On most days of the week, Hebrew College hums with the sounds of learning in community. Students gather in the Mascott Beit Midrash with their heads low over the text, faculty pause in the hallway to exchange ideas, and adult learners come and go. Just across the parking lot, Mayyim Hayyim evokes stillness: the murmur of running water in a ritual space designed to welcome anyone who comes seeking renewal, healing, or celebration. Now, thanks to a generous joint gift from supporters Carol and Steve Targum, these neighboring centers of Jewish creativity will be even more deeply connected.

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In his seminal work The Theory of Colors, 18th-century German polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe taught that color is not a thing but an event — a phenomenon that occurs only where light presses against darkness. In other words, color isn’t contained in an object itself, but arises from the relationship between illumination and shadow. According to Goethe, we don’t see color because an object “has” it; we see color because two opposing forces meet in a way our eyes can perceive. Color is created in the contrast — the edge — between what is bright and what is obscured. This idea matters because it shifts our focus from objects to relationships, from stable traits to dynamic encounters — reminding us that what we “see” is always shaped by context, perspective, and the particular lens through which we interpret the world.

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Emma Lazarus’s poem “The Feast of Lights” has been part of the canon of American Jewish poetry for more than a century. Written in 1882 in response to pogroms in Russia, the poet utilizes the time-honored images of the Hanukkah legend, including the brave warring efforts of the Maccabees and God’s provision of a miraculous jug of oil. Given that this poem is a call to Jewish unity and pride — a key element of Lazarus’ larger project — it is not surprising that she does not address the internal tensions present in the historical Hanukkah story. But we know that Maccabees fought not only a foreign power but also internal adversaries — fellow Jews who understood identity, belonging, and sovereignty differently from them.

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Listen to the new season of Hebrew College's "Speaking Torah" podcast with host Rabbi Jessica Lowenthal `19. This year, we're exploring new Jewish literature — including new works for teens, adults, educators, and scholars. We start our season exploring Every Body Beloved by Rabbi Minna Bromberg `10, founder of Fat Torah, and My Legs Were Praying, a young adult biography of Abraham Joshua Heschel by Rabbi Or Rose, Director of Hebrew College's Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership. Watch for two more winter episodes about the new books The Heart of a Stranger by Central Synagogue's Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl and Beyond Brutality by Hebrew College's Rabbi Jane Kanarek. Happy listening!

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