Temple Israel of Northern Westchester
Return to the Religious Living Page or Temple Israel Home Page
Chanukah - A Personal View
25 Kislev
This article was written by Eric Bonnell for Religious Living on the Web.
Chanukah means "rededication." It is the celebration of the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in 165 B.C.E. after the long struggle with the Syrian-Greeks. As is the case in many of life’s struggles, for some reason we lose our way to freely identify ourselves with God and God’s covenant. Through the healing process, we can regain this freedom of expression and rededicate ourselves to God’s covenant with us.
Along with the rededication of the Temple is the Talmudic legend of the burning oil. Although there was found enough undesecrated oil to burn for only one day in the Temple menorah, the oil burned for eight days. This miracle is a reminder that God is watchful over all who seek God, even if they are not spiritually complete. We remember this through the rituals of Chanukah.
We place the candles in the menorah from right to left and light the candles from left to right. This reminds us that in whatever direction we may go, God is there. We increase the number of candles to light with the shamash (the center candle) each night from one to eight. This reminds us that our own rededication to God should continuously increase. We recite the blessings during the lighting of the menorah to acknowledge these things and sanctify our own efforts.
We eat potato latkes and doughnuts during the holiday, both of which are fried in oil, to symbolize the oil used to keep the Temple menorah burning for eight days.
Let us all rededicate ourselves to God’s covenant through the celebration of Chanukah. Let us remember through the rituals of Chanukah that we can always rededicate ourselves to God’s covenant with us. Perhaps this is the true miracle of Chanukah.
Go to the Religious Living Page or Temple Israel Home Page