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Candle lighting time for Friday, December 23, 2011, 4:37 p.m.
Hanukkah Day 4
Triennial Cycle Year II: Genesis 41:53-43:15
Humash Etz Hayim, page 257
Haftarah: Zechariah 2:14-4:7, page 1269
- (41:53-57) The seven years of plenty pass and the famine begins.
- (42:1-6) Ten of Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt to get food.
- (42:7-28) Joseph recognizes his brothers, but they don’t recognize him. He accuses them of being spies in order to engineer Benjamin’s being brought to Egypt. To clear their names they must bring the other brother they had mentioned. Their brother Simon must be left behind as a pledge that they will return.
- (42:29-38) The brothers tell Jacob what happened to them. He refuses to send his youngest and most beloved son, Benjamin.
- (43:1-15) After the food runs out, Jacob agrees to allow Benjamin to go to Egypt.
The Courage to Put Our Jewish Lights in the Front Window
Rabbi Daniel Pressman
Our Rabbis taught: It is incumbent to place the Hanukkah lamp by the door of one’s house on the outside. If one dwells in an upper chamber, one places it at the window closest to the public domain. However, in time of danger, one places it on the table in the privacy of one’s home and that is adequate. (Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 21B)
In lighting the Hanukkah lamp, the Jew announces to the outside world: “This is my flame. Gaze on this light and know that from this home a Jewish light burns. If you accept me in these terms, I am prepared to share my light with you and to be an active member within a shared universe of experience. If, however, you seek to extinguish my flame, then I shall remove my lamp from the windowsill and place it on my private table to be viewed by my family alone.”
In times of danger and persecution, the Jew may withdraw into the privacy of his particular framework of experience.…In the face of hostility and oppression, the Jew lit the menorah for the members of his family so that the flame of Judaism would be internalized in their souls. The marketplaces of history led one to believe that Judaism had died and had become a lifeless fossil. Yet in the private corners of Jewish homes families gathered together, told the story of Hanukkah, recited the blessings over the kindling of the candles and sang a song in celebration of their people’s courage to remain loyal to Torah despite oppression and public derision. Although for Jews the streets of Western civilization were often dark and bleak, the soul of the Jew was aflame.
Today, because of the rebirth of the State of Israel, Jews can place their menorahs on the windowsills of history. We need not speak among ourselves only; we may share our flame with the outside world.…
The challenge facing Judaism today is not only whether we can withstand our enemies but also whether the light visible in the marketplace radiates a profound and compelling message. Now that the menorah has been taken off our private tables and placed in the window for all to see, we must examine whether the light itself is beautiful and inspiring.
Many traditional Jews believe that Jewish particularity is incompatible with modern mass culture and that the Judaic bonds holding together the community cannot bear the stress caused by exposure to the cultural rhythms of the larger non-Jewish society. According to this school of thought, Hanukkah celebrates the Maccabees’ courageous repudiation of the world culture which connotes the assimilating Jew, the cultural opportunist without deep roots in his community’s value system. Those who accept this assessment of Judaism in the modem world turn to social and cultural separation in order to secure Judaism’s survival.
There are others who are skeptical as to whether this ghettoization can succeed. Modern communication makes it impossible to escape acculturation to modern “Hellenism.” It is, in their opinion, futile to resist. We should accept our fate and accommodate ourselves to the inevitability of our eventual assimilation.
A third option rejects the defeatism of the latter point of view and also the separatism of the former. We question the belief that Judaism has always survived because of its radical separation from the surrounding culture. Hanukkah does not commemorate a total rejection of Hellenism but, as the historian Elias Bickerman shows in From Ezra to the Last of the Maccabees, the revolt focused specifically on those aspects of foreign rule that expressly aimed at weakening loyalty to the God of Israel.
The major question that we must ponder on Hanukkah is whether the Jewish people can develop an identity that will enable it to meet the outside world without feeling threatened or intimidated. The choice, hopefully, need not be ghettoization or assimilation.
We can absorb from others without being smothered. We can appreciate and assimilate that which derives from “foreign” sources and at the same time feel firmly anchored to our particular frame of reference. That, however, requires that we gain an intelligent appreciation of the basic values of our tradition. Learning was not essential for our grandfathers because they were insulated by their cultural and physical Jewish ghetto. In order for the Jew to leave the protective framework of that ghetto it is necessary for him to have a personal sense of Jewish self-worth and dignity.
Jewish self-enlightenment is a prerequisite for opening our windows to the marketplace. Then we can absorb as well as propagate light. (Rabbi David Hartman)
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Sheldon and Richard Balk Memorial Camp Scholarship
Hadashot Religious School – On announcement page on WIKI
UPCOMING EVENTS
Saturday, December 24: Wisdom and Witdom with Doug Brook: Horsing Around with Seuss - after Shabbat Kiddush lunch (about 1:15 p.m.)
Thursday, January 5: Parent and Me Romper Class (12-24 months) – 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Thursday, January 5: Parent and Me Crawlers Class (0-12 months) – 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Thursday, January 5: Job Help and Training - 7:30 – 9:00 p.m.
Friday, January 6: Hazak Shabbat Dinner - 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, January 7: Ask the Rabbi – 1:30 – 2:30 p.m.
Saturday, January 7: Jews’ Next Dor Ballroom Dance Party with Lesson – 8:00 p.m. – 1:00 a.m.
Sunday, January 8: Men’s Club Meeting at CBD – 11:00 a.m. – 12.30 p.m.
Wednesday, January 11: Jews’ Next Dor Meet & Greet – 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Saturday, January 14: Date with Sausy in San Francisco – 7:00 – 11:30 p.m.
Sunday, January 15: Kadima Sky High Jump - 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Sunday, January 29: Zimriya Song Festival Honoring Debbie Friedman – 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Daily Minyan – Sunday 9:30 am & Monday – Thursday 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, February 18: Save the Date: Donor Shabbat – 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
COMMUNITY EVENTS
Tuesday, December 20: Celebrate the First Night of Hanukkah at Santana Row – 5:00 p.m.
Summer 2012: Taglit-Birthright Israel with USCJ: Experience Israel through Conservative Judaism’s pluralistic lens – For young adults between the ages of 22-26 – Click here to refer yourself or someone else and be entered into a drawing to win an iPad!
$36,000 Awards for Jewish Teen Community Service Volunteers - nominations due January 6th
Sunday, January 8: Open House at Kehillah Jewish High School – 2:00 -4:00 p.m.