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How to Be Hanukkah Holy

 

By Dr. Ron Wolfson

As a Jewish kid growing up in Omaha, Nebraska, Christmas engulfed me. We were the only house on the block without decorations, my public school had a Christmas tree in the lobby, and the airwaves and shopping malls were filled with Christmas music. I have to admit—those Christmas songs were pretty catchy; some of them were downright beautiful. I mean, really. Compare “Little Drummer Boy” with “I Had a Little Dreidel”? No contest. I know a lot of Jewish educators and rabbis of a certain age who are closet carolers.

One of my favorite hymns: “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” Written in 1739 by Charles Wesley, brother of the founder of the Methodist church, the words were eventually adapted to music by Felix Mendelssohn, a German composer born into a Jewish family. Who knew? The song talks of angels proclaiming the arrival of a messiah, a messiah Jews don’t believe in.

Actually, we have a hymn in our liturgy that is quite similar to “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” It’s not a Hanukkah song; it’s a prayer—the Kedushah. In the Shabbat Musaf version, we sing:

“We revere and hallow You on earth as Your name is hallowed in heaven, where it is sung by celestial choirs in Your prophet’s vision. The angels called one to another: Kadosh, kadosh, kadosh, Adonai Tzeva’ot, m’lokhol ha-aretzk’vodo—Holy, holy, holy is Adonai Tzeva’ot. God’s Presence fills all the earth.”

The moment of singing “Kadosh, kadosh, kadosh” is accentuated by a choreography that is, for me, one of the highlights of Jewish worship. Each time the word kadosh is said, we rise on the balls of our feet, heels off the ground. Why? Because we are reminding ourselves that we are called upon to be higher than mammals, to aspire to be a little like the angels, God’s partners on earth. When I was a child, no one in our Conservative synagogue did this. Today, in nearly every synagogue I’ve visited, across the denominations, most people have embraced this little dance of holiness.

Hanukkah is a good time to rededicate ourselves to the idea that we can be an earth angel. In God’s To-Do List: 103 Ways to Be an Angel and Do God’s Work on Earth, I recalled that Abraham Joshua Heschel titled his masterpiece God in Search of Man. When I read the book as a teenager, I thought: “Doesn’t he have it backwards? Isn’t religion all about human beings searching for God?” No, Heschel taught. God is looking for us to be God’s eyes and ears, hands and feet, and, most of all, God’s heart. Doesn’t God have the angels to help out? God doesn’t depend on angels; God depends on you to be an angel.

The question is: how? How can I rise up and be God’s partner on earth?

The answer is found in the Torah: “Kedoshimti’hiyu, kikadosh Ani Adonai Eloheichem”—“Be holy, since I, your God, am holy” (Leviticus 19:1–2). In other words, be like God. Figure out what God does, and then you do it. Each of us is created b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God. We have the spark of divinity in us. The way to ignite it is to emulate God’s middot, God’s characteristics.

Here’s an idea for Hanukkah celebration. As you light each night’s candle, dedicate yourself to be an angel by following God’s example. Look to the Torah as your guide. For example, the first thing God does is create—“When God began to create …”(Genesis 1:1; JPS). If God is creative, you can be creative. Use your God-given gift of creativity to fashion a first-night Hanukkah gift that is not store-bought. Paint, photograph, post a YouTube video, compose a poem, write a tribute, bake cupcakes. On the second night, emulate the second thing God does in the Torah: bless. God blesses the animals, human beings, and Shabbat. If God can bless, you can bless. Hang a string over your Hanukkah celebration center, cut out eight dreidel-shaped pieces of construction paper, and ask family members or friends to dedicate each night to a “blessing” in their lives. Hang each night’s “blessing dreidel” on the string after you light the Hanukkiyah. The third thing God does in the Torah? God rests. If God had to take a day off, shouldn’t you? This year, the third night of Hanukkah falls on Shabbat, so put away your cell phone, turn off the computer, and give yourself a break. We are called to be repair people—l’takein olam b’malchut Shaddai—to repair the world to bring God’s presence. So, on the fourth night, take some latkes or soofganiyot (jelly donuts) to a homeless shelter. Check out other ways to be an angel in God’s To-Do List and rededicate yourself this Hanukkah to being God’s partner on earth. Happy Hanukkah!

........................................................

Dr. Ron Wolfson is Fingerhut Professor of Education at American Jewish University in Los Angeles and co-founder and co-president of Synagogue 3000. He is author of The Seven Questions You’re Asked in Heaven: Reviewing and Renewing Your Life on Earth; God’s To-Do List: 103 Ways to Be an Angel and Do God’s Work on Earth; Hanukkah, Passover, and Shabbat, all Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs Art of Jewish Living family guides to spiritual celebrations; The Spirituality of Welcoming: How to Transform Your Congregation into a Sacred Community; A Time to Mourn, a Time to Comfort: A Guide to Jewish Bereavement; and, with Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, What You Will See Inside a Synagogue, a book for children ages 6 and up (all Jewish Lights).





God's To-Do List: 103 Ways to Be an Angel and Do God's Work on Earth

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Hanukkah, 2nd Ed.: The Family Guide to Spiritual Celebration

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Passover, 2nd Ed.: The Family Guide to Spiritual Celebration

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The Seven Questions You're Asked in Heaven: Reviewing & Renewing Your Life on Earth

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Shabbat, 2nd Ed.: The Family Guide to Preparing for and Celebrating the Sabbath

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The Spirituality of Welcoming: How to Transform Your Congregation into a Sacred Community

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A Time to Mourn, a Time to Comfort, 2nd Ed.: A Guide to Jewish Bereavement

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On Prayer Archive

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The Words of Our Prayers
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God as the Ultimate Writer
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On Mindfulness
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Open My Lips
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Prayer: An Eternal Experience
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The God Who Is Listening
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Medicine, Prayer and Hope
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The Haggadah’s Last Word: A World of Eternal Life
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The Kiddush
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Blessings New and Ancient—A Living Link to God
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Talking to God
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Personal Prayer
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Chilean Miner Rescue Gives New Meaning to Old Prayers
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The Power of Praying with People
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A Prayer Before I Pray
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With God as My Companion
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The Healing of the Name
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Finding the Prayer of Your Heart
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For People Like Me Who Struggle with Prayer
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A Great Miracle Happened Here
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Becoming a Prayerful Person
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Prayer Said by a Partner
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Gentle Guidance
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Tehinot: Calling Out for Divine Intervention
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Breathing Prayer
By Ellen Frankel, LCSW

It's All God
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Forgiving God
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Yizkor: The Service of Remembrance
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Teshuvah, Complete and Unending
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The Kol Nidre: Mirror to Our Soul
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Where Does Prayer Fit In?
By Nan Fink Gefen, PhD

The Binding of Isaac and the Binding of You and Me
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Davening with Kavanah
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Prayer as Art
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The Power of the Amidah
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Lullaby of the Restless Soul
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Acoustics and Intimacy
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The "I-Thou" Relationship with God
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Praying God's Prayers
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The Sound of Prayer
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Avodat Halev: The Service of the Heart
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The Night of Vigil
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My Favorite Prayer
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The Outcome of Prayer
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People Don't Think Prayer Is Answered
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The First Kaddish
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Edited by Joel Lurie Grishaver

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Rites of Passage: Continuity and Change
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Rebbe Nachman of Breslov Taught ...

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The Essence of Prayer in Jewish Tradition
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Prayer as Art
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Saying No to Tebowing:
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Silent Prayer
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Miracles Surround Us
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One Hundred Blessings a Day
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Spiritual Goose Bumps
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Choosing Life:
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By Rabbi Anne Brener

Changing Self-Deceit into the Quest for Truth
By Abraham J. Twerski, MD

The Importance of Shabbat
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Peace of Mind
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Speed Davening:
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By Rabbi Elie Kaunfer

The Sea of Ending and Beginning
By Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow

The Medium Is the Message
By David Arnow, PhD

Connecting Ritual with Action
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Count Your Blessings
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The Motzi
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Helping Ourselves
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Walking with God in Israel
By Rabbi Joseph B. Meszler

May Our Prayers Never End
By Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar

Script
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A Return to Fruitfulness
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With God as My Companion
By Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky

“Hearing” Heschel: Social Action Today
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A Personal Relationship with Impersonal God
By Rabbi Mike Comins

Individual and Community
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By Dr. David Hartman

Blessing: Bringing Possibility into Reality
By Lawrence Kushner

All the World Is a Place for Prayer
By Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD

An OK Jew
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A Most Interesting “Amen”
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Restoring Balance through Personal Prayer
By Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin

Avoiding Complacency
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Spiritual Greed
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What Matters Most
By Rabbi David B. Rosen

Neshamah Meditation—Experiencing Your Soul Within
By Nan Fink Gefen, PhD

Bedtime Prayers
By Rabbi Joseph B. Meszler

Amen: Saying “Yes”
By Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar

P’sukei d’Zimrah: The Poetics of Praise

By Rabbi Mike Comins

Moving toward the Light of God

By Rabbi Alan Lew, z”l

The Surprising Appeal of
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By Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD

At the Edge of the Abyss

By Rabbi Sharon Brous

Past and Future

By Dr. Louis E. Newman

In Dialogue with the Divine

By Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky

How to Become a Blessing

By Rabbi Elie Kaplan Spitz

The Need for Prayer

By Rabbi Rifat Sonsino

Love & Prayer

By Rabbi Avraham Weiss

Lullaby of a Restless Soul

By Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar

The Power of Presence

By Rabbi Edward Feld

Does God Hear Our Prayers?

By Rabbi Jamie S. Korngold

Finding the Purpose of Our Impediments

By Rabbi Levi Meier, PhD, z”l

The Forgiveness of Sin

By Rabbi Jack Riemer

Prayer as a Spiritual Path

By Rabbi Ted Falcon, PhD

Spiritual Deficiency Syndrome

By Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, MD

God as the Source of All Things

By Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky

A Prayer for Zion and Jerusalem

By Ari L. Goldman

The Amidah: A Prayer for Doubters

By Rabbi Elie Kaunfer

Silent Prayer

By Daniel C. Matt, PhD

Meditation Coupled with Prayer

By Rabbi Elie Kaplan Spitz

Breaking the Stumbling Blocks to Prayer

By Rabbi David Lyon

Praying by Imitation

By Rabbi Nancy Flam

Hitbodedut: Alone with God

By Rabbi Arthur Green, PhD

Mi-sheberach Blessings: Connecting to Our Experiences and Our Community

By Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman, MSW, MAJCS, BCC

The Haggadah’s Last Word: A World of Eternal Life

By David Arnow, PhD

The Bread of Oppression or the Bread of Freedom

By Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow

It Would Have Been Enough

By Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow

Avodah: The Path of Prayer

By Rabbi Michael Strassfeld

The Power of Prayer and Action

By Rabbi Jill Jacobs

On Mindfulness

By Sylvia Boorstein

Making Room for Prayer in Our Synagogues

By Rabbi Marc D. Angel

Navigating the Heavens

By Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar

Prayer of the (Broken) Heart

By Rabbi Anne Brener, LCSW

Why Prayer Works Even When It Doesn't

By Rabbi Joseph B. Meszler

C'mon Jews, Let Go!

By Rabbi Elyse Goldstein

Open My Lips

By Lawrence Kushner

Prayer: An Eternal Experience

By Rabbi Chaim Kramer

The God Who Is Listening

By Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD

A Morning Practice

By Nan Fink Gefen, PhD

Prayer—Fact or Feeling?

By Rabbi Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi z"l

... Who Has Made Me a Jew

By Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin

The Breath of Life and Prayer

By Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow

How to Be Hanukkah Holy

By Dr. Ron Wolfson

Blessings New and Ancient—A Living Link to God

By Rabbi Marcia Prager

“Out There,” “In Here”—What's the Problem?

By Rabbi Perry Netter

Learning to Pray from My Bubbe

By Dr. Ron Wolfson

Chilean Miner Rescue Gives New Meaning to Old Prayers

By Rabbi Elie Kaunfer

A Prayer Before I Pray

By Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis

With God as My Companion

By Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky

Finding the Prayer of Your Heart

By Rabbi Goldie Milgram

I Don't Pray

By Rabbi Rami Shapiro

Prayer, Habituation, and Holy Insecurity

By Dr. Erica Brown

The High Holy Days Conundrum

By Rabbi Mike Comins

Who by Fire, Who by Water

By Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman

Repentance: A Lost Art?

By Dr. Louis E. Newman

Other Prayer Resources

A Song Every Day
By Virginia Spatz
http://songeveryday.wordpress.com/

Making Prayer Real
By Rabbi Mike Comins
http://makingprayerreal.com/

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