Inside Outside Lights

It is a mitzvah to place the Hanukkah lamp at the door frame close to the public, so that the mezuzah will be at the right hand side, and the Hanukkah lamp on the left….

(Masechet Soferim 20:3)

How is the mezuzah like the Hanukkah lamp?

We place the Hanukkah lamp inside the windows of our homes to publicize the eight day miracle to the outside world. The mezuzah is placed on the doorposts of our own homes to remind us to bring back the light from the outside.

Both the Hanukkah lamp and the mezuzah suggest that we all live between these two worlds: the inner sanctuary of our home and the public space of our work and our society. During the holiday of Hanukkah, the rabbis admonish us to bring the inside lights of the home into the outside lights of our contemporary world.

This Hanukkah share the light between these two worlds so that they increase the love and joy in each corner of our lives.

Chag Sameach,

Rabbi Tamara Miller

This year we light the first light of Hannukah at sundown on December 24.