Dear Friends,
Happy Chanukah!
Tonight is the Second Candle of Chanukah, and I join in wishing you and your family only radiance and light in this darkest week of the year. Tomorrow is the Shabbat of Chanukah, with latkes and more candles.
And, yes, last Sunday was the Winter Solstice – the first day of winter – the shortest day in the northern hemisphere when the tilt of the earth turns us away from the sun for the longest period. The good news is that, going forward, days gradually will become longer and more sunshine will brighten our days.
Yet, the confluence of Chanukah and the Winter Solstice this year is interesting, if not instructive. Afterall, Chanukah (and Christmas) is linked in history to the Winter Solstice. The Festival of Lights, was how Chanukah initially was termed in the earliest Jewish history, dating to the years following the Hasmonean revolt when the Maccabees defeated the Seleucid Greeks.
Chanukah was not originally known as a festival of freedom, or as a struggle for religious freedom, as Chanukah often is described today. Rather it was simply a Festival of Lights. Why?
Most historians understand that both second century BCE Judaism, and second century CE Christianity were striving to welcome and retain pagan converts who joined each growing community. The pagans, however, brought with them their own cultural customs, even as they strove to relinquish their pagan god concepts. Among their traditions was a Winter Light Festival marked at the time of the Winter
Solstice. They made sacrifices (sometimes gory) to palliate the hunger of the waning Sun God, whose orb was shrinking by the day. And, they were successful: following their Winter Solstice sacrifices, the days began to grow longer!
Of course, today we know this is simply a factor of astronomy, not cosmology. However, the ancients held firm to their traditions, and brought them with them into Judaism and to Christianity. Thus, both continuing religious traditions hold light festivals in the winter, Judaism on the 25 th of Kislev, and Christianity on the 25 th of December, both aligning with the Winter Solstice!
Hence, this year, we are struck by Chanukah falling both alongside Christmas, and the Winter Solstice.
What do we learn? Perhaps, beyond the debating of historians and the pondering of theologians, we simply learn that when it is darkest, we find comfort in making light. When we feel the most grey inside, we fry potatoes and spin dreidels. And when we are most worried, we enjoy a sugary sufganiyah (jelly donut) and let the worries fall away like powdery sugar between our fingers.
Happy Chanukah and Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
Happy Chanukah!
Tonight is the Second Candle of Chanukah, and I join in wishing you and your family only radiance and light in this darkest week of the year. Tomorrow is the Shabbat of Chanukah, with latkes and more candles.
And, yes, last Sunday was the Winter Solstice – the first day of winter – the shortest day in the northern hemisphere when the tilt of the earth turns us away from the sun for the longest period. The good news is that, going forward, days gradually will become longer and more sunshine will brighten our days.
Yet, the confluence of Chanukah and the Winter Solstice this year is interesting, if not instructive. Afterall, Chanukah (and Christmas) is linked in history to the Winter Solstice. The Festival of Lights, was how Chanukah initially was termed in the earliest Jewish history, dating to the years following the Hasmonean revolt when the Maccabees defeated the Seleucid Greeks.
Chanukah was not originally known as a festival of freedom, or as a struggle for religious freedom, as Chanukah often is described today. Rather it was simply a Festival of Lights. Why?
Most historians understand that both second century BCE Judaism, and second century CE Christianity were striving to welcome and retain pagan converts who joined each growing community. The pagans, however, brought with them their own cultural customs, even as they strove to relinquish their pagan god concepts. Among their traditions was a Winter Light Festival marked at the time of the Winter
Solstice. They made sacrifices (sometimes gory) to palliate the hunger of the waning Sun God, whose orb was shrinking by the day. And, they were successful: following their Winter Solstice sacrifices, the days began to grow longer!
Of course, today we know this is simply a factor of astronomy, not cosmology. However, the ancients held firm to their traditions, and brought them with them into Judaism and to Christianity. Thus, both continuing religious traditions hold light festivals in the winter, Judaism on the 25 th of Kislev, and Christianity on the 25 th of December, both aligning with the Winter Solstice!
Hence, this year, we are struck by Chanukah falling both alongside Christmas, and the Winter Solstice.
What do we learn? Perhaps, beyond the debating of historians and the pondering of theologians, we simply learn that when it is darkest, we find comfort in making light. When we feel the most grey inside, we fry potatoes and spin dreidels. And when we are most worried, we enjoy a sugary sufganiyah (jelly donut) and let the worries fall away like powdery sugar between our fingers.
Happy Chanukah and Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
