Candle 8: Machloket L’shem Shamayim

By Rabbi David Jaffe

J Street’s Hanukkah Kavanot > Candle 8: Machloket L’shem Shamayim

Night 1: Print and use our 'action dreidel'

Our action dreidel (better known as a fortune teller or in some areas a cootie catcher) is a fun way to prompt conversations, reflects and action throughout hanukkah.

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Night 2: A Georgia miracle?

J Street is all-in on the Georgia runoffs, and we have a number of ways J Street members can help support Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.

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Night 3: Help illuminate your community with J Street programming

If you belong to a synagogue, contact your rabbi or the head of the programming committee about bringing in a J Street speaker for a panel or presentation on the conflict and peacemaking efforts. Your J Street regional director can provide more information.

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Night 4: Speaking of gifting...

This is a season for gifting, and gifts from J Street's store make great gifts for the activists on your list. You can also make a gift in someone's honor and we'll notify them of your generous donation.

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Night 5: Invite others to find their inner hero

The J Street National Conference is a place where we here from a number of inspiring leaders and heroic activists. It's also a place where participants can learn how to become leaders in their communities and drive meaningful change. Tonight we encourage you to invite 3 people to the conference (and register if you haven't!)

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Night 6: Issues that will require our dedication in the year ahead

In the final days of the Trump administration, PM Netanyahu is moving forward with construction in Givat Hamatos, a move which would severely damage prospects for renewed diplomacy toward a two-state solution. Blocking this act in 2021 will be an important part of our work.

Learn more about this upcoming fight

Night 7: Draw inspiration from the Women in Black

In 2000, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which calls for meaningful participation of women in peace and security decision making, and is binding for all UN Member States. In Israel, while not yet robustly represented at the negotiation table, Israeli and Palestinian women have spearheaded anti-occupation and peace work. Read up on the Women in Black fighting the occupation since 1988.

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Night 8: Learn from multiple sources and perspectives

Keeping with this evening's kavanot, we invite you to keep an open mind and consume information from a diverse array of sources. Each morning, we try to promote an open conversation, while informing our supporters, through our news roundup email. Consider signing up, or follow us on Twitter where we link to each day's roundup.

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How we disagree can have major implications for the health of a society. The recent presidential election demonstrated what a threat it is to the institutions of democracy when an incumbent president and their enablers make raw power the bottom line, and the most important value in political dispute. Our ancient rabbis understood this well when they wrote, “Every dispute that is for the sake of Heaven, will in the end endure; But one that is not for the sake of Heaven, will not endure.

Which is the controversy that is for the sake of Heaven? Such was the controversy of Hillel and Shammai. And which is the controversy that is not for the sake of Heaven? Such was the controversy of Korah and all his congregation.

The great sages Hillel and Shammai were bitter ideological opponents who argued to discover truth. They made their best arguments and at the end of the day accepted, with humility, the outcome of the votes of the sages. Korach was jealous of Moses’ power and simply wanted that power for himself. Our sages warn us that those who engage in arguments just for the sake of power will not endure. We can expand this to include communities that make raw power the supreme value in their disputes.

Eight nights, eight ways to deepen your involvement, awareness and impact

For each night of Hanukkah, we have a recommended activity — a way to learn more about the issues, get more involved in J Street or help drive change. You can do all eight in order, switch them up, or pick and choose what’s most meaningful to you.

Night 1: Print and use our ‘action dreidel’

Night 2: A Georgia miracle?

Night 3: Help illuminate your community with J Street programming

Night 4: Speaking of gifting…

Night 5: Invite others to find their inner hero

Night 6: Issues that will require our dedication in the year ahead

Night 7: Draw inspiration from the Women in Black

Night 8: Learn from multiple sources and perspectives

We must use power — through organizing money and people — to achieve victories for a higher purpose and not just for power’s sake. This subtle difference applies to how we engage in disputes about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as much as it does to US politics. President-elect Biden reflected this idea in his victory speech: “Our opponents are not our enemies.” We should shudder at the relevance of this warning to our current political environment, but also be encouraged by the model of Hillel and Shammai that we are heirs to a long Jewish tradition of principled disagreement that is needed now more than ever.

In a machloket l’shem shamayim, we engage with our ideological opponents with the trust that they, too, are trying to find the best solution to our common challenges. We may vehemently disagree, but we accept that our ends are ultimately the same.

Rabbi David Jaffe leads the Inside Out Wisdom and Action Project and is the author of the National Jewish Book Award-winning Changing the World from the Inside Out: A Jewish Approach to Personal and Social Change.