This morning a friend texted me a graphic showing the five weeks before the winter solstice, and the five weeks thereafter. Along with the image came a short message that read, simply, “We made it!” The literal darkest season of the solar year is behind us: cause for rejoicing indeed.
The coldest weather of the year is ahead of us, but the days have already started imperceptibly getting longer. Especially during years like this one, when the winter solstice falls during Chanukah, it can feel a little bit like the increasing light of our candles has called back the increasing light of the sun. We’re nowhere near done with the cold, but we are done with the darkening of the days. From here until the end of June, every day brings more light.
This year, the b-mitzvah students and I are studying Jewish values. At the start of the school year we focused on teshuvah, repentance or return — the value at the heart of the Days of Awe. After that, we began a unit on b’tzelem Elohim: the idea that we are all made in the image of God.
November this year mostly overlaps with the Hebrew month of Cheshvan. Among Ashkenazi Jews (Jews of Eastern European descent or who follow the customs of that part of the world) this month contains no holidays other than Shabbat.
