Chanukah Day 4
Tonight we light Four!
Four winds, four seasons, four directions, four angels on the holy chariot, four letters in the holy name of God.
It was on the 4th day of Creation that the sun, moon and stars came into being. In Hebrew there is a concept of “the four wings of the earth” (arba kanfot ha’aretz). This phrase figures prominently in the Ahavah Rabbahblessings before we recite prior to saying the Sh’ma, where the text reads: “V’havienu l’shalom m’arba kanfot ha’aretz – Bring us to peace from the four “wings” of the earth.
Although Judah Maccabee is credited as the hero of Chanukah, he did not fight alone. He had four brothers as his allies in the battle. He must have felt very gratitude [hakarat ha’tov] to have allies in his efforts which, the Chanukah prayers say, led to the victory of the weak over the powerful.
There are so many reasons to feel gratitude on Chanukah. Let’s consider that according to Jewish law, the minimum requirement for lighting Chanukah candles is one candle per household each night. Candles must burn for at least 30 minutes after dark.
Around 1800, it would have taken 25 hours to acquire the means (candle; oil) to burn a single candle for that length of time. By 1880, industrial advances reduced the labour cost of 30-minutes of candlelight to 1.5 hours. That’s a big improvement over the 200 hours it would have taken in 1780 BCE. But today, we can earn 30 minutes of light with half a second of work.
This is something to be grateful for and the entire holiday of Chanukah is an expression of gratitude. As we bathe in the holy light of these four candles, amid all the darkness in our world, we should be grateful for gifts we have that previous generations could not even dream of!
Lovely lesson.