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Baltimore Sun

Our say: Tonight will be illuminated by two holidays

Capital Gazette
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Detail of some of the items that are put out for Hanukkah at the Reisterstown house of Risa and Scott Huber, and their children Sydney, 14, and Caitlin, 11. Risa is Jewish, and the couple are raising the girls Jewish. Scott grew up Catholic and they always celebrate both holidays, though this year it's a bit different since Christmas Eve and the first day of Hanukkah fall on the same day.

Detail of some of the items that are put out for Hanukkah at the Reisterstown house of Risa and Scott Huber, and their children Sydney, 14, and Caitlin, 11. Risa is Jewish, and the couple are raising the girls Jewish. Scott grew up Catholic and they always celebrate both holidays, though this year it's a bit different since Christmas Eve and the first day of Hanukkah fall on the same day. (Lloyd Fox / Baltimore Sun)

Tonight, through a rare calendar coincidence, Christmas Eve coincides with the first night of Hanukkah, creating an interesting situation for interfaith families that celebrate both holidays — and giving the rest of us some food for thought.

Hanukkah is not a major Jewish holiday, and is traditionally celebrated at home, not at the synagogue. It commemorates a hard-won victory of Jews over the Greek-Syrian Seleucid Empire — one of the shards of the short-lived domain of Alexander the Great — some two centuries before the time of Christ. The victory created the last independent Jewish state in the Holy Land until the modern nation of Israel was founded in 1948.

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That war led to the liberation and rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem, and a Talmudic story says the only consecrated lamp oil on hand — enough for one day — miraculously lasted for eight, until more could be prepared. Hence "the Festival of Lights," in which candles are lighted for eight consecutive nights. (The idea of giving gifts to children on those nights seems to have been a much later addition.)

This wouldn't seem to have much to do with the Christmas holiday, but think about it. These are both times of rededication. These are both occasions when celebrants defy the gloomiest moment of the year, the long nights around the winter solstice, by kindling as much light as possible — illumination symbolizing the light of divine mercy and compassion shining on a struggling world. And both holidays, like so many other religious observances, carry the message that in spite of all the suffering and bloodshed, God will intervene to offer hope for those who have faith.

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Hope can be difficult to discern amid the din of a 24-hour news cycle and the division created when a technology with unmatched potential to bring the world together — the Internet — is instead used to spread new and ever more toxic varieties of tribalism and hate. The great value of the holiday season is that it encourages us to pull away from the transient, focus on the eternal and take part in stabilizing rituals that go back many centuries in our culture and, often, many generations in our families.

As we've said before, one of our favorite times of the year comes late tonight when the hubbub dies down and the world goes quiet. The children are in bed; the parents are talking about what they are going to do tomorrow. Outside, the lights shine — and if you listen hard, you can hear angel voices on the wind. Even if there is no wind. Silent night, holy night.

As always, we wish all the readers of Capital Gazette newspapers a happy Hanukkah and a serene and happy Christmas Eve, followed by the finest of Christmas Days.

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