The month of Kislev is another signpost along the journey of our spiritual lives. One of things we can learn about Kislev from the Talmud by Rabbi Eliezer teaches the Flood during the days of Noah began in Cheshvan and ended in Kislev (Rosh Hashanah 11b). This view connects the Flood of Noah with Chanukah that begins on 25 Kislev. The Rainbow, the sign of the covenant after the flood and the Archers Bow, the astrological symbol for Kislev, share the same Hebrew word, keshet. Just as a recap, Kislev from the Lunar Calendar tends to fall in and around the month of December that is based on the Roman calendar that is the ancestor of our modern calendar. Kislev and December therefore have the same astrological symbol of the Archers Bow, for the sign of Sagittarius, which is why the Bow is also connected to Kislev and by default Chanukah.
All this to say, or better ask, what then is the relationship between the
Rainbow (keshet) and the Archers Bow
(keshet) and what does it
have to do with Kislev and Chanukah?
It has been observed that the Rainbow can be viewed as an inverted Archers Bow. In this case because the ends of the rainbow
point down and its arch is at the top it can furthermore be seen as a
peaceful gesture between Heaven and Earth.
This was and how warriors showed their peaceful intentions; they
inverted their bows as they approached others. In this case, the inverted bow
of the Rainbow had the purpose to reflect the peaceful light of God into the
world. We read in Pirkei Avot 5:8 that 10 things were created on the eve of the
Shabbat, one of those being the Rainbow (keshet), meaning that a more intense light filled the day
of the Shabbat when our sense of self awareness is more keen. The bow shaped Rainbow per the words of Rabbi
Zvi Ryzman unites the material and the spiritual, “the [physical] rainbow
inspires a person to [spiritually] cleanse one-self or [any] inner turbid
worldliness and to reveal the Divine light hidden within the soul.”
What about Kislev and Chanukah? Here
we can learn that the Rainbow and Archers Bow can create a synthesis between
light and dark as well as between good and evil. In the parsha this week (Toledot) we read that Isaac dug three Wells for water, the first
two were objects of contention and strife with the indigenous people of the
land whereas the third Well invited openness and unity. Rabbi Yehuda Lieb in his Sefer Emet
commentary teaches that the first two wells represent the contention and strife
that goes along with our normal weekday activities and encounters while the
third well is open to all who want to drink in the peace of Shabbat. The story
of the Wells reminds us that life with its up’s and down’s and the good and bad
walks in the same places where we also find the paths of refreshment and rededication.
The energy of the Shabbat day that
carries into the rest of week is just like the meaning of Chanukah, rededication,
which is observed in the month of Kislev but carries on throughout the year.
Kislev reminds us then of the following. Chanukah, the festival of redetection during Kislev is attached to an event in history, but like with the Rainbow and Archers Bow, we are further reminded that redetection is a part of the peacefulness of the spiritual world that imbues to us a daily inner light of awareness. Welcome to Kislev where the signpost reads, "rededication is daily to our higher values and better ways.".
Shabbat Shalom and Chodesh Tov!
