As many of you know, I hate Hannukah

[xiphias]

So I've been looking for things I could like about Hannukah -- ways to redefine it, make it something OTHER than a simple "yay our repressive theocracy killed their repressive theocracy."

As usual, I discovered that the Rabbis got there first.

When Adam [the first human] noticed that the days were getting shorter, he said: "Is the world becoming darker because of my sins? Will it soon return to chaos? And this is what God meant when He punished me with mortality?" He prayed and fasted for eight days. When the period prior to the winter solstice arrived, he saw that the days were now growing longer. He realized: This is the way of the world. Adam then made eight days of celebration. (Talmud Avodah Zarah 8a)

That's something I can get behind much more easily.

Comments

[bercilakslady.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this. I've always related to solstice as a real reason for lighting candles, and it's nice to see I'm not so far out there on the issue.

[gingicat]

Oh, that's *lovely*. THank you, because I have the same problem with Hanukkah.

Have you seen Isaac Bashevis Singer's Hanukkah story collection? I think the kids would love those stories, too.

[ellettra.livejournal.com]

oh, that's really, really a lot nicer. :) thanks for posting this!!

I like...

[tendyl.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I 'celebrate' Solstice for that specific reason - the world changes, the days now grow longer. I consider that a damned good reason to celebrate for 8 days. :) Of course I can see lighting a candle each night for 8 days before the Solsitce (with all 8 lit that night) and then partying. Hmm....*pondering new tradition*.

Anyway, thanks.

[sproutntad.livejournal.com]

I really just like Hannakah for the EIGHT days of presents :) I LOVE THAT! ;)

[rebmommy.livejournal.com]

sorry - but no EIGHT days of presents this year. if you want, I can divide the money I'm sending you into eighths (weird-looking word, that) and send you eight checks. whaddyathink? and where did your cool Darwin icon go?

[deerdancer22.livejournal.com]

It is so much about our need to find a way through the dark to the light. I love filling my house with lights and a tree. Having been Jewish and now Buddhist it just not occur to me to think of it as anything but what the tree and lights are really about - the solstice!

I also like the story because this is a good time to be inward and contemplative about self and the world.

Thanks!

[hangedwoman.livejournal.com]

I find I'm having an oddly cranky reaction to this. Weird. Maybe it's because I've made my peace with Christian appropriation, but Jewish appropriation is something I don't see so much.

Whatever. I'm a freak.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

What do you mean by "appropriation"?

[hangedwoman.livejournal.com]

In this case what I mean is taking pagan concepts and retrofitting them to the new religion.

As I said, I've largely made my peace with this, since a simple look at history shows that pretty much every enroaching culture does this with aspects of the older culture.

But I find I'm still having the urge to growl, "Get your own damned holiday!" Which is generally how I think of Jewish holidays - as being very specific to Jewish history and culture.

Did I mention that my reactions here are largely visceral and I make no claim to logic whatsoever? :)

[delerium69.livejournal.com]

How very Wiccan.

[rebmommy.livejournal.com]

Midrash, aggadah, and mysticism add a deeper dimension to the understanding of Torah and the holidays. Here are some of my favorite thoughts about Hanukkah:

1. The menorah [the hannukiyah was fashioned on the menorah in the Temple] is mentioned 27 times in the Torah. Precise details of its construction are given when Moses is alone, on the mountaintop, listening to God and seeing the Architect’s vision [Ex: 25: 31-40]. The menorah becomes a symbol of this listening and holding of the Light. The mystics say the light of the menorah is drawn from the or ganuz, the hidden residual of the original light of creation. Torah is that light filtered, condensed, and formed into creation, and encoded in letters dancing with energy, filtered through you, the words of Torah, and each new way you discover how to live that manifests as holiness. (from Rabbi Goldie Milgram, ReclaimingJudaism.org)

2. Hanukkah is on the 25th day of Kislev, and "ohr/light" is the 25th word in the Torah: "In the beginning, G-d created the Heavens and the earth... and G-d said, 'Let there be light...'." Light--ohr--is the 25th word in the Torah. The re-dedication of the Holy Temple and the re-lighting of the Menorah took place on the 25th of the month of Kislev. When the Jews traveled through the Sinai desert, they stopped 42 times. The 25th place where they encamped was Hasmona. Mattityahu, the head of the Hasmonai family, led the revolt against the Greeks. The Sanctuary in the desert was completed on the 25th of Kislev, eight months after the Exodus from Egypt. But it was not dedicated until three months later. Jewish teachings explain that the 25th of Kislev was set aside for the future re-dedication of the Holy Temple by the Maccabees. (Taken from Chabad in Cyberspace, Rabbi Yosef Schusterman, Chabad of Northern Beverly Hills)

3. From where did the cruse of oil used to relight the menorah and rededicate the Temple come? When the dove returned to the ark for the second time, it had an olive branch in its beak. Noah took the olives, beat them into pure oil, sealed the oil in a container, and saved it for the generations. Noah gave the oil to his son Shem, who gave it to his great-grandson Eiver, who passed it down through the generations to Abraham. (Midrash says that Abraham learned in the School of Shem and Eiver.) Abraham gave it to Isaac, who gave it to Jacob, and it was passed down through the generations to the High Priest Aaron. Aaron gave it to his sons, and it was saved through the line of the priests until the Temple was built. Then it was stored in the Temple until the time it was needed. (I don't know the source of this story, but I really like it because it has the set-up for the Hanukkah miracle passed through the generations. I like the idea that something is protected and kept through the generations until it is needed. Also, I like the echo in this story that when the Maccabees were cleaning and rededicating the Temple, they were also rededicating the Temple and the religion to peace.)

Nice with a caveat

[shmuelisms.livejournal.com]

Contrary to "popular" belief the "small" vessel of oil (as immortalized in the children's song Kad Kattan and others), was NOT small at all. It was about 4 liters (~1 gallon) big. This was the amount of oil required to light the Menorah for one single day.

So the "dove" that Noah sent out, would have needed to be big as a Roc, to have carried a "branch" to make that much oil. ;-)

Re: Nice with a caveat

[rebmommy.livejournal.com]

A gallon of oil! Wow - hadn't heard that, but it makes sense since the menorah was so big. Now I have a funny cartoonish picture in my head of Noah's dove dragging an olive tree over the waters back to the ark. "Boy, what I have to do for posterity!" he says. Maybe the oil had many miracles attached to it, and it increased over the generations, like Elisha increasing the poor widow's oil (2 Kings 4:1-7).

i think your dumb

[(Anonymous)]

well i think that u r stupid and just cauze ppl like it

Astro-metrics

[(Anonymous)]

Well, those rabbis were great explainers but poor observers. The days don't get longer before the solsticed, they just dpn't get shorter as fast... The solstice is still the longest day or night (not necessarily the same as the shortest night or day- don't ask me to explain)

Duzzy