There’s something special about having a holiday whose name literally means “dedication” falling right around the secular new year. While Hanukkah celebrates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem, many embrace the secular new year as an opportunity for resolutions and fresh starts. This year, rather than considering new year’s resolutions, I am thinking about personal Hanukkah rededications as a way to reflect and look ahead.
This started for me two weeks ago when my rabbinical school classmates and I gathered together for a latke “fry-off”. We scheduled it weeks in advance to accommodate everyone’s busy schedules and took a pause from our final papers to fry up the best latkes we could muster. We ended up with nine different types of latkes (classic, pickle, curry, onion ring, and a few more!) and a night of beautiful togetherness. While we see each other regularly in class, this was somehow the first time all semester that we had been able to spend time together outside of school. Yes, we are all busy! But the joy I felt from being together was a feeling I wish I could have bottled up and taken with me. I left my friend’s apartment feeling refreshed (despite all of the fried deliciousness I had just consumed) and eager for more of that togetherness and connection.
We have seven nights of Hanukkah ahead of us; seven nights of increasing light in our lives and in the lives of others. But that light doesn’t have to be limited to the next seven nights. This Hanukkah, I am rededicating myself to time with friends in pursuit of bringing more light into my life beyond lighting these beautiful candles. What will you rededicate yourself to this Hanukkah?
—Yael Farber, Rabbinic Intern