Shabbat Gathering: Those pesky Chanukah lights.

Am I ever going to get this right? (or left?)

Gud Shabbos Khaveyrim, as is our custom, we will gather tonight at 5.45p ct to welcome Shabbat. These are the coordinates:

Zoom
Meeting ID: 883 8469 4181
Password: 822665
Phone: +1 312 626 6799

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Here we go.

When my ex-wife and I were raising our daughters, we used to throw a large party every Chanukah. Jews and gentiles would gather in our home and feast on latkes and other holiday goodies, adults would drink adult beverages, and the kids would play dreidel. (The house smelled of fried potatoes for weeks.) Then, it would be time to light the menorah (actually, multiple menorahs). And, so, would ensue the lively discussion of whether the candles were put into the menorah from left to right or right to left. And then, the lively discussion would continue about whether the candles were lit left to right or right to left.

The gentiles were baffled by this. (I know I was baffled the first couple of years I experienced Chanukah.) How was it that we didn’t know something as basic as this? And why did people have such strongly held views and eagerly debate? And why was this important in the first place?

Every year I would learn the “official” protocol and, next year I would have to relearn it. Most people who ride in a car I’m driving know I have a rather tenuous grasp of left and right in the first place. There are mnemonic devices suppose to help the host keep the candle sequence straight, but somehow these always get shuffled in my head. For me, the biggest problem remembering the sequence is that the candles are put in the menorah in one direction and lit in the other. And, so, I had to look it up yet again in order to write this newsletter.

The candles are put into the menorah from right to left, the way we read Hebrew. On the first night, the first candle is put into the far right socket. The shamash (the helper candle we use to light the others) is placed, typically, in the middle.

So far, so good.

The candles are lit from left to right. The last candle in the menorah is the one that’s lit first. Another way to think about it is that the candle for that night is the candle that’s lit first.

Now, for me, comes the big challenge. The menorah is something that’s displayed, typically in a window. This means that right and left are completely flipped around from the other side of the menorah. So, who’s right and left are we considering? The person lighting the menorah or the person observing the menorah? My research did not yield any answers to this as it probably isn’t a question much asked. Just to take matters into my own hands, I’m saying that the perspective is that of the person lighting the menorah. Want to debate that too? Be my guest.

This is how Jews ended up with Talmud. Something that seems simple or superficial or both becomes a big deal and, the next thing you know, there’s an entire tractate about it that’s been written across a century. With every question, Judaism becomes wider and deeper.

And may it be for all of us a blessing.

See you tonight!
Gud Shabbes!

All my love,
brian.

PS

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