Each night, one more candle

Chanukah in the United States usually feels pretty festive. I have many happy memories of my childhood celebrations, which always included lots of presents. When my husband and I were the parents of young children, we tried to tone the gift giving down considerably, but Chanukah always included lots of festivities–and latkes!

But we are not living in particularly festive times. The challenges here at home and in Israel are immense. And so many of the issues we worry about seem intractable. My husband is from Highland Park, and we raised our own family here. So, none of the things I worry about seem distant.

But I always take great strength from our tradition. It has helped me deal with the challenges of the day. Each holiday has brought special solace–and Chanukah is no exception. We all know the story of the little cruse of oil that was not supposed to be able to last even a few days and yet lasted for eight.

Rabbi David Hartman–the late founder of the Shalom Hartman Institute–taught the real miracle of Chanukah was not that the oil lasted for eight days but that our ancestors were willing to light the oil even when they were convinced it would not last. He teaches: “The miracle of the first day was expressed in the community’s willingness to light a small cruse of oil without reasonable assurance that their efforts would be sufficient to complete the rededication of the Temple…The ‘miracle’ of Jewish spiritual survival throughout history…may best be described by our people’s strength to live without guarantees of success and to focus on how to begin a process without knowledge of how it would end.”

The prophet Isaiah entreats the Jewish people to be “a light unto the nations.” We are supposed to bring light to the darkness–and this applies even when we feel the world is darker than ever.

Chanukah is about the mitzvah of bringing light during darkness. Celebrated at the time of year when daylight is in short supply, we beat back the darkness through the lighting of candles.

Each night one more candle, until we end in a blaze of light. It is a metaphor for Jewish living. We have survived the dark by bringing light and sharing that light with others. Acts of tzedakah bring such light. Helping one another through difficult times also brings light. Celebrating our Jewish holidays, all with their rituals of candle lighting, brings light. Our world needs this light now more than ever.

Debra Newman Kamin is the rabbi of Am Yisrael, a Conservative Synagogue in Northfield.