Rabbi Knopf's Blog

Light One Candle, Be One Person

The first night of Hanukkah. One candle is lit. Underwhelming? A mere prelude to the holiday’s subsequent nights, during which we steadily, persistently build upon that first light? Does that solitary first candle simply serve to flame our anticipation for our entire menorah to be illuminated, our homes filled with its radiance? Or is there something inherently, uniquely special about that first flame?

Consider this: the Talmud teaches, “The mitzvah of Hanukkah is one candle for a person and his or her household” (Shabbat 21b). Technically, one’s obligation is fulfilled simply by lighting one candle each night. The Talmud goes on to explain that it is praiseworthy to go above and beyond this requirement, and I think it’s incredible that doing far more than is specifically required - like adding a candle each night, or enabling every family member to light his or her own menorah each night - is the common practice among Jews today. But ultimately, all that is required for Hanukkah is one candle per household per night.

Tonight’s first candle, then, represents the essence of the holiday.

The Maccabees rebelled against a regime that attempted to impose uniformity. They battled, too, against their fellow Jews who were all too eager to surrender their uniqueness. They believed that, if God had wanted us all to be the same, God wouldn’t have created us different, and therefore an assault on diversity was an affront to God. As the Talmud teaches, “The first human was created alone...to tell of the greatness of the Holy Blessed One. For when a person mints several coins with one mold, they are all similar to each other. But the supreme Sovereign of sovereigns, the Holy Blessed One, minted all people in the mold of the first human being, and not one of them is similar to another.” That human beings are diverse testifies to God’s greatness.

The solitary flame of the first night of Hanukkah is each of us. As we learn in the book of Proverbs, “the soul of a person is a flame of God” (20:27). Each of us is a singular flame, kindled by the Divine. On Hanukkah, we celebrate the triumph of a rebellion against conformity by reminding ourselves of our sacred uniqueness. One flame, made of the same stuff as every other flame, and yet, somehow, different. You are a singularity, a unique and distinct miracle that tells of God’s greatness.

And then you look at the single candle in your neighbor’s window and realize: she, too, is unique. If cultivating my own uniqueness is a expression of my faith, then protecting and celebrating the distinctiveness of my neighbor is, similarly, a sacrament.

This, then, is the essence of Hanukkah: to renew our commitment to be ourselves, to resist the impulse to conform to others, and to honor the beautiful distinctiveness of each and every person.

Hag Same’ah! Happy Hanukkah!