Lessons of Hanukkah for Everyone: The Importance of Rededication and Light
Although I am not Jewish, I have always enjoyed listening to and learning lessons about Hanukkah from my Jewish clients this time of the year! One of the striking things about Hanukkah that I try to incorporate into my own life is the lesson of rededication.
Rededication
Rabbi David Wolpe explains this concept very well. He explains,
“Hanukkah commemorates a battle won, despite astonishing odds, by the Maccabees against the Seleucid monarch Antiochus and those Jews allied with him, who appeared ready to abandon their tradition. But later rabbis, uncomfortable with military-themed celebrations, focused the holiday on the miracle unmentioned in the book of Maccabees—that in the Temple, after it was cleaned out, a cruz of oil that should have lasted one day lasted eight.
At the time of the Maccabees (166 BCE) the Temple already stood, of course, although it had been defiled and used as a garbage dump. The Maccabees rededicated it. Very few remember when the Temple was first dedicated (on the Jewish holiday of Sukkot 1 Kings 8:2), but almost all Jews remember when it was rededicated. Hanukkah, the holiday of rededication, teaches us something essential about successful living (Time- This Is The True Lesson of Hanukkah).”
He goes on to explain that we as humans all experience times when we fail, struggle, and end up in bad situations. Rededication of our efforts to overcome and to try again are critical in our own healing and rewriting our own stories.
What are some things in our lives that could use renewed energy and attention? What areas have we been neglecting or letting things pile up in? Is there something that we have been trying to accomplish and we have been contemplating giving up?
A rededication of energy to all of these types of things can breathe new life and light into our lives! Rabbi Wolpe encourages us to remember the power of rededication. He says,
“A choice for rededication to what we believe is powerful, even sacred. There are moments when all of us are afraid, when we feel hopeless and alone. Learn the lesson of Hanukkah, the holiday of rededication: No matter how many times you have done it before, once again, when you face the dark, light a candle.”
Lessons of Lighting the Menorah
There are many lessons to be learned from the tradition of lighting the menorah. I believe that we can all benefit from reminding ourselves of these lessons in our lives, especially as we in the Northern Hemisphere are entering the darkest time of year.
Schlomo Yaffe, in his chabad.org article, Eight Lights, Eight Lessons, shares some wonderful insights on this very topic in a beautiful way!
Lesson 1: A room full of darkness is drastically changed by even a very small flame. A little light drives out a lot of darkness. Darkness is the absence of light; so any light means the end of darkness. By the same token, evil exists when we are apathetic and don't make any effort to change the situation in our homes and in society, between us and G‑d and between us and our fellow humans. Any effort, any change, any illumination we create goes a very long way. We should never allow the seeming smallness of our contribution to prevent us from making it and appreciating its importance.
Lesson 2: An oil lamp or candle is made up of three elements: the fuel (oil or wax), the wick, and the flame. The wick corresponds to our body, the flame represents the enthusiasm of the G‑dly spark we all carry within, and the mitzvot (precepts) of the Torah are the oil that feeds our flame. Spiritual enthusiasm—the flame—can consume the wick and destroy it while creating only a brief and smoky light. We need to allow the body to burn with the soul's light, but not be consumed by it. Mitzvot enables us to feed the enthusiasm of our spirituality in a way that illuminates our surroundings but does not immolate our self. The goal of life is not to escape it, but to make it holy and meaningful, which means that our every physical activity should express the light of the divine.
Lesson 3: Each night of Chanukah we add a light. This teaches us that we must avoid self-satisfaction in spiritual matters. If we are given another day—it is to accomplish something positive we have not yet achieved.
Lesson 4: We kindle the Chanukah lights by a door or a window—exits to our home. It is not enough to light up our own lives; we must share what we know to be good with others. Spiritual selfishness is the worst kind of all.
Lesson 5: The laws of Chanukah mandate that each flame should use only one wick, not more. When we are engaged in a mitzvah or other holy task we must stay focused on the moment and the task at hand. Other moments and deeds will come; but true accomplishment is achieved only when our entirety is focused on the instant in which we are living.
Lesson 6: We kindle the Chanukah lights only when it becomes dark in our spot of the globe. We must devote our efforts to the particular darkness we see in our lives and communities. If there is a darkness in our "place," there is where we must bring our light.
Lesson 7: The lights of Chanukah speak of the need to never allow the majority's apathy or opinions to sway us when we know that which G‑d desires us to do—as articulated in the Torah. The vast majority of Jews were resigned to the Hellenizing of Israel and the degradation of the Temple. Just one family—the Hasmoneans—refused to accept this, and by their seemingly futile gesture of rebellion ignited the latent sparks of G‑dliness and zeal in their fellow Jews.
Lesson 8: The lights of Chanukah reflect a miracle that happened with the menorah in our Holy Temple (Beit Hamikdash) in Jerusalem. They are the continuation of those lights from the past and a promise for the future. They glow with the promise that G‑d will not be absent from Home forever and that those Temple lights will once again be kindled in a Third and Eternal Temple, standing firm on its Mount, in a redeemed, happy and united World. May G‑d help that we soon see this with our own eyes.
The world can seem like a dark and dreary place, especially during winter months! We all fall into patterns that we aren’t thrilled about and allow clutter to happen in our physical spaces, our bodies, and our brains. I encourage all of us to take these lessons of rededication and the lighting of the menorah to implement them into our lives more fully.
Make space for awe! Rededicate your efforts to clearing out your physical and emotional clutter, light up the spaces inside you with renewed energy and hope, bless those around you with the gifts that you have and shine light upon those whose paths you cross! The more we take care of our bodies and souls, the better able we are to take care of our community, society, and world.
Want to dive deeper into rededicating and clearing out your body and brain, while encouraging more light to shine forth in your life? Let’s work on it in your next session at Posture Massage!
