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Only rarely do Chanukah and Christmas fall on the same day, but this year is one of those times. The first light of Chanukah will be kindled in Jewish homes across the world on Wednesday evening, Dec. 25 – Christmas Day. So let me use the rare and blessed gift of our shared sacred calendars this year to reflect on how these two winter holidays carry the same healing message to our wounded world and our searching souls.

First off, we must be theologically honest and clear. Chanukah and Christmas are radically different holidays and no attempt to focus on their similarities should hide this irreducible fact. Chanukah celebrates a military victory of the Maccabees in 167 before the common era and Christmas is born as a passivist spiritual struggle against the military force of Rome.

Judah Maccabee was a fighter. Jesus was a messiah. Chanukah led to the Hasmonean political dynasty which was corrupt and unloved and was ultimately destroyed by Herod. Christmas led to the creation of the largest religion in the world that now claims roughly one out of every three people on earth as adherents. Chanukah is a minor holiday in the Jewish sacred calendar. Christmas along with Easter are the core holidays of Christianity. Christmas is decorated with terrific music and twinkly lights on trees. Chanukah has a candelabrum, some potato pancakes and a silly song, “I had a little dreidel. I made it out of clay…”

I don’t mean to be too harsh in my judgment of Chanukah, but the truth is that Christmas against Chanukah is not really a fair fight. Christmas wins. In the springtime, Passover against Easter is a much more even competition and I think Passover wins. Still, there are similar lessons taught by both Chanukah and Christmas that are necessary for the spiritual health of our world and our lives:

One person is enough to change the world

Judah Maccabee was, according to Judaism, just a man and although Jesus was, according to Christianity, the son of God – the messiah – both of them changed the world. We know, of course, how Christendom changed the world, but just think about the Maccabees. In 167, according to the Roman Jewish historian Josephus, Judaism was just one of roughly 20 religions competing for attention and it was not even in the top five. There was every reason to believe that assimilation and internal divisions would cause the disappearance of Judaism roughly two centuries before Jesus. If that had happened, there would have been no Jewish community for Jesus to grow up in and preach to and hone his mission. If there had never been a Christianity, the world would have been radically different, but thankfully it happened that Judah Maccabee would not let the Jewish people disappear and Jewish traditions vanish. He was the one person who saved not just Judaism but the subsequent history of the world as we know it. By the time his followers were defeated, a new form of Judaism, rabbinic Judaism, had arisen and into that world Jesus found roots and a congregation of disciples. One person – Judah Maccabee and Jesus Christ – were enough to change the world.

The darkest times are just before dawn

Both Chanukah and Christmas occur when the days (in the Northern Hemisphere) are the shortest. This is why lights play such a prominent part in both holidays. When nature does not provide us with enough light we make our own light. The same is true for our own lives. Many of us struggle with darkness in our lives. We are slaves in Egypts of our own making waiting for an Exodus. This season of lights reminds us that hope is not extinguished by events in the world. Hope is only extinguished by our decision to forget that we are beloved of God and made in God’s image. Sometimes the only way to go up is first to go down. Both holidays give us light in the darkness and that is a truly divine gift.

Miracles happen in strange forms

The Chanukah miracle of oil that was supposed to last for one day but lasted for eight is an odd miracle. It is just about an oil lamp but not really. Its deeper meaning is that we have more strength in us than we imagine, more resolve than we imagine, more compassion than we imagine. There is always more in us than we initially believe because God believes in us even when we do not believe in ourselves. And, in Christianity, the idea that the messiah would arrive not as a fully formed adult or as a king on a chariot of fire but as a baby in a manger is extraordinary. The weakest human being would be the source of strength for all the world.

Happy Chanukah!

Merry Christmas!

(Send ALL QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS to The God Squad via email at godsquadquestion@aol.com. Rabbi Gellman is the author of several books, including “Religion for Dummies,” co-written with Fr. Tom Hartman. Also, the new God Squad podcast is now available.)

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