Religion is a tricky thing. It has many layers, and in order to find the inner meaning of it one needs to dig down to the mysteries. On the outer layer of Judaism it seems that Judaism deals a lot with history, and so Passover is a ritual for the memory of the exodus, Shabbat is for remembering the seven days of creation, and Hanukah is there to remind us of the victory of the Jewish religious underground zealots over the Greek empire.
But this is only the outer understanding of the Jewish tradition. It is good, maybe, for those who seek to keep the nation together, but if you are a spiritual seeker, a seeker of real God, you do not care so much about what happened in the past - what you look for is rituals that have the power of transformation in the present moment, rituals that can help you, as an individual, connect with the Divine source. And this is what you can always find in the inner layer of the Jewish tradition.
What I want to do now is to tell the story of Hanukah, as it is written in the Talmud, and then interpret it inwardly, according to the teachings of the great Hasidic masters.
The story of Hanukah
The Talmud tells us that when the Greek people took over Jerusalem they entered the sacred chambers of the temple, opened all the barrels of olive oil that were kept there, and violated the place. Then, when the Makabees won the war against the troops of Antiochus the Greek, and renovated and purified the temple, they needed pure olive oil in order to light the candles of the Menorah, but they could not find any. They only found one jar of olive oil, that was kept sealed by the high priest. It was a very small jar, that had enough oil for one day. Though they were happy to find it, they knew it would be a few more days until they would have fresh oil. They decided to light the Menorah at least for that one day, but the oil did not end - it lasted for another day and another day - 8 days in all - until they got the new oil, and could bring the temple again to its' daily sacred ritual routine. In memory of this miracle the Jewish people decided to celebrate each year these eight days, by lighting candles in every household. This is the outer layer of the Hanukah story.
What does this story mean for us?
Let us see the story in symbolic language, and apply it to our inner tale of spiritual development. Each of us IS a temple. The meaning of a temple is a place where there is a passionate unification between the creator and creation. Many times our temple is knocked out by all kinds of "intruders" - foreign influences that come from the outside and force themselves upon us. They place an idol in our psyche, and seduce us to worship it: money, glory, fame, or social conformism. All kinds of idols are trying to take over our inner temples, and make us desert the authentic truth of our deep heart.
Oil is a symbol for spiritual wisdom. Oil is what you use to bring light. The influences that come from the outside, the intruders in our hearts, create a big mess and confusion inside our temples, and contaminate our oils - our natural wisdom. We can then no longer light our inner Menorah, and darkness prevails in us.
Hanukah is always celebrated around the day that is physically the darkest of the year. And again - the outer darkness is only a symbol to the inner one. Inner darkness: this feeling of confusion, when your vision is unclear, when life seems to be going nowhere and you feel like you have no real purpose and nothing is exciting you - then inner darkness spreads over your mind.
Where is the light?
Inner light comes when you are in love. Not only in love with a person, but in love with Life itself. Do you know this feeling of radiating light, when you just shine and everything smiles back to you because you're in love ? Well, to live with God is to live in Love. To walk in the world puckered and ready for a kiss, as it is said "and you shall Love YHWH your divine source with all your heart, all your soul and everything you have." The more we live like that the more light is being shed over our lives.
The miracle of Hanukah is that even when all of you is invaded by unwanted foreign influences, and you feel so far from yourself, not knowing who you are and what's your purpose - even then there is a little jar of authentic inner wisdom ("Oil") that is well sealed. It comes from your innermost core - the high priest within you. It may be small, and one could say that there is no real help in finding it, since it is not enough anyway. But this is where you are tested: can you be part of a miracle?
Open this little jar and use it even for one day. Once you have found this innermost little and gentle point that is good and pure and connected to whom you really are, dare to bring light to it. This little bit of "oil" can give you real joy - the joy of being alive as you.
When you take the Shamash and light the candles of Hanukah - keep this intention in mind: I am taking my little spark of true light and lighting with it the rest of my life. As you light the eight candles on the eight days of Hanukah you may want to remember what each candle stands for. The first candle is for wisdom, the second for deep understanding. Love and grace are the third candle and then comes pure discipline. The fifth candle is compassion and thereafter confidence and innocence. Truth is the eighth candle.
May we all take part in creating miracles of light.
Rabbi Ohad Ezrahi is an Israeli non orthodox scholar of Kabbala, a teacher focusing on the Kabbala of Love, sexuality and relationship, and author of numerous articles and books on Neo-kabbalah. His website, www.kabalove.net, includes information about his worldwide workshops.
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Menorah designed by Doron Sar Shalom
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