COMMUNITY VIEWS
Chanuka
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him that Shammai did, but 0 0 0
he felt that the future held
promise for improvement.
Hillel lit the candles pro-
0
gressively. On the first
ahead.
night, one was
Do you think that the
lit; and on each
future will be better than the
successive night,
past? Your answer to this
an additional
question is derived more
candle was lit
from your attitude than from
until all eight
fact.
candles
burned
In the Talmud, we learn
brightly
on the
that the House of Hillel felt
eighth night.
that the future held promise
Hillel's ritual
for a healthier society while
proposal
.prevails
the House of Shammai
RABBI
to
this
day.
His
opposed this view. These
HERBERT
A.
view
conveys
the
opposing views were most
YOSKOWITZ
attitude
that
clearly symbolized by the way
things can be
Special to
the House of Hillel and the
better
through
the
Jewish
News
House of Shammai
the efforts of
approached the order of
people. Lighting
lighting the Chanuka can-
the candles of the Chanuka
dles.
menora in ascending, rather
For Shammai, there was a glorious
than descending, order was
Jewish past but a degenerate present
an
act of great faith in the
and an anticipation of an even more
future.
This is a strong mes-
degenerate future.
Chanukia by
sage
in
our Chanuka ritual.
This was expressed by lighting eight
Jerusalem silversmith
There is another message
candles in the Chanuka menora on
Michael Ende.
in the ritual of lighting the
the first night and then decreasing the
Chanuka candles. This
number of candles on each successive
message is linked to the
night, until only one candle would be
theme of Chanuka as the
lit on the eighth night.
holiday
of rededication.
Hillel saw the same events around
Unlike the holidays of
eight days. Rededication is always
Sukkot and of Passover, which in the
more difficult than dedication. The
Herbert A. Yoskowitz is a rabbi at
Bible are celebrated for seven days,
menora in the Temple has seven
Adat Shalom Synagogue.
Chanuka was to be celebrated for
branches while the Chanuka menora
A
s this calendar year ends,
many people reflect on the
months past and begin to
anticipate the months
Cl,
has eight. More effort
is required to rekindle
a relationship that has
been sundered than it
is to begin a new rela-
tionship. The extra
branch on the
Chanuka menora is to
remind us of the extra
effort required to
renew, reestablish and
rededicate ourselves
to our relationships
and to our commit-
ments.
Believers in the
mitzvah of lighting
the Chanuka menora,
of reciting the Al
Hanisim and the Hal-
lel and of reading the
special excerpts from
the Bible and from
the Prophets during
the holiday find it
easier to feel the spiri-
tuality of the holiday.
The holiday of
redemption reminds
us that we can make
sacred the quest to
bring more holiness
into our lives and
into our world.
Lighting the Chanu-
ka menora can rekin-
dle the sparks of holiness in our
lives. What can be more spiritual
than that?
LETTERS
major miracle, but I find that I still
can't eat with chopsticks!
Shari Finsilver
Orchard Lake
What's Happening
With American Jews?
rP
12/3
1999
34
Your issue of Nov. 19 has me com-
pletely confused.
What is truthfully going on with
American Jewry? Who are the powers
behind the scenes? What are their
motives? The Jewish community has a
right to know.
Recently, Hadassah honored Hillary
Rodham Clinton. Now more dirt on
her ("Speechless In Ramallah," Nov.
19).
It is sickening that a New York
detective agency had to be hired by
the United Jewish Communities to
investigate a plan to honor Yasser
Arafat with the Isaiah Award — first
confirmed then denied and then con-
firmed by documents received that the
award had already been purchased and
Arafat's office knew of the planned
ceremony ("UJC Probes Leak," Nov.
19). In fact, there is a printed draft
document of the award speech presen-
tation prepared for but not delivered
by Joel Tauber, chairman of the Unit-
ed Jewish Communities executive
committee. I think a thorough investi-
gation should be made by a neutral,
honorable committee.
Now, another matter regarding
Rabbi Sherwin Wine and Humanistic
Judaism in the same story: a Human-
istic Judaism event sponsored by the
United Jewish Communities at the
General Assembly in Atlanta. A two-
hour class titled "Humanistic Judaism"
was given. Rabbi Wine said he is not
receiving a speaker's fee for the class.
He should be paying them!
Alta S. Kazdan
West Bloomfield
Pollard
And Justice
On the question of whether or not
Jonathan Pollard received justice ("Of
Justice And Mercy," Nov. 19), it is
worth noting that two governmental
employees who pleaded guilty to spy-
ing for a friendly country received dis-
parate punishments.
One, a Jew, Pollard, was sentenced
to life in prison on the charge of spy-
ing for Israel. The other, a non-Jew,
Lt. Cmdr.
Michael
Schwartz, was
sentenced to a
less-than-hon-
orable dis-
charge from
the Navy
without hav-
ing to spend a
single day in
prison on the
charge of spy- Judge Ruth Bader
ing for Saudi
Ginsberg
Arabia.
It is also worth noting that, in a failed
appeal process, Judge Stephen Williams
described Pollard's punishment as a
"fundamental miscarriage of justice."
Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg, now sitting
on the Supreme Court, disagreed with
the government's position.