Defiantly Kindling Lights

Newsletter December 23rd, 2024 Together, we're #keepingitsacred...

What must it have been like for the Maccabees, retaking control of the Temple after it had been defiled in 165 BCE? I imagine it all unfolding like a movie. The Maccabees shimmy through a broken door, and squint their eyes. With no electricity, and no lit menorahs, the Temple would have been pitch black. They stumble around in the darkness, feeling their way through, tripping on overturned benches and discarded metal instruments, making their way to the center of the room, the holy of holies. There, they finally find a menorah, toppled over. Their hearts sink. Standing amid the ruins, sadness, anger, and fear must have weighed heavily on them. The darkness must have felt overwhelming.

It is at this moment that I would slowly fade in music from one of my favorite Florence + The Machine songs, Shake It Out. Florence sings, “It’s always darkest before the dawn.” (You can listen to it HERE.)

And just at that moment, a glimmer of oil in a bottle—a tiny, hopeful promise that a spark could be lit and light could be kindled and nurtured and stoked. In that moment, they would have realized that the power to push back the darkness lay in their own abilities. Finding that oil would have been a reminder: the darkness didn’t actually win. Lighting the menorah, back then and as is now, even in deeply dark times, represents a stubborn act of hope.

Hanukkah is all about defiantly clinging to the promise of a new day. And it intentionally comes not only to a specific time of darkness in our people's history, but also in the naturally darkest point in the calendar of the natural world-- at least for those in the northern hemisphere. Just this past weekend, the winter solstice brought the darkest night on the calendar-- nearly 14 hours of darkness to Los Angeles, and even longer in other parts of the world. It is precisely at this time that our tradition mandates that we kindle light—to remind ourselves that we have the power to usher in hope.

This year has been difficult. We’ve faced a challenging election season, ongoing tragedies in the Middle East, and the loss of loved ones. Darkness and sadness have crept in. The weight of grief and sorrow has been real and justified.

Yet, even in the darkest moments, we are called to remember that the light has never been snuffed out. We continue to bring light to one another's lives in meaningful ways. In real ways. In essential ways.

As we navigate the darkness, we do so together. And we are better for it. This is how we're keeping it sacred.

Together, we’re keeping it sacred…

Rabbi Heather Miller

Founder, Keeping It Sacred

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