This Hanukkah is a time of clarity. Use the illumination to truly see what has happened.

Shver Tzu Zayn a Yid.  

Yes, it’s Yiddish. Wikipedia says it’s the title of a Yiddish-language comic play by Sholom Aleichem (whose stories inspired "Fiddler on the Roof") about the difficulties of Jewish-Gentile relationships in the Russian Empire. It was written a little over a century ago. The title in English?

It’s Hard to Be a Jew.

But for those who are Jewish, although sometimes used with humor and a light touch, it’s also a well-worn phrase. Indeed, even in these times when Jewish people have been allowed greater freedoms than ever before, it’s been made quite clear to us from some quarters that perhaps we don’t deserve such privilege.

Hanukkah began on Thursday night, the eight-day celebration of light based on a 2,200-year-old military victory and liberation from religious and ethnic oppression. The ‘moral of the story’ that Jews get from this celebration varies from person-to-person, community-to-community and from year-to-year but there are some broad-brush generalities that are worth noting.

American Jews tend to see the religious liberation of the story as key to our own relative immunity from such oppression here in this country. Israeli Jews are more likely to emphasize the military aspects of the narrative, understanding that without legitimate power, one cannot defend one’s community or nation.

What Jewish people hold in common is the emphasis on the light

The Jewish calendar is a hybrid of lunar months, following the motions of the moon, adjusted every two or three years with an added leap month to keep our festivals in seasonal order. For us, our spring festival of Passover would make no sense in the winter nor Hanukkah in the summer.

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere where our ancient history lies, Hanukkah always begins within a month of solstice, the darkest part of the solar year, and as the moon gets smaller and smaller at the end of the month, the nights grow darker and darker. It reflects the counter-intuitive decision of the ancient rabbis to follow the opinion of Hillel rather than Shamai who ruled we should start with the most light and decrease by one each night, tracking the initial darkening of the night sky as the moon gets smaller. Hillel gave us the current regimen, to ever-increase in holiness, by adding a light each night as we do to this day.

Hanukkah is no minor Jewish holiday. It becomes a crucial test for self-understanding.

So what special meaning can light have for us during this very fraught time, in what for most Jewish people will be the memory of 10/7, an internationally recognized Jewish 9/11?

For me it will be a time of reaching for clarity, using the illumination to help us truly see what has happened and what our next steps can and should be.

The Hanukkah candles are unique in Jewish tradition in that they are not supposed to be ‘used’ for anything but their actual light. Sabbath candles are intended for seeing things in our surroundings.  They extend Friday into the night so we could begin our Shabbat with a late and festive dinner, where we could see what we were eating and our loved ones and friends seated around our table.

Hanukkah candles are intended to be seen and not used.

To be looked at. To be meditated upon. To make us slow down and really take in the light, the ability to reflect and pause our constant scrolling of social media and genuinely consider those views we are not rabbit-holed by a faceless algorithm.

I know Jewish people who are all over the political map of what’s going on in Israel and Gaza and the Palestinian territories of this time. I ask us all to look and reflect and consider those opinions we have a knee-jerk reaction to.

A true celebration of Hanukkah demands no less.

Is it easy? No, of course not. The words at the top are still relevant. They probably always will be.

Happy Hanukkah!

Cantor David Lipp is currently the Spiritual Leader of congregation Adath Jeshurun here in Louisville Kentucky.  He also teaches children and adults throughout the city, leads several choirs and often represents the Jewish community at interfaith events. He is a past president of the Cantors Assembly. 

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Hanukkah is a time of clarity, illumination. It's hard to be a Jew