Publicizing the Miracle

It’s a wonderful feeling running around Jupiter, seeing inflatable dreidels, electric menorahs, and other Jewish symbols on people’s front yards. In a way, it serves the same purpose as lighting Hanukkah candles—publicizing the miracle. Even though Hanukkah is not a biblical festival, the rabbis treated it with the utmost importance. In a situation when a person has a limited amount of money and has to decide between buying wine for Kiddush or buying Hanukkah candles, the Talmud rules, “Kindling the Hanukkah light is preferable, since its purpose is publicizing the miracle.”

Therefore, kindling the menorah inside the house, where it is not visible by those outside, does not fulfill the mitzvah (except in the case of danger). The rule is that the lights must be noticeable from the public way and therefore the menorah should be kindled either at the outer doorway of one’s home or, if the home fronts onto a courtyard, then at the entrance to the courtyard. Someone who lives on an upper floor is expected to kindle the lights in a window adjacent to the public way. The purpose of the lights is to make a public statement.

It is interesting that the emphasis of Hanukkah is on our homes and its relation to the outside community. Purim, the other festival emphasizing a miracle, belongs at the synagogue where we read the megillah, and Passover is celebrated at home and is not open to the street. The reason that Hanukkah is celebrated at the home and open for all to see is that we want to broadcast the light of the Hanukkah miracle out to the world as a statement of strength, bravery, and faith in the way the Maccabees bravely stood up for the Jewish people even as ancient tyrants tried to stomp us out.

Moreover, we are taught that Jews need to publicize the miracle of Hanukkah to non-Jews. Since the Greeks’ intentions were to remove the study of the Torah and to not allow Jews to perform their commandments, we need to publicize the miracle of Hanukkah to non-Jews as well in order to show the world that God saved us, and we would not succumb to others who are trying to prevent us from practicing our religion.

This year, with the increase of anti-semitism, we must live the wisdom of broadcasting the miracle. We must remind our neighbors, our society, and most of all, our fellow Jews, that we are proud being Jewish and committed to what it stands for: a vision of a world where all people can live in peace, where no one power seeks to oppress, terrorize, or persecute another. The Hanukkah lights (and the inflatable Jewish symbols) make the world notice that the miracle of overcoming hatred, bigotry, and oppression can happen when we openly celebrate our faith. When we light Hanukkah candles, we are following in the footsteps of the Maccabees, proclaiming to the entire world that we are proud Jews committed to God, our community, and our faith, and no tyrant or bully can prevent us from doing so.