Sermon: Chanukah (Janine Clements)

Written by Writings & Sermons by others — 10 December 2021

It is a great honour to have been asked to deliver this address and I would like to consider the themes of light, enlightenment and responsibility and I shall begin with Chanukah. Most people focus on the miracle of the oil lasting eight days, bringing light to Jews in a time of darkness, following the desecration of the Temple. Chanukah was established to last eight days, not necessarily because of the oil, but also because Sukkot could not be celebrated that year. Rabbi Samuel Lebens, in a Jewish Renaissance podcast, suggested that Sukkot then and Chanukah now, celebrate our universalism and stress the importance that Jews are seen, that we contribute to and acknowledge our responsibility to the wider world. To paraphrase Isaiah, it is not enough to be a servant to God within our own communities; we have an obligation to be a light unto the world. One way we can do this is to bring light into the winter’s gloom by lighting candles for Chanukah. Jewish Scholar, Clive Lawton, believes that Chanukah ‘demands Jews to go out and say “I’m Jewish”. People find it difficult to be seen, to stand up and offer light, but the principle is a good one. The advent of large Chanukiot and public lightings is nothing new. These Chanukiot proffer the opportunity for Jews to be public, proud and collectively act as the Shamash, the helper candle. The lightings are fulfilling the directive in Shulchan Arukh which states that Jews must ‘light until people stop passing through the marketplace, which is approximately half an hour, because (…)the miracle is then publicised’. Each of us has the potential to be a Shamash. We all have a responsibility to become teachers and impact on the lives of others.

This week, we read an extra portion for Rosh Chodesh, the new moon, and in it we hear God say, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate day from night’. This extract echoes the context of Joseph’s early dreams involving the stars, moon and sun all bowing towards one individual star. Later in his life, we discover how Joseph has interpreted dreams to lead him out from the darkness of the pit and then the darkness of prison. By either dreaming himself, or interpreting those of others, Joseph becomes enlightened and this week’s parasha places Joseph in the position of a Shamash. Pharaoh elevates him, sets him apart, as a Shamash is placed on the Chanukiah. He empowers Joseph to implement a plan to protect Egypt from famine. The Talmud tells us, in Berakhot 55a, that: A dream not interpreted is like a letter not read. As long as it is not interpreted it cannot be fulfilled; the interpretation of a dream creates its meaning. Joseph’s skill allows Pharaoh’s dreams to have meaning and Egypt and its people are spared darkness, for a while at least.

The link to World AIDS Day may seem tenuous, but who could possibly have dreamt that so many lives would have been lost or irrevocably affected by this devastating virus. The René Cassin’s human rights’ organisation states that, ‘A day of rest is vital for a life of human dignity. On Shabbat we regain our full humanity’. The themes of dignity and a sense of humanity are inextricably linked to World AIDS Day. It is 40 years since the first people were diagnosed and everyone was wandering, wondering and seeking enlightenment. Within the UK’s Jewish community, families sat Shiva for their relatives who had been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, before they had died. Today, there are an estimated 105,000 people living with HIV in the UK. (NAT) A recent survey by the National AIDS Trust revealed that only a third of those questioned had any empathy for someone diagnosed as HIV+, irrespective of how they became so. The Jewish principles of Pikuach Nefesh, the sanctity of life and Ahavat Chesed – loving-kindness indicate the attitude towards people that we, as Jews, need to adopt.
We are required to be humane, compassionate and caring and to reject expressions of fear, hatred, condemnation and disgust. Rabbi Marcia Plumb cited in our Siddur, asserts that ‘in order to gain greater understanding of ourselves in relation to illness or suffering, it is we who must do the work to open our hearts and minds.”

Statistics from the World Health Organisation make for sobering reflection. I want to highlight three which reinforce HIV as a human rights issue:

The rate at which young women acquire HIV is 1 person per minute;
AIDS-related illnesses are the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age; and
Two thirds of adults and three-quarters of children with HIV are not receiving any treatment, which accounts for 46% of all people living with HIV.

World AIDS Day is the perfect time for us to improve those statistics and raise much-needed awareness about HIV. We must continue fighting the stigma still experienced by people living with HIV. Susan Sontag in her essay, AIDS and its Metaphors, admonishes us. She argues that, ‘to assign moral or literary rather than scientific meaning to illness, is to use the suffering of others – for the purpose of stigmatising them, making it easier to withhold aid, to selectively withdraw decency and humanity’. We must challenge the entrenchment of stigma – in ourselves, in those we love and in the wider world.

Rabbi Josh, in his sermon on hope, cited a story from Kohelet Rabbah. ‘A group of robbers are in prison. The prisoners dig a tunnel and escape; all but one who remains behind, frozen in time. When the guard comes, he beats the prisoner, saying, “Ill-starred and hapless wretch! There was an opening before you, and you did not escape!”
We are cautioned not to be the prisoner who stayed behind – paralysed into inaction by despair, by absence of hope, by lack of belief in the possibility of better, but to do something about it’.

This ancient example is an apposite call to action. We need to dream in order to prevail in times of despair. Arundhati Roy, the Indian author recently observed that historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. ‘It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred (…) or we can walk through lightly, (…) ready to imagine another world. And fight for it’. She was talking of Covid19, reflecting on the despair, loss and inequalities of care, but she could have been referencing, just as easily, the pandemic of 40 years ago.

May this year’s World AIDS Day, this week’s parasha of Joseph’s enlightenment and the lights of Chanukah, remind us to dream. We must have a vision of a future where HIV is no barrier to health or equality. Help each of us to be a Shamash – to be the help in times of darkness, to seek restoration and safety. May God help us to bring less judgement, more light and more kindness to ourselves and to those around us and thus more holiness into the world.

Shabbat shalom.