As we approach the bright festival of lights of Hanukkah, I find myself reflecting on Vice President Kamala Harris’ concession speech. She preached “there is an adage: only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. I know many people feel like we are entering a dark time. For the benefit of us all, I hope that is not the case. But, America, if it is: Let us fill the sky with the light of a billion brilliant stars.” This proves to be one of the sentiments of Hanukkah, as well as my own personal kavana (sacred intention) of this time. So, how do we be a star of light? The Tibetan Buddhist master Trungpa Rinpoche taught that in life, “the bad news is you’re falling through the air, nothing to hang onto, no parachute. The good news is that there’s no ground.” That seems true both for a shooting star and for a human being in this constantly changing, unpredictable, Divine life of darkness and light.
Now that we passed through the threshold of the Winter Solstice this weekend, we have more light to look forward to. The Talmud profoundly teaches about Adam and Eve’s first Winter Solstice (Avodah Zarah 8a). There were no giants for them to stand on the shoulders of to know about this wild natural phenomenon. They noticed the sun setting earlier and earlier each day and feared that would continue happening until life became perpetual darkness. Thus, they lit fires every night to pray for more light. Extemporaneously, the sun began setting later and later again! They rejoiced that their prayers had worked by lighting flames for the next eight nights. We are so blessed to have the wisdom from every past winter, giving us complete trust that we are not going to disappear into perpetual darkness, that light always comes back.
With a similar sentiment, a friend of mine currently going through a divorce recently spent four full days in a cave, in complete darkness. Going in, he knew it would only be for four days; he knew he would return to the light. Curious to learn more about this therapeutic organization’s approach, I went to their website; rather than featuring photos of people in the caves, they present countless videos of the moment that each person emerges from the darkness. Their first reactions: laughing, crying, immediately covering their eyes to return to the dark. They had found safety, peace, unity in the dark. They had become the light they needed to survive the dark.
We create life in the darkness of the womb. Seeds grow life in the darkness of the soil. Forests sprout mushrooms in the darkness of the night. Even photographs, which require light to be captured, only materialize in the darkness of a photographer’s dark room. May this dark season, lightened by the Hanukkah flames and the trust that we will emerge from the dark, help us find and be, as Kamala said, “the light of a billion brilliant stars.”
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About Your Teacher:
Rabbi Paige Lincenberg serves the Mendocino Coast Jewish Community, where she lives in the redwood forest on Pomo land. Rabbi Paige loves officiating weddings, funerals, baby namings, and other Earth-based ceremonies across Northern California. To connect with her, please flow over to rabbipaige.com
