Some of our younger students witnessed candle lighting this morning for the first day of Chanukah via Zoom link to Israel. The unusual juxtaposition of complete daylight here while lighting the Chanukiah in the darkness of the Israeli evening was quite a contrast that was noticed by some students.
This year the Chasidic teaching that a little light pushes away much darkness is very appropriate and needed as the world slowly emerges from what has been a very dark year and we can see small flickers of light begin to illuminate the darkness.
In the Talmud, there is a debate between the School of Shamai and the School of Hillel regarding the number of lights lit each night of Chanukah. Shamai school views the full potential of an entirely lit Menorah from the very first moment of the holiday and therefore they begin with all eight candles burning on the first night and then they slowly descend with one less lit each night. Hillel on the other hand maintains that we start slowly with one small light the first night and then we add an additional light in ascending order until we fully illuminate the Menorah with eight candles on the last night of Chanukah.
In the battle against COVID-19, it seems like the small beginning advances made in the “Warp Speed” effort to produce a vaccine, started slowly with Regeneron, more recently followed by Pfizer and BioNtech, and then Moderna, hopefully soon to be followed by AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson, Eli Lily, and Novavax, these are not even including lesser-known vaccine candidates developed by Glaxo, Smith, Klein in England and others in Russia, China, and Israel. Regardless it does seem that almost daily, we are getting new, hopeful news about breakthroughs in global vaccine development.
In the rollout of administering the vaccines there will also be a slow start, first with the most vulnerable, elderly populations, followed by those with comorbidity medical conditions, followed by health professionals, then first responders, as well as military and police. At that point, the group of unsung heroes known as educators will likely have access to vaccines followed by the rest of the adult population. At some point afterward, the youngest members of society may have access to vaccines assuming medical trials on children are completed to ensure they are safe for children.
Yet as we know, it is often darkest before dawn and in this case, while it is true a vaccine is on its way, the virus seems to be giving its last gasp of potency, wreaking havoc almost indiscriminately all over the world. The Jerusalem Talmud maintains that the redemption will take place like the dawning of a new day. Slowly and almost imperceptively the dawn’s early light starts to push away the darkness completely. Let us hope that is how the resolution of the pandemic takes place as well.
Have a de-light-ful Chanukah,
Rabbi Elisha Paul
