Dear Friends,
One of the things I most love about studying our tradition is that there are always new ways to view and understand familiar texts, rituals, and holidays. That’s particularly true this year, and a recent insight will change the way Hanukkah is observed in the Cohen-Goldberg home.
My colleagues tease me that each year I retell the Talmudic debate over how one should light the Hanukkiah—the Hanukkah menorah. The textual basis for this debate states:
Beit Shammai says: On the first day, one kindles eight lights and, from there on, gradually decreases the number of lights until, on the last day of Hanukkah, they kindle one light.
And Beit Hillel says: On the first day, one kindles one light, and from there on, gradually increases the number of lights until, on the last day, they kindle eight lights. (Talmud B Shabbat 21b:5)
I’ve long focused on the outcome of this debate—the fact that Hillel’s approach to lighting the menorah became the dominant ritual approach. As the Talmud explains,
The reason for Beit Hillel’s opinion is that the number of lights is based on the principle: One elevates to a higher level in matters of sanctity, and one does not downgrade.
Therefore, if the objective is to have the number of lights correspond to the number of days, there is no alternative to increasing their number with the passing of each day.
In other words, during each night of Hanukkah, we add to the light as a reminder that each and every day, each and every one of us should do something that brings a bit more light into the world.
I still love this interpretation and cannot help but imagine how different the world would look if we each took this as a personal challenge and obligation. And yet this year, both my understanding of this debate and the way we observe the Hanukkah ritual will be different.
Two weeks ago, our scholar-in-residence, Dr. Rachel Fish, pointed out that, while this debate from the Talmud has merit in its own right, the very fact that the debate is recorded in the Talmud is also worthy of note. The rabbis who codified the Talmud could have, she noted, simply recorded Hillel’s instruction that we begin with one light and then increase by one during each night of Hanukkah and that we do so to remember that each day is an opportunity to bring light into the world. But the rabbis didn’t do that. Instead, they also recorded the “losing” minority opinion and the competing justifications for it. By so doing, the rabbis codified the value of disagreement and debate.
The rabbis WANTED us to disagree. They understood the value of the tension that comes from confronting differing views.
That is a far cry from today’s world in which we increasingly live in echo-chambers of agreement. We watch news that confirms the perspectives we already hold. We use social media whose algorithms present us with content that reinforces our already-held beliefs. And increasingly, we see those whose opinions differ from ours as simply wrong. In the process we lose valuable opportunities to learn, grow, and challenge our assumptions.
So this year, as a reminder of the importance of disagreement, Raina and I will be lighting two menorahs the first night. One will begin the holiday with a single candle and then gain a candle each night. The other will have eight candles. And as we look at our dual menorahs this year, we will remember that disagreement and debate is one of the cornerstones of what it means to be Jewish.
I just hope I have enough candles.
Shabbat Shalom and Happy Hanukkah,
Rabbi Daniel Cohen