Hanukkah: Light in the Darkness.

N.B. This is the candle lighting blessing for Hanukkah available on www.beliefnet.com.

Hanukkah began at sundown on Tuesday. Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights.
We share in their legacy of looking for light in dark times. You may not have a hanukkaiah (a menorah used only for Hanukkah), but you may wish to bring light into the darkness by utilizing your Advent wreath! I thought it might be interesting to understand a tradition of our Hebrew cousins and begin by witnessing the lighting of the candles for Hanukkah. The following prayer is used each night:

Barukh ata adonai Eloheinu melekh ha'olam asher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu l'hadlik neir shel Hanukkah.

(Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe who has sanctified us with God's commandments, and has commanded us to light Hanukkah candles.)

Barukh ata adonai Eloheinu melekh ha'olam she'asah nissim la'avoteinu bayamim hahem bazman ha'zeh.

(Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe who performed miracles for our ancestors in those days at this time.)

To hear what the Hanukkah prayers sound like, the name of the central candle and the order in which the candles are added or lit, go to www.beliefnet.com and click on the small box on the right (picture of a woman and her two children) marked Hanukkah.

Shalom, my friends!