Despite what Hallmark cards would have us believe, December in Australia doesn’t come with long nights, cold winds and snow.
Our days stretch late, our air hums with warmth and sometimes with too much heat, and light fills our skies.
Yet this is exactly when Australian Jewish families gather to kindle more light: not because we lack it but because light is never just physical.
Light is also spiritual, emotional and communal.
Each evening for the eight nights of Chanukah, as we light our eight-branched menorahs (plus the shammas, the ‘servant’ candle) we recall an ancient event.
When the Maccabees recaptured the Temple in Jerusalem more than 2000 years ago, they found it desecrated.
As they set about cleansing and restoring it as a place of holiness and community, they discovered just one vial of pure oil; barely enough to keep the great seven-branched menorah alight for a single night let alone for the week till more could be obtained.
Yet rather than wait until more oil was sourced, they chose to light the menorah and rededicate the Temple.
That was a bold act of faith and hope.
Against all expectation, that little vial kept the menorah burning for eight nights.
December in Melbourne sees our streets shine with Christmas lights.
Carols ring out in shopping centres and everyone everywhere feels happier, friendlier and lighter (sorry, not sorry, about the pun).
For some Jewish families, this season presents something of a “December Dilemma” as they maintain their own identity during a season dominated by other faith traditions.
But I don’t see this season as a dilemma: I see it as a gift and as an opportunity.
The lights of Chanukah are not in competition with other lights.
Together, they speak of something deeply human: our yearning for joy, connection and hope.
The menorah in a Jewish home, the twinkling lights on a Christmas tree, the lanterns of other cultures; they don’t cancel one another out.
Rather, they enrich the world with their diversity.
Chanukah teaches that even the smallest spark can overcome despair.
Light shared is never diminished.
My candle doesn’t burn less brightly when it ignites yours.
What does happen, though, is that the world grows brighter and more beautiful.
The Festive Season invites us to look at the many ways people kindle light.
It allows us to celebrate the resilience of traditions that carry hope from one generation to the next and to believe that every flame, no matter how small, can brighten the lives around it.
How powerful is that in a world that feels fractured, divided and shadowed by uncertainty?
This December, let’s not see dilemmas but radiance.
May our lights shine side by side: Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, secular.
And, as a result, may we discover that, together, we can illuminate a path of hope strong enough to guide us all.
Enquiries regarding the Interfaith Network, City of Greater Dandenong: administration@interfaithnetwork.org.au or 8774 7662.
Visit interfaithnetwork.org.au/
