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Chanukah: A celebration of light

By Laura Salinger

As the holiday season approaches, images of Christmas are hard to miss. Ornaments and lights fill the stores. Red and green become a common color scheme. Advertisements for gifts fill newspapers and television screens. Christmas is everywhere.

For those who don’t celebrate Christmas, the holiday season has come to mean different things. Yet despite differences in holiday observations, many can agree that the underlying themes of peace and love that permeate the holiday season are common to almost all religions.

Rabbi Darryl Crystal from Temple Beth El, a temple of about 700 members representing the liberal Jewish tradition, says the holiday season is a celebration of light for the Jewish faith.

"The symbol of Chanukah and many other holidays during this time of year is the symbol of light," Crystal said. "When each community, in its own way, works to bring peace and light into the world, then we are able to dispel the darkness of tyranny."

From Dec. 7 to 15, those of the Jewish faith will celebrate Chanukah, the Festival of Lights. Although not one of Judaism’s major holidays, Chanukah, an eight-day festival celebrating religious freedom, has become one of its better known ones.

While Alexander the Great ruled the areas now occupied by Syria, Egypt, and Palestine, he allowed those under his control to observe their own religions. That all changed when Alexander’s successor, Antiochus, prohibited the practice of the Jewish religion. The Temple was desecrated, and Jews were persecuted. Matthias, and later his son Judah, revolted in an effort to win religious freedom.

"Eventually, the Maccabees were victorious, and the Temple was rededicated," Crystal said. "The story of Chanukah is that the dedication was going to take eight days. However, there was only enough oil for one day. They decided to light the candles regardless, and they burned for eight days."

The menorah, a candelabrum that holds nine candles (one for each night, plus a shammus, or servant candle, at a different height), is used to observe the holiday of light. A new candle is lit by the shammus for each night of Chanukah. Traditions have grown to include gift giving after the lighting of the candles and popular foods, like latkes, which are potato pancakes cooked in oil.

"Chanukah celebrates both the victory of the Jews for religious freedom and the miracle of God’s providence," Crystal said.

Although well-known among those from other faiths, Chanukah is of much less religious significance to the Jewish faith than holidays like Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Passover, and Shavu’ot.

"Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year," Crystal said. "It celebrates the affirmation of God as the sovereign."

Referred to as the day of sounding the shofar (a ram’s horn blown somewhat like a trumpet), Rosh Hashanah is a time of introspection on the past and affirmation of changes to be made in the future.

Yom Kippur is considered one of the most important holidays of the Jewish year, "the day of repentance, when people atone for sins during the past year," Crystal said.

Meaning "Day of Atonement," Yom Kippur is a day to demonstrate repentance and make amends with God. It also involves a 25-hour fasting period from before sunset on the eve of Yom Kippur until after nightfall on the day of Yom Kippur.

Passover is a day to once again celebrate freedom for those of the Jewish faith. It features the Passover Seder, which Crystal refers to as the day "when all who are hungry come and eat." Agriculturally, Passover marks the beginning of Israel’s harvest season, but more importantly, it celebrates the Jews’ escape from slavery.

"Passover celebrates the exodus of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt," Crystal said. "One of the teachings of the holiday is that every person is to see themselves as if they personally made exodus from slavery."

Judaism, like other faiths, has been put to the test, and many of its followers have been persecuted. Yet in this holiday season of light, Crystal said, it is important to stress the importance of peace and justice.

"Virtually every religion has been persecuted at some time," he said. "Today there are reactionaries in many religious communities that are not concerned with working for peace. And then [again], most religious communities have people of good will who are working for peace."

Temple Beth El has a number of social justice and community programs that work to bring peace and justice to the area.

"All religious communities have wonderful and unique gifts to give to the world," Crystal said.