Eight Angels on Eight Nights

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the second night an angel came dressed

in Japanese embroidered silk.

 

Oil is wisdom

overflowing like precious oil on the head

running down the beard of Aaron.             [Ps.133:2]

Pure finely-beaten, most excellent of the olive oil —

the olive that releases its finest product when pressed.

 

Smell this, said the angel,

pressing his wrist to my nose

another quality of oil

the capacity to absorb.

[I smelled yasmina jasmine],

When I make perfume the scent is absorbed into the oil —

then distilled. Just this way wisdom absorbed from the world

both its beauty and contaminants.

 

One small vial of pure oil

when fired up lights everything.

 

Wisdom when it is tended burns pure

burns long burns sure.

 

O God — a heart of purity create within me                [Ps.51:12]

bind me to the purifications

separate me from contaminants —

 

Begin now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the third night, an angel opened with

Darkness IS Light —

 

God separated the light from darkness

called light day

and the darkness night

And it was evening and it was morning

  day one.

 

In the beginning, darkness and light one                    [Gen.1:4-5]

single seamless sourced good

then the challenge

subdue the dark

illumine the good.

 

Temple menorah lit by day to illumine the night

Hanukkah menorah

lit by night to reclaim dark

light from darkness itself the source of light.

 

The Temple lights seven

Hanukkah eight

seven the spiritual cycle

all natural cycles given in seven.

 

Eight —

surrounding the seven

the extra measure set around nature                        [Chazal]

the eighth lamp

light from darkness itself

darkness as an aspect of light.

 

Now stare into a candle                           [Tikkunei HaZohar 21:50a]

see the flame

see the darkness around the wick

see the dark candle

 

It’s all light

all over.

 

On the 4^th night an angel came to me

Quoting Rav Kook

 

Chanukkah Lashon Chinukh

The language of learning

 

Eight Nights each night a light

 

 

Or HaTorah/the light of Torah

Or HaNevuah/the light of Prophecy

Or HaChokhmah/the light of Wisdom

Or HaTzedek/the light of Righteousness

Or HaGevurah/the light of Strength

Or HaSimchah/the light of Joy

Or HaChesed/the light of Kindness

Or HaAhavah/the light of Love

 

 

We see them as if they are separate

But for community to establish itself

For Peace/Shalom and for Kedushah/Holiness

Unity brings Holiness into the world

And with holiness the highest blessing

With unity the blessing of peace

 

 

The singular ner shel Chanukkah

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the fifth night

An angel came to me

And spoke out of a thatch of black beard [Sipurei Ma’asiyot Hadashim]

 

He told me this story:

 

A young man left home traveled to a faraway land where he learned the art of making menorahs.

 

When he returned home he went to work. He worked alone covering the menorah with a large cloth even his father had not seen it.

 

When he was done he asked his father to gather together the townspeople in the square.

 

He unveiled his work, everyone was silent.

 

His father approached each person individually asking what they thought about the menorah.

 

Each one saw a defect, each a different defect.

 

The father told his son, what one person praised another person cursed.

 

That’s what I learned, said the son, each defect is in the eyes of the person who sees it. I fashioned a menorah entirely out of defects,

I made the menorah out of flaws. Now I will begin its repair.

 

When you find a flaw, he said,

you find your own flaw.                           [BT, Kiddushin 70a]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the sixth night

An angel came teaching (a little didactic)

 

Hanukkah means dedication

You were probably taught

 

Dedication of the Temple that had been

Defiled

 

I asked Yochanan ben Zakkai

 

He said, nothing defiles unless you allow it

Nor does the ritual purify

 

So what is this Hanukkah dedication?

 

It’s a law of G*d

 

It’s a story

It’s a picture

It’s a memory

It’s never forget

It’s make a monument

To honor rededicate remember

 

That’s the law of God that applies

It’s the story that purifies

 

Each time it is told.   [Numbers Rabbah 19:8]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the seventh night there was a pause in festivities

From one side of the page we lifted up the light

The miracle of the oil

 

From the other side of the page

We lifted up the few against the many

Redemption in the struggle

 

The angel hollered, we are all responsible

It’s all of us and it’s everything

 

Sit together

Bring your differences to the Table

 

So we sat in our sadness

Resisting the simple

 

Until we found our silence

And mourned the losses

 

And we sat there

Until it became clear

What to do what not to do

 

As long as it takes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the eighth night

I ran into an angel dressed as Prince at the grocery store.

 

He spoke this prayer:

 

All the prayers are peace

Drip drip dripping

But the words have no lift

 

The lower worlds are bestirring themselves

The Great Heart of the World longs for peace

We are waiting for the true persons of compassion

You know who they are

We are yearning for peace

Silent peace true peace

 

May great peace flow from the upper worlds like a fountain

(Y’hei shlama raba min shemaya)

It will be beautiful

Like our lives (some MSS. lies)

 

But for now

Save us

For a few more

Twenty-four

Hours

 

Amen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the ninth night

an angel came to me in the form of the dope man.

He told a story about a dope fiend who came to buy —

the dope man wouldn’t let him in.

 

He makes me nervous, said the discerning dope man.

 

Why are you telling me this story

and why on the ninth night? I asked.

 

You thought eight nights, said the dope man angel.

Some calendar years you will light nine.

 

You assumed ten energies

there are eleven.

 

You learned four ways of reading —

there are five

 

four levels of the soul

there’s a fifth.

 

What kind of dope are you selling

dope man?

 

The kind you live for, he said —

everything that issues from the mouth of God                [Deut.8:3]

 

the kind you can’t do without.