Happy Hanukkah! As we reflect this week on light and miracles, we invite you to join us for our many opportunities to celebrate together: www.WiseLA.org/hanukkah If you are not following the new Hanukkah Fails account on Instagram, you are missing out on some of the best—and worst—of the “holiday season.” Cataloguing the various ways that retailers miss the mark on Hanukkah, I also find it a fascinating social commentary on the role that Hanukkah plays in the American imagination. I heard a wonderful interview with the creator of the account on one of my (and Cantor Emma’s) favorite podcasts—after Rabbi Yoshi’s of course. The episode focused on the statement that Hanukkah is not the Jewish Christmas, which is even more obvious this year, when the holiday will be finished weeks before Christmas. Last year, in 2020, I wrote about my decision to “go big” on Hanukkah—not materially, but celebrating its own innate spiritual teachings. While it [...]

Happy Hanukkah! As we reflect this week on light and miracles, we invite you to join us for our many opportunities to celebrate together: www.WiseLA.org/hanukkah In 2012, #GivingTuesday was born. Born and incubated at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, #GivingTuesday was a simple idea: a day, in the midst of a heavy commercial season, that encourages people to do good. Nine years later, it is now a global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity. Long before it was customary to give even small gifts—and certainly long before the commercial excesses of American Hanukkah celebrations—halachic authorities suggested that one should increase one’s tzedakah, or charitable giving, during the holiday. Little did they know how convenient that might turn out to be for American tax purposes! Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the dynastic Chabad rabbi of the 20th century, was even more specific. [...]

Happy Hanukkah! As we reflect this week on light and miracles, we invite you to join us for our many opportunities to celebrate together: www.WiseLA.org/hanukkah The rabbis of the Talmud debated—as they were wont to do—about the order of lighting the Hanukkah candles. Beit Shammai—the followers of the rabbi Shammai—believed that the holiday should begin with as much light as possible. Their suggestion, then, was to light eight lights the first night and decrease by one candle each night. On the eighth night, their Hanukkiah would be one single candle shining alongside the shamash. Beit Hillel, who followed Hillel the rabbi, had another opinion. Why, they asked, would you want to diminish light in the darkest time of the year? No, they said—we will only increase each night. Their concern, however, was not only light, but holiness. Ma’alin b’kedusha, they taught—we can only increase holiness in the world, v’lo yoridin, and not diminish it. As you [...]