Hype, Help, Hope

As we all zoom toward the end of a shortened work week - and frankly, the end of the year - it seems like everything is traveling faster.

Even the headlines right now seem more brief than usual, though thankfully they're also pretty accurate. "Congress moves toward standoff over payroll tax," or "Paul takes lead in Iowa," or even "Gingrich lead collapses" pretty much tell the tale. Whether or not Republicans put someone else on their Christmas wish list to Santa, the fact is, the GOP candidate for President in 2012 is likely to be Mitt Romney.

Wwith so many of the headlines thankfully brief, we're taking the opportunity to focus on a holiday that's often overlooked: Chanukkah.

In case you don't know, Chanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights, begins tonight at sundown. Unlike Christmas for Christians (the biggest Christian holiday of the year), or Yule for Wiccans (also known as Solstice, the second biggest Wiccan holiday of the year), Chanukkah is often considered by many in the Jewish faith to be a somewhat minor holiday. The hype and commercialization of Christmas, however, has significantly boosted the profile of Chanukkah over the last century or so, especially in the U.S., since Chanukkah almost always falls during the Thanksgiving to New Year's time period.

Like so many events in America that used to hold a more special meaning - for example, having your favorite team win its way to a college bowl game - for some people the real meaning of Chanukkah seems to have gotten lost in all the hype.

Rabbi Marc Gellman, a longtime freelance religion columnist, had a fantastic historical basis for the real meaning of Chanukkah in one of his columns a few years ago. While interesting and scholarly, his piece didn't really seem to boil Chanukkah down to one key theme. In fact, if you search for a single meaning of Chanukkah these days, you're as likely to find a large variety of answers as you are with any other major religion or celebration, all claiming to be the definitive reason for the season.

Of course, there's the story that even many non-Jews know, that of the lamp in the temple having only enough lamp oil for one day, yet somehow - miraculously - the oil lasted eight days (which is exactly the same amount of time it takes to make new lamp oil, by the way). That story, while memorable, is much like the Christian tale of Jesus' birth - by itself, it doesn't often give a deeper meaning. Sure, it's a miracle - but why did it happen?

The ancient season of "Yule", much like that of Christianity and Judaism, also heralded a miracle at this time of year: the birth of a new year, and the hope for better year in the days, weeks, and months ahead. Nearly every belief system has a similar day or time to celebrate hope - many of them around this same time of year. For Muslims, Eid al-Adha is often the most hopeful holiday. For many atheists, their own birthdays represent a reason to celebrate the miracle that the individual in question has made one more trip around the sun.

The real meaning of this season, whatever you believe - like that of most important events - is much easier to see when you don't let yourself get swallowed by all the hype. Simply put, the meaning is...

Hope.

We can't think of a more concise, honest, or positive universal meaning to the season than that.