Opinion: Directly or indirectly — by reminding ourselves what it is to be human, what is feels like to be in community, what it means to be responsible for one another — we light the little lights, powerful enough to give way to the miraculous.
I write this on Dec. 18, the first day of Hanukkah and my favourite of the eight-day, Jewish festival of lights. It is our custom to light one additional candle on each night, until the special menorah is full. Why is the first night, with just one thin candle in the window my favourite? Because the first light is the hardest to come by and the most miraculous.
Each night of Hanukkah we sing a blessing for miracles. But it wasn’t surprising or miraculous that the oil burned on the first day, so why sing about miracles on the first night? There is a medieval anthology of 100 reasons. The most compelling of them, in my opinion, is that the Maccabees lit the light at all. Knowing full-well that there wasn’t enough, they did it anyway. That small, simple act, so the story goes, opened the door to a miracle.
Now, thank goodness, the desire for meaningful communal life has returned. Our volunteer base is trickling back, but it still is not as robust as it was in “the before times.” As I compare notes with other faith leaders and heads of schools, social service organizations and civic centres, the pattern is the same. The needs are even greater than before, as people at all stages of life are suffering from years of isolation. We are all thirsty for real human connection.
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