´óÏó´«Ã½

Harvey Belovski, rabbi at Golders Green United Synagogue:

Ìý

It’s the first day of Chanukah today.Ìý If you’ve ever been in a Jewish area around dusk at this time of the year, you’ll see Chanukah menorah-lamps peeking through the windows of homes and shops.

Ìý

Chanukah celebrates the end of a threat to Jewish religion and culture many centuries ago.Ìý The lamp recalls the original oil candelabrum in the Jerusalem Temple, which was relit once the danger had passed.Ìý It was a moment of defiance, turning the lights back on after years of darkness and oppression.Ìý Tradition has it that when the rebels re-entered the Temple, the tiny phial of oil they found in the rubble burned for eight days rather than one.Ìý We replay that miracle each year as Chanukah progresses: we light one candle on the first evening and eight on the final evening.Ìý To give you an idea – imagine if your mobile phone was at 10%, but lasted for eight days without recharging!

Ìý

Chanukah is a favourite time of year. The candles brighten up the long, dark evenings, the kids receive Chanukah gelt – cash, or gifts. There are delicious seasonal foods - doughnuts and latkes, potato pancakes, all fried to recall that miracle of the oil long ago. And it’s a chance to think about another miracle - the very existence of the Jewish people despite repeated attempts - like the Chanukah story - to wipe us from the history books.

Ìý

At our home - at least on the days when we can get everyone together at the same time - we light our menorahs, sing Chanukah songs and eat those fried treats.Ìý But we also just sit and look at the flickering lights for a few moments and think about what they mean to us and how they connect our family to past generations and to the future.

Ìý

Jewish sources teach that the Chanukah lights are for ‘looking’ but not ‘using’ – a line that actually appears in one of the songs we sing around our menorah.Ìý It’s a profound idea – we are often so busy that we forget to stop to think about what we are experiencing.Ìý Chanukah is too important to let the moment pass without contemplating a few big, important ideas.Ìý Sometime, I believe we need to be able to just stop, look and allow ourselves pause for thought.