TEMPLE BETH EL
Hanukkah Kavanot
for Each Night
For each night of Hanukkah,
we present keva—the fixed words of our texts, prayers and music
balanced by kavanah—the spontaneity of our heart,
the opportunity to add personal meaning to that text.
First Night: She-he-he-yanu – The First Step
Keva: On the second through the eighth nights of Hanukkah, we recite only two blessing,
l’hadlik ner shel Hanukkah and she’asah nisim. Only on the first night of Hanukkah do we recite
a third blessing, She-he-he-yanu: “Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the universe,
for granting us life, for sustaining us, and for helping us to reach this day.”
Why is it only on the first night that we recite the blessing for having reached this moment?
Shouldn’t we feel grateful for having arrived at the second through eighth nights of
Hanukkah? Aren’t those nights every bit as special? Making the decision to begin a journey is
uniquely challenging. Taking the first steps on a new path is often the time we need the most
support. Our tradition teaches: Mitzvah goreret mitzvah. With each mitzvah we perform, with
each inspired choice to transform our lives, the next one becomes easier.
Kavannah: Hanukkah offers us the opportunity to become in touch with our gratitude to
God, the Ultimate Source of support, love, and inspiration. From that inspired place, we can
direct our gratitude to those people we turn to for support when we seek to begin a new way
in life. As we light the first candle tonight, let us think about and express our gratitude to
people who enable us to take the plunge, the crucial first step.
Second Night: The Way Of The Shamash
Keva: The shamash is the candle specifically designated to light the eight Hanukkah candles.
We are prohibited from using (reducing) the light from any of the eight candles to light any of
the eight candles. Only the light from the shamash may be used to spark the flame of a
candle.
The candle is like the soul of a human being. Our tradition teaches: “The human spirit is the
lamp of Adonai” (Proverbs 20:27). Like God, each of us has the ability to ignite and to
illuminate the soul of another.
Kavannah: The shamash can serve as a reminder to enhance the flame and to raise ever
higher the light of others. As we use the shamash to light tonight’s candles, let us consider the
ways we can support and inspire the people we love.
Third Night: Pour Love Over Power
Keva: On the first night of Hanukkah we light the candle on the far right of the hanukkiyah.
Each successive night, we light a candle to the left of the candle lit the night before.
The mystics taught that the right side of God is the side of hesed—lovingkindness and
illumination. The left is the side of gevurah—discipline and power. The left is associated with
the source of evil, the realm of darkness.
Kavannah: With each Hanukkah candle we are called to inform our instincts for power and
discipline with more and more lovingkindness, understanding, and compassion. May the light
of each Hanukkah candle point us toward a kiss or an apology, in the place of a sharp word or
scornful expression. As we light the hanukkiyah, let us ask ourselves: When do we find it most
challenging to act with kindness? What steps can we take to ensure that we do so?
Fourth Night: Making Ordinary Spaces Into Holy Places
Keva: “They celebrated for eight days with rejoicing in the manner of Sukkot, mindful of how
but a little while before at the festival of Tabernacles they had been wandering about….
[Hanukkah was a festival during which] they offered up hymns to God who had given them
success in purifying God’s own place of worship” (2 Maccabees 10:6).
The book of Maccabees connects the eight-day celebration of Hanukkah to the eight-day
observance of Sukkot. The wandering, faithful Israelites who had no permanent home in the
Sukkot story, rededicate their Temple in the Hanukkah story. In the desert, the Israelites
carried the Tabernacle with them; their holy ark was portable. The Temple was a fixed place in
which Jewish religious practices could occur.
Kavannah: Where do we go to pray? Where can we find God? How do we carry with us the
experiences of prayer that we have in our synagogue? How do we bring experiences of prayer
that we have outside the synagogue into the synagogue? As we light tonight’s candles, let us
think about and discuss our role in turning ordinary spaces into Holy places.
Fifth Night: Connecting To The Generations
Keva: “Beit Shammai maintain: On the first day eight lights are lit and thereafter they are
gradually reduced [by one each day]; but Beit Hillel say: On the first day one is lit and
thereafter they are progressively increased… The reason of Beit Shammai is that it shall
correspond to the days still to come, and that of Beit Hillel is that it shall correspond to the
days that are gone” (Shabbat 21b).
This is one of the many famous examples from the Talmud when the two groups of scholars,
Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel disagree. Who won this debate? What additional reasons can you
think of for following the practice of the ‘winner’?
Kavannah: Judaism teaches us to cherish both the past and the future. How do our actions
honor the past and anticipate the future? As we light the hanukkiyah tonight, let us
remember and share thoughts about our parents and grandparents and the lessons they’ve
shared with us. And let the glow of the candles remind us of the possibilities for the future.
Sixth Night: Sharing our Judaism
Keva: The Mishneh Torah teaches us: “If a courtyard has two doors on different sides, two
hanukkiyot are required, lest the passersby on the side where there is no lamp should think
that… [there was no] hanukkiyah at all. If the two doors are on the same side of the courtyard,
a lamp burning at one of them is sufficient.” The Mishneh Torah calls upon us to be proud of
our heritage and to make our traditions known to the outside world.
Kavannah: As we light the hanukkiyah tonight, let us think and talk about the choices we
make regarding sharing our Judaism with the outside world. When do we choose to share our
heritage? When do we choose to keep it private? What Jewish teachings do you think could
enhance the broader society in which we live?
Seventh Night: Finding Hope
It is a custom of many Sephardic Jewish communities to recite Psalm 30 after lighting the
hanukkiyah. Psalm 30 includes the following verses:
IextolyouAdonai,Youraisedmeup.
Youdidnotpermitmyfoestorejoiceoverme…
Tearsmaylingerforanight
Butjoycomeswiththedawn…
Youturnedmymourningintodancing.
Youchangedmysackclothintorobesofjoy,
thatImightsingYourpraises
thatImightthankYou,AdonaimyGod,forever.
Psalm 30 rejoices in the triumph of joy over sadness, dancing over mourning. We can hear its
words resounding form the mouths of the Maccabees after the defeat of their enemies.
However, there are times in our tradition when we read of people singing prayers of gratitude
before they are out of danger. For example while still in the belly of the whale Jonah says: “The
deep engulfed me….Yet You brought me up from the pit.”
Kavannah: Hanukkah comes at the darkest time of the year, when we may be more
susceptible to despair. Perhaps Psalm 30 can be for us a voice of hope and consolation in the
face of our fears. As we light the hanukkiyah tonight, let us contemplate the sources of
comfort, hope and joy in our lives.
Eighth Night: Letting in the Miraculous, Defying the Ordinary
Keva: The Talmud asks: “What is Hanukkah? Our rabbis taught: ‘on the twenty-fifth of Kislev
[begin] the days of Hanukkah, which are eight, and on which lamentation for the dead and
fasting are prohibited. For when the Greeks entered the Temple, they defiled all the oils
therein, and when the Hasmonean dynasty prevailed against and defeated them, they
searched and found only one cruse of oil which had the seal of the High Priest, but which
contained oil sufficient for one day’s lighting only; yet a miracle was wroght and they lit [the
lamp] with that [oil] for eight days. The following year, these [days] were appointed a Festival
with [the recital of] Hallel and thanksgiving (Shabbat 21b)”
Today we might ask: “What is a miracle?” A miracle is the defiance of the ordinary, of what we
think will happen, should happen or can happen. A miracle is when the unexpected
overwhelms the expected. The Sefat Emet teaches that the miracle of Hanukkah still shines
for us today.
Kavannah: For a miracle to be available to us, we need to let go of what is and ope ourselves
to what can be. As we light the eighth candle let us imagine ourselves breaking out of fixed
patterns we have tired of, and opening ourselves to new possibilities.
As we anticipate the end of Hanukkah, let us allow it to impact our lives beyond its
observance by committing ourselves to inviting the miraculous into our lives. IN the coming
weeks, let us aid the unexpected in overtaking the expected by trying something we have
never done before, tasting a food we thought we didn’t like, listening to new music, or taking
on a new religious practice.
Created by Rabbis Rachel Gartner, Jessica Zimmerman and Meir Feldman
Marshall T. Meyer Rabbinic Fellows
Congregation B’nai Jeshrun, New York City