A Chanukah Message from Rabbi Michael Bernstein

The daughter of Rabbi Chanina, Ben Dosa, once went to her father in tears. She had accidentally filled her vessels with vinegar instead of oil and, now that it was time to light the candles, it was too late to find anything else to kindle. Rabbi Chaninah looked at her and told her not to worry, “The one who causes the oil to burn will kindle the vinegar as well.”

This story certainly reminds us of Chanukah, sharing the elements of oil, candles, and a miracle. Unlike the Macabees, however, Rabbi Chanina Ben Dosa didn’t have a single drop of oil with which to begin. A Chasidic commentary drives home the lesson: Rabbi Chanina knew that we take for granted that oil will light, but that the ability to transform oil to light reveals G-d’s presence even if burning oil does not get our attention like a miraculous event like vinegar bursting into flames or the more famous extra week of light that came from just one day’s worth.

This year, in particular, it may seem like there is more vinegar than olive oil around us. As much as we would like to put aside any sourness during the holiday time, ugly rumblings and jarring shouts of antisemitism are both impossible and unwise to ignore. We have long turned to the Maccabees to help us find faith that the light won’t go out. The story of Chanina Ben Dosa can teach us that we can find our light anywhere and, at the same time, we should not take for granted the light of the everyday. The light of community, loved ones, joy and the blessings of our Jewish heritage.

Rabbi Michael Bernstein is the spiritual leader of Gesher L’ Torah in Alpharetta. He was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1999 and served congregations in Massachusetts and Philadelphia before coming to Atlanta with wife, Tracie, and their three children, Ayelet, Yaron, and Liana.