This year, in preparation for Hanukkah, I have been embracing the song Banu Choshech Legaresh, meaning “We Came to Expel the Darkness”. Written by Sarah Levi-Tanai, it is extremely popular in Israel but is lesser known among American Jews.
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We came to drive away the darkness |
באנו חושך לגרש, |
Sarah Levi-Tanai was born into a Yemenite Jewish family that settled in pre-state Israel in the 19th century. From a young age, she saw the darkness in the world when she and her family were deported from Jaffa by the Ottoman authorities and moved to a refugee camp. She was eventually orphaned and lived in a children’s home until she went to school to become a nursery school teacher. Despite her challenging youth, in 1949 she started a Jewish Yemeni dance troupe and shared her love of music and dance with audiences of all ages. She carried her own light and made it her life’s work to share it with those around her.
Maybe the “we” in the song refers to us as individuals—but maybe it also applies to everything that illuminates our lives. There is so much darkness in our world; this season encourages us to not only look for the light, but embrace it. As the song says, everyone is a small light, and together we are a powerful light. Just as a single candle doesn’t lose any of its own strength or brightness when it lights another, so too is it when people share their own light with those around them. Everyone is a small light; this week, how can you share your light with others?
–Yael Farber, Rabbinic Intern
PS – if you’re looking for other songs to get you in the Hanukkah spirit, check out this playlist by me and Rabbi Sari: Taylor Swift Songs That Aren’t About Hanukkah But Could Be, and you can view a fun breakdown of our playlist, here.