One for each of the 8 days of Chanukah

…our chanukiah is fully illumined, all eight candles shining brightly. The rabbis tell us that for the time it takes for the candles to burn down women are exempt from any kitchen work. Isn’t that kind! I just threw that in; it’s the fact! But the beautiful sight of those candles should remind us of who we are, what we stand for, our history, our today, our tomorrows. As minor as Chanukah is – not found in the Torah, indeed not the entire TaNaKh (Torah, Prophets, Writings); without its own tractate in the Talmud, mentioned only briefly in that compendium – you cannot take away its meaning for our people across the centuries.

The Conversos of Spain, the emaciated in the concentration camps, the enslaved in the Gulag, the tormented in the former Soviet Union, not all but many, found ways to commemorate Chanukah. And if they could do it so should all of us, every year, every day of the Festival of Lights!

It’s over now, the last candle tonight, the festival itself concluded tomorrow at sunset – but I pray that the glow of the candles, from the first to the last, bring light and, more importantly, bring you warmth during these dark days of Covid. The winter solstice will bring us more welcome daylight, little-by-little, day-by-day, but it will. May the solstice and all the good the coming month promises to bring, herald an end to this pandemic, an end to the divisiveness, an end to fractured families, and an end to hate. Then we can look forward to once again celebrating all our holidays with our families and friends, all together, laughing, singing, dancing!