To understand more about how JSP uses this source sheet, see The Jewish Studio Project's Approach to Text Study.
Often at Chanukah we focus on bringing light to the darkness. Yet, what beauty, gifts and magic might there be in the dark itself?
(כ) תָּֽשֶׁת־חֹ֭שֶׁךְ וִ֣יהִי לָ֑יְלָה בּוֹ־תִ֝רְמֹ֗שׂ כׇּל־חַיְתוֹ־יָֽעַר׃
(20) You bring on darkness and it is night, when all the living creatures of the forests stir.
חַי - living creature -- other definitions1: Animal; Life; Appetite; Revival; Renewal
Madalina Petre, “Nocturnal Animals List: what stays awake at night?”2
Seventy percent of animals are nocturnal. Nighttime animals have extraordinary skills. This includes enhanced sight, hearing, and even smell.
Questions for reflection or discussion:
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What do these texts evoke for you?
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What are the characteristics of darkness? How might darkness be generative?
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If read metaphorically as a teaching about creativity, what might these texts have to say?
...הָֽעֲרָפֶ֔ל אֲשֶׁר־שָׁ֖ם הָאֱלֹהִֽים׃ {ס}
…the thick darkness, where God was.
Question:
- What does it evoke to imagine God as existing or dwelling in the darkness?
John O’Donohue3, “For Light” (excerpt)
Light cannot see inside things.
That is what the dark is for:
Minding the interior,
Nurturing the draw of growth
Through places where death
In its own way turns into life.
Question:
- What does this text add to our exploration of the divinity in darkness?
1 Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon
2 https://outforia.com/nocturnal-animals-list/
3 John O'Donohue 1956 – 2008) was an Irish poet, author, priest, and Hegelian philosopher.