“Chanukah is fundamentally an ambiguous holiday.”

— Rabbi Yossi Sapirman

When we think about the Festival of Lights, the word “controversy” generally isn’t the first thing to come to mind.

Yet the history of this holiday period does raise a few questions...

Two well-known stories help to shape our understanding and celebration of Chanukah.

The first story is the miracle of the oil that kept the lights burning in the temple for eight days, despite only being enough for one. The second is the Jewish military victory over the Greeks. 

While the oil story is a celebration of light, gratitude, and peace, the military victory is a celebration of triumph through force. It’s been suggested that the story of the miraculous oil was created in order to demilitarize the celebration of Chanukah.

With two such disparate and almost contradictory themes, how do we recognize, acknowledge, and honour both faces of Chanukah?

In this episode of Living Jewishly, Dr. Elliot Malamet, Rabbi Yossi Sapirman, and Rabbi Bluth shed light on the multitude of themes that make Chanukah such a rich, beautiful period of celebration and thanksgiving.

Listen to this episode, and then visit livingjewishly.org/channukah to download the Living Jewishly Chanukah Guide.

“We do look toward history and draw it into our lives today… in some ways, having a wide spread of lessons and themes doesn’t bother me too much. The question for me is: how are we applying it?”

— Bluth 

This‌ ‌episode discusses:‌ ‌

• The Maccabees, the politics of sovereignty, and how we should feel about this story in our present context 
• How do we remain connected to the themes of the holiday in the context of diaspora and assimilation — and should gift-giving remain a part of Chanukah?
• What the popularity of Chanukah might say about current needs and desires surrounding the practice of our faith

 ‌  

Highlights:‌ ‌

00:51  Intro

01:42  Multiple narratives & the sages

04:28  Curation of holiday experiences

06:16  The Maccabees & Jewish sovereignty

08:30  Challenges of diaspora & assimilation

11:30  Ambiguity of Chanukah

14:07  Dichotomy, schism & anxiety

15:28  The “gift bribe”

17:50  Pluralism & assimilation

21:07  Creating identity through practice

25:38  The home

29:10  Diwali 

30:20  Chanukah teachings

33:53  Poetry & final messages

Links:‌ ‌ 

To get in contact or learn more about Living Jewishly:  

Visit‌ ‌our ‌website: https://livingjewishly.org  

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Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO2YEegjapKpQeXG6zh6tzw   

or send us an email at hello@livingjewishly.org.  

Shalom!