This year was the first time we celebrated the whole week of Chanukkah in Tsfat.

This Holiday is very different here from Purim, in that it has a quiet and inner quality, even though full of joy and sharing. It was a rainy week, full of fog, which added to the inwardness and contemplative spirit of Chanukkah. 

On the eighth day of Chanukkah the fog and rain dissipated, and the sunlight poured through the opening in the clouds. It seemed as if the weather was following the pattern of the Holiday with eighth day called “Zot Chanukkah” – the eighth day representing the culmination of all the light and spirituality of all seven previous days.  On the eighth day the clarity of perception that one seeks on the first7 days of Channukah, suddenly becomes available.

After we lit our candles in the evening we went for a walk around the town. There were many menorah lit outside the houses all through the town, in  a 2000 year old  tradition of the Jewish people, and the night was full of soft vibrating light, peacefulness and warmth. Everywhere we went we met friends, wishing us happy Chanukkah. When we came back, our candles were still burning, and looking at them we felt connected to Maccabees, and even before that – to Aharon HaCohen, lighting the Menorah to affirm truth, goodness and G-dliness.