Hanukkah in 2023: Will Jews Be Festive in Fearful Times?
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With Israel at war and antisemitism, particularly on college campuses, showing a sharp upswing across America, is this any time to put a menorah in the window — to “publicize the miracle” of Hanukkah by celebrating boldly, according to Jewish tradition?
Or would it be safer to light the candelabra in a cozy room, to hold a more private celebration when the eight-day holiday commences at sundown this Thursday?
Unlike Christmas, this is not a theological holy day, central to the faith. It marks an ancient military victory over invaders. Jews who refused to assimilate to pagan conquerors, the Maccabees, reclaimed their temple that had been defiled by the Greeks and relit its eternal lamp with their last tiny bit of oil. That this oil lasted for eight days was a “miracle,” an act of God rewarding Jewish faithfulness.
READ: Amid Ongoing War, Israel’s National Library Opens Its Doors
Jews from New York to Nebraska, Colorado, Chicago and Washington, D.C., talked to Religion Unplugged ahead of the holiday about yearning to be simultaneously joyful and careful, to be festive in fearful times.
Several said the events of this autumn — the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, demonstrations by pro-Palestinian voices in the U.S. and abroad, and Jewish college students being threatened sparked an urge to be more visibly Jewish in response.
At Rosenblum’s World of Judaica in the predominantly Jewish Chicago suburb of Skokie, co-owner Josh Zwelling said, “There’s a tremendous amount of pride and unity right now. Yes, there may be some people who are tentative, but we have to keep reordering blue-and-white flags and signs supporting Israel. The same with menorahs. And you may find it hard to buy blue-and-white candles — all the manufacturers tell us they are sold out.”
In New York, Motti Seligson said, “We need to light the menorah, to see it lit, now more than ever.” He's a spokesman for Chabad, the arm of the Lubavitch Jewish community that promotes Jewish practices and sponsors giant menorahs lighting events on the National Mall in Washington and in parks and public squares across the country.
“We don't have time or patience for haters any more. We are focusing on being stronger and prouder Jews,” Seligson added. “We have more than 2,300 Chabad shaliachs (Orthodox rabbis who lead outreach efforts) in every state of the union, and many say they are hearing from people they never heard from before.”
To parents who may be fretting that an outward display of Jewishness could endanger their children, Seligson had a message: “For our children to see us not put the menorah in the window, to hide our Jewishness, could be more detrimental. Receding is letting the antisemites win.”
Still, deciding how to celebrate is not a simple call. From Oct. 7 through Nov. 20, the ADL Center on Extremism documented 1,402 antisemitic incidents (including at least 280 on college campuses) across the United States — a 315% increase from the 338 incidents reported during the same time frame in 2022, according to a spokesman.
"I hear a lot about fear,” said Boulder-based Rabbi Jamie Korngold, leader of a national program of online Jewish education for bar and bat mitzvah preparations for teens and the Adventure Rabbi programs of celebrating Sabbath holy days outdoors.
“I work with a lot of families that are fringe-ly Jewish. They don't have a close community. Their kids are often the only Jewish kids in their school, and they don't have the skills to deal with antisemitism and swastikas. I hear a lot of people saying, ‘I don’t think I'm putting my menorah in the window.’”
But Korngold will — even though she once endured stalking and death threats (from someone who is now in prison). She has an FBI liaison who assures her she is safe.
Still, she fears for her family in Israel, on front lines, in their safe houses. Korngold said, “This is an important holiday, a happy holiday, and we should gather with our fellow Jews in a joyful way.”
At the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, where there are only a few hundred students who identify as Jewish, their chapter of Hillel, the international Jewish student organization, is “a small, tightly knit group that is more active and engaged than ever,” said the faculty advisor, Ari Kohen, director of the Harris Center for Jewish Studies at the U.N.
“They have held multiple events on Israel, including ones with 11 visiting speakers, open to the whole community,” he added. “They are planning craft events and parties with sufganiot (the traditional jelly donut holiday treat) and more. They are going to have a real Hanukkah.”
In Washington, D.C., this will be the first Hanukkah when Emily Goodstein and her husband, Ron Kelly, give their three-year-old daughter, Edith, her own menorah to light beside her parents' menorah. As part of their celebration, they will make donations every night to different charities, including one chosen by little Edith, to add to the light in the world.
Will there be a menorah on their ninth-floor apartment windowsill? Maybe.
Goodstein described herself as “very publicly Jewish.” She runs a digital market company where half her clients are Jewish nonprofits. They send little Edith past two security guards at their synagogue to attend the preschool there.
In late November, the couple hosted a fundraiser for a historic downtown Washington synagogue and she wrote on the invitations, “It feels so good to do something proactively Jewish right now. My views on what's happening in Israel and Gaza right now are very nuanced. There are a million layers here. But there are still little slivers of hope and I am holding on to those.”
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Cathy Lynn Grossman is a veteran reporter who specializes in stories drawn from research and statistics on religion and faith. Her work has been published at USA Today, Publishers Weekly and Religion News Service.