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Dear Coalition Community,
How many days do we celebrate Hanukkah? You might think it is a strange question to ask
and that the answer obviously is eight days! And, we all know the story of Hanukkah, when
the Maccabees returned to the Temple in Jerusalem after it had been desecrated, they
searched and searched for enough oil to light all the lights in the Temple. But they could
find only one small jar of oil that still had the seal of the High Priest, and it was sufficient to
keep the lights lit for just one day. It would take eight days until new oil could be brought.
But a great miracle happened, and the oil lasted for eight days.
But, here is the real question: The oil was expected to last for one day, and it lasted for
eight days. So the miracle of the oil isn’t really EIGHT days, but rather SEVEN, right? The first
day, everything happened exactly as expected — so what miracle are we commemorating
exactly? There are many rabbis who try to answer this question over the next thousand or
so years. But my favorite answer comes from the contemporary Rabbi David Hartman.
Rabbi Hartman, the Jewish scholar and theologian who founded the progressive Zionist
Shalom Hartman Institute, says that the miracle of the first day of Hanukkah is that they
bothered to light the lights at all.
He writes, “They took a leap of faith, with absolutely no assurance that it would be
successful. They lit the oil even though they knew it was insufficient. And anything
important in Jewish history and in world history has only been accomplished because
people have been willing to take that kind of leap of faith and leap of action, and have been
willing to embark on a process when they did not know whether or not it would succeed.”
What an incredible testament to the spirit of Jewish resilience and commitment to justice!
Without any expectation of success, they did this small thing because they had a belief that
delaying the work of Jewish community was simply untenable.
We can be grateful for a tradition that reminds us that on Hanukkah, and every day, we
celebrate miracles that are far more impressive than long-lasting oil. On all our Jewish
holidays, we celebrate the miracles of the human intellect and heart and memory, and our
capacity to remember, interpret, appreciate, and understand. But on Hanukkah, we
celebrate the sometimes less-seen miracles of perseverance and resilience that have
helped us to thrive as a people, giving us the confidence and faith to pursue our dreams of
a world characterized by more and more light.
May the coming holiday season be full of light and joy for you, just as it has been for our
ancestors in generations past. And may we take extra time to celebrate the small miracles
that build our capacity for resilience. Chag Urim Sameach – Happy Hanukkah!
Rabbi James
AJC AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE – PODCAST
AJC produces award-winning, chart-topping Jewish podcast. Their vivid, powerful stories bridge past and present, sadly underscoring the antisemitism still in today’s world.
“The Forgotten Exodus,” featuring Manya Trachear Pashman, Podcast Host
These vivid, powerful stories bridge past and present, underscoring their urgent relevance as Jewish
communities worldwide confront violent antisemitism and anti-Zionism. The November podcast featured the
800,000 Jews who left or were driven from their homes, in the Middle East and North Africa in the mid-20th
century due to rising antisemitism, to forge new lives for themselves and future generations.
The podcast host, Manya, is a writing coach and Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia University Graduate School of
Journalism. She has had the privilege of interviewing many families who have shared their stories of new
beginnings after leaving the lands they called home for centuries.
To hear her podcasts, go to: https://www.ajc.org/forgotten-exodus
TZEDAKAH APPEAL:
During this desperate time for many, we think of and reach out to the many who are struggling.
HIAS : “Welcome the Stranger. Protect the Refugee” The oldest refugee agency in the world, established in 1902 as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. http://hias.org
JDC: JDC uses impact measurement to reflects the diversity and scope of their diverse, long-standing global work, applies a unified philosophy to decentralized and program-driven systems that are customized to each area of their work. https://www.jdc.org/our-impact/
American Jewish Committee: addressing challenges Jews are facing worldwide, defending Democratic values for all. ajc.org
JEWISH News and Culture:
https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/
https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org
https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/language-literature-culture/the-shmooze
ENLIGHTENMENT and ENTERTAINMENT FROM YOUR SITE LIBRARY…
Go to“Learn” tab, scroll down to “Jewish Resources” and click “MY JEWISH LEARNING” (or go directly to MyJewishLearning.com).
Here you’ll find an aggregator that is regularly updated with a huge breadth of content and all sorts of goodies and surprises!
For example, the“Daily Guide to Zoom Events, Livestream and Other Online Resources.” Among the wide range of subjects, programs and activities you’ll see here are: “The Only Jewish Miss America” (Museum of Jewish Heritage), “Mindfulness Melodies” (Jewish Life in Maine), “Art as a Spiritual Practice,” A Midwives, Musicians, Soldiers and Rabbis: Whose Stories will Become History?,” “Bioethics During a Pandemic,” etc., etc.
And other treats too! Recipes for the holidays and everyday: “Potato Chip Schnitzel, Shwarma Chicken Kabobs, Roasted Butternut Squash with Orange Tahini, Briskett Tacos, Ethiopian Red Lentil Soup,” etc., etc…
Come visit and linger, you’ll be glad you did!
https://marketplace.jewishtogether.org
OTHER RECOMMENDED MEDIA
“The Swimmers,” on NETFLIX.
MEMBER PICKS…
FOR YOUR READING PLEASURE
“A Pigeon and a Boy,” by Meir Shalev
Review: “A powerful novel of two love stories, separated by half a century but connected by one enchanting act of devotion — of how deeply we love, of what home is, and why we, like pigeons trained to fly in one direction only, must eventually return to it…”
“My Russian Grandmother and her American Vacuum Cleaner,” also by Meir Shalev
Review: “A charming tale of family ties, over-the-top housekeeping, and the sport of storytelling in the small village of Nahalal…”
“The Baron,“ TYCOON Baron Maurice de Hirsch (1831-1896) by Matthias b. Lehmann
Review: “Philanthropy combines genuine compassion with the display of power”
In his lifetime, Hirsch was a giant of the “gilded age of Jewish philanthropy.” He was a German-born Jew who lived in a palace in Paris and kept his office in Vienna. He cut his biggest deal, a railway, with the Ottoman sultan. (When Hercule Poirot took the Orient Express, his train ran on Hirsch’s tracks!)
Hirsch funded schools and vocational training for Jewish communities not only in the Ottoman cities, but the Russian Pale, the French colonies of North Africa and in large areas of Argentina. The Jewish Colonization Association, the vehicle for his Argentine settlements, was the largest charitable organization in the world at a time when philanthropy was the principal form of Jewish political action…”
Visit LINKS OF INTEREST (on this site under “For Members” tab) to read an excerpt of an essay on Baron de Hirsch, his vision and involvement with Jewish farming in Connecticut.
ACTIVITIES TO CONSIDER
The Great Courses, learn a language, instrument or subject; create something new or master a skill… and more. www.TheGreatCourses.com
jigsawplanet.com — Jigsaw puzzles. Be forewarned, (mildly) addictive!