The Green Menorah Covenant
Title
The Green Menorah Covenant
Creator
Innovations in Jewish Life Collections
Date
2023
Contributor
Gregg Drinkwater, Hilary Kalisman, Samira Mehta, Maggie Rosenau
Rights
This item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. In addition, no permission is required from the rights-holder(s) for educational uses. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Format
Portable Document Format
Language
English
Text
In the early 2010s, Rabbi Waskow and The Shalom Center began a “Green Menorah” campaign drawing on a vision from the Prophet Zechariah about a mystical and living Great Menorah in a future redeemed world, which Waskow called the “Green Menorah.”
Waskow linked this vision to the story of Hanukkah. Hanukkah commemorates the Maccabean Revolt and the retaking of Jerusalem and its Temple from the Greeks. In the story, the Temple had been desecrated by the Greeks. After taking Jerusalem, the Maccabees rededicate the Temple’s Great Menorah, but they have only a single vessel of consecrated oil –only enough for the menorah to be lit for one night. But the oil miraculously lasts eight nights. Today, Jews light personal Hanukkah menorahs for eight festive nights in commemoration.
In the Green Menorah campaign, Waskow urged those observing the holiday to see “it as the time for recommitment to protect, heal, and rededicate the Temple of the Earth as anciently the Temple in Jerusalem was rededicated at this time of year.” The symbol of a green menorah “symbolizes a Jewish commitment to renew the miracle of Hanukkah in our own generation: Using one day's oil to meet eight days' needs: doing our part so that…US oil consumption is cut by seven-eighths.” If the Maccabees stretched a single day’s worth of oil for eight nights through divine intervention, in this contemporary reframing, Waskow calls on humanity to proactively reduce its use of oil and other fossil fuels for the sake of the planet.
The Shalom Center expanded the Green Menorah Campaign beyond Hanukkah, naming it the Green Menorah Covenant. In Judaism, the idea of covenant suggests a two-way relationship between humans and the Divine in which the Jewish people (and ultimately humanity) plays a role in maintaining and perfecting the world.
In the Green Menorah, Waskow turned to texts from the Prophet Zechariah intentionally to expand the reach of the Green Menorah Covenant’s work beyond the Jewish community, since Muslims and Christians also related to Zechariah as a prophet.
Waskow linked this vision to the story of Hanukkah. Hanukkah commemorates the Maccabean Revolt and the retaking of Jerusalem and its Temple from the Greeks. In the story, the Temple had been desecrated by the Greeks. After taking Jerusalem, the Maccabees rededicate the Temple’s Great Menorah, but they have only a single vessel of consecrated oil –only enough for the menorah to be lit for one night. But the oil miraculously lasts eight nights. Today, Jews light personal Hanukkah menorahs for eight festive nights in commemoration.
In the Green Menorah campaign, Waskow urged those observing the holiday to see “it as the time for recommitment to protect, heal, and rededicate the Temple of the Earth as anciently the Temple in Jerusalem was rededicated at this time of year.” The symbol of a green menorah “symbolizes a Jewish commitment to renew the miracle of Hanukkah in our own generation: Using one day's oil to meet eight days' needs: doing our part so that…US oil consumption is cut by seven-eighths.” If the Maccabees stretched a single day’s worth of oil for eight nights through divine intervention, in this contemporary reframing, Waskow calls on humanity to proactively reduce its use of oil and other fossil fuels for the sake of the planet.
The Shalom Center expanded the Green Menorah Campaign beyond Hanukkah, naming it the Green Menorah Covenant. In Judaism, the idea of covenant suggests a two-way relationship between humans and the Divine in which the Jewish people (and ultimately humanity) plays a role in maintaining and perfecting the world.
In the Green Menorah, Waskow turned to texts from the Prophet Zechariah intentionally to expand the reach of the Green Menorah Covenant’s work beyond the Jewish community, since Muslims and Christians also related to Zechariah as a prophet.
Files
Citation
Innovations in Jewish Life Collections, “The Green Menorah Covenant,” IJL Digital Exhibits, accessed May 3, 2024, https://embodiedjudaism.omeka.net/items/show/141.