![the Open Siddur Project [logo]](https://opensiddur.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Open-Siddur-Project-Logo-2016.svg){kind=logo}
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.
| 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.
Stable Link:
https://opensiddur.org/?p=22916
Associated Image:
“Nature Dark Landscape Night Star Stargazing” (credit: unknown, license CC0)
(This image is set to automatically show as the "featured image" in shared links on social media.)
Terms of Use:
Be a mentsch (a conscientious, considerate person) and adhere to the following guidelines:
- Properly attribute the work to David Seidenberg, Rabbi Jill Hammer, Ph.D. and Neohasid·org.
- Clearly indicate the date you accessed the work and in what ways, if any, you modified it. (If you have adapted the work, let us know so that the contributor might consider endorsing your revision.)
- Provide the stable link to this resource: <https://opensiddur.org/?p=22916>.
- Indicate that the original work was shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license. (To redistribute or remix this work in any format, modified or unmodified, you must refer to the terms of the license under which the work is shared.)
Additional Notes:
- The views expressed in this work represent the views of their creator(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Open Siddur Project's developers, its diverse community of volunteer contributors, or its institutional partners.
- We strongly advise against printing sacred texts and art containing divine names as these copies must be regarded with reverence, complicating their casual treatment and disposal.
- If you must dispose of a printed sacred text (one containing Divine Names), please locate the closest genizah (often established by a synagogue) and contact its custodians for further instructions. We also recommend using Morah Yehudis Fishman's Prayer for Adding a Work to the Genizah.
Support this work:
The Open Siddur Project is a volunteer-driven, non-profit, non-commercial, non-denominational, non-prescriptive, gratis & libre Open Access archive of contemplative praxes, liturgical readings, and Jewish prayer literature (historic and contemporary, familiar and obscure) composed in every era, region, and language Jews have ever prayed. Our goal is to provide a platform for sharing open-source resources, tools, and content for individuals and communities crafting their own prayerbook (siddur). Through this we hope to empower personal autonomy, preserve customs, and foster creativity in religious culture.
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
Leave a Reply