There are people who consider Chanukah, a holiday that isn’t even mentioned in the Torah, to be a relatively minor one, especially when compared to the biblically mandated festivals of Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. Some others think of it as a sort of wintertime counterpart to the majority culture’s holiday, a little something Jews can celebrate so as not to feel left out. Both ideas are misguided. Chanukah is of major importance.
Chanukah’s message of freedom is powerful, universal, and uniquely relevant for our times. WhenLighting the menorah serves as a metaphor for how human beings need to advance in the world. we light the menorah it serves as a metaphor for how human beings need to advance in the world. It shows us that the way forward, no matter what’s holding us back —be it intimidation, lack of purpose, or hopelessness—is to simply take a small corner of our world and light it up.
The act of lighting a flame, that is, of creating illumination in the midst of darkness, takes no special skill. It doesn’t require confidence, it doesn’t insist upon any particular mastery, nor does it necessitate that we be in any particular place or state of mind. It simply demands that wherever we find ourselves we strike both a real and a metaphoric match.
Thirty years ago, when I was finding my way back to a more involved participation in Judaism, I began to take notice of the differences between different Jewish groups. I wasn’t standing in judgment so much as I was interested in the things that were important to each. Some communities promoted their version of Tikkun Olam (repair of the world), an idea they’d included in much of their liturgy and saw as a fundamental pillar of their understanding of Judaism.
Another group advanced the idea of avoiding lashon hara (speaking ill of others). The idea of speaking lashon hara was so important —and so abhorrent to them—that they created an all-out anti-lashon hara campaign, replete with bumper stickers and billboards. Knowing the good that can come from maintaining a repair-the-world mindset and knowing firsthand the harm that comes from words that serve only to denigrate others, I thought both ideas were worthy.
When I’d asked a friend why I’d never seen anything like an anti-lashon hara campaign coming from Chabad I got an answer that stayed with me for decades. I was told that their focus was on very specific, immediate and positive actions. Things like keeping kosher, Shabbat observance, and in particular lighting Shabbat and Chanukah candles. I’ve never forgotten what my friend told me.
“A little light dispels a lot of darkness.”
To me at least, that’s always meant that no matter how much darkness there is, a flame will always be visible, no matter its size or intensity. It’s axiomatic that light pushes back against darkness. Yes, there is power in the idea of Tikkun Olam. Indeed there is value in not speaking badly about people. But when we actually take the concrete actions that bring light immediately into the world—things like helping the needy, being there for a friend, or befriending a stranger—we will automatically find ourselves both repairing the world and becoming less inclined to speak ill of others.
It seems to me, as well, that this is the trueIt’s a very practical notion of freedom, one created not so much from grandiose ideas as from micro-actions. freedom and liberation that Chanukah stands for. It’s a very practical notion of freedom, one created not so much from grandiose ideas as from micro-actions.
Today in America and in most places we Jews find ourselves, we are fortunate not to have to define our freedom as anything other than an escape from our own fear of being exactly who we are. It is a kind of freedom which demands that we don’t merely philosophize about doing the right things. The freedom we celebrate on Chanukah is one we actively acquire for ourselves and for each other when we illuminate our surroundings with joy, with a feeling of complete victory, and with the sense of immediacy that comes from being intimately and passionately involved in our Jewishness.
Just as the nature of light is to dispel darkness, the power of the Chanukah flame symbolizes the power of every Jew to take action for the good of the world.
It’s in the power of action that we find our freedom.
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