First of all, Happy (First Night of) Hanukkah to all Jewish Treepers and visitors! Get ready for Eight crazy Nights of lighting candles and spinning dreidels and cleaning out your kids’ stash of gelt.
Lest any of you wingnuts (I say that with greatest affection and respect) fear that I include Hannukah in this series of posts our of some PC fear that I would otherwise not be “inclusive,” fear not. If I weren’t posting this series, I’d have a separate post anyway, or at least a note in the OT– because in the area I grew up, and continue to live in, has a very high Jewish population, and I grew up with their kids. Not wishing every Jew I know “Happy Hanukkah” on the first day of Hanukkah would be weird for me. Just like winning all the gelt when we play dreidel. . . it’s tradition!
That all said, I can only really give one post to the festival. The fact is, I’m not a Jew. Therefore, no matter how many traditions I witness or take part in, no matter how many prayers I struggle along with, or how much I read, I will never understand all the nuances of history, tradition, or interpretation. I’ll only understand so much, and it would be retarded to pretend otherwise.
But, being familiar with the traditional story of Hanukkah, I can tease out a theme common to other celebrations of this time of the year. Hanukkah celebrates the miracle of the sacred oil when the Jews recovered the Second Temple, and Judah ordered the Temple cleaned and repaired. For the Temple lamps, there was only one day’s worth of un-polluted oil left– but that oil lasted for eight days, which was long enough to press and prepare more. Thus, the Temple Lamps stayed lit for the people of Israel.
It is notable, then, that due to the timing of the Hebrew Lunar Calendar. this festival is usually celebrated during the time of the last New Moon before the Winter Solstice, making these nights, arguably, the darkest nights of the year. Through which the Menorah looks very much like a bridge of light through the darkness.
I asked our friend Avram for some suggestions for Hanukkah music– as much as I love Adam Sandler’s Hanukkah song . . . I’ll put it in the comments, I think, sometime tomorrow. I wanted something a little more serious. Avram sent along a couple of videos, and I confess to being tempted by the little kids (sooo cute!!), but then I saw this one. The music is amazing, the lyrics are a the last stanza of Maoz Tzur , a traditional Chanukah hymn. Some of the images are disturbing and unsettling, so consider yourself warned. But the progression of the images is, I think, reflective of the theme I’m highlighted– light in the darkness, hope in despair.