Advent and Hanukkah at the Catholic University of Lublin: We are together, close to God

For the second time, a joint celebration of Advent and Hanukkah - "Light in the Darkness" - was held at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin on December 14, 2023. The meeting organizer was Abraham J. Heschel Center for Catholic-Jewish Relations at the Catholic University of Lublin. "These events involving the chosen people, which were the work of God-Jahweh, are part of our common history of salvation," said Mieczyslaw Cisło, auxiliary bishop of the Lublin Archdiocese, during the ceremony.

The organizers of the meeting, the Catholic University of Lublin's Heschel Center, wished that in a difficult time of unrest, wars, and conflicts, being together would become an expression of hope and faith in the victory of light over darkness, which happened in the Christian Mystery of the Incarnation at Christmas and the miracle associated with the liberation of the Jerusalem Temple remembered during the Jewish Hanukkah.

The celebration began with the song "Shema Israel" by the Neocatechumenal cantors. Two commentaries - a Jewish one and a Catholic one followed. The Rabbi of the Jewish Community in Warsaw, Yitzhak Rapoport, delivered a Hanukkah message about the symbolism of light: "There is something unique about light. Usually, when you divide something, it remains less than it was. I have a fruit; I divide it, and only a part remains. But if I take a burning candle and with that candle I light another candle, that first candle doesn't lose anything, and the amount of light increases. And that's why the candle and light become a symbol of spirituality and love, because if a person shares love and spirituality with another, they lose nothing, and on the contrary, gain".

Academic community members, representatives of the Jewish community, and passers-by attended the symbolic meeting in front of the Collegium Norwidianum. One by one, the candles lit on the Hanukkah candlestick and Advent wreath, following the idea of the ceremony, illuminated the darkness of the December evening.

"I am glad that this light burns first and foremost in people's hearts, "said Bishop Mieczyslaw Cisło, who lit the candles on the Advent wreath together with Fr. Prof. Mirosław S. Wróbel, plenipotentiary of the Rector of the Catholic University of Lublin for Catholic-Jewish Relations and Scientific Research in the Holy Land. Bishop Cisło also stressed that we cannot be indifferent to acts of anti-Semitism, which are acts of hatred that require open condemnation.

At the end of the ceremony, Fr. Dr. Marcin Kowalski, Director of the Heschel Center of the Catholic University of Lublin, addressed words of thanks to those gathered:  "We are closer to each other, and so in this way, we are also closer to God. I think there is great warmth and love in our hearts. May this joint celebration continue; may the light of Hanukkah and Advent fill our hearts."

Abraham J. Heschel Center for Catholic-Jewish Relations at the Catholic University of Lublin is a scientific and educational unit that aims to deepen Catholic-Jewish relations. Its patron is Abraham J. Heschel, a Jewish theologian, philosopher, and poet. The Center was inaugurated in October 2022.