From the Desk of Cheryl Hauer
Today, I came across a lovely teaching on Hanukkah. From Chasidic rabbis in Jerusalem, it connects the holiday with creation and the words, “Let there be light.” With those four syllables, light actually came into being; it exploded in the darkness, tore through the void and gave birth to the universe. Wow, think about that for a minute. The light was so powerful, the rabbis say, that it would allow a person to clearly see, not just from one end of the universe to the other, but into all things with absolute clarity. In other words, that light would have empowered the onlooker to see with the eyes of God, to experience a universe in which there was no darkness, where nothing was hidden, to understand with the heart of God, to recognize with absolute lucidity who God is, the pure and righteous animating force of all things.
God, however, knowing the evil that would infect his creation and the sin that would cloud men’s minds and hearts, decided to hide the light so that it could not be misused by the wicked. Hidden to be revealed at the time of the redemption of mankind. But where, the rabbis ask, could such a brilliant, powerful light be hidden? The Baal Shem Tov, 18th;century Jewish sage, says the light is not “hidden somewhere out there.” It is hidden, he says, in the only place that could hold it, the only place that is vaster even than the universe. He hid it in the Torah, and there it waits to be discovered by anyone who approaches God’s words with love and sincerity, for its own sake alone.
That is the true meaning of Hanukkah. Each candle is a symbol of the Hidden Light, giving us a small glimpse of the great light that we will one day perceive in full. Even in our extended exile, as the world and our lives are still deeply mired in darkness, there is light that illuminates the void. Those twinkling candles are meant to draw us to Torah, to the voice of God, to the day when Isaiah 60:19-20 will be our reality:
“The sun shall no longer be your light by day,
Nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you;
But the LORD will be to you an everlasting light,
And your God your glory.
Your sun shall no longer go down,
Nor shall your moon withdraw itself;
For the LORD will be your everlasting light,
And the days of your mourning shall be ended.”
Think about that while you’re munching on that sufganiyot.
Blessings and Shalom,
Issachar Community