Hanukkiah III

Most of us know the story of Hanukkah, with the Menorah and the jar of oil that lasted longer than expected. But according to Pesikta Rabbati (an early medieval Jewish collection of writings on the Jewish holidays), there is another version of story, which says that when the Maccabees re-entered the Temple after defeating the Greeks, “they found there eight spits of iron.

They grooved these out, and kindled wicks in the oil they poured into the grooves.” (2:1. Trans. W.G. Braude, The Book of Legends). Hanukkah could have just been a holiday about military victory, the triumph of the outnumbered Jews against their mightier foes. But according to this source, the Maccabees follow the vision of Isaiah (2:4): “ they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”

They found iron weapons, and turned them into vessels for light. When you light your candles tonight, try to envision that first Hanukkiah made of iron. How will you help transform aggression into light?

Hanukkah.II

Jews around the world are lighting candles, spinning dreidels, and eating traditional potato pancakes as they welcome Hanukkah.

The eight-day long Festival of Lights marks the re-dedication of the temple of Jerusalem in the second century BC, after Jewish guerillas defeated the armies of tyrannical Syrian and Greek rulers.

Every night over the next eight days, another candle is lit on the menorah - symbolizing the miracle of a tiny bit of oil keeping the candles burning in the temple for eight days

Hanukkiah

It may seem intuitive to us that we light the Hanukkiah adding one candle each night. Yet the Rabbis of the Talmud debated how the Hanukkiah should be lit. The school of Shammai maintained that eight candles should be lit on the first night and on each subsequent night we would light one less candle. The school of Hillel, however, held that we would light one candle on the first day and increase the number of candles we light. We know that Hillel’s practice won out and the Rabbis of the Talmud tried to figure out why. They offer the idea that we increase the number of candles we light each night because when it comes to matters of holiness, we increase instead of decrease. They apply this principle to the lights of the Hanukkiah but also to all aspects of our lives. What are ways that we ensure we are increasing in holiness and not decreasing? Let’s use the light of the Hanukkiah as a reminder of the ways we can continue to bring more holiness into our lives and the lives of those around us.