Hanukkah – Celebrate 8 Days “Loud and Proud!”
Hanukkah begins on Sunday night! The lights of the menorah are to be placed in a public thoroughfare or in our windows, to shine light into a dark world. It is also to shine the light of Jewish flourishing and freedom.
I reject the notion that Hanukkah is a minor holiday, because in our time we, too, must assert our presence and tell assimilationists and accommodationists that it is better to assert Jewish pride and power.
The Festival of Lights is not just a wintertime paganistic ritual. We kindle the candles or oil lamps to recall the miraculous victory of the Maccabees in the face of Jewish traitors and the onslaught of Seleucid enemy armies. We could not rely on God alone; we had to take the fight to the oncoming enemies.
While we hope for a world where Jewish values shine and light prevails over dark forces, the message of Hanukkah is that we must be ready to defend freedom and the life of Am Yisrael, the Jewish People. Ours ranks among the most important times for our People to celebrate Hanukkkah “out loud and proud.”
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Bolton