REsources for Living
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Waiting: A Story for Chanukah
Rachel went outside and looked up at the sky—again. Had the sun gotten any lower in the trees? It was hard to tell. Why did sunset have to take so long? The neat pile of presents, one for each night of Chanukah, had been stacked in her parents’ room for days. Rachel herself had chosen the candles to put in the menorah for this first night of Chanukah—yellow for the shammas at the center and one blue for the first night—and the menorah was in the window sill, ready to be lit. The dreidel and a pile of pennies were already on the table, ready to play when the time was right. Which wasn’t until after the sun went down. Which it seemed like it was never going to do.
“Rachel!” her dad shouted from the kitchen, “Come here!”
“What?”
“I’ve peeled the potatoes for the latkes, but they need to be grated. That’s your job.”
“Dad,” Rachel sighed, “wouldn’t it be quicker to just use the food processor?”
“Sure, but the blade is too coarse, and they wouldn’t be as good. Besides, I remember grating potatoes for Chanukah latkes with my mom. I want you to do it with me. And it will give you something to do while you wait besides wandering outside every five minutes.”
“Dad,” asked Rachel, picking up a potato, “why do we have to wait for sundown? What’s the point? I want to light the candles now.”
“Well, for starters,” her father replied, “Jewish holidays always start at sundown. You know that. But that’s only one piece. For another, do candles show their beauty the best in the light or in the dark?”
“The dark, I guess.”
“And think about the Chanukah story. Isn’t that a story about waiting?”
“No, it isn’t!” Rachel was maybe just a little more firm than was strictly necessary, but she went on. “When the Maccabees saw how their people were being treated by the Greeks, they didn’t just wait around while everyone’s rights got trampled on. They got weapons; they took to the hills to fight. And they won! That is the exact opposite of waiting. They saw a problem and they did what they had to do to fix it.”
“I see your point,” said her father, “but think about the rest of the story. What happened then?”
“Then they went back to the Temple. And they didn’t wait around. They saw that the Greek rulers had made a mess of the place, so everybody pitched in to clean it up and get it ready for worship.”
“And then?”
“And then they needed oil for the sacred lamp. And they found some. But just a little. Not enough to last for the eight days it would take to make more. But they didn’t wait around. They lit that sucker right up.”
Rachel’s father raised an eyebrow. “I’m not sure ‘sucker’ is how we traditionally refer to the Eternal Flame, but OK. And then what?”
“Then.… I guess they waited. To see when the light would go out.”
“How long did they wait?”
“Eight days. But the oil just kept burning and burning until they could make more.”
“Eight days is a pretty long time to wait without knowing what’s going to happen, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, I guess. When I auditioned for Peter Rabbit I only had to wait for two days to find out if I got a part, and I just about jumped out of my skin.”
Rachel’s father laughed. “Jumped. Peter Rabbit. That’s cute. But you see how sometimes waiting and hoping can be a really important part of the story. The Chanukah story is about people acting to change things that are unjust, and that’s really important. But it’s also a story about waiting and hoping and trusting that you have enough light to see you through. That’s important, too.”
“But that’s the boring part of the story that you get through in one sentence. They didn’t do anything. They just waited around to see what was going to happen.”
“Oh, I bet they did all kinds of things. They had to rebuild their homes and cook food and sing to the babies and all the things that people do. And I bet they prayed for that light to keep going.”
“Dad, do you think that those people waiting and hoping and praying is what kept that light going the whole time?”
“I don’t know, but I think that it kept the people going that whole time. Which is good enough.”
Rachel thought for a moment. “So waiting is something you do. It’s not just sitting there. It’s kind of like moving your heart in the direction of what you hope for.”
“That, my dear, is a beautiful way to put it. Also, that is a beautiful pile of grated potato. I think we’re ready to mix these latkes and fry them up. Looks to me like the sun is almost down, and latkes don’t like to wait to be eaten.”
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