Closing Message - Rav Steven
View video version here.
It’s hard to put into words what I feel when I sing Maoz Tzur each night of Hanukkah: some sense of spirit and warmth, family and community, and the presence of God. In my mind’s eye, I can journey to every prior year of Hanukkah and see myself and those around me lighting the lights, and being bathed in their glow.
This year I've been thinking about the first line: ma’oz tzur yeshuati, lekha naeh leshabeah – my stronghold, rock of my salvation, how fitting it is to sing praises to You.
On what is this first poetic line, composed in the Middle Ages, based?
I've been wondering whether in some sense it's a rephrasing of the line from the beginning of the Song at the Sea, one of the greatest spontaneous expressions of songful response to deliverance, and one of my other favorite songs: ozi v’zimrat Yah, vayhi li liyshuah.
- ozi - God is my strength, is expressed in the first word: maoz
- v’zimrat Yah - and God is my song, and therefore fitting to sing praise to, is expressed by the end of the first line: lekha naeh leshabeah
- vayhi li liyshuah - God has become for me a salvation, is expressed in the middle of the line: tzur yeshuati
Each of the aspects of this line of spontaneous singing out to a God of strength and salvation on the banks of the Yam Suf is rephrased in Maoz Tzur, a song which itself sings of the Exodus from Egypt and all God’s great subsequent deliverances in each stanza.
This opening line, then, expresses the recognition that the strength and power of God and God's deliverance in our lives is both appreciated and deepened through song.
Song connects us to centuries and millenia of our relationship with a strong and delivering God. Song connects us with each other and our relationship with God. Song is a cornerstone of our spiritual lives –
And there's hardly a holiday with more songs, ancient and contemporary, than Hanukkah. We sing Hallel every single day, and every generation creates its new Hanukkah song - and I encourage you to listen to Rav Avi’s beautiful new Al Hanissim - a new Hanukkah song for this moment.
In the dead of winter, in a time of darkness, as we light the lights, may we feel the power of song in our relationship with God and may we utilize it to feel the strength of God and God's deliverance in our lives. May it be a Hanukkah filled with song.
Reminder to all to take good care of ourselves and each other. Try to do something specific today that strengthens you, and something else that strengthens someone else.
