Drash – Chanukah: The Festival of Light

Rabbi Jeffrey B Kamins OAM

Emanuel Synagogue, Sydney

This week, as we commemorate Chanukah, our Festival of Light, we light our candles and begin our eight-day celebration of Chanukah.  At the same time darkness has fallen over many of us given the state of the world, the Holy Land and now our very home in Australia. The darkness highlights the obligation upon us to bring light, for only light dispels darkness, and a little goes a long way.  In these times more than ever we must live the lessons of Chanukah, the festival of light; more than ever we must take responsibility to bring light to a world where there is still too much darkness.

Let us reflect on the stories of Chanukah to see how we can do that.  Our prayer for Chanukah, “Al HaNisim”, tells us of the background to the story, reminding us of a time of religious persecution and national oppression.  “In the days of Matthatias son of Yochanan, the heroic Hasmonean Kohen, and in the days of his sons, a cruel power rose against Your people Israel, demanding that they abandon Your Torah and violate Your mitzvot.”  We were forbidden to teach Torah, which opens with the declaration “let there be light”.  Light, even in the Torah, is understood as a metaphor for that which is good, for knowledge, perception, wisdom and understanding.    To teach Torah, where it says that each and every human being was created in the image of God and that each of us is divine and equal – that was a crime punishable by death.  But certain brave individuals, led by the Maccabees, also known as the Hasmoneans, refused to let darkness cover the earth.

The Hebrew word “Chanukah” means dedication. It has the same root meaning as the word “Chinukh”, or education.  Our ancestors understood the centrality of education to individuals and society.  They established that our first petitionary prayer is the prayer for knowledge, understanding and discernment.  They also established the first system for free public education 2,000 years ago – albeit then only for boys.  We must not take for granted our privilege of learning.  We must ensure that others have that gift.

What we know is that it is not just education, but the curriculum, the vision and values behind the learning that is so central to the lessons learned.  We have a vision statement in the words of the Shema we say daily: listen up Jews, the Infinite is God and the Infinite is One …therefore you shall love this life with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might.  Remember that you are part of this glorious existence, and your role within this existence is to bring the love, the light.

Now more than ever we must teach the light of Torah, the principles of our ancestral tradition.  For the prophet Micah it was to do justice, act with loving-kindness and walk humbly with God. For Rabbi Akiva, it was to reference the mitzvah of Torah to “love your neighbour as your yourself.”  His predecessor, the great sage Hillel taught, “Be a disciple of Aaron – loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures and attracting them to the study of Torah.”  For our greatest teachers, these prophets, sages and rabbis of old, learning Torah – something prohibited during the time of the Maccabean revolt – was about learning principles by which we and all humanity could live together.

In this week in which darkness descended on Sydney and so many innocent souls were murdered during the celebration of Chanukah, it is important to remember the light that each of us brings by our commitment to learning and teaching.

Let us use our teaching to illuminate others and to bring humanity together as the light to the nations we have considered ourselves.  Over these days, we have all received so many messages of love and support from friends and strangers, from the highest representatives of government and faith to the bulk of Australians with whom we share this land, Indigenous people and the multicultural mix that makes this country great.

The revolt of Chanukah was the first revolt for Chinukh, the right for learning and living by our values.  Let us rededicate ourselves to the spirit of our ancestors whose bravery and foresight we commemorate at this season.  Let us learn in order to do, let us learn in order to be and bring the light.