Hearing the sweet sounds of peace

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This article was published 09/12/2017 (2869 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One of the highlights of the Winnipeg Folk Festival was a resounding chorus of Light One Candle, led by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary fame.

In the more than 35 years since Yarrow wrote the song, it has become a Hanukkah staple. At the same time, the song also has become a clarion call to social action.

Light One Candle was first performed during a Peter, Paul and Mary Christmas Hanukkah concert at New York City’s Carnegie Hall in 1982. The song, Yarrow explained, was partly an exploration of his own Jewish heritage, partly a response to the 1982 Israel-Lebanon War, and mainly a reminder to listeners to speak up for peace.

The Maccabees referenced in the song were the heroes of the Hanukkah story. According to legend, when second-century Seleucid Emperor Antiochus Epiphanes IV outlawed Jewish religious practice and desecrated the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, the Maccabees, a ragtag band of rebels living in ancient Israel, rose up against him and his powerful armies.

After a hard-fought battle, the Maccabees managed to liberate the Holy Temple, rededicate it and relight the eternal flame of the sacred menorah, intended to convey God’s presence among his people. Although they found only enough oil to light it for one day, the oil and the light lasted eight days.

That is why today, more than 2,000 years later, Jewish people worldwide celebrate the festival of Hanukkah — whose name means dedication in Hebrew — and light the Hanukkah menorah for eight consecutive days.

The menorah candles serve as a reminder of faith and the struggle for freedom, and as Yarrow reminds us in his iconic song, of the need to be ever vigilant against intolerance and always pursue justice for all.

This year, Hanukkah begins the evening of Dec. 12, corresponding to the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev. While most candle-lighting takes place in the privacy of one’s home, it has become increasingly common for Jewish communities to organize public candle-lighting ceremonies. Locally, there will be a ceremony at city hall and a giant menorah on the grounds of the Manitoba Legislative Building.

As Yarrow sang, “Light one candle for those who are suffering

“The pain that we learned long ago… Don’t let the light go out!”

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