The Coming of Light

(Hanukkah Brass Menorah, circa 1962, by Ludwig
Wolpert, 1900-1981, German-born sculptor and
designer who worked and taught in Israel and
America)

Hanukkah celebrates the victory, in 165 BCE, of the Jews under the leadership of Judas Maccabeus in Judea over their Syrian rules, who had banned all parts of Jewish culture. The feast celebrates “the joyous day / when we regained the right to pray / to our one God in our own way,” in the words of American poet Aileen Fisher (1906-2002).

The eight-day Festival of Light began on the evening of December 20 this year. The daily lighting of the candles commemorates the miraculous expansion of one day’s oil to an eight-day supply of light, enough to allow the Jews the time needed to rededicate their Temple.

THE COMING OF LIGHT

Even this late it happens:
the coming of love, the coming of light.
You wake and the candles are lit as if by themselves,
stars gather, dreams pour into your pillows,
sending up warm bouquets of air.
Even this late the bones of the body shine
and tomorrow’s dust flares into breath.

~ Mark Strand, born 1934, Canadian-born American poet and translator

Light the Festive Candles

(Silver Hanukkah lamp or menorah from the Czech
Republic, 1817)

The first of the eight days of Hanukkah or The Festival of Lights began yesterday, at sundown.

Hanukkah celebrates the victory, in 165 BCE, of the Jews in Judea over their Syrian rules, who had banned all parts of Jewish culture. With their victory under the leadership of Judas Maccabeus, the Jews restored the right to worship in their faith.

The lighting of the candles commemorates the miraculous expansion of one day’s oil to an eight-day supply of light, enough to allow the Jews the time needed to rededicate their Temple.

LIGHT THE FESTIVE CANDLES

Light the first of eight tonight —
the farthest candle to the right.

Light the first and second, too,
when tomorrow’s day is through.

Then light three, and then light four —
every dusk one candle more

Till all eight burn bright and high,
honoring a day gone by

When the Temple was restored,
rescued from the Syrian lord,

And an eight-day feast proclaimed —
The Festival of Lights — well named

To celebrate the joyous day
when we regained the right to pray
to our one God in our own way.

~ Aileen Fisher (1906-2002), American poet