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Sorry for not posting recently.

I'm working on a summary/review post for the Jewish Narnia. Hopefully I can concisely convey what took us many posts to explore. 

Then, it's back to trying to understand the importance of valiance in Narnia (identified with both Reepicheep and Lucy). 

Best wishes for the New Year! 

Always Winter and Never Hanukkah? (Part 2)

In our previous post we discussed the Hanukkah parallels to the first theme of Christmas associated with Tumnus' statement that the White Witch has made it "Always winter and never Christmas." In this post we turn to the second Christmas theme highlighted by this description and demonstrate its parallels to Hanukkah. 

Our second theme centered on the connection between Christmas and the winter solstice. We already saw that the Talmud posits ancient holidays celebrated by Adam around the solstice, does Hanukkah in any way connect to these or does it independently connect to the winter solstice? The Maharal of Prague clearly states that the answer is yes. He quotes the midrashic idea that the Tabernacle in the desert was actually completed on the 25th of Kislev. The symbolism of that, he asserts, is because that is the time when light starts to increase in the world. Pre-solstice darkness overwhelms the light. It is on Hanukkah when the light begins to grow stronger. Thus, it is not a coincidence that the miracle of the menorah happened at this time. 

Not surprisingly there is a strong emphasis on the theme of light surrounding Hanukkah. The miracle of the Hasmoneans’ eventual victory over the Seleucidian army was undeniable but short lived from a global history perspective. Rome would soon conquer all. The miracle of the candles, however, is both timeless and universal. What was the message of the miracle to the Hasmoneans? The rededication of the Temple did not mark the end of the war. It took a few years and the death of Judah Macabee himself before Judea’s independence was sealed. The miracle of candles showed that things were improving, that the light was increasing. The Temple was now functioning and Jewish religion could be practiced. There was still plenty of darkness but the worst had passed. Rock bottom was now behind them and there was now only one direction to go. 

R’ Soloveitchik, quoted by R’ A. Frimer, asserts that bringing light into the darkness of the world is a fulfillment of the verse “And you shall walk in His ways,” (Deut. 28:9) which commands us to imitate G-d – imitatio Dei - and follow in his ways. At the start of creation God was surrounded by darkness and declared: “Let there be light.” On Hanukkah we are surrounded by the darkness of the solstice and we bring small little lights into the world. They are not the huge Christmas displays of our neighbors because they are not meant to signal victory. But they are put in our windows to remind the world that, when relying on God and fighting for His glory, there is a rock bottom, darkness will not remain forever, and that hope springs eternal.

Happy Hanukkah! 

Always Winter and Never Hanukkah?

Having identified several themes inherent in the holiday of Christmas we may wonder whether similar motifs are inherent in the holiday of Hanukkah. In the USA, the temporal juxtaposition of Christmas and Hanukkah make them part of the generic “Holiday Season.” However, timing alone does not mean the holidays share themes and motifs (of course, the date of Hanukkah depends not on the solar calendar, but on the Jewish calendar which is primarily lunar, and thus, the holiday may start as early as the end of November). Our goal in what follows is to explore whether any of the “Christmas themes” we identified earlier relate to Hanukkah as well. 

Our first theme was that of a break or respite from a hard winter. Of course, it does not snow much in Israel and there are very few days of sub-freezing temperatures. Nonetheless, Hanukkah does provide a break, not from ice and snow, but from the darkness of exile. 

The Hanukkah story occurs during the Second Temple period. Though the Temple stood, the hoped for return to the Golden Era of the time of King Solomon had not materialized. The lack was felt on two fronts. First, the Second Temple lacked the glory of the First Temple in both its spiritual stature (several of the primary articles of the Temple, including the Holy Ark) and physical beauty (at that point in time). Second, Judea lacked political independence. 

The Hasmonean dynasty temporarily ameliorated the second problem but not the first. In fact, even the political independence, according to the Sages, was incomplete since there was no return of the rule of the House of David. 

With this in mind we can understand why later Jewish authorities did not regard the Second temple period, even during Hasmonean rule, to be fully redemptive. Hence, the Sfat Emet states that the Hasmonean victory over the Seleucidian army was incomplete. In fact, the entire purpose of Hanukkah is to remind us that He is in our midst even at the darkest moments of exile. As is evidenced by the Hasmonean victory, but even more so by the miracle of the candles, He can and will operate above the natural laws to protect His Nation. 

This year, as in every year for millennia, Jews find themselves in exile very much at the whim of the natural world. Hanukkah is a break. True, it lacks the prohibition against work and the sanctification of the meals that we associate with typical Jewish holidays. After all, we are still in exile. Nonetheless, it is a time to re-experience the supernatural aspect of God’s presence even in the darkness of exile. 

Always Winter and Never Christmas (Part 2)

 Always Winter and Never Christmas

In our first installment on the above words of the Faun Tumnus we asked the question, why is winter without Christmas such a tragedy? The answer we provided was motivated by the words of Pastor Ray Fowler, Christmas provides a respite to the hard winter and makes worthwhile the work and stress that the winter brings. In Narnia, however, there was no Christmas. There was no vacation and there was no satisfaction in a job well done. 

In this post I would like to explore an alternate reading of Always Winter and Never Christmas as suggested by Pastor Robert Marsh:

Each year, beginning on June 22, the number of minutes of sunlight we enjoy each day begins to shrink. From 15 hours and 2 minutes on that day, the time we have in the sun shrinks until December 22, when we have only 9 hours and 20 minutes. But as we approach that shortest day, I find myself telling people around me, and reminding myself, that the days immediately start getting longer again – gradually building till that wonderful 15 hour day in June! We need that hope – that reminder that things will once again return to the warmth and light of summer! 

But imagine if there were no hope – imagine if on December 23, the minutes of daylight kept getting fewer – and scientists told us that it would never get better – no hope! Imagine the despair of being hope-less! Of feeling there is no end to the misery, no light at the end of the tunnel – no reason or purpose to go on. 

Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, “If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all.” That’s how the world would be with no Christmas...

In this reading Christmas is not just a respite from difficult times, or even the reward or satisfaction achieved due to hard work. Rather, Christmas is a beacon of hope that things can improve. In a moment the world can be transformed for the better, things need not remain as they are now. 

While I appreciate Pastor Marsh’s insight and his entwinement of the darkness of winter due to the natural shortening of the day with the evil doings of the White Witch, I believe that some more depth can be provided to Christmas’ theme of hope. For that I would like to turn to perhaps an unlikely source: the Talmud. 

The incompatibility of Judaism with the pagan gods is such that Talmudic law forbids certain interaction with pagans lest they use items gained in such interactions as a means for worshipping their gods. Thus, a Jew must be especially careful around the time of pagan holidays when worshippers are more likely to make dedications to their temples. In order to facilitate this, the Mishna (Avoda Zara 1:3) provides a list of pagan holidays which includes Saturnalia and Kalenda. The Talmud (Avoda Zara 8a) explains that Kalenda is the celebration after the Winter Solstice (the kalends was the first day of the Roman month) and Saturnalia is the celebration before the Winter solstice. 

The Talmud then relates the origin of these holidays. After Adam’s sin and his exile from the Garden of Eden, he realized that the days were getting shorter and the nights longer. Perhaps, he thought, I have ruined the world and the darkness will continue to grow until the universe reverts to nothingness. He then spent 8 days in fasting and prayer. When the solstice came Adam realized that this was simply a natural cycle and he then spent the next 8 days in celebration. Starting the next year, he celebrated both sets of 8 days as holidays. Of course, Adam set aside these holidays to celebrate God’s command over nature, and the pagans came and misused them for idol-worship. 

The connections between Saturnalia and Christmas have been noted time and again. Unfortunately, these similarities are used as an attack on Christianity. The thought process appears to be that if a religious holiday grew out of a pagan ritual (though the religion now utterly rejects paganism) this somehow is a point of ridicule. I must admit, I fail to see why this should be so. The Christian faith (perhaps Pope Julius I) understood the importance of a celebration around the Winter Solstice as symbolic to the birth of the Christian Messiah. 

The (Christain) theology perhaps goes something like this: the time before said messiah came into the world was one of great troubles: God’s people had splintered into numerous, warring sects. The Pharisees who were teachers of law, were hypocritical and corrupt. They put minutiae before ethics and did not truly love God. This was a time of great spiritual darkness. At this time, when the world was at its bleakest, the messiah was born. He did not immediately engender change, but the moment before he was born was rock bottom, the nadir. After that the situation started to improve until such time that it will come to full day. 

This is symbolized by the natural cycle of light and darkness during the year. At the autumnal equinox, the amount of light and darkness are equal. After that, there is more darkness than light until the solstice, the day of greatest darkness. However, after the solstice the situation begins to improve. It is still dark for most of the day but the amount of light increases. The solstice may be rock bottom, but only because there is a rock bottom, can light start to increase.  

Christmas represents the turnaround from the darkest day of the year. It’s still dark and cold, and will be for quite a while, but at least it is getting lighter. But what if there was no Christmas? What if there was no rock bottom, but it always remained dark as it is on the day of the solstice? What if there could not be a turnaround because everything is (and always will be) static? That was the situation in Narnia. It was not just that there was no hope, but that there was no worst, and therefore no chance or possibility for improvement. It was just always winter, the White Witch would always be queen, and evil would always be triumphant. 

Therefore, the first step in the redemption of Narnia must be Christmas. The arrival of Santa Claus brings joy in hot drinks and a good breakfast, but that is only temporary. It is still cold, the White Witch is still queen, and she can (and does) still cause much harm. What Santa Claus permanently brings is the realization that the worst has past, and that the situation can be improved. It hasn’t improved yet, but he provides the tools that are needed induce change. Those tools, with determination and faith, will bring about the Narnian redemption.