Two Minute Torah Podcast

Hanukkah 5773 by Rabbi Barry Dov Katz

Shalom, my name is Barry Dov Katz, rabbi of the Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale in the Bronx, NY. Welcome to KOACH's Two-Minute Torah; a project of the College Department of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

Why do we light a candle on the first night of Hanukkah? For the last seven days, the miracle was, according to the Talmud, that a small cruse of oil continued to supply enough fuel to light the menorah in the Temple. But for the first night, the Talmud is quite clear-the container had enough fuel for that nighti. What miracle is there to celebrate on the first night?

Rabbi David Hartman, a rabbi in Jerusalem, offers a reason I have thought about a great deal over the years: "the miraculous feature of the first day [was] the community's willingness to light the lamp even though there was not sufficient oil to keep the lamp burning long enough to complete the rededication of the temple. The miracle of the first day was expressed in the community's willingness to begin a task without guarantees that they would complete it."

Common wisdom says that, in most projects, planning is key. Get your ducks in order. Don't leap before you look. According to Rabbi Hartman, "Those who went ahead and kindled the lamp ignored such "voices of reason" and they availed themselves of the precious opportunities at hand. And the miracle of Hanukkah occurred."

Sometimes we just have to move ahead, even when we don't know the outcome.

Entering college is like that. It's a journey whose reality is usually different than the one we imagined. We certainly don't know the end of the story.

Trying to write a song, starting a new relationship, building a community, finding an authentic way to express our Judaism - they are all predicated on our willingness to start without any guarantee of where we will finish.

The audacity of Rabbi Hartman's position is that it defines part of the miracle of Hanukkah as our willingness to step into the breach. The rabbis of the Talmud tried hard to sell a different Hanukkah story; one ultimately focused on God's acts not those of the Maccabees. Rabbi Hartman's interpretation, undoes some of the rabbis' work. Miracles emerge from human agency. God comes in later.

Rabbi Hartman writes: "The Hanukkah lights encourage one to trust human beginnings and to focus one's passions and efforts on whatever opportunities are available at the present moment. One ought to pour infinite yearnings even into small vessels."

We all carry infinite yearning- things that we want for ourselves, our families, our people, the world. But the problem with infinite yearning- big dreams and desires- is that any movement to actualize them can seem small, inconsequential, inadequate to the task.

I want better health- a big thing. Will 30 minutes of exercise really make any difference?

I want to succeed in school. Can't I put off my studying for tomorrow?

The world is in such need of repair, or light-What difference can I really make?

One ought to pour infinite yearnings even into small vessels

Nothing can contain the infinitely large yearnings we harbor. But the way to begin to address these yearnings is by doing something small. Now.

When it comes to thinking about God, our lives and responsibilities in the world, we are lucky if we feel that we have a day's worth of resources to address the challenges we face. Just like the Maccabees.

There's only enough to light for one day.
Or so it seems.
But still, we light.
Because, unless we do, we will never know if there's a light that will burn forever inside of us.

Source: Rabbi David Hartman, "Trusting In A New Beginning," in A Different Light: The Hanukkah Book of Celebration by Noam Zion, Barbara Spectre. Devora Publishing, 2000.