A return light: a divine design

This year our lunisolar calendar places the start of Hanukhah on Christmas Day. As Rabbi Mark Wildes of New York told The Jerusalem Post: “The Jewish calendar carries the spiritual weight, with spiritual landmarks along the way. The Gregorian calendar carries more of a Christian or Roman tradition, and so for Jews it simply does not contain the same spiritual significance.” However, both holy days celebrate the return of light after a time of darkness. Hanukkah is also a holiday in which we, like the ancient Jews sanctifying the temple, rededicate ourselves to living by our values.

With Israel in tsuris, we are struggling this December to find the true focus of Hanukkah both publicly and privately. I was born in December, and my symbol on ancient mythologies is Sagittarius, a centaur aiming an arrow. He represents a learned healer whose higher intelligence forms a bridge between Earth and Heaven. Sagittarius is said never to fail in hitting the mark and this alludes to the power of prophecy for those born under this sign. Like the motto of our ocean state, in these dark days leading up to our festival of light, I would like to prophesy the promise of “Hope” ahead.

I have a friend who became a local celebrity. You may recall (if you still subscribe to the Providence. Journal) the man who tamed, or rather befriended, a crow, a raven, and a jaybird, and then built an Ark so they could share their lives together. Their hand-built homestead, which avoided taxes, attracted quite a crowd of visitors as it welcomed long lines of them on both sides of the Seekonk River. Perhaps my pal Zach was a latter day Noah, but eventually he burnt his Ark though he did not abandon at least one of his feathered friends.

Indeed, Zach believes that the crow may have played a major role in the formation of our human species. Professor John Marzluff of the University of Washington has long been fascinated by the amazing feats of crows and ravens and has wondered about the ways in which they have adapted and evolved in their ongoing cohabitation with humans. (https://www.washington.edu/alumni/partnerships/cfr/201104/crows.html)

It seems that the term “bird-brain” is all wrong, and we may have learned because we were guided by the feathered creatures with the outsized brains. Zach came from a farm background and closely observed the intelligence of wildlife as indeed did Professor Marzluff.

My theme for this month of dark days is for us to focus on our menorahs for eight days, since they pledge allegiance to the belief that there is indeed a divine design. We hope that light will return and Israel, the lantern unto the nations, will succeed and shine. For this kind of faith I thank Zachary who believes, as I do, that every living soul has its role to play and its spiritual meaning for us to study. We must respect and regard the rights of all souls to share our planet, before it is too late!

It was a bonus to discover that Zachary is indeed Jewish....on his mother’s side. So, to sum up, L’Chaim!!

MIKE FINK (mfink33@aol.com) is a professor emeritus at the Rhode Island School of Design.