blogs/brentspodek

This is a transitional moment in the Hebrew calendar; Hanukkah, the holiday of lights is ending and the new moon of the month of Tevet is just appearing in the night sky.

At the appearance of every new moon, our liturgy asks ????????????? ???????? ??? ???????? ?????? ???????? ?????????? that in this new month we will all be renewed for goodness and blessing.

At the beginning of every Hebrew month, this hope that we can begin again, that we can grow in the ways we need to, that the blessings that have eluded us - tranquility, health, justice, love - will be more fully at hand than they have been in the past.

We hope our lives will be as fully illuminated as a menorah on the last night of Hanukkah.

But the light we seek rarely comes all at once, in a blinding flash of light.

For the past week, we have been increasing the light every night. We began with just one candle, standing lonely on the menorah with only the shamash alongside it. Last night, our menorahs were fully ablaze. But it's only now, towards the very end of the holiday, that we ask to be renewed for goodness and blessing.

This is the secret of Hanukkah - change looks like it happens all at once, but its always really incremental - one candle then another then another.  

Those who are looking for work talk to one person, then another, pick up a part time job here or there and then "all of a sudden" something changes and they find the job they are looking for.

One person agitates for change, talks to another, joins a campaign, and "suddenly" systems of oppression fall. Justice, peace, love - the things we need - don't happen all at once. Whether in our hearts or in the world, they happen step by step.

At this moment, when the Hannukiyah is fully ablaze, is the time to begin those steps, to becoming the change we seek. Take a moment to consider what it would mean for you to be renewed for blessing and goodness in this new month.

May we all come to the end of Hanukkah and the beginning of Tevet with the renewal we seek.