Rolling Darkness Into Light – Chanukah 5782
New from Bayit’s Liturgical Arts Working Group comes this offering for Chanukah 5782. The pandemic has become endemic, and our planet is imperiled. Chanukah comes not to distract us from these realities, but to offer a path through them. Chanukah is about what fuels us even when we feel empty (or maybe especially then). Our liturgy speaks of God Who rolls light out of darkness and darkness out of light. May these prayers, poems, and artworks sustain us as we find the holiness both in today’s darkness and in our turn toward increasing light.
Available both as a printable PDF and as illuminated google slides suitable for screensharing.
Featuring work by Trisha Arlin, R. Rachel Barenblat, R. Dara Lithwick, Joanne Fink, R. David Evan Markus, R. Sonja K. Pilz PhD, and R. David Zaslow.
Download the PDF:
Bayit-Chanukah 5782 [pdf]
Access the illuminated google slides:
Rolling Darkness into Light Slides [google slides]
Here’s a taste of what’s inside:
Shammai taught: the miracle was that the oil lasted
though it dwindled daily. In remembrance
(he said) kindle 8 lights to start, and
remove one each night, ending
with one brave flame
flickering alone
against
dark…
— “Increasing,” R. Rachel Barenblat
Light candles, as one does, but consider this:
Over many millions of years
Organisms evolved
To thrive in the dark…
— “In Praise of the Dark,” Trisha Arlin
Darkness, mother to light,
surrounds, embraces,
nurses the light –
holds each image
in her arms;
lets him be seen…
— “Mother to Light,” R. David Zaslow
A great miracle happened here?
Well, I am not inclined this year
To celebrate divine intervention…
— “Great,” Trisha Arlin
…Just as holy servants of old
whose audacity rededicated their world defiled,
for all eight days
of Hanukkah
may these candles
inspire purification…
— “Lighting Our Way: A New Al Ha-Nisim for a New World,” R. David Markus
A candle is not diminished when it lights
another flame. Hope is not diminished when
it leaps from heart to heart like wildfire…
— “Not Diminished,” R. Rachel Barenblat
I have seen many candles burn,
And many flames gone dark.
Even within each single flame, there is a dark line,
A black, reddish glowing
Reminding me that the brightest flames
Feed off of some sort of darkness…
— “Meditation After Candle Lighting: Setting Our Soul (n’shamah) and Spirit (ru’ach) on Fire,” R. Sonja Keren Pilz PhD
Eight nights of thirty six lights,
As the wind howls through naked trees, bereft of leaves (waiting for the cover glow of snow),
If we’re lucky, the stars glitter and flicker above
An invitation to balance, above and below…
— “On Sparks and Stars, Candles and Connection,” R. Dara Lithwick
The light of you
from a far star years away.
I swear it’s now
but know it was
a light from long ago…
— “The Light of You,” R. David Zaslow
And here is a preview of the slide deck:
Download the PDF:
Bayit-Chanukah 5782 [pdf]
Access the illuminated google slides:
Rolling Darkness into Light Slides [google slides]
This collection features work by Trisha Arlin, R. Rachel Barenblat, R. Dara Lithwick, Joanne Fink, R. David Evan Markus, R. Sonja K. Pilz PhD, and R. David Zaslow. Find all of our bios on the Builder Biographies page.
