The Festival of Lights gives spiritual and historical messages. This year, add a green message to the lights.
Hannukah falls on December 20th this year. Among the laws of lighting the menorah – one of the Hannukah traditions that Jews follow for eight days – is one that requires placing it where the lights can be viewed from the street. This is to proclaim the miracles of the days when the Jewish minority in Israel revolted against a tyrannical ruler and won liberty.
A visible miracle was that one day’s oil dedicated to the menorah in the Temple burned for eight days. Wouldn’t a similar, energy-saving miracle be amazing? We’ll have to discount supernatural intervention, but can seek green lighting alternatives like the Nokero solar light bulbs.
The Hannukah lights are sacred and not to be used for illumination. Another light must be on in the room until the menorah candles burn out.
Assuming that goes against your instinct to switch lights off when leaving a room, consider some other ways to save on energy, suggested in our slideshow.
Or light another olive-oil candle and place it on a separate table. Olive oil is much healthier than paraffin candles.
Here are more ways to green your lights:
Photo of Menorah at the Western Wall Tunnel by JMR_Photography via Flickr.
Author: Miriam Kresh
Miriam Kresh is an American ex-pat living in Israel. Her love of Middle Eastern food evolved from close friendships with enthusiastic Moroccan, Tunisian and Turkish home cooks. She owns too many cookbooks and is always planning the next meal. Miriam can be reached at miriam (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
