Cold Light

I find the warmth of the candles a great comfort. ;-) Reply

History facts tell us that the Hanukkah war ended around this time. They were busy repelling the Greek -Syrian and Sukkot was not celebrated. Not for a minute we must think this was a coincidence, in the darkest of days we needed a holiday to cheer us up. There are many other festivals of light in December ,and that is because our days become darker. In that dark we can also start dark thinking, Indeed, many cultures though that was the end, NO, In Judaism it is a revival of Jewish identity and renewal of the Temple. Translating it to the personal, not in your darkest moments are you alone, you must search the light and light is hope because behind it is H' that should illuminate your path again. Reply

We need to know what happened before Chanukah to understand why the darkest time was felt.

Moses had successfully guided his people to exit their ego. They had to find a different way to fulfill themselves.

Times were so dark that they wanted to return to their previous place of self-benefit as individuals pursuing their goals. Their world appeared as a desert. No nourishment to thrive.

After struggling between individual benefit and benefit from unity they won the battle and were merited a new quality of 'hassadim' to act for the sake of G_d. To unite to benefit one another.

G_d's light filled the darkness from the vacuum created after they transcended their egoistic aspirations.

Now we must aspire for this common goal to bring more light into a world torn apart by hatred, conflict and those who aspire to an ideology of darkness.

The darkest moments force us to unite to merit the light to fill the world. Reply

How to manage celebrations linkedbto nature / natural cycles in the South for instance. I was thinking all festivities are connected to the cycles of life, for instance : chanukah in the winter when it s dark and not much agricultural work, purim and pesaj are coming out from winter, new year in spring time when everything starts to blosom. In the South is exactly the other way round and we join our traditions but in one aspect they seem not to be in sync with nature.
Probably a very silly reasoning but I was wondering...
If we take the spiritual and historical aspects, it works everywhere ....don'' t know ....far from expert here hahahah


Happy Chanukah! Reply

But for the Southern Hemisphere? I mean we have enough day light, but we could always do with more “light” right?! I know many many years ago, on my journey to right here, wandering through other beliefs, there was a strong concept of pagan/Wiccan/earth based beliefs to celebrate the seasonality as opposed to the date. With Judaism, it’s celebrated the same the whole world over isn’t it? Reply