the world is full of nuance and multiplicities of meaning, yet we nearly always use the word “light” to mean something good, positive, nourishing, and that must be increased. In the same way, we often use the word dark to mean dangerous, scary, dreary, and to be banished in favor of the light. Yet, we know that seedlings generate and grow in the dark, life gestates in the dark of a womb, and that vast and vibrant ecosystems thrive in the darkness of earth and ocean.
In the Talmud, we often read of the disagreements between the House of Hillel and the House of Shammai. As with light and darkness, the binary of those with even a small knowledge of Talmud is – Hillel good, Shammai bad. We certainly hear more of Hillel than of Shammai in general Judaic learning.
Concerning the Festival of Light (Chanukah), there is a dispute between the House of Hillel and the House of Shammai. The House of Shammai says: On the first day we light eight, and after that we gradually reduce. The House of Hillel says: On the first day one is lit, and thereafter they are progressively increased.
- Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat, 21b
According to Shammai, we start out by lighting eight candles on the first night, and then we decrease by one candle each night. Hillel maintains that we start out by lighting one candle, and then we increase until we have a full menorah on the eighth night. Although the halakhah (literally, the way we walk; generally “Jewish law”) descends from Hillel, there is much to be learned from Shammai.
The teacher of my teachers, our beloved Reb Zalman, z”l, (the luminary who birthed Jewish Renewal in the 1960s), suggested that we can honor both perspectives by lighting one Chanukah menorah (chanukiyah) Hillel’s way, and another one Shammai’s way.
What is at the heart of the difference of opinion about where best to begin between the schools of Shammai and Hillel, two respected and brilliant teachers?
We are taught, in Jewish mystical sources, that the Chanukah candles are channels for the Or Ganuz – the Hidden Light that is the Original Light of creation. This is the Or Ki Tov, the Light of Goodness that can flood goodness, blessing, and holiness into our hearts and our world.
Shammai's approach offers us a practice that capitalizes on the energy of an initial brilliance of great light as we work to really open our hearts. To assist us in this task, we allow the Chanukah candles to cleanse any last vestiges of anger or bitterness from our hearts so that we can be pure, open channels for light and love. As Reb Zalman would say:
A menorah at Wild Coffee in Whitefish.
We need a zaftig (Yiddish word meaning enormous) burst of energy to get us started – a brilliant wave of loving, healing light to flush away any resistance and cleanse our hearts. After that, every day it gets easier, until within a week we have internalized the light so much that our inner flame, our light, has become strong. So, each day we acknowledge our progress towards increased internal light with decreased external light. By the last night a single flame is enough to cleanse even the last remnant of anything obstructing that light within. Starting the festival with a full menorah and decreasing the light every night, represents that internal transformation.
Hillel’s approach allows us to begin with a simple, easy task. The goal is the same, but the way to go is to take small, incremental steps toward growing our light. Just light one candle. That is something everyone can do. Then the next day light two, then three … Stretch your heart open gradually and the result will last. When making a big change, take small but consistent steps and soon your internal menorah will reflect the one you place in your window, facing outward into your neighborhood, community, and the world.
Our Talmudic sages teach us to hold multiple truths at the same time. This capaciousness of thought is one of the vital overarching themes at the cornerstone of Jewish practice/law. This sagacious practice of preserving multiple opinions has been incorporated into American jurisprudence, as we see reflected in Supreme Court rulings.
In a famous passage from Mishnah Avot, more widely known as Pirkei Avot, Ethics of the Fathers, (Mishnah is oral law later codified and expounded upon in Talmud; it is dated to the 3rd century, CE),we are taught the following:
“Every dispute that is for the sake of Heaven, will in the end endure;
But one that is not for the sake of Heaven, will not endure.
Which is the controversy that is for the sake of Heaven?
Such was the controversy of Hillel and Shammai.”
What we come to understand as we study this teaching is illuminating at any time of year.
Makhloket (a difference of opinion, controversy, contention) l’shem (in the name of) Shamayim (the heavenly realm), are the conversations we have about conflicting ideas, divergent opinions, and alternative viewpoints that engage our most creative, curious, and deep thoughts. These sacred conversations across differences are not grounded in ego, nor a need to be “right,” nor in the wielding of power. Rather they are predicated on serving the greatest good and serving God, the Sacred Oneness of multiplicity.
Although the halachah went according to the view of Hillel, Reb Zalman, a deeply knowledgeable, traditionally observant and creative Jew, suggested that sometimes we might need both Hillel and Shammai’s methods at the same time. Perhaps this is the year you will give both a try and light one of your Chanukah menorahs the way we have always been taught, and another according to Shammai. And if you only have one, this may be the year to make or buy another!
Either way, may we each grow our inner light as we display our Chanukah light to the world around us. With our inner light, may we all transmit and receive the blessings of the darkness and its generative nourishment, and may the light we shine outward by replenished, rededicated (Chanukah means dedication), and renewed as we celebrate the Festival of Light this year.
Chag Urim Same’ach ~ a happy holiday of lights,
Rabbi Jessica
