Dearest Beth Jacob Congregants,
As Hanukkah approaches (the first night is Thursday, Dec. 10…the 25th of Kislev), I would like to offer some practical guidelines rooted in halakhah/Jewish law, as well as a brief reflection on the meaning on the Festival of Lights.
There is in fact very little discussion of the holiday in early rabbinic literature – curiously, it is not even mentioned in the Mishnah (which may be connected to our sages’ negative view of the corrupt Hasmonean regime that grew out of the original rebellion against the Syrian-Greeks). It is discussed briefly in the Talmudic tractate on Shabbat in the context of a wider debate about lighting candles. Nevertheless, perhaps despite rabbinic disapproval, Hanukkah was embraced by the Jewish people with enthusiasm and joy. By medieval times, the Rambam (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon) proclaimed in his code of Jewish law:
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The mitzvah of kindling Chanukah lamps is very dear (havivah hee ‘ad me’od). A person should be very careful in its observance to publicize the miracle and thus increase our praise of God and our expression of thanks for the miracles which God wrought on our behalf. Even if a person has no resources for food except [what is received] from charity, that person should pawn or sell their garments and purchase oil and lamps to kindle the lights [in fulfillment of the mitzvah].
This “love affair” with the holiday is first reflected in the Talmudic debate on the best way to fulfill the mitzvah of kindling the lights in the Talmud (and yes, the sages insisted that this was a mitzvah based on the Torah itself…despite the fact that it’s a post-biblical holiday obviously not mentioned in the Torah!). One candle each night or more? One hanukkiyah for each individual or for an entire family? And most famously, if we light more than one candle for each night, should we light them in ascending or descending order? The adjective mehadrin is used to describe those who go “all in” to light the candles in the best possible way – it is often translated as “scrupulous” but may refer to aesthetic beauty (hidur). From the very beginning, our ancestors expressed their love for the holiday by arguing about the most beautiful way to celebrate it!
In light of all this, how should we light the candles? The academy of Shammai insists in the Talmud that we do so in descending order (eight candles the first night, seven the second, etc.). This approach emphasizes on how many days remain in the holiday after we light each night. Moreover, they link the festival to the holiday of Sukkot, during which the bulls that were sacrificed over the course of seven days of that chag were progressively reduced (Numbers 29:12-34). This link to Sukkot makes sense because Hanukkah may have originally been a kind of “do-over” for Sukkot (eight days long if Shemini Atzeret is included). In the year of the uprising against Antiochus, Sukkot was not celebrated in the fall because of the Syrian-Greek occupation/desecration of the Temple in Jerusalem; when the Hasmoneans liberated and cleansed the Temple in the winter, they may have marked an eight-day holiday to substitute for the recently “lost” Sukkot! (See II Maccabees 10:5-9)
Nevertheless, the academy of Hillel’s argument that we ascend in lighting the candles rather than descend won the day (or perhaps more accurately, the night!). We do it in this fashion not only to count the days to come rather than those that remain, but also because they teach that by doing so, “we ascend in holiness and do not descend” (ma’alin be-kodesh ve-ain moridin). Moreover, we’re instructed in the Talmud to place our Hanukkah lamps in a window or entrance to our homes “so that all can see it.” The medieval commentator Rashi adds that this is done mishum pirsumei nisa, for the sake of publicizing the miracle.
On a practical level, this means that if possible, the ideal is to place our hanukkiyot in a window so it can be seen by others (though the mitzvah is still fulfilled even if it’s done inside the home and out of view). We increase the number of candles each night, arranged right to left, but always light the newest candle first – beginning with the one on the left and moving toward the right. It is also important not to use the Hanukkah candles for anything other than the light they shed – the practical work of lighting is only performed by the “helper” candle, the shammash. The candles may be lit when stars first appear in the sky.
All of this begs the question: why is it so important to publicize the miracle that took place 2,200 years ago, and to “ascend in holiness and not descend?” What is the point? An ancient midrash may shed some light (pun very much intended) on the question. “To whom may Avraham be compared? To a king’s friend, who saw the king walking about in dark alleys, and began lighting the way for his friend through a window. When the king looked up and saw him, the king said: instead of lighting the way for me from a distance, come out and light the way for me in my very presence. So too did God say this to Avraham.” The king in this parable is God, and the Jewish people represents God’s friend. As descendants of Avraham and Sarah, our mission is to increase holiness in the world by “lighting the way” for God. Perhaps Hanukkah is so beloved because it is a metaphor for bringing light into the world -- the light of Torah, of mitzvot, of ma’asim tovim/good deeds. The Hanukkah lights are a reminder: in this time of literal and metaphorical darkness, we are obligated to illuminate the path established by Avraham Avinu, who was chosen by the Holy One to “to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice.” (Gen. 18:19).
Hag Urim Sameakh/Happy Festival of Lights!
Rabbi Adam Rubin, Ph.D.
Rabbi Morris J. Allen Chair in Rabbinics
