Thursday, December 06, 2007

Green Chanukah

Evidently, there are Jews who are swept up in the global warming hype. According to the Jerusalem Post, there is a group of greens who want Jews to light one less candle per night in order to save the planet from extra carbon dioxide. If it were halachically permissible, I would light ONE EXTRA candle to show them their folly.

This holiday is designed to show the uniqueness of the Jewish people, not to be "kechol hagoyim" as mentioned in Shmuel Alef when the Jews wanted a King. It is important to keep this in mind. Chanukah is not the Jewish version of L'Havdil Alpei Havdalot, Xmas. The Chashmonaim risked their lives for a flask of oil and a miracle happened that the flask of oil lasted eight days. They didn't want to ape their neighbors. Sadly, many of our people seem to like this approach.

2 Comments:

Blogger wrpn said...

Well Josh if you knew anything you would know that many Syrian Jews do light extra candles each night in honor of their safe arrival in Aleppo after fleeing the Gerush Sefarad!

December 06, 2007 6:53 PM  
Blogger JMNOR55 said...

Dear WRPN,

I understand that other groups of Jews (Sephardim, Chasidim, etc.) have different customs of lighting candles. Since I do not follow the Syrian customs, I wasn't aware of that particular minhag.

In any event, I am not an Ordained Orthodox Rabbi, nor do I claim to be. If I claimed to be a Rabbi, I apologize.

The larger point is, as made by my former classmate Rabbi Jonathan Benzaquen of California, is that we should focus on what we can do such as light the menorah and keep shabat, which means that for 25+ hours, we can't drive. That saves a lot of gas and contributes to preserving natural resources.

Shabat Shalom and Chanukah Allegre.

JN

December 07, 2007 6:23 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home