Light the Inner Light

The few overcoming the many, the weak prevailing over the mighty—the victory of the Maccabees is extolled in miraculous terms. We have seen similar miracles in our own day.

While we live in a time of darkness, when the concentration of wealth in the hands of a powerful few seems unassailable, when political solutions to everyday problems seem unreachable, and when fighting for basic rights seems unavoidable, a candle of hope pierces the doom.

I have met workers who have risked everything they have in order to win benefits for their coworkers. I watched a hotel housekeeper enter the Hyatt shareholder’s meeting in a Chicago hotel ballroom and stand up to tell her truth. I have stood by Doubletree hotel workers who protested in the cold to make their case known to Harvard University. I have been in awe of their strength, faith and courage.

And they have won. In 2013 the Hyatt workers won good contracts for those in union hotels across the country. In 2014, the Hyatt 100 in Boston received compensation five years after they were fired. Also this year, the workers at Le Meridien Hotel in Cambridge won their first contract after a long boycott. The few overcame the many and the weak prevailed over the mighty. We might add, the poor shamed the wealthy.

These individuals stood up for their rights with a deep faith and unfathomable courage. They had so much to lose: their jobs, their health, their families’ security. Yet they stood together, they persevered, they refused to give up. On Hanukkah, let’s celebrate all the Maccabees, in ancient days as in our own, who carried the light within their hearts that led to miraculous victories.

As poet Charles Reznikoff wrote in his poem, “Hanukkah,”

The miracle, of course, was not that the oil for the sacred light--

in a little cruse--lasted as long as they say;

but that the courage of the Maccabees lasted to this day:

let that nourish my flickering spirit.

(From Meditations on the Fall and Winter Holidays)

May your Hanukkah bring light to the darkness in your life!

Rabbi Barbara Penzner

For the New England Jewish Labor Committee 8 Nights of Hanukkah