Let me explain. First of all, I’m Lutheran. I live in an area with a large Jewish population, many Orthodox. They had a “Menorah parade” on the main drag sometime this week, where folks attached really big Menorah to the roofs of their cars and drove around, as a means of raising the profile of the tradition.
Anyway, I was walking into the local bookstore last night. Outside the door were two teenagers in black cloth coats and wide-brimmed black hats - Orthodox Jews. As I was going in, one of them wished me a happy Hanukah. I smiled and wished him the same. Then he asked me if I had a Menorah. I chuckled, said that I didn’t, and went in the store.
When I came out, I wished him a good evening and went on my way.
Then I got to thinking: why did the kid ask me if I had a Menorah? I certainly don’t dress like he was, but I suppose he could have mistaken me for a secular Jew since I returned his Happy Hanakuh greeting. Or is the Menorah something that a non-Jew could have without being disrespectful? I’ve never considered having one, being Christian and all, but if it’s not considered disrespectful, I think it might be cool to learn about the significance of it, and have one.
If I’d been quicker-witted, I would have asked the kid these questions, but I’m not, so I didn’t.
Around here, there are a few houses with both Christmas trees and menorahs. My thinking is, if a Christian family displays a menorah, it’s a sign of respect for those in the community who celebrate that other religious winter holiday. Kind of like a symbol of solidarity, or something.
Since I’m not a Jew, I won’t deign to say whether or not this is offensive.
It wouldn’t offend me (I’m a jew). I might find it silly or not worthy of note but it wouldn’t offend me.
OK, suddenly I take that back. The local Unitarian Universalist church (it a VERY church-going town) has on their signboard out front "Chanukah celebration tonight!’ and I actually laughed when I saw it. Nice to know they’re reaching out.
There’s no reason why a non-Jew having a menorah would be considered disrespectful, unless, of course, they were using or displaying it in a disrespectful manner.
Some menorahs could be considered works of art, and are intended for display rather than ritual use. I like the one my 4 girl made in preschool out of wood, glue, metal nuts and lots of glitter. Sparkly!
OK, this same thing happened to me a few years ago, just before Chanuka, but with a twist. Here’s the story - I live in Manhattan, and I’m Jewish by birth and upbringing (although I am a non-believer now). I am married to a Catholic.
Anyway, on a street corner near where I work, there were these Hasidic kids walking up to men and asking “Excuse me Sir, are you Jewish?” If yes, they would talk to them for a minute, and try to give them a free Menorah, free candles, and a free dreydel.
They were kids from the Lubavitchers (sp?), an ultra-orthodox sect here in NYC. (If I am being offensive in my description, I apologize in advance.) They have something called a “Mitzvah tank” (Mitzvah means alternatively, good deed, or performing a commandment in the Bible, IIRC), which is this big decked out Winnebago that they drive around the City, passing out literature and stuff.
Even though I’m a non-believer, I want the free goods, because my little girl had just turned 1, and I figure, she should know a little about her heritage. And, as long as we have a tree, WTH, we should have a menorah, too.
So, I walk past them. They ignore me. I walk past again. They ignore me again. I walk past a third time, slowly, and look them in the eye. Finally they ask me! What, I don’t look Jewish or something? I don’t walk Jewish? I was half-offended (not really - I just think it’s funny).
As for the OP, the kid asked you if you had a menorah because he thought you were Jewish (probably, just as you surmised, because you said Happy Chanuka back to him) and he wanted to make sure you celebrated it.
Although I completely defer to Zev, cmkeller, and others (who have helped me out with my Jewish questions - thanks guys!), I personally would not be offended. One of the symbolic ideas of the menorah is to shed light to dispell darkness, in an increasing knowledge sort of way. If you ask me, that is exactly what the SDMB is all about.
You might want to take a look at the book, The Christmas Menorahs: How a Town Fought Hate. It’s a great (true) story of a Jewish family in Billings, Montana that had a menorah in their window. A (probably anti-Semitic) vandal threw a rock through the window. As word spread, other families began putting menorahs in their windows. The local newspaper printed a picture of a menorah, and people who didn’t have real menorahs cut them out and put them in their windows.
It’s a great children’s book. If you can’t find it at your local bookstore, they shouldn’t have any trouble ordering it. All the big distributors carry it.
When I was in the SCA in college, I sang in the local Barony’s Chorusters group. We met at the house of a sweet, cool Jewish guy, who had a grade school aged son (which seems to mean you acquire a crapload of neat menorahs.) We met on Tuesdays, so that night of Hannukah every year we all got a menorah to light of our very own. (We always fought over the Menorahsaurus.) It brings a smile to my face to think of it - what a wonderful way to share one’s faith and culture. It’s really a good memory.
First, I’d like to comment that the candelabra used for Hanukah is, strictly speaking, a Hanukiah, not a Menorah. A menorah has 7 places for candles, a Hanukiah has 9. The menorah was one of the accessories for the inner Temple and is listed so in Tanach (Hebrew so-called Bible). Why it turned into a 9-candle holder is part of the tradition-lore-basis of Hanukah, which I won’t elaborate here.
I encourage everyone to get or make a Hanukiah and light it. Say some sort of prayer or thanksgiving, then light it. Everything else surrounding the traditions are intepretations. The traditional prayers for lighting are:
Blessed are you, Shechinah, Queen of Everything, who sanctifies us by her mitzvot, and commands us to light the Hanukah lights.
Blessed are you, Adoshem, King of Everything, who made great miracles for our ancestors, in their era, at this time of year.
(Can you tell I’m a Reconstructionist Jew? ;j )
Shechinah is an approximate transliteration of the Hebrew word which means divine spirit or breath, traditionally considered to be a female aspect of the Almighty. The second prayer uses the more traditional Melech Ha-Olam, literally “King of Everything/World/Universe”. I like refocusing my perception of G-d as male/female combined.
Mitzvot is usually translated as “commandments,” which sounds like the Christian take on the “Old Testament G-d.” I don’t like this. I prefer to think of mitzvot as instructions for bringing us closer to G-d.
Adoshem is the traditional way to refer to the Hebrew for for “lord” when it’s used to refer to G-d. As you can see, I prefer the traditional idea of not writing out the name of the Almighty.
Lubavitchers are the most active and visible branch of Hasidim in the US. They are particularly focused on bringing secular Jews back to the mitzvot. They drive about at Hanukah with large electric Hanukiahs, hand out hanukiahs and candles, etc. They do not proselytize, so they usually avoid approaching someone unless they think that person is Jewish.
I get the same problem with people not “picking me up” as a MOT (member of the tribe, ie Jewish). I don’t at all look Jewish, and my name isn’t particularly Jewish. That bugs me, but what ya gonna do?
I’ve done stuff with Lubavitchers, and spoken with them. They’re very pleasant, and not at all insistent. I like them; they maintain a connection between us modern Jews and our heritage. Some Hasidic ideas are a bit off-the-wall, but the Hasidim themselves are (in most places) harmless. Perhaps not so in NYC, where doctrinal conflicts are always popping up. I also worry about the high-profile militancy of some ultra-Orthodox and Hasidim.
I’ve known several Christian families and churches that displayed menorahs at this time of year. I also know of a couple of Christian churches with a mezuzah by the door. (I’m pretty sure I misspelled that.) Just because Christians don’t keep Kosher, it doesn’t mean they’ve discarded all of Judaism. There’s still a lot of carryover.
Except, of course, God didn’t sanctify non-Jews by the mitzvot, command them to light the Hanukah lights, or make great miracles for their ancestors…so, it wouldn’t make sense for a non-Jew to light the candles or say that.
Since it is Chanukah, I assume that the OP is asking about a Chanukia and not the standard Menorah. I do have that right, don’t I zev? Doesn’t a Menorah have space for additional candles that a Chanukia doesn’t?
Technically, the OP is indeed asking about a chanukia, rather than a menorah, but English-speaking Jews tend to use ‘menorah’ for both of them in casual conversation. (Israelis tend to distinguish between the two when speaking in Hebrew.) The menorah (which was used in the daily services in the Temple) had space for seven flames; the chanukiah has eight regular ones plus an extra for a shamesh the extra candle used to light the others.
FWIW, I (an Orthodox Jew) wouldn’t be offended that a non-Jew had or lit a menorah, but I wouldn’t really understand why they’d want one.
In the OP, Ghengis Bob asked about the significance of the menorah. A brief summary - back in the day, circa 200-150 BCE (I’m approximating,) Israel was a territory of the Ptolomeic monarchy, Greeks and Hellenized Egyptians. They and their Hellenized Jewish allies tried to suppress Jewish religious practices, forbidding Sabbath observance, circumcision, and Torah study, among other things, and mandating idolotry; they also completely trashed the Temple in Jerusalem, although they didn’t destroy it. A group of Jews known as the Maccabees rebelled, and eventually gained control of most of Israel, including Jerusalem and the Temple. They cleaned out and renovated the Temple (and reestablished the Jewish monarchy), and wanted to start the normal daily service immediately. However, they needed certified ultra-pure olive oil to use to light the Menorah, which requires eight days to manufacture. They could only find one small container that was still sealed, enough for one day’s lighting, but decided to light for just that one day, and then wait to light again until new ultra-pure olive oil was available. Miraculously, however, the Menorah stayed lit for eight days continuously on that one day’s worth of oil, until the new supply was available. In commemoration of this miracle in particular, and of the general miracle of the successful rebellion, the rabbis established the holiday of Chanukah and mandated that the Jews publicly light candles every year on the same dates as the rededication of the Temple.
Part of the commandment is the public aspect of it - we have to light the menorah when and where people passing by in the street can see it, so the miracle is publicized. So to me, you’ve done your part by seeing menorahs, and asking about them here ;j Plus, it let me spend the time while my menorah was burning writing this up, which feels pretty appropriate - thanks!
As Captain Amazing said, the blessings themselves show how we view menorah lighting. (BTW, 633squadron, please don’t be insulted, but I wouldn’t term the first blessing you cite as the ‘traditional’ one; the traditional language also refers to ‘the King of Everything’ rather than the Shechinah.) It’s done as the fulfillment of a commandment given to Jews, in commemoration of an event that happened to our ancestors.
This thread has one of the highest per post ratios that I’ve ever seen here.
Sheesh, I previewed that literally five times, yet couldn’t manage to get the smiley in my aside right - this thread has the highest ;j /post ratio, it’s not exactly the most sarcastic thread I’ve ever seen.
Not to nitpick, especially because Israel was a territory of the Ptolomies, but by the time of the Macabee revolt, it was a territory of the Selucids, another successor state of Alexander. Here’s a brief timeline:
166 BCE- Maccabee Revolt starts
164 BCE- Hasmonean forces take the Temple. Hannukah miracle
147 BCE-Israel granted autonomy by the Selucid kingdom
129 BCE-Selucid kingdom collapses, Israel becomes indepedent.
Thanks! You get a couple or ten years away from learning this in school, and the details get fuzzy - I knew I should’ve looked it up rather than just runing with it.
Just to add a linguistic note, the word menorah translates most literally as “candlestick” or “candlabra.” So a Chanukiyah is a special type of menorah.
165 BCE: Matthias of Modin, head of the revolt dies
160 BCE: Judah Macabee killed at the battle of Elasa
142 BCE: Johanan Apphus, son of Matthias, brother of Judah, and leader of the revolt, captured and killed at Akko
134 BCE: Simon Thassi, next leader of the revolt, and brother of Judah and Johanan, son of Matthias, assassinated
Then John Hyrcanus took control, ended Syrian control, took over his neighbors, destroyed the Samaritan temple, and became the first king of an newly independent Israel.
per post ratios that I’ve ever seen here.