Chanukah:
Light A Candle

ERA MEYER RAUZIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

W

e are told that the Jews
are a light unto the na-
tions. On Chanukah,
that light shines from
eight candles.
The Jews of history showed us
just how dangerous it is to follow
a separate path. Consider the
battles of the Maccabees. Re-
member the accusations of me-
dieval times, when the Jews —
the only part of the population
that bathed regularly, because of
the mikvah; the only part of the
population that ate clean food,
because of kashrut; the only part
of the population where literacy
spread beyond the clergy — were
blamed for plague, defamed as
usurers, accused of brood libels.
Think of the 1400s, and the ex-
pulsion from Spain. Walk
through the centuries, through
the pogroms, through the tri-
umph of scholarship and sur-
vival, and light the first candle.
Try for one moment not to col-
lapse inside at all you know about
the Holocaust. Try to put your-
self, for that minute, among the
Six Million. Cry out. And light
the second candle.
Stand among the population
of Israel, the whole population.
Walk the first kibbutzim in the
desert. Make the hills fertile with
your sweat and labor. Ally your-
self with all the Jews who make
the Jewish homeland a fact by
their possession of it, from the sol-
diers to the Knesset members,
from the diplomats who toil at the
peace table because they love the
land to the rallies of those who
oppose them because they too
love the land, to the villages of
the settlers, drawing a line in the
sand with their homes and their
families. Pray at the Wall. And
light the third candle.
Visit the Orthodox homes of to-
day, where the glare of the tele-
vision stops in honor of the light
of the Sabbath candles, where the
food is still kosher, where all the
holidays are still kept, where dai-
ly life and spirituality are the
same. Here, Judaism provides
a shelter and a framework, a sup-
port in every detail of daily liv-
ing, from modest clothing to
charitable giving. Become aware
of the preservation of your an-
cient religion in a scholarly, vi-
brant, contemporary community.
For the Orthodox Jews, light the
fourth candle.
In this century, Judaism has
given birth to new understand-
ings, new congregations, modern
interpretations of ancient ap-
proaches. Amid Conservative, Re-
form and Reconstructionist
congregations, Jews reach to in-

dude women at all levels of syn-
agogue participation. In their
worship and in their philosoph-
ical seeking, Jews strive to make
a spiritual home in the chaos of
the 20th — and 21st — centuries.
Separately, in each branch of
modern Judaism, people labor to
find religious standards and ob-
servances that are meaningful to
them, individual by individual.
Doing this, in our different ways,
the Jewish community has built
great synagogues, universities
and communities, and given
tremendously to charity and to
the civil discourse in this coun-
try.
For the Conservative Jews,
light the fifth candle.
For the Reform Jews, light the
sixth candle.
For the Reconstructionist
Jews, light the seventh candle.
The light now shines upon our
children, the children we are rais-
ing to be Jewish — whether Or-
thodox, Conservative, Reform,
Reconstructionist, or non-affili-
ated, their flame ready to rekin-
dle, Jewish at core. Before we can
offer light to other nations, we
must first illuminate the lives of
our children. We must raise them
to believe and to care, to find their
own spiritual fulfillmi set and con-
nection in Judaism, to want con-
tinuity and, most importantly for
our survival, to marry each oth-
er. For our children who will per-
petuate Judaism through their
children, light the eighth candle.
Fancy metaphor, you might
tell me. Decently wrought, or
over-wrought. But what, pray
tell, is the shammash, the candle
that lights all the others to build
this menorah? It is Clal Yisrael,
the JeWish people, past and pre-
sent, all of us together in all our
many forms. Strike a flame with
your own hand and hold your
candle aloft: that is the sham-
mash, the light unto the
nations. r_

Publicity
Deadlines

The normal deadline for
local news and publicity
items is noon Thun . - lay, eight
days prior to issue date. The
deadline for birth announce-
ments is 10 a.m. Monday,
four days prior to issue date;
out-of-town obituaries, 10
a.m. Tuesday, three days pri-
or to issue date.

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