Ganden Ngam cho
The name, Ganden Ngam cho, means “festival of light”, is celebrated in memory of Tsong Khapa,[32] founder of Gelukpa sect who attained complete salvation and internal immortality. This festival of light celebrates the birth, death, and entry to nirvana[33] of Tsong Khapa.
During the festival, thousands of butter lamps (dishes of liquid clarified butter called ghee, with wicks floating in them) are lit on the roofs and window sills of homes and on temple altars. At this time people seek spiritual merit by visiting the temples.
Originally Ganden Ngamcho was celebrated to honor the Buddha, pleasing the deities, driving out demons, and having fun.
As we mentioned earlier, Ganden Ngam cho, always falls on the first night of Chanukah. On the Tibetan calendar it occurs on the twenty-fifth day of the tenth month, which is consistent with the allusion to twenty-five and the tenth month.
Ganden is the Tibetan name for the paradise of the Buddha of the future. This name therefore suggests the salutary wish that Ganden monastery would become a route to the world’s salvation.
Gambling
There is a tradition of gambling on Diwali. Hindu beliefs hold that the Goddess Parvati played dice against her husband Lord Shiva, declaring “whosoever gambled on Diwali night would prosper throughout the following year”.
There is a tradition of gambling on Chanukah. We use the dreidle (a four sided top) with its four Hebrew letters to determine the outcome. This was one of the device that Our Sages used to study the Torah at a time when it was forbidden. They would study Torah till the soldiers came, then they would hide their books and play dreidle. Thus they were able to use gambling as a method of studying Torah.
The New Moon
Chanukah is the only Jewish festival that occurs during two separate months, from the twenty-fifth of Kislev[34] till the first or second of Tevet.[35]
The twelve days, and the eight days, of Christmas both span the months of December and January.
Diwali spans the lunar months of Asvina and Karttika, with the main celebration taking place on the new moon.
Household Celebrations
Chanukah is a festival which is normally celebrated only at home. In the Ashkenazi tradition, every member of the family lights his own Chanukiah. In the Sephardi tradition, only the head of the household lights a Chanukiah. The Chanukiah is placed, outside the house, on the left side, as you enter the home, opposite the mezuzah.
Christmas is a family festival celebrated around a Christmas tree in the home. Family members exchange presents and enjoy a festival meal together. The lights on the Christmas tree are lit and the lights on their homes are also lit. Many neighborhoods compete to see who can have the most spectacular display of lights on their homes and in their yards. In fact, other than the gift giving, the lights on the tree and house are the primary manifestations of this Christian festival of lights.
Diwali is essentially a festival for householders. The preparations, rituals, and the entire celebration focuses on the home and family, spanning out to cover the community as a natural extension.
Ganden Ngam cho is also primarily celebrated at home, though they also light lamps in their temples.
Now that we understand the various religious celebrations that are associated with the festival of lights, lets look deeper at the real reasons why folks celebrate these festivals.
Origin of the Festival of Lights
There is a deep mystical reason why nearly every major culture celebrates a festival of lights. In addition to continuing the tradition started by Adam, this festival has its roots in the Torah, in Bereshit (Genesis), the first book of the Torah.
In Bereshit, the twenty-fifth Hebrew word of the Torah is אור - Ohr, light.
Bereshit (Genesis) 1:3 And God said, Let there be light (yehi Ohr - אור): and there was light.
In Bereshit 1:3, the Hebrew is Yehi Ohr -אור יהי, Let there be light! The gematria of yehi is twenty-five, and therefore, on another level the pasuk can be read: Twenty-five is the light. No wonder the Mishkan, the tabernacle in the wilderness, was completed on the 25th day of Kislev, 2449. No wonder aiyekah can also be read, aiyeh KOH, "Where is twenty-five?" or that there are twenty-five letters in the Shema.
There was a creation of some kind of light on the first day of creation that was altogether different from the light of the sun and the moon that was created on the fourth day. The question is just exactly what was this “light” before light?[36]
Bereshit (Genesis) 1:14-16 God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of heaven to separate between the day and the night. ‘And God made two great lights, the greater light for dominion in the day, and the lesser light for dominion at night, as well as the stars.
In Kabbalah, the epiphany of creation is termed Ohr aiyn sof, which means “the appearance of HaShem’s light.” The instant of creation is the birth of relationship, and this birth is expressed by the word “light”. The expression and manifestation of G-d in creation is called “light”.
The Shema, "Hear O Israel, HaShem our Lord, HaShem is One",[37] is the ultimate Jewish statement of what life is all about. Life is about the potential relationship with echad, with HaShem. It has been observed that the Shema contains twenty-five letters, and it just happens that the word “light” is the twenty-fifth word in the Torah. Bear in mind that “light” was also created on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Elul, and the holiday of Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, begins on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Kislev.
The number twenty-five, it turns out, is a very significant number. As a rule, where you find allusions to twenty-five in the Torah, you also find HaShem and “light”.
The Talmudic tradition regarding the original light is that its presence in the world was short-lived. In fact, the Talmud tells us that the light was apparent within creation for just thirty-six hours, and then it was hidden. The question, of course, is why was the light hidden? And the answer is that in hiding the light, HaShem was creating a cosmic framework for the fundamental dynamic of man’s existence; it’s called hide-and-seek.
HaShem’s light was hidden just enough to make it not overwhelmingly apparent. As a result, man would not be irresistibly drawn to the light. It was this hiding of the light, therefore, that set the stage for Adam, the first human being.
Bereshit (Genesis) 3:8-9 And they [Adam and Eve] heard the voice of God manifesting itself throughout the garden, at the approach of evening, and the man and his wife hid from God, amongst the trees of the garden. And God called out to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you[ayekah]?’
Is it possible that HaShem didn't know where Adam was? Clearly not. Rather, within these words lies a hint to another message. According to our Sages, the Hebrew word used to express “where are you?”, ayekah, is a highly unusual word, so unusual, in fact, that it is actually an allusion to the hidden “light”.
Consider the following and remember, the original light was manifest for just thirty-six hours before being hidden.
Midrash Zuta, Eichah 1:1 Rabbi Shimon the son of Pazi said, ‘The numerical value of ayekah [“where are you”] is thirty-six.’
And further:
“The word light appears thirty-six times in the Torah.”[38]
When HaShem called out to Adam and said, “ayekah, where are you?” what He was actually doing was pointing out to Adam the consequences of his action. The deeper meaning of ayekah is, “Where is the light?”[39] HaShem was telling Adam that he had allowed an enormous opportunity to slip through his fingers.
“Adam”, HaShem was saying, “you had a chance, by virtue of your free will, to reveal the hidden light, and you missed your chance. Adam, when I hid the light I was creating the potential for a fully genuine relationship, a relationship that wouldn’t be imposed but would be freely embraced. Adam, in hiding the light, I actually gave you the possibility for closeness, and instead, you created distance. Adam, you could have revealed the light, but now, Adam, ayekah! Where is the light!
And so the light remained hidden, hidden, but not extinguished.
As a result of Adam's failure, the light remained hidden, and it would take another two millennia before someone would arise with the potential to reveal it. That person was Avraham, and Avraham was a man who was more than enlightened, he was light itself.
Bereshit (Genesis) 1:2-3 The earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the surface of the depths… and God said, ‘Let there be light’.
Maharal, Gevurot 5:34 Avraham is the light. The generations preceding Avraham were unformed and darkness, and Avraham was the light of existence.
And of course, Avraham had an encounter with twenty-five, with the hidden “light”.
To grow to the point where he would be able to utilize all of his abilities, Avraham had to face ten tests. With each successive test, Avraham came a step closer to actualizing his potential for bringing light into the world.
By the end, as Avraham and his son Isaac were approaching the place of his final test, the Torah says, “And Avraham said to the young men accompanying him, ‘Stay here with the donkey while the lad [Isaac] and I go there.’” What’s interesting is that the Hebrew word used here for “there”, koh, is an unusual word. But the use of this strange word is no mistake. In fact, it’s an allusion to something else, the light. You see, this is the same word, with the same numerical value of twenty-five, that appeared in the story of Adam. So when Avraham said that he and Isaac would go koh, “there”, what he was actually saying was that he and Isaac would go koh, “to the light.”
HaShem now had an answer to His question. HaShem said to Adam, ayeh-koh, “Where is the light”? Two thousand years later the answer came back: The light is with Avraham.
Avraham’s grandson, Yaakov, was also associate with the light. When Yaakov Avinu had his vision of a ladder going up to heaven and angels ascending and descending, he had that vision at Beit El,[40] the Beit HaMikdash (The House of the Holy One), the Temple.
Bereshit (Genesis) 28:11 And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put [them for] his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.
Then he said something very strange:
Bereshit (Genesis) 28:17 And he was afraid, and said, How awesome [is] this place! this [is] none other but the house of G-d, and this [is] the gate of heaven.
The Hebrew word for “awesome”, נורא nora, can be rearranged to spell ארון Aron, The ark of the covenant. The Sages therefore understand that the place where Yaakov Avinu slept, was the place of connection, the place where the ark of the covenant would be placed!
When Yaakov Avinu picked up the stones from under his head and returned them in the morning, he found a stone that had a jar of oil in it, and he used it to pour on the top stone.[41] When it refilled itself, Yaakov knew it was set aside for HaShem. He said, “It's not right to leave this here...”
(This happened at the beginning of an exile that would last thirty-six years, the number of candles we light over the eight days of Chanukah.)
Hmmmm. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Oil that replenishes itself. In fact, the above Midrash continues by telling us that this same oil lasted throughout the generations, and was even used to anoint the Mishkan (Tabernacle) in Moshe's day, hundreds of years later, and it never lost a drop, but constantly replenished itself. (twelve log of oil, one for each of the twelve rocks he slept on)!
By the way, this cruse of oil also explains another mystery:
Bereshit (Genesis) 32:22-24 And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two women servants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok. And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had. And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
These verses refer to Yaakov's return to Canaan in advance his confrontation with Esau. On his way back from Padan Aram and all his years with his uncle Lavan, he had to cross the Yavok (Jabbok) river. Person by person, piece by piece, Yaakov moved each from one side of the river to the other. However, nightfall caught him on the “wrong” side of the river, where he fought with the “stranger” whom the Midrash identifies as Esau’s angel. What had caused him to be there at that time? The Talmud tells us:
Chullin 91a And Jacob was left alone. Said R. Eleazar: He remained behind for the sake of some small jars.
The Midrash tells us his reward for going back for those “small jars”:
Midrash Tzeidah LaDerech G-d said to Yaakov, "For endangering yourself for a small container, I Myself will repay your children with a small container to the Chashmanayim [at the time of Chanukah]."
What made Yaakov so conscientious that, after a full day of traveling and moving, he went back for those little containers. The truth is, the containers Yaakov returned for was no ordinary containers, nor were they empty. These jars contained the oil from Beit El!
After Yaakov and his family had crossed the river Yavok, Yaakov returned alone to see if he had forgotten anything. He found that he had left some small containers of oil. Why did he bother to risk his life (he was by himself) for such seemingly insignificant pots of oil? We are told that a tzadik[42] values the smallest of his possessions and would not let anything go to waste, as each of his belongings has been acquired honestly. There is an opinion that these containers were the pots of oil that lasted for eight days, that comprised the miracle of Chanukah in the Temple.
Later we find a remez, a hint, that Yaakov celebrated Succoth and Chanukah. According to the Zohar Vayikra 100b the first point of the pasuk, “Yaakov journeyed to Succoth,” is a hint that Yaakov observed Succoth, the festival that corresponds to him.
Bereshit 33:17 Yaakov journeyed to Succoth and built for himself a house.
The second part of the pasuk, “He built for himself a house,” can be explained as a hint to Chanukah. According to the Gemara[43] the proper way to fulfill the mitzvah of kindling Chanukah candles is to place them “al petach beito mibachutz”, “by the entrance of one’s house from the outside.” During the eight days of Chanukah we kindle a total of thirty-six candles. The numerical value of the word “lo”, “for himself”, is thirty-six.
Thus, the Torah tells us not only did Yaakov journey to Succoth, a hint that he observed Succoth, but he built lo bayit, a house where he could kindle thirty-six candles at the entrance for the eight days of Chanukah.
From the seed of Avraham grew the family and then the people of Israel. This people soon found itself enslaved in a very, very dark place, a place called Egypt.
In Hebrew, the word for Egypt, Mitzrayim, means “tight, restricted, and closed in”.
On the one hand, this restrictive aspect of Egypt refers to the fact that it was impossible for prisoners and slaves to escape its borders. On a deeper level, however, Egypt was a spiritual black hole, a place from which nothing could escape, not even light itself.
Avraham had bequeathed the potential for “light” to his descendants, but now Egypt was threatening to smother it. Only with the appearance of Moshe, and then the giving of the Torah, would the “light’s” potential revelation be assured.
The transformation of Moshe from a prince in the house of Pharaoh to the savior of the Jewish people is captured by two verses in the Torah.
Shemot (Exodus) 2:11-12 And Moshe grew up and went out to his brothers and saw their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating one of his Jewish brothers. And he turned here and there (koh v’koh) and he saw that there was no man, so he struck the Egyptian and hid him in the sand."
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