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I have a passion about explaining the ways that so many Ḥanukkah songs miss the theological and spiritual and moral mark. This is a new version of the popular Ḥanukkah song, Banu Ḥoshekh. (The original by Sara Levi-Tanai can be found here.) Our new version does two things: 1) it avoids the association of darkness and blackness (shḥor) with evil and harm, which in our society gets tangled up with white supremacy, and 2) honors the darkness as something precious that we need, especially in our time of light pollution when so much of the time, so many people can’t even see the stars.
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| Source (Hebrew) | Transliteration (English) | Translation (English) |
|---|---|---|
Alternative lyrics by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid.org 2018-2021) | ||
בָּאנוּ חׇשֵׁךְ לְקַדֵּשׁ קוֹדֶם שֶׁמֶשׁ תִּתְחַדֵּשׁ בְּיָדֵינוּ אוֹר וְנֵר לֵיל כַּשַּׂלְמָה לְפָאֵר |
Banu choshech l’kadesh Kodem shemesh titchadesh B’yadeinu or v’ner Leil kasalmah l’fa’er |
We come to sanctify the dark Afore the sun renews its light In our hands, may light and flame Bejewel, as tapestry of night |
נִשְׁתֳּלֶנּוּ גַּרְעִין אֵשׁ בַּד הַחוֹשֶׁךְ מְלַפֵּף גַּרְעִינִים שֶׁל אֵשׁ וָאוֹר בּוֹהֲקִים מִתּוֹךְ הַשְׁחוֹר |
Nish’talenu gar’in esh Bad hachoshekh m’lapef Gar’inim shel esh va-or Bohakim mitokh hash’chor |
We will plant our fire’s seed In weave of darkness nestling Seeds of fire and of light Radiant within the night[1] This stanza was provided on the first say of Hanukkah 5782/2021 writing, “I tweaked that song for this year, combining my lyrics with Rabbi Jill Hammer’s chorus, which I think makes the whole thing even more beautiful. Here is transliteration, Hebrew, and translation. You can download a sheet with four copies of the song that can be divided into four p’takim here. |
גַּרְעִינִים שֶׁל אֵשׁ וָאוֹר בּוֹהֲקִים מִתּוֹךְ הַשְׁחוֹר קוּמָה חוֹשֶׁךְ עֲלֵה שְחוֹר קוּמָה לִקְרַאת הָאוֹר |
Gar’inim shel esh va-or Bohakim mitokh hashchor Kumah choshekh, Aleh sh’chor Kumah, likrat ha-or! |
We come to sanctify the dark Before the sun renews its light In our hands, may light and flame Bejewel the tapestry of night |
Alternative lyrics (lightly amended), ver. 1.0, by Rabbi Jill Hammer & David Seidenberg (neohasid.org) | ||
בָּאנוּ חוֹשֶׁךְ לְקַדֵּשׁ בְּיָדֵינוּ אוֹר וָאֵשׁ כָּל אֶחָד הוּא אוֹר קָטָן וְכֻלָנוּ אוֹר אֵיתָן |
Banu choshekh l’kadesh B’yadeinu or va’esh Kol echad hu or katan V’khulanu or eitan |
We’ve come to sanctify the dark, in our hands a little spark Each of us a tiny light, and together we’re so bright. |
קוּמָה חוֹשֶׁךְ עֲלֵה שְחוֹר קוּמָה לִקְרַאת הָאוֹר |
Kumah choshekh Aleh sh’chor Kumah, likrat ha-or! |
Come up darkness, rise up night, Come up, to greet the light! (2x) |
These are alternative lyrics to the popular Ḥanukkah song, Banu Ḥoshekh L’Garesh (We come to chase the dark away) by Sara Levi-Tanai (1960).
Recordings
Notes
| 1 | This stanza was provided on the first say of Hanukkah 5782/2021 writing, “I tweaked that song for this year, combining my lyrics with Rabbi Jill Hammer’s chorus, which I think makes the whole thing even more beautiful. Here is transliteration, Hebrew, and translation. You can download a sheet with four copies of the song that can be divided into four p’takim here. |
|---|
“בָּאנוּ חׇשֵׁךְ לְקַדֵּשׁ | Banu Ḥoshekh l’Ḳadesh (We come to sanctify the dark), by rabbis David Seidenberg and Jill Hammer” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.
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“Nature Dark Landscape Night Star Stargazing” (credit: unknown, license CC0)
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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17
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