On Hanukkah we recall the story of the Maccabees. A small group of freedom fighters overcame the oppressive forces of the Syrian Greeks under King Antiochus. The primary vehicle to arouse and inspire this recall is the Hanukkah candlelighting. Thus, the reason given for the candlelighting is pirsumei nisa, to publicize the miracle of that victory. This raises the question: When is the best time to light the candles to maximize our publicization of the miracle? 

Everyone agrees that the opportunity for this mitzvah begins when the sun sets. That’s when people return from shopping in the marketplace. But how long into the evening can we light the candles? When does the best opportunity to “publicize the miracle” end? 

The Talmud (BT Shabbat 21b) answers עַד שֶׁתִּכְלֶה רֶגֶל מִן הַשּׁוּק, “until the last foot has left the market.” This means “until traffic in the marketplace ceases.” Yet this, too, might be ambiguous. Would that presume when more than half the people have left to head home? Or when all the shoppers have left but while some shopkeepers are finishing up? Thus, Rabbi Yohanan further clarifies, עַד דְּכָלְיָא רִיגְלָא דְתַרְמוֹדָאֵי, “until the Tarmoda’i have left.”

Who are these Tarmoda’i and what do they have to do with Hanukkah? 

It refers to the Tadmorites, from the wealthy settlement of Tadmor in the Syrian desert. This location commandeered a key trade route. The Tarmoda’i, with a large and strong militia, participated in the plundering of Jerusalem in the wake of the destruction of both the First and Second Temples. Apparently, the ruthless Tarmoda’i were Rome’s proxy and so served as the security force in the marketplaces. 

So when the TalmudReferring to one of two collections, the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds, edited in the 6th century, that contains hundreds of years of commentary, discussion, and exploration of the ideas in the Mishnah. One could describe it as Mishnah + Gemara = Talmud Read more rules that we should light the Hanukkah candles when the traffic ceases—the last “foot” has left—it has in mind the Tarmoda’i. As the guards, they would be the last ones to leave. They would stay until both the shoppers and the shopkeepers have left to head home. 

Therefore, while today we light the Hanukkah candles to “publicize the miracle” to everyone who might see them, this text asserts that we must light them to ensure that theTardoma’i can see them. 

Yet, why should we be sure that these brutal Tarmoda’i see the lights of our candles? 

We do so because Tarmoda’i are the ones who buttressed the repressive Roman regime. Oppressors always rely on those willing to execute their nefarious plans. When we light the Hanukkah candles, we are telling the Tarmoda’i that we will resist. We will not sit still, and let you take away our dignity and our freedoms. While you are mighty, we are בני המכבים, descendants of the Maccabees, who shined the light of freedom for all. We will keep that light alive. 

Lighting the Hanukkah candles so that the Tarmoda’i could see them is crucial. It’s so important that the medieval commentators Rif (on BT Shabbat 9a) and the Rambam (Hilkhot Megillah V’Hanukkah 4:5) both ruled that if you do not light the candles by the time that “the last foot has left the marketplace”—about one hour after sundown—then you need not, and perhaps even should not, light at all that night. The moment of pirsumei nisa has passed.

This principle remains true in our day. It is so important to be present and proud—not merely or even primarily for ourselves. Rather, it’s essential to let the present-day Tadmorites know that we are here—ready to resist their pernicious presence.

Today, Tarmoda’i are seemingly everywhere: 

• They are racially profiling our friends, neighbors, and coworkers. 
• They are militarizing our cities, snatching and deporting folks. 
• They are limiting our access to voting, crucial for a democracy. 
• They are removing the safety net of the most vulnerable in our society. 
• They are limiting health care access and affordability. 
• They are dividing us among racial and gender lines. 
• They are white nationalists, working to remove the civil rights of those whom they deem to be different, and to target those who disagree with them. 
• They are strongly delimiting our free press, a hallmark of every democracy, and instead talking in misinformation, double speak, deception, and lies.
• They are purveying antisemitic, racist, misogynistic, and queerphobic tropes, and the result has been a very frightful rise in hate violence.
• They are working to increase the wealth of the richest and most powerful, at the expense of the rest of us. 

So, when we light the candles, we show our light to the Tarmoda’i, the precious light that indicates our unique soul. 

Let the Tarmoda’i see our light. 

It is a light that the Tarmoda’i cannot extinguish. 

It is a light that will keep us from giving in to fear and acquiescing in the darkness. 

It is the light of our Maccabean heritage, calling us to resist negativity, incivility, and indecency. 

It is a light that will bring us together to celebrate life and life’s possibilities. Let us light the candles, and work toward a time when all is light, when all is good. 

 ויהי אור…והנה טוב מאד 

Let there be light….our light…for it is magnificent.