Tishrei 5773 began at sundown on November 14, 2012.

I know, we’re just starting the month — not even Thanksgiving and I’m about to talk about Hanukkah. What? Well, the whole month of Tishrei is a month that allows us to make Hanukkah into something that is actually meaningful — and even important.

Hanukkah is important. That’s right. I’m saying it.Hanukkah is important. It’s not just a “me too” holiday of modern American/Western Jewry so we don’t feel bad that we don’t get Christmas. The proximity and importance of Christmas is a factor in why it is important today, but not the only reason. I wrote about why Hanukkah is important last year, and that’s not really what this is about. But to move forward with the rest of this post, we all need to just accept that Hanukkah is important.

All on the same page? Great! Moving on.

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