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The story of Chanukah revolves around two main points: The success of a small Jewish army over a large Assyrian one in a fight for religious freedom or, maybe more accurately, against assimilation and the miracle of the sole jar of oil found in the temple that burned not for one day in as expected but for eight during the rededication of the Jewish Temple, which was defiled by the Assyrians.
Thus, the special eight-branched menorah, or chanukiah, provides the primary symbol of Chanukah. While most Jews today light candles in their chanukiah, it's more traditional to use oil in memory of that small, miraculous jar of oil. Either way, the flame itself holds special meaning, and the Kabbalists, or Jewish mystics, had a special practice of candle gazing that can be especially powerful during this holiday, which is said to hold the energy of miracles. So, today, I'd like to share some information about candle gazing and candle light.
In fact, last year I was scheduled to give a talk at a New Thought church during the month of December. I asked the participants of a Jewish renewal list serve to share with me their thoughts and wisdom on the subject of "light," so I could construct a speech that would be relevant to both Jews and Christians alike. Someone shared this information with me, and I'm doing the same in the spirit of "each one teach one." I personally love this information, and I needed a review myself so I could take the most advantage of the candle light or light from my one oil chanukiah this year! I hope you'll find it "enlightening" and useful.
A flame has three parts:
1. The inner part of the flame that hugs the wick and consumes the oil is the chashmal, the black or dark blue part of the flame. It represents the physical world, because of its physicality, its action of burning, transmuting and consuming the oil or the wick.
2. The main body of the flame is the aish or fire. It provides the principle source of light to the word around the candle; as such it is the spiritual element of the candle. It represents the Light of God. In Kabbalistic terms, we God created the world the Infinite One had to first create a space - a void - for something else to exist. In this void, creation happened. A light - Divine Light - was sent into the void to create the world as we know it. In many traditions, God is equated with Light.
3. The third part is called the nogha, the brightness surrounding the flame. This constitutes the subtle halo or aura around the rim of the flame. Sometimes we must adjust our eyes to see the nogha. In fact, stop for a minute and think about the Shabbat candle-lighting ritual: Jewish women cover their eyes after lighting the Shabbat candles supposedly because the blessings are usually said before an action, but you can't do that in the case of lighting Shabbat candles; we can't work after Shabbat begins and lighting candles represents work. However, there's another reason women cover their eye while saying the blessing: After they open their eyes, their pupils dilate, and it becomes easier to see the nogha surrounding the flame.
So, why do we want to see the nogha? Because while the chashmal turns the physicality of the oil or wick into the spirituality of the aish or fire, the nogha moves the flame into the realm of pure potentiality. The nogha represents the future of the flame, the new height it aspires to be.
By looking at the chasmal and then at the aish, we move from physicality to spirituality, from physical being to soul level. When we then look from aish to nogha we move from soul level to the real of pure potentiality. When we gaze at the nogha we are looking at the place where miracles are created.
Interestingly, the nogha corresponds with the name for God given to Moses at the Burning Bush - the unpronounceable name Yud Hey Vav Hey, which means I will be what I will be or I am becoming what I am becoming. This is the level of potential. The nogha taps into the energy of that which has not yet come into existence but will be born.
I've been told that we can access the energy of miracles during Chanukah. Maybe this is how...by tapping into the energy of the nogha, by accessing the place of pure
