Chanukah this year felt like it was on steroids, and was exactly what we needed right about now.
When Jewish People were feeling that the world had become a dark place, a place where people can’t seem to figure out the difference between good and evil and the small voice of truth is so muffled by much louder lies. The message of Chanukah was a balm on our pained souls. The message that light overcomes darkness;">the many, was especially poignant this year.
I think a very big thanks for this goes to the Lubavitcher Rebbe. It was about 50 years ago that the Rebbe created the revolution of celebrating Chanukah in the biggest and most public way possible. You see publicizing the miracle of Chanukah is one of the mitzvahs of the holiday, which is why we light the menorah near the window or door. The Rebbe took that to the next level, on the one hand to remind Jews about the holiday and encourage them to light menorahs in their homes but also to publicize the Chanukah miracles and message which the world needs to hear again and again.
Initially this public display wasn’t a given. Many Jewish organizations felt it was better to hide one’s Jewishness. But for the past 50 years Chabad emissaries have been putting up giant menorahs in public spaces everywhere. On Independence Mall, near the White House, Eiffel Tower, Kremlin, Brandenburg Gate, 5th Ave in NYC and thousands of other towns and cities across the world. The tallest ones standing at 32’ tall.
This year I believe these menorahs were appreciated more than ever, by millions of Jews around the world. It felt so good to be publicly validated, and showed the world that it’s safe to be Jewish in public and that being Jewish is something to be proud of.
This year as a large crowd of students and faculty gathered on the first night of Chanukah to light the giant menorah in front of Van Pelt, there was something so powerful in the air. On the spot where so much negativity had been chanted over the past few weeks, we now stood together to flood the world with light. To show the world that goodness overpowers evil and that the Jewish People do not back down. We will not hide in fear, we will come out stronger and more united than before because that’s who we are.
It set off a week of public and proud displays of Judaism, infusing us with so much life and energy and reminding us that we have so much to be grateful for.
Thank you G-d for gifting us this Holiday of Chanukah and the beautiful messages within it.
~Nechama