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Three days later, Isaac Herzog, the outgoing Israeli ambassador to the United States, said at a Chanukah event at the Israeli embassy in Washington that “the main message of Chanukah during this challenging time is never lose hope. Always look for the light that will dispel the darkness, and when you look for it, you will ultimately find it.”
The very common metaphor of Chanukah light overcoming metaphorical darkness also surfaced in Biden’s remarks on Dec. 11, 2023, at a White House Chanukah reception. “A reminder to hold on to the miracle of hope and faith,” the president said. “Because when we do, no night is so dark we can’t find light. No night is so dark we can’t find night.” (The White House later corrected the last word to be “light” instead of “night.”)
Several New York rabbis told JNS that there are other, more fundamental, lessons to the holiday than simply a metaphor for illumination in a dark world.
“People always love to use the light of Chanukah as a metaphor for hope and optimism and triumph over darkness, and, of course, it’s all those things,” Rabbi Yosie Levine, of The Jewish Center, a Modern Orthodox synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, told JNS. “But maybe even more fundamentally, it’s a tribute to the everlasting relationship between Hashem,” God, “and the Jewish people.”
“In darkness and in light, He will always be with us,” he said.
According to Levine, the Jewish faith “shies away” from celebrating military victories, “lest the Jews focus their joy on the suffering of their enemies, which is an improper cause for celebration.”
“This theme reverberates throughout many of our holidays,” he told JNS, noting that the Torah and rabbis call for celebrating Passover and Purim in ways that deemphasize the death of Jewish enemies.
“The security, independence and religious growth that follow in the wake of the victory are indeed worth celebrating,” he said. “In the same way, the Talmudic account of the Chanukah story shifts our attention from the battlefield to the Temple.”
“The Temple would come and go, but the Jewish people and our connection to Hashem would be eternal,” he said. “We always want to be careful to focus on the purely positive and not something that might be interpreted badly.”
‘Times of fear’
Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz, senior rabbi of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun, a Modern Orthodox synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, told JNS that he is thinking about Jew-hatred on campuses this holiday.
“Chanukah is about the power of the few. A handful of Maccabees took on the Seleucid Empire, a war of the few against the many,” he said. “The ritual of the menorah reinforces this theme. After the war, only one jar of oil is found, but that one jar is more than enough.”
“Our students on campus are few, and Israel has been facing off against a much larger adversary, Iran and the proxies,” he said. “But it’s not about how many you are. It is about standing for justice and standing with determination.”
Rabbi Scott Bolton, of the “egalitarian” Conservative synagogue Congregation Or Zarua on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, told JNS that Chanukah might be the most important holiday for American Jews.
“Chanukah is the time in this beautiful nation of pluralistic religious possibility. That we get to shine our light into the public square,” he said. “In the history of Chanukah, you put the menorah outside your door or in your window. You move it to the table, and we can always remember we move it to the table during dangerous times. Times of fear.”
But the message of Chanukah also comes amid “times of asserting our strength,” he said, noting that Chabad has emphasized the public nature of menorah lighting. Having menorah lightings and Passover seders at the White House and in the U.S. Capitol amount to both a “nod from our neighbors that you’re OK” and mark a “greater potential assertion of our place and our power.”
Like Steinmetz, Bolton connected the small number of triumphant Maccabees to Jews and the Jewish state, which are outnumbered today.
“Israel is becoming a superpower in the Middle East. We see this through the lens today of our current alliances and the strong alliance with America and Israel,” he said. “The Jewish people assert our power militarily over these last days of the war, last months. Even when other people were telling us to ‘tamp it down. To notch it down. To de-escalate.’”
Chanukah is so important to American Jews because of its statement about the danger of assimilation, according to Bolton.
“Our place in the public square of America and our ongoing commitment to the unique and proud Jewish culture that includes religious rituals like lighting candles and everything that we’re about in terms of the strength of our family,” he said.
He is also making the point this Chanukah that the candle lights remember the fallen Israeli heroes.
“The Maccabee brothers within one family paid with their lives, according to the Book of Maccabees,” he said. “There’s a historical lesson for us with the Hasmonean kingship and control that we must work as a family. To figure out how to go forward, so that we can both be powerful militarily and committed to religious life wherever we are in Israel especially and in the Diaspora.”
“We need a land of Israel that’s committed to both the light of Torah and the light and the power of the military,” he added. “In America, we need to remind ourselves that very essential religious observances that are connected to candles are central to the Jewish project.”
Rabbi Joel Mosbacher, senior rabbi of Temple Shaaray Tefila, a Reform congregation on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, told JNS that “the essential themes of light and darkness are even more relevant for our world in general and for the plight of Israel and Jews in particular.”
“The theme of rededication to Judaism and the Jewish people feels as relevant as ever,” he added. “When we, like the Maccabees, might feel like saying to ourselves, ‘Things are so difficult right now, and we’re not sure we have enough oil to light up the world,’ we should light the lamps anyway.”
“The world needs light as much as it ever has and we can bring it,” he added. “We should not only wait for someone else to make miracles, but we should continue to build the world we want and need for ourselves and for all of God’s creatures.”
