Hanukkah: Celebrating light, independence and family

ROCKLAND – Sally Landsburg savors the rituals of Hanukkah.

The Jewish festival of lights revolves around a story of defiance, independence and a God who sustains his chosen people against all odds – ideas that resonate today as profoundly as they did more than 2,000 years ago, when the tradition began.

At the center of the eight-day celebration, which begins this weekend, is the lighting of candles in the menorah, an ancient candleholder.

Landsburg, 70, of Tenants Harbor, describes herself as a practicing Jew, though not strictly observant. A former psychoanalyst and mythologist who studied with Joseph Campbell, she is a writing professor at Rockport College.

Though Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday not described in the version of the Old Testament acknowledged by Protestant Christians, it connects deeply with many Jews, Landsburg said.

“There’s a sense of finding a piece of history, and finding yourself in history,” that comes with lighting the menorah, she said – “a sense of knowing that others have stood where you have stood and have done what you are doing.”

When families gather to light the candles and say the appropriate prayers in Hebrew, the effect is “magical,” she said.

For members of Adas Yoshuron Synagogue in Rockland, that gathering will be 3 p.m. today in the social hall on Willow Street. The public is welcome to attend as they light the family menorahs.

The story is documented in the Old Testament used by both Catholic and Orthodox Christians, in the first and second books of Maccabees. The books relate how Syrian monarch Antiochus IV defiled the Temple in Jerusalem with pigs and built altars to pagan gods in 164 B.C.

A few thousand Jewish men withdrew and harassed the occupiers.

“They were guerrilla fighters,” Landsburg said. “The Zealots, as they were called, who did not want to assimilate, came down from the mountains and were able to liberate the Temple.”

The oil lamp, which is supposed to remain lit, had only enough fuel to last two or three days, “but the miracle was that God provided enough to burn for eight days” until more could be found, she said.

The menorah, lit on successive days, re-enacts the miracle.

The holiday and its rituals can be seen as uplifting, Landsburg said.

“It’s an independence holiday,” she said. “It’s a liberation holiday.”

In her study of other cultures, Landsburg has learned that “people need light psychologically,” which is why some religions have altered their historical calendars to have a holiday coincide with the winter solstice, when the return of light is celebrated.

Landsburg also likes the metaphor presented by the menorah and Hanukkah, that of enlightenment, freedom, and “the lighting of the soul.”

Early menorahs used oil. By the early 20th century, many had electric light bulbs. But now most use candles. The Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland has a menorah made from Maine granite by Warren stone artist Joe Auciello.

Landsburg and her husband have a very small menorah that has been handed down through his family. It is so small they use birthday candles on it.

The most striking of the three is a ceramic version featuring characters from the play “Fiddler on the Roof.” It was a gift from a friend.

The synagogue’s celebration is a moving event involving the lighting of a host of menorahs – each with its own story. And families recite Hebrew prayers.

“For me, it takes me all the way back to my childhood,” she said.