Thread by @benzgreenfield

Every Jewish holiday has customs of preparation.

Passover has "Erev Pesach", with the cleaning and burning of all leaven.
Yom Kippur has 10 Days of Repentance to get in the zone.

Every holiday, except one:

**We don't prepare for Hannukah**

It's intentional. Here's why.

Sure, *you* might prepare by sending out party invites, or hoarding TJ's frozen latkes,

but

there are no Halakhot (laws) or Minhagim (customs) that the Jewish people, as a whole, perform in advance of the holiday.

There's nothing we're actually *supposed* to do.

Compare this to literally every other holiday!

We clean & search in advance of Pesach
We count for 49 days before Shavuot
We get an entire month (Elul) of spiritual prep and Shofar before Rosh Hashana
Purim has Esther's fast

In Jewish tradition, Holiday also means pre-Holiday!

Because:

For most Jewish holidays, the *very first experience* of that festival was one of *anticipation and preparation*

Passover: Two weeks before the Jews left Egypt, Moshe gives them a heads up. Prepare now. Find your lamb. Slaughter it the day before. Paint those doors.

Purim: Haman drew lots 11 months earlier, and announced to the whole empire when the critical day would be.

The Jews who lived through these holiday moments, knew the Big Day was coming. They anticipated it. They prepared.

Thus our practice today:

If our ancestors knew a special event was coming, then today's Jewish calendar marks not only that historic Big Event, but also the historic experience of Big Anticipation.

So of course there's no "Erev Hannukah" on the ritual calendar.

In the Hannukah story, there's no anticipation to commemorate!

The Maccabees had no clue when victory might appear
They had no clue oil would be found
They didn't know one vial of oil would last a second night. Or a third. Or an eighth

Each miraculous moment - another Surprise

Hannukah came as a surprise to the Maccabees, its only right that it catches us off guard

No ritualized prep.
No special countdown.

Like the Maccabees, we stumble into Hannukah.
So when that first night comes, let the light surprise you.

That means you're doing it right. FIN

Want the more eloquent version? Know someone who might appreciate this idea, but in well-adjusted person (i.e. not Twitter) form?

Check out my piece in @tabletmag, published today.

tabletmag.com/sections/holid…

And if you want the full breakdown of how and why almost every holiday has a period of prep (Tisha b'Av, Sukkot, Shavuot, etc.)

and plenty of great points from a crew of learned and thoughtful commenters

check out this FB post, from back in the day
facebook.com/benzgreenfield…