In my preparations for Chanukah this year, I came across a beautiful teaching about the menorah from our ancient rabbis. The rabbis ask when is the best time of day to light the menorah? When I posed this question to my congregation last week at Shabbat services, I heard a variety of responses.
“Before dinner!” “After dinner!” “When we can manage to get everyone together for 10 minutes to light the menorah together!”
These are all great responses.The rabbis offer another answer in the Talmud, the ancient compendium of Jewish law and practice. The rabbis say that the ideal time to light the menorah is from sunset to when traffic slows down on the main road in town. I guess the rabbis were not so familiar with Connecticut traffic on I-95 and the Merritt Parkway that never quite slows down at this time of year!
Why do the rabbis instruct us to light our menorahs between sunset and when the traffic begins to slow down? Because the purpose of the menorah is to be seen, and one wants as many people as possible to take in its incredible light.
This year has been a difficult one for the Jewish community. We have seen rising antisemitism in towns and universities across the country. Jews report seeing more graffiti, antisemitic speech, and hateful attacks toward Jews in their cities and schools. Congregants at Congregation B’nai Israel have shared with me their concerns about this rising trend in our country. Additionally, many worry about the ongoing war in Israel, where 100 hostages remain in captivity, and innocent civilians continue to perish and get injured.
What do our rabbis instruct us to do at a time like this? They teach us to publicly share the light and the miracle of the menorah. They see the menorah as our connection to the broader world. Our tradition prompts us to display our menorahs in our windows or even outside on our front doorstep, so that others may share in the warmth and the light of the holiday.
I know many Jews are also placing the menorah in their window or on their front doorstep as a message of Jewish pride, especially right now, with all that Jews are experiencing, I know many want to place their menorah in sight of the public to show that we are not afraid, to share our Jewish light with the broader world.
On this Chanukah, I invite us to think about the act of placing our menorah on the doorstep, of acknowledging the public dimension of the mitzvah, that at the darkest and often coldest time of year, we want to extend the mitzvah and the message of Chanukah beyond the walls of our home. We can ensure others experience the miracle, perhaps as they walk or drive by, they will note the light in our window, and feel seen.
The ancient rabbi, Hillel, once said, “Do not separate yourself from the community.” We learn that on Chanukah, especially this year, the menorah is a vehicle to bridge public and private, and for us to connect and acknowledge that amidst the darkness, there is so much light that we have to share and offer with our neighbors, our friends, and with the broader word around us. Happy Chanukah!
Rabbi Evan Schultz joined Congregation B’nai Israel, 2710 Park Avenue, Bridgeport, as assistant rabbi in 2012 and became Senior Rabbi in 2019.
