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mamadebTonight is the first night of Chanukah.
It is a celebration of many things - of a miraculous military victory over greater forces, of the rededication of our Temple after desecration by those forces, of the faith that HaShem would allow one day's worth of fuel last until more could be procured. It is a celebration of lightS and of joy.
It is NOT a celebration of the coming of the light again, because it is NOT a solistice celebration.
1. It's a celebration of a historical event. It would be like calling Columbus Day an equinox festival. It happens roughly around the same time of year, so... (Passover is a spring festival, and effort is made to keep in the spring time. Of course, that keeps all the other holidays in their seasons, too.)
2. The idea behind solistice festivals, from what I gather (and if I am wrong, *please* tell me) is to either call the sun back because it's gone away OR as a reminder that the light will return - or to light the long dark night. None of those work for Chanukah. In the first two cases - it is a daily miracle that the Earth rotates and the sun rises every morning. EVERY morning. No matter the length of the day. To believe that God needs reminding or that we need reasuring makes no sense from that perspective. And Chanukah lights do not need to burn for more than an hour on weeknights (slightly longer on Shabbat), and they are lit as soon as possible after full dark. That doesn't do a good job of lighting the long night - especially since one is forbidden to use them AS a source of light. Their only purpose is to publicize the miracles.
Also note that Chanukah can be as early as November - three weeks before the solistice, while the days are getting progressively shorter. So they really can't symbolize the return of the light.
Not every culture has a solistice festival. Chanukah is a bright and lovely celebration in its own right (and I wish very, very much that it happened in some other month besides Kislev, because then none of these comparisons would have happened.)
It is a celebration of many things - of a miraculous military victory over greater forces, of the rededication of our Temple after desecration by those forces, of the faith that HaShem would allow one day's worth of fuel last until more could be procured. It is a celebration of lightS and of joy.
It is NOT a celebration of the coming of the light again, because it is NOT a solistice celebration.
1. It's a celebration of a historical event. It would be like calling Columbus Day an equinox festival. It happens roughly around the same time of year, so... (Passover is a spring festival, and effort is made to keep in the spring time. Of course, that keeps all the other holidays in their seasons, too.)
2. The idea behind solistice festivals, from what I gather (and if I am wrong, *please* tell me) is to either call the sun back because it's gone away OR as a reminder that the light will return - or to light the long dark night. None of those work for Chanukah. In the first two cases - it is a daily miracle that the Earth rotates and the sun rises every morning. EVERY morning. No matter the length of the day. To believe that God needs reminding or that we need reasuring makes no sense from that perspective. And Chanukah lights do not need to burn for more than an hour on weeknights (slightly longer on Shabbat), and they are lit as soon as possible after full dark. That doesn't do a good job of lighting the long night - especially since one is forbidden to use them AS a source of light. Their only purpose is to publicize the miracles.
Also note that Chanukah can be as early as November - three weeks before the solistice, while the days are getting progressively shorter. So they really can't symbolize the return of the light.
Not every culture has a solistice festival. Chanukah is a bright and lovely celebration in its own right (and I wish very, very much that it happened in some other month besides Kislev, because then none of these comparisons would have happened.)
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Date: 2008-12-22 02:31 pm (UTC)We pray three times a day, thanking God both morning and evening for the proper functioning of the natural order, specifically, for the day-night cycle, thanking God thrice for His daily miracles and wonders that are with us, for daily renewing the work of Creation as the verse says, "[Give thanks...] to the Maker of Great Lights [sun & moon], for His mercy endures forever."
In fact, the first blessing we are to say upon opening our eyes in the morning is "Blessed are You, O Lord Our God King of the universe, who gives the rooster understanding [which is classically the thought-mode of being able to distinguish between this and that] to distinguish between day and night."
As Debbie said, we light candles every Shabbat, which are supposed to burn for far longer than Chanukah candles. Shabbat is a Biblical observance, not Rabbinic, and is integral to the Creation. In fact, it was given to our people as the one command we should observe that would make us worthy of receiving the Torah. Whereas Chanukah commemorates the second rededication of our Temple, a rededication much lower in significance and sanctity than the original one in King Solomon's time, which was in the fall, a rededication with no prophets, no Holy Ark, no Divine miraculous fire, wholly human, if sanctioned by the miracle of the oil.
Against that backdrop, the Chanukah candles are less of an innovation, and recede into their proper minor standing.