The Electric Menorah

As we approach the holidays, the city is filled with all kinds of festive decorations and lights. One common decoration seen around the upper west side in particular is the electronic menorah. To understand the implications of an electric menorah, it is important to understand the story of why we light one in the first place. Long ago, the Maccabees and the Greeks were having a war. The Hebrews were vastly outnumbered, but, as they tended to do, they believed that God was on their side; so they went to war. Miraculously, they were victorious, but when they returned to the temple, they were dismayed at the state in which they found its interior. All of the jars where they kept their olive oil had been smashed, which makes it hard to light candles. They found only one oil jar, enough for one night, intact, and thus had to find a way to get more oil. Back then, it took eight days to travel to the marketplace where oil was available. The miracle of Chanukah is that the oil that was supposed to last only one day lasted the full eight days that it took to come back with more oil. The modern day candle burning tradition expends candles in order to symbolize the consumption of the fuel that our ancestors had experienced. With an electric menorah, however, this symbolism is lost. Almost every menorah that we see as we walk down the streets of the upper west side is electric mainly because of fire hazards. Without the symbolism of the disappearing resources, how can we truly appreciate an electric menorah? If we needed light for a ninth, tenth, or eleventh day, we would simply leave the switch in the on position, but our ancestors did not have this option. The miracle is seemingly lost to us. 

Electric menorahs do achieve something much different though. One of the major symbolic tools of lighting candles during Chanukah is increasing the number of candles lit each night. The reason we do this is to show that, during this time, we are seeking to augment the amount of spiritual light in the world. As we walk down the streets with the light of the menorahs on us, their light is added to our world. What electric menorahs may do even better than traditional ones is allowing the light to be shown for hours on end, whereas candles may die out in the middle of the night. Even being able to turn on an electric menorah weeks before Chanukah symbolizes the extent to which we can enlarge our spiritual light and spread joy not only during holidays, but every day of our lives. The mere existence of an electric menorah shows how far we have come: from fighting for 8 days of light to having a monumental quantity of light to spare. 

An electric menorah also shows the American emphasis on convenience and in particular the New York-ian emphasis on time. Rather than taking care of candles, making sure they don’t burn down your apartment, cleaning the menorah, and cleaning up the wax, it is much easier to flick a switch. The menorah consequently becomes a symbolic tool rather than a ceremonial tool as it used to be when prayers would be said over it after every candle lighting. Praying over a light switch does not exactly carry the same weight as praying over a burning flame. Prayers are said not only for their religious value, but for their value in bringing the community and the family together. Has an American laziness overcome our sense of religious togetherness with our families?