Keeping the flames lit

Chanukah is perhaps our most “made-up” of Jewish holidays. There is no mention of it in the Torah, the Talmud mostly has questions about it, and the Book of Maccabees–which gives us the traditional story of Judah and his family defeating the Syrian Greeks and rededicating the Temple in Jerusalem–is not a part of our biblical canon.

So, when Adam Sandler opens his famous song with “Chanukah is…” there is always a bit of a pregnant pause before he completes the sentence. Ultimately, Chanukah is a festival of many things. Of reestablishing sacrificial worship in the Temple, of zealots battling against assimilation, of clandestine storytelling to preserve a tradition under threat, and on we could go.

You will find that if you dig, it is not the shiniest or cleanest of our stories. But when Sandler finishes his opening time, he defines Chanukah as many of us have for centuries.

“Chanukah is…the festival of lights.” Among all the interpretive and textual layers that have built Chanukah up over the years, light is a thread woven through them all.

During the Northern Hemisphere’s darkest days, our tradition insists that we illuminate our world. In doing so, we are always bound to light up something that would otherwise be overlooked. I look forward to Chanukah each year because I’ve come to see it as a time for recentering the purpose and vision of my work.

At Metro Chicago Hillel and our three Bases–in Andersonville, Lincoln Park, and the West Loop–we are lucky enough to serve Jewish students at no less than eight campuses across Chicagoland, homes to some of the cleverest, most creative, and most curious young Jews I’ve had the pleasure of working with.

Each campus is a light in its own right, and the classic image of a chanukiah is an apt metaphor for the work we do. Our schools stand atop a many-branched candelabra, with arms stretched out wide. Our team is the shamash , helping each campus community shine in its particular way, and we always look to the farthest flung branches.

Every day at Metro Chicago Hillel, we reach out wide to bring Jewish students closer to each other both on campus and off, in person and in cyberspace. The Chanukah story’s classic narrative ends with the first re-lighting of the menorah, but the magic and the work are really in keeping the flames lit.

The winter season tends to be one of turning inwards, and as our campuses wind down their final exams and our students head off to winter break, we’re working to keep the lights on so that the students know we’re always here for them.

Metro Chicago Hillel is a division of The Hillels of Illinois, a partner in serving the community, supported by JUF/Federation and Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life.

Rabbi Jonathan Posner is the Base Rabbi of the Anna & Fred Doppelt Base Andersonville.