Ceremony and Celebration Family Edition, The Hagim, Hanukka, The Third Night, A Hanukka Message
Can copy this into an AI, or connect the whole library to your assistant. For deeper learning, you can directly use the original seforim, sites, and apps.
INSIDE/OUTSIDE
There is more than one command in Judaism to kindle lights. There are three. There are the Shabbat candles. There is the Havdala candle. And there are the Ḥanukka candles.
What is the difference between them? Shabbat candles represent shalom bayit, peace in the home. They are lit indoors. They can be thought of as Judaism’s inner light, the light of the sanctity of marriage and the holiness of the home.
The Ḥanukka candles used to be lit outside – outside the front door. It was only fear of persecution that took the Ḥanukka candles back inside, and in recent times the Lubavitcher Rebbe introduced the custom of lighting giant Ḥanukkiyot in public places to bring back the original spirit of the day.
Ḥanukka candles are the light Judaism brings to the world when we are unafraid to announce our identity in public, live by our principles, and fight, if necessary, for our freedom.
As for the Havdala candle, which is always made up of several wicks woven together, it represents the fusion of the two, the inner light of Shabbat, joined to the outer light we make during the six days of the week when we go out into the world and live our faith in public.
When we live as Jews in private, filling our homes with the light of the Shekhina, when we live as Jews in public, bringing the light of hope to others, and when we live both together, then we bring light to the world.
There always were two ways to live in a world that is often dark and full of tears. We can curse the darkness or we can light a light, and as the Hasidim say, a little light drives out much darkness. May we all help light up the world.
❖ Points to Ponder
- What parts of Judaism bring light into our homes, represented by the Shabbat candles?
- What parts of Judaism bring light to the outside world?
- How can we be Havdala candles, and fuse the two, bringing the Judaism from our homes into the outside world?