Sparks of Light: Fifth Night

Jews all around the world are familiar with donuts which enable us to almost automatically ‘connect’ to one of the oily themes of Chanukah. I’m not sure if the Canadian public eat 13 million donuts during the days of Chanukah like the number of donuts sold in Israel, but I’m sure that everyone are well aware of this phenomena.

However, I would like to point out another staggering statistic concerning production in Israel during Chanukah, one that will hopefully help us connect to one of the fundamental themes of Chanukah. Believe it or not, Chanukah is also the time in which the Israeli society produces the largest amount of shows and productions throughout the entire year. This is because every theater and every community has a show or cultural program for Chanukah! This is relevant to shows produced by religious creators who tend to have a clear educational message and also to secular artists who produce shows that are an imitation of the American culture, but nevertheless, are spoken in Hebrew and usually start with lighting the Chanukah menorah.

There is of course a technical logical explanation for this, that Chanukah is the only time in which we have 8 days of vacation without an actual Chag which prohibits melacha. It so happens that it’s the best time to produce a show, as all of the Israeli kids are on vacation for 8 days with doing nothing!

However, there is a much deeper and more meaningful answer which is that even without knowing it, we, as a people, are striving to prove the Greeks (and the world) that no one should replace our culture with theirs and that we are proud to express our own unique culture, especially during these days. It’s actually very simple. The Greeks tried to force us to forget about our culture while completely blending us in with theirs. Our answer, as mentioned, is to promote our own culture, while using their culture (like the culture of sports for example) in order to empower our own and not in order to erase our own.

I’m wishing you all a meaningful Chanukah in which you will be able to think about our culture and incredible heritage (while enjoying the regular donuts that you customarily tend to enjoy every year…)

Chanukah Culture Sameach!