Melt: how apropos for the winter that we’re having. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, winter 2023-2024 was the warmest winter that the U.S. ever recorded. Though parts of this winter have felt warm, we are still within average temperatures. As Chanukah approaches, I can’t help but feel like the “perfect” Chanukah is when there is snow all around, everyone bundled up and appreciating the festive facades that abound throughout the neighborhood (one of my favorites is the outdoor Chanukah display on the corner of Derby and Ibsen!). Part of the nostalgia is memories from childhood, being bundled up at an outdoor lighting or two in Central Park in 20-degree weather.
But alas, our hot cocoa and s’mores may not be due until something changes dramatically this year. Let’s face it: when you look out your window, the most beautiful thing to see is the greenery of spring and summer or the snow-decorated homes of winter. Fall brings its amber feelings of pumpkin spice and crunchy leaf-walks. We’re in no man’s land right now, and it lacks character!
The Chofetz Chaim said that Chazal gave us the holidays of Chanukah and Purim in the winter, representing the long and dark galus, to give us hope for eventual redemption. Chanukah, specifically, is always during the part of the winter with the longest nights, often near the winter solstice of December 21. This appears like a clear message that the last of the rabbinic holidays to be set (remember, the Chanukah miracle was approximately 190 years after the Purim events) for the duration of the exile carries us through the darkest of nights, figuratively and literally.
