Playlist
The Candles of Chanukah SoulAviv 2:08
Lights (spoken word) Rabbi David Wolpe 1:36
Candle Blessings / Hanerot Hallalu Cindy Paley 2:22
Holy Ground Craig Taubman 3:55
Today is the first night of Hanukkah and todays selections highlight one aspect of how the Jewish people observe the eight day “Festival of Lights” – lighting candles each evening on a special nine-branched menorah called a hanukkiah. The origins of this custom are quite ancient, likely dating to the second century BCE and codified in the Talmud in about the 2nd century CE. Lighting the candles and that ritual’s associated prayers are the only explicitly religious part of the Hanukkah festivities. The candles are not intended for giving useful light: they are a remembrance. In fact, the lit hanukkiah is then traditionally placed in the window for others to see.
If you aren’t familiar with the origins and meaning of Hanukkah (also spelled various other ways) don’t worry, I’m not going to go into a long history lesson about it. I did that in essays two years ago that accompany this, this and this posting. Together they trace the origins of this religiously-minor but culturally-important festival, and how its evolution has been primarily shaped by everyday Jewish people rather than by rabbinical interpretation of Jewish law and custom. (By the way, those postings also have some pretty darn good Hanukkah music!)
For a broader viewpoint of how symbolic fire itself, in various guises that include candles but also bonfires, fireworks, and special indoor and outdoor seasonal light displays, seems to be the oldest and most important emblem for the midwinter holiday season for all cultures, see my essay that accompanies this posting.
The songs and a lesson
This set opens with SoulAviv’s rendition of The Candles of Chanuka that I got from a home-made compilation, which in turn got it as a paid download single from Oy Songs. The now-disbanded SoulAviv quartet was based in Santa Barbara, California. I was able online to track down four albums issued by them but none included this song. It was written in 2009 by Rob Raede, the sole male voice with the group. The other singers are Jamie Green, Liat Wasserman and Roxanne Morganstern. STAB sheet music is available from Rob but I was unable to find any other performances of the song online.
The second selection is not a song but a brief spoken-word lesson from Rabbi David Wolpe. At the time he was Rabbi for the Sinai Temple in Los Angeles. It comes from a live concert organized by Craig Taubman called Lights which was performed in August 2008 so that it could be recorded and broadcast on the PBS television network. I got it from the soundtrack CD of the concert.
In 2012 Newsweek Magazine identified Rabbi Wolpe as being the most influential rabbi in America. He is now Rabbi Emeritus for the Sanai Temple, and visiting scholar at the Harvard Divinity School and the Inaugural Rabbinic Fellow for the Anti-Defamation League.
The third part of this set are the Blessings that are sung or recited each evening when the candles are lit and the the prayer that traditionally follows that nightly ritual. They are together as a medley on Cindy Paley’s self-published 1988 album Chanukah: A Singing Celebration and so I kept them together here. In 1977 Ms. Paley was appointed to be the Music Educator for the Valley Beth Shalom Synagogue in Encino, California. She still fulfills that role now, 46 years later. The prayer is sung by some of her students.
The words of the blessings translate from the Hebrew as:
1. Praised are You, our God, ruler of the universe,
Who made us holy through Your commandments
and commanded us to kindle the Hanukkah lights.2. Praised are You, our God, ruler of the universe,
Who performed wondrous deeds for our ancestors
in those ancient days at this season.3. (First Night Only): Praised are You,
our God, ruler of the universe,
Who has given us life and sustained us
and enabled us to reach this season.
The Hanerot Hallalu says: “We kindle these lights [to commemorate] the saving acts, miracles and wonders which You have performed for our forefathers, in those days at this time, through Your holy priests. Throughout the eight days of Chanukah, these lights are sacred, and we are not permitted to make use of them, but only to look at them, in order to offer thanks and praise to Your great Name for Your miracles, for Your wonders and for Your salvations.”
The final song in this set isn’t about the Hanukkah candles; it carries meaning for Jews and non-Jews alike. Holy Ground is the climax song from the television special from which the above lesson by Rabbi Wolpe was taken. It was written and is performed by Craig Taubman, the concert’s host and producer. The song was accompanied by an interpretive dance performed by the Keshet Chaim Dance Ensemble. You can watch that here.
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