I could not honestly remember if I had ever experienced Chanukah begin on December 1st – but even if I did, this still feels very ‘early’! As the Jewish calendar tries to balance the lunar and the solar systems of counting months, our festivals travel slightly back and forth. This Hebrew year, 5771 is a leap year, so starting with Purim the festivals will all of a sudden feel ‘later than usual’ – and so the cycle continues. This year’s calendar has provided us all with an incredible opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving and Chanukah with less than a week between them! In culinary terms, this means that we’ll be going from Turkeys to Latkes in no time at all J. But it is the theme of ‘giving’ that is so naturally included in the Thanksgiving that I wanted to concentrate on in connection with this year’s Chanukah.
A few years ago a new project was instituted by the American Reform Movement – Ner Shel Tzedakah (“candle of righteousness”) is a project in which families and individuals devote the 6th night of Chanukah to learning about the problem of poverty. We are encouraged to donate the value of the gifts (or the gifts themselves) that would otherwise be exchanged on that night to organizations that assist the poor, locally or globally. A special blessing has been created to be used as we light Ner Shel Tzedakah:
Baruch Ata Adonai, Eloheinu Melech Haolam, Asher Kidshanu B’mitzvotav, V’lamdeinu L’Hadlik Ner Shel Tzedakah.
Blessed are You, Eternal, our God, who makes us holy through the performance of Mitzvot, and inspires us to light the Candle of Righteousness.
“As we light this “Ner Shel Tzedakah” tonight, we pray that its light will shine into the dark corners of our world, bringing relief to those suffering from the indignity and pain that accompany poverty. May our act of giving inspire others to join with us in the fight against the scourge of hunger, homelessness, need and want. Together, let us raise our voices to cry out for justice, and may that clarion call burst through the night’s silence and declare that change must come.”
This year, the 6th night of Chanukah falls on Monday, December 6th, 2010. I encourage you strongly to use that night to have a conversation with your children and with each other about poverty and hunger, and what we can do to help alleviate it in this world. At Temple Emanuel we are dedicating the entire Sunday, December 5th, to a very special inter-generational Chanukah project, organized by our newly re-formed Education Committee. From 9:30 am to 12 noon we are having a morning of learning and then joining with the Hebrew school on a gift giving project. We are partnering this year with Jewish Family Services, ‘r kids Family Center, Fairhaven Community Health Center and Connecticut Junior Republic and after a morning of study (and a little food!) we will be preparing gift baskets to be distributed to various families in need through these organizations (each with a very strong connection to TE community). We will be collecting donations needed on Friday, December 3rd during our Musical Shabbat Chanukah celebration, but if this Shofar does not reach you in time to participate in this project, I very much hope you will still dedicate one day’s worth of Chanukah gifts to help those in need. By making donations on the sixth (or any other!) night of Chanukah, you will help our candle of righteousness glow brightly for those in need. Don’t let the light go out!