… starting with the full eight candles on the first night, and decrementing thereafter -- seven, six, etc. all the way down to a lone candle at the end.
Jewish tradition eventually settled on Beit Hillel’s position for this question as well as for most other matters (after all, this is the MIT Hillel newsletter, not the MIT Shammai newsletter!). But while the “counting up” method may have won here, there is insight and value in applying both of the approaches -- perhaps not in our Chanukah lighting practices (that would be an awful lot of candles), but in many other areas in our lives.
Sometimes a shift in counting direction can turn a negative into a positive: Instead of counting UP the kitchen dishes my spouse forgets to wash, I try to count DOWN the many he does conquer. Instead of counting DOWN the taxes I pay, griping over the bite out of the paycheck; I try to count UP how much money I am fortunate to have left to provide for my needs and even many of my wants.
In other situations, counting in both ways can add fresh and improved perspective, even if the original counting method was itself useful and good: I not only count DOWN the number of items on my overflowing to-do list; but also count UP the number of satisfying check marks on the tasks I have completed. As a parent, I not only count UP the number of years of my children’s ages, celebrating proudly their development and milestones; but also count DOWN the number of remaining years of their childhoods, reassuring my overwhelmed self that I won’t be deep in diaper-changing drudgery forever and sweetening this overbusy life chapter by focusing on its fleetingness.
How about you? Which quantities in your life do you count up, and which do you count down? Does counting in a different direction transform a challenge into an opportunity, or add an additional perspective that is valuable in its own way?
May this year’s holiday light the way towards true peace for Israel, her neighbors and to all people around the world.
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