Out of the Dark Comes the Light

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Dear friends,

Without a doubt, Hanukkah is my favourite yearly celebration. I love lighting the candles each night, watching the brightness grow over the eight dark winter days with each new candle added to the menorah. There's the opportunity to eat fried food with impunity (latkes, and donuts, oh my!). I love frying up piles of latkes and watching them disappear into hungry, happy mouths. I love the Hanukkah stories. There's the epic account of the feisty little band o' Maccabees who got super creative, did what they had to do to fight the much larger and better-equipped Assyrian forces, and won against all odds. There's wonder in the miracle of the oil that lasted longer than expected, bringing precious light in the dark. And, there's the story of Judith who deftly lopped off the head of the unsuspecting (and absolutely shitfaced) Holofernes, thusly saving the day for her (my) people. You can read my favourite telling of Judith's heroism by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg here. Good food. Heroic stories. Glowing candles. What's not to love?

Now is the time to channel our inner Maccabees.

I am by no means a scholar of the Jewish religion or traditions, so please pardon my very loose interpretations of how these stories go. I learned pretty much everything I know on the subject from the kids' books I read to my own children. My father, the Holocaust survivor, and my mother, the daughter of a pogrom survivor seemed to think assimilation was the safest option for parenting in 1960's America, so we grew up with Christmas and Easter, not Hanukkah or Passover. But, who doesn't love a story where the little guy wins against the big, bad bully? The Hanukkah story gives us this in spades, with the unlikely band of Maccabees breaking all the rules of war, outwitting their oppressors, and winning back their rights, their home, their power.

Those were some dark times in 164(ish) B.C. and we're in some seriously dark times now. We're in a time that requires us to thumb our noses at the rules that serve the oppressors and come up with a million different creative ways to protect everything we hold dear. And, oh my! So so many people are stepping up to the task at hand. Centuries from now, will they be telling stories about the hundreds of anti-ICE protestors who brought Home Depot to a halt by buying and returning 17-cent ice scrapers (it actually took me a few times reading this news item before I realized the significance of the ice scrapers - duh!)? Will they decorate garbage bags and other everyday items in celebration of the New Yorkers who blocked the exit of ICE vehicles from a parking lot using garbage bags and metal barriers? Will future generations hold ice-melting ceremonies in commemoration of the tens of thousands of individuals who formed groups to stop the brutal abductions of their neighbours? Will there be a National Inflatable Frog Day each year? In these dark times, we all need to channel our inner Maccabees and use whatever superpowers we have (and we all have superpowers!) to fight the oppressors, to demand justice, to protect our friends and neighbours, to support community.

There has always been darkness. There has always been light.

It seems that we humans have never fully figured out how to just be nice to each other. But, neither have we ever completely sunk, as an entire species, into total brutality. Not to be a Debbie Downer, but as far as I can tell, throughout all of human history, in every corner of this great Earth, the world has been riddled with cruelty. And, it has also been riddled with kindness. The fact is, that, though we've never managed to eliminate the kind of dick behaviour such as we are witnessing now, there have always been enough good, kind, brave, clever, creative, caring people on hand to bring the light in dark times. We have always been in the fight for justice, and we most likely always will, but that's what makes us the good guys.

Easier said than done.

"This, my dear, is the greatest challenge to being alive: To witness the injustice of this world, and not allow it to consume our light."

I have this quote from Thich Nhat Hanh hung on my fridge as a constant reminder to not turn away from the injustices in this world (as if I could!), but also not to get so sucked in that I allow them to destroy me. As the saying goes, easier said than done. It seems that at least 4 or 5 times a day, I see something in the news so horrifying, I momentarily stop breathing and I physically recoil. The world is so full of injustice and outright fuckery, our hearts break daily. So, our challenge now is to witness the injustices enough to kick our butts into action, but not to the extent that they render us immobile or extinguish our lights. As I said, easier said than done.

So, what's the secret to keeping our light burning in these dark times? Community. Friends. Family. Nature. Gratitude practice. Humour. Meditation. Prayer. Acts of resistance, small and large. Choosing joy. Beloved pets. Exercise. Sharing. Volunteering. Collaboration. Art. Crafting. Music. Dance. Chocolate. These are just a few things on my daily survival list. What is getting you through each day, keeping your light a-flicker, allowing you to witness the injustice of this world without allowing it to consume your light? Whatever it is, keep it up! We need you and we need your light. Keep shining.

Chag Sameach. Happy Hanukkah. Shalom.

Jessica (she/her)

p.s. On the subject of Judith - I love me a badass woman who knows how to roll up her sleeves and get shit done. I love the fact that, in honour of the mountains of salty cheese she fed Holofernes to make him so thirsty that he drank himself into a drunken stupor, allowing her do the deed relatively unimpeded, we eat blintzes and cheesecake at Hanukkah. Personally, I don't tend to endorse violence, so in my fantasy world, those who are inflicting pain and suffering upon others (you know who they are!) would be taught the therapeutic and nurturing arts of knitting and baking, and they would use their newly acquired skills to warm and feed the very people they've been harming (Restorative Justice 101). But, I'm also heavily into schadenfreude, so, yeah, I find the story of Judith taking down Holofernes very gratifying. I mean, karma's a bitch. What we need to remember is that eventually, karma always catches up with the evildoers, and sometimes it shows up as a beautiful woman bearing cheese and wine.