63 - A Counting Hallel for Hanukah

Hanukah begins this year at sundown on Thursday, December 21. As we move through the nights of Hanukah, we increase the light, kindling the slender candles that are lit only for praise, not for any practical purpose. We set our hanukiot, our Hanukah menorahs, in a window, to broadcast the miracle we remember and to help dispel the darkness. At Pesach, we enumerate the wonders God performed for us when we went forth out of Egypt. So too at Hanukah, we number the lights and praise God’s gifts.

Sixty-Three

A Counting Hallel for Hanukah

Praise the One Who makes miracles!

One light in darkness  

To vanquish years of strife;
One light is all we need
To illuminate a new beginning.

One is enough, Almighty God
To pierce the darkness.

Two shining in synchrony,
Two lights to recall sun and moon;
God’s light in the universe
Becomes our light to use for good.

Two are enough, Almighty God
To reveal You ever near to us.

Three lights pure and clear,
A triad sounding in the darkness,
A major chord louder than sadness
Resonates with ancient voices.

Three are enough, Almighty God
Three nights to sing Your praise.

Four lights define the holy ark,
Cleaned of desecration, polished,
Refreshed in holiness,
Gleaming through the toil of our hands.

Four are enough, Almighty God,
Four corners of Your earth restored.

Five lights trace with fingertip care
The faces of all gathered to work
In the daily sanctification of Your Name,
Simple kindnesses that make us holy.

Five are enough, Almighty God,
To feel Your hand on our shoulders.

Six lights that connect us together,
Generations and cousins, friends and strangers,
Searching together to repair and rebuild,
To banish hunger and cold and doubt.

Six are enough, Almighty God,
To bind our hearts to one another.

Seven lights shimmer like liquid gold
To bless the ordinary and make it holy.
In partnership with You, we choose.
In partnership, we glow with new light.

Seven are enough, Almighty God,
For us to distinguish the path to righteousness.

Eight lights flame, a week and a day,
More than the hand or heart can hold,
But still we grasp it all,
Greedy to draw near to You.

Eight are enough, Almighty God,
To point us toward our future:

To light the path to miracles.