#i love you menorah i love you jewish resistance i love you jewish people i love you miracle of light

[squidgirlautism]

happy hanukkah everyone

[wi11owbird]

a little psa about Christmas and Chanukah because it’s that time of year again

People who celebrate Christmas: this is for you. It’s not an attack, nor is it saying that Christmas is bad or that you shouldn’t celebrate it! It’s just a few notes by a tired Jew on how you can change your language and behavior to make the Christmas season even though Christmas is still over a month out a little less exhausting for the Jews in your life.

The holiday season: Calling this “the holiday season” and using other related terms bothers me to no end. Imo it’s not actually better if you sprinkle in a menorah or two. It doesn’t matter that much what you call it or what religious iconography you include, we know it’s a Christmas party; even if you include other holidays, it’s just because they fall near Christmas and therefore must be important. Please, just call it a Christmas party. There’s nothing wrong with a Christmas party!! Go for it!! Have fun, I mean it!! Just don’t pretend it’s something that it isn’t, because that doesn’t make me, at least, nor other Jews I’ve spoken with, feel much more included. It just confirms that you fundamentally do not understand what it’s like to live as a non-Christian in a Christian society, and you’re more interested in appearing as if you do than actually making an effort to.

Chanukah misconceptions: Chanukah is not about peace and love and family. You’re just copy-pasting Christmas themes. The only thematic overlaps are a) hope and miracles, and b) bringing light to a physically dark time of year. Chanukah isn’t Christmas. It’s hopeful and positive, yes, but it’s also yet another reminder of the cycles of trauma in our history. It’s about yet another time they tried to kill us and yet another time they failed. It’s about resilience and resistance and an uncrushable spirit. It’s about the impossible victory of the underdog. It’s also not even that big of a deal in Judaism. In fact, it’s one of the most minor Jewish holidays. People only think it’s important because they associate it with Christmas. Come back for the High Holidays or even Pesach, those are the real deal.

[warmcoals]

today is the start of chanukah so for those who don't know: the holiday is celebrating the Maccabees, a group of ancient jewish freedom fighters.

the main jewish holy site, the Temple (and rly all of judea), had been conquered by the seleucid empire and repurposed into a temple for greek god Zeus. some upper class jews wanted to accept greek polytheism, letting the ancient tradition of judaism die out in favor of assimilation into empire. this of course was met with resistance from many jews, and that resistance was met with murder, subjugation, and outright religious persecution.as things in jewish history tend to go.

a large group of angry jews, largely poor farmers, who decided they werent afraid of death or imperialists or anything banded together as the Maccabees, named for the rebel leader Judah Maccabee and meaning "hammers". They fought a war against ensconced imperial forces, using largely guerrilla tactics and winning small skirmishes that built up over time into the ultimate victory: retaking the Temple and driving out the seleucids for good. as they celebrated and ritually cleansed the temple in accordance with the torah, the rebel fighters found that much had been taken or destroyed, with only one pot of oil left fit to light the Menorah, the religious lamp (which dates back to Moses himself). though there was only oil enough for one night, the lamp burned for eight nights, which was seen as a miracle and brings us back to the 8 candle lightings of modern day.

chanukah is definitely "not the most important jewish holiday" like many people say, but i wanted to share this story to bring some gravity to this celebratory time of year. we fry latkes and spin dreidels in the company of loved ones to bring joy in the winter, yes. but also, this tradition began as the revolt of an oppressed marginalized people, crushed by a government that did not represent them, left to rot by an upper class who sold their people out for nothing. the maccabees were not trained infantry, or a previous faction of government coming back together; they were just a ton of working class people unifying under a common cause, fighting scrappy battles to destroy the evil they saw looming. if you take anything from this holiday, it is the spirit of the maccabee: redouble your efforts to build and extend solidarity, release your fears of power and the size of our struggle, and dedicate yourself to fighting, in any way that you can. we too can unite, and push back the evil above us, and reclaim our world for all people. happy chanukah 🕎❤️

[thecrackshiplollipop]

Kara Danvers’s first Chanukah

They’re are on laundry duty while Eliza and Jeremiah clean the kitchen. Kara’s first proper Earth holiday, Thanksgiving, was as weird as all her other Earth-firsts. But, at least this one came with a great menu. Alex is measuring out the detergent while Kara dumps all of the table linens into the washer. She triple checks for anything red, remembering the look on Eliza’s face when she discovered one of Kara’s red socks had made it’s way into a load of whites.

“What’s the next holiday?”

“Chanukah,” Alex says absently, dumping the cap of detergent into the washer.

“Is that just for America, like Thanksgiving?”

“No,” Alex says, replacing the detergent lid and wiping her hands on the front of her jeans. “It’s a Jewish one. We light candles, play games, eat fried food, and get lame presents.” 

“That sounds like a holiday we had on Krypton. Except for the fried food and presents. But any holiday where you eat french fries and mozzarella sticks sounds great.” Kara grins.

“Well, not those kinds of fried foods,” Alex motions for Kara to close the washer lid and, once she does, pushes in the dial on the machine so it starts.

“Then what kind?”

“Well, like. Latkes, and-”

“What’s a latke?” 

“A potato pancake,” Alex sighs, trying not to get frustrated.

“Ohhh,” Kara nods, not sure if the image in her mind is right.

“Like a hashbrown from McDonalds, but not really,” Alex frowns and Kara’s eyes widen with delight. “There’s also sufganiyot. Not everyone has them, but our congregation does ‘cause the rabbi’s wife is Israeli.”

“And what are those?” Kara’s eyes are huge and Alex has to hold in a laugh. Kara is hands down the hungriest person alive.

“Israeli doughnuts,” she grins, because Kara’s eyes are practically sparkling.

“Oh, I love doughnuts.”

Before their first day back at school, Alex takes Kara aside and explains Christmas. It sounds like a wonderful holiday, too, and when Kara asks when they’ll get a tree, Alex cringes. 

“We won’t.”

“But-”

“We’re Jewish. We don’t celebrate Christmas.”

“Oh. Like Easter?”

“Right,” Alex nods, hands stuffed in her pockets. “But, well. Everyone else celebrates it. So you’ll experience it.”

“Well that’s good,” Kara nods, “do they eat fried food, too?”

"I don’t think so. They eat ham?”

“Oh,” Kara frowns, tapping her chin, “clearly Jewish people have the better holiday.”

"Make sure you tell the kids at school that when they tease you for not celebrating,” Alex chuckles, patting Kara on the back.

The first night there’s a party at the synagogue. Everyone’s bringing their personal latke recipe, there’s a band and story time and a bunch of fun crafts. Kara’s been excited all week. The kids from Kara’s Hebrew school are far too cool and plan on ditching once the candles are lit, but Eliza has made Alex promise to stay with Kara for the whole evening.

Alex is bitter and grumpy, but perks up when Eliza hands her a big box.

“Pick one for each of us.”

“I want the Lego one,” Jeremiah calls from upstairs and Kara’s brows shoot up.

“What’s in there?”

“The chanukiyot. Menorahs,” Alex yanks the lid off of the box and Kara peers over her shoulder at the jumble of objects. “We’ve got a lot.”

“Oh, we light those each night!” Kara bounces around and sits cross-legged across the box from Alex.

“Yep,” Alex starts pulling them out, “we’ve always brought one for each of us to the synagogue’s party. Mom always picks them out though.” 

As Alex takes out each chanukiah, Kara has to resist the urge to pick them up and look at them. They’re all beautiful, some are ornate and expensive looking, while others are simple and plain. A lot of them still have globs of white or blue wax stuck to the arms and Alex grumbles about being stuck cleaning them again this year.

“Do you like this one?” She holds up one that’s solid, without branches, and instead has a mosaic of different blue tiles, arranged to form a Star of David in the centre of both sides. 

“It’s pretty,” Kara oohs appropriately. 

“It’s one of mom’s favourites. You can take it this year,” Alex nods, setting it down firmly.

“I can?” Kara bites her lip.

“Yeah,” Alex says, looking briefly at Kara with a smile, “mom said one for each of us.”

“Right,” Kara nods, trembling with excitement. 

“You remember how to do it?” Eliza says quietly to Kara. They’re all in the synagogue’s social hall. The rabbi is giving a little speech about miracles and ‘embodying the miracle of light in these times’. Kara can smell the latkes on the other side of the room, but right now, the task at hand is lighting the chanukiah. 

There have to be at least 30 of them, all set up on the party tables lined with aluminium. Jeremiah and Eliza are to Kara’s left and Alex is to her right, closer to her friends who are still trying to get Alex to ditch with them. 

“I got it,” Kara nods, holding the shamash in her right hand. Jeremiah passes his flame to Eliza, who passes it to Kara, and then with trembling fingers, Kara holds the light to the slender white candle on the far right of the chanukiah. 

“That was the easy part,” Alex mutters, for Kara’s super-hearing only. “Blessings are up next.”

But Alex doesn’t get it. For Kara, the blessings are the easy part. She doesn’t have to gentle her voice, slow her words to be more precise. Her body is still a wild card, movements require so much focus, especially the ones that are delicate. Like lighting a candle.

Home. Krypton. It’s suddenly is less of a memory. The light of the chanukiah is almost like the light of Rao; the smells of food and fire and lamp oil; the blessings are ancient calls of gratitude. It’s close, so close it’s almost enough to bridge the gap, to make her forget she’s not home.

With her eyes closed, she can almost hear her mother’s voice at the very edge of the crowd, clear and firm and true.  For a moment, she feels her mother’s hand in hers, warm and alive, comforting. But, when she opens her eyes and looks down, Eliza’s hand is grasping hers. And then Alex reaches out and takes her other hand. 

Kara’s cheeks are wet from tears she had no idea she was crying. The candle lights blur in her vision and the mixed voices of the congregation picking up the final prayer shake her back to reality.

This is her first Chanukah.

Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech haolam, shehecheyanu v'kiy'manu v'higiyanu laz'man hazeh.

[littlereyofsunlight]

A holiday fic in April

So, @itickledthesleepingdragon, many apologies for how very late this Steggy Secret Santa gift is. I hope you enjoy! (It still feels a little like winter in my neck of the woods, so it’s almost like this is still an appropriate time to read something holiday-themed.)

Read on AO3

Fic: Mr. Mistletoe Rating: PG Relationship: Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers (duh) Characters: Peggy Carter, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton, Thor, JARVIS Summary: Peggy is in the future, living in Avengers tower. But she and Steve aren’t together, and the unresolved nature of this MAJOR BIG LOVE STORY is really getting to Tony. 

*

Steve had gotten used to seeing some pretty unusual things in the year since he’d been back in the world. Not just the helicarrier, or the aliens, or Thor. Things folks these days took for granted, like teens with rainbow hair, parents with kids on leashes, or, even though Steve was no prude, what seemed like a gratuitous amount of what Tony liked to call “PDA” in places like the subway and at Starbucks.

Now, Steve hadn’t had much difficulty adapting, contrary to what some people might expect, but that didn’t mean, when Peggy—young, vital Peggy, hardly a day older than when he’d last seen her in 1945—had showed up at the tower one fall morning, that he was going to kiss her right in front of everyone. Not even if that was all he could think of doing from the very moment he set eyes on her for the first time in a year (or seventy, depending on how you looked at it.) He might have gotten used to seeing others engaging in it, but he hadn’t exactly had any practice with PDA himself, not since that speeding car in the Alps. So, no matter how enticing he still found her red, red lips, he wasn’t going to sweep her up in his arms and lay one on her.

He was just going to think very hard about doing so.

*

“No.”

Tony knew all of Pepper’s ‘no’s by heart. They’d worked this out, over the years, before romance was in the picture (that was a situation where there was no need for interpretation.) There was the hard no, of course, which brooked no argument. And the exasperated no, for when Tony was trying—and usually succeeding—in wearing her down. The laughing no, that one he didn’t get very often, and the shocked no, which he’d been hearing a lot, only not directed at him, since Fury and his cadre of S.H.I.E.L.D.-ettes came into his life. This no, however, was of the fond variety.

That meant Tony could go on doing exactly as he pleased, which at this exact moment was draping Butterfingers and Dum-E in garlands, festooned with sprigs of mistletoe hanging from each extendable arm.

“What?” he asked, the very picture of innocence. “We need some holiday cheer around here. Birdman’s still kinda sore over the whole brainwashing thing, and Natasha is a creepy stealth assassin, which, you know, brings down the mood a little, and then there’s Capsicle, pining over his long-lost sweetheart even though she’s staying in the room across the hall.” He stuck the end of Dum-E’s garland in place with a bit of electrical tape. “If Banner’s not gonna provide some greenery,” he smirked at his own joke, “I’ll be the one to do it.”

“I think Natasha’s Jewish, actually.” Pepper came over to stand next to him and survey the finished product.

“Natasha is scary as shit, is what she is. But I’ll do up U with some gelt. Or a menorah?” He rubbed his goatee. “That might be a fire hazard, though, and I’ve taken Dum-E off extinguisher duty until the new year.”

“This is an awful lot of trouble to go to just to confirm something that’s none of your business,” Pepper observed sagely.

“My dear,” Tony replied, standing up and placing his hands on her shoulders, “have you ever known me not to engage in an elaborate scheme to avoid potential awkwardness?”

Pepper sighed. “Point.”

He kissed the tip of her nose. “I can’t stand to see all that repressed longing. Those two old fogeys are gonna kiss by Christmas and, more importantly, prove me right.”

“You’re a hopeless romantic.”

Tony twitched. “Tell no one. I’ve got a rep to protect.”

“No one would believe me, don’t worry,” Pepper said with that soft, fond smile on her face.

*

Steve was tempted to kiss her the moment she entered the kitchen, hair pinned back in a tidy updo, modern clothes freshly pressed, lips, as ever, painted a juicy, ripe red. He watched her bustle over to the pantry and consider the overwhelming options Stark provided. But Peggy was characteristically unerring in her direction, and made her choice quickly, decisively. Steve resisted temptation, but just barely.

The microwave in front of Peggy, another bit of Starktech, had far too many buttons. But more than that, this whole living in the future business came with an awful lot of catching up to do, and after two months of it, Peggy was feeling the fatigue. She sighed as she studied the control panel again.

“Having trouble?” Steve asked from across the expansive modern kitchen. He’d taken to all the new equipment like a duck to water, much to Peggy’s frustration.

“I just want to warm up some soup for lunch.” She looked back into the microwave, a bit mournfully. “The last time I asked the electronic butler for a saucepan to use on the cooktop, it suggested I use this blasted thing instead. But there are so many settings and none of them make sense. Defrost? Popcorn? Steve, there’s a setting for Chinese leftovers on here but no button for soup!”

Steve had made his way over to her during Peggy’s rant, and was now studying the control panel. She admired the way his brows drew together while he was deep in thought, and then he poked at the microwave a few times and it turned on. Peggy looked again. “What setting was that?”

Steve shrugged. “I just set it to run for a few minutes to heat up your soup.”

Peggy frowned and went back to watching her bowl as it spun lazily.

“Hey,” Steve said, turning back to the sandwiches he had been making for his own lunch, “you know you can just ask JARVIS to run whatever machine for you. He’s wired in to all the tower equipment.”

“Yes, Agent Carter, I’m happy to assist you while you continue to acclimate to your new surroundings,” JARVIS piped up.

“I’d rather learn to do for myself, thanks,” Peggy replied stiffly, shooting Steve a dirty look.

He raised his eyebrows but wisely didn’t respond. Instead, he crammed half of his first sandwich into his mouth.

As the microwave dinged, they were joined in the kitchen by one of Stark’s little robots. It whirred excitedly as it trundled over to them and raised its decorated arm in a distinctly triumphant manner.

All three waited a moment, as though something else might happen, but nothing did. Steve shrugged and went back to his sandwich, Peggy edged out from behind the robot to bring her lunch over to the island to sit down, and Dum-E waited another minute, then gave a sad whistle before trundling back out.

Peggy looked at Steve and shook her head. “The future.”

Read the rest on AO3!

[vadersdala]

💚 -- nate and janie, kacey and parker, max and kaeden, tristan and grayson, dominique and rosalyn

babes, under the cut & a merry christmas!

nate and janie

the barn was twinkling with the lights that she and jolene had strung up earlier that day. the real party was at town hall, where the carpenters were, but none of the party goers seemed to care. it was small; mostly nate’s siblings and henry and clara, clara’s older sister, caitlyn who janie vaguely knew of, tally edwards -who’d been living with nate for some time, jolene olsen, iris franklin, and a couple of nate’s friends she vaguely knew, but not really. they played christmas music, and nate and janie were in the center of the makeshift dance floor, laughing and swinging one another around as they went. red faced and breathless, they exited the floor with janie tugging her boyfriend’s arm as she was saying, “nate!” in a faux whine, “nate i want to give you your christmas gift!” she was saying, trying to shove him from behind to no avail. it was the christmas before they’d all leave for college, before jo would be murdered that may, before gracie would go into remission and janie would leave for pennsylvania to begin her life with eddy. it was a carefree moment when everything was right in the world of hawkins indiana. where tally and iris would begin dating, when caitlyn and jo exchanged gifts in the christmas tree lot outside the barn, when henry and clara would kiss and cringe at the idea of kissing anyone. and janie was trying to give nate a gift she had under the tree in the main house to no avail as he looked up and smirked at what was above their heads. “uh, uh, uh, nathaniel underwood, that’s not your christmas gift!” she jokingly chastised him and pointed her finger to his chest. “no!” giggling as he kissed her and she threw her arms around his neck. “nate, you’re such a dork!” she was laughing as he scooped her up, twirling her, causing her to shriek with laughter.

kacey and parker

it was a bit silly, since it was the two of them, but parker had gotten it for free at the farmer’s market, and how could parker resist? kacey hadn’t seemed to care one way or another that the girl had hung a sprig of mistletoe in their kitchen, and if parker was being honest, she’d forgotten about it soon after she’d hung it. parker had been making cookies - it was a new recipe she was trying, and while most people would experiment before deciding on making a batch for christmas cookie boxes, but that wasn’t parker rose adams. not at all. she was excited for her sister to get there, and she danced around the kitchen to christmas music, which her sister had teased was silly because they were jewish, but parker hadn’t cared less. parker loved christmas, and that was that! she had even forced kacey to decorate the tree with white and blue lights, had put a menorah in the living room window and had sung jingle bells at the top of her lungs while doing it. she was heading to the pantry as kacey had been moving into the kitchen and the two collided, causing the cookie plate she’d been holding to crash and skid across the floor. laughing, the two dropped to their knees, picking up their mess and grinning at one another. “ah well, no use crying over broken cookies,” she shrugged with a grin and put them on the plate. whipping her brow, she looked up and froze. “kace, look!” she said with a teasing grin and pointed up at the ceiling. “it’s only fair, we have to kiss!” the two girls jokingly pecked each other on the lips, and parker snorted and looked at kacey. then she moved in again, cupping her cheek and kissing her more intimately before pulling away and making her stand. “okay! now, we have a lot of work to do kacey, santa waits for no man. or woman, for that matter!”

max and kaeden

max was trying to make this christmas normal, and kaeden appreciated the effort her husband gave. kaeden was very much into a vintage christmas, and she was setting up their little village, humming along to silver bells when max came behind her and causing her to look up. “oh, you are such a cheese ball, max clarke!” she teased, looking at the mistletoe and her husband. “oh no, you don’t get rewarded for being so corny,” she joked with a snort, shoving him back as he nipped her cheek and tried to get to her before she relented, kissing him hard and fast. hugging him, she sighed, kissing his chest. “you’re so goofy!” she said, holding him tighter, afraid he’d leave her again to that dark place he tried to keep her safe from. “i love you so fucking much, maxie!” she said, kissing his chest again.

tristan and grayson

"gray, c’mon, don’t be a clown,” tristan said as grayson refused to let her leave the mistletoe. “grayson, c’mon, people are staring!” she hissed, her cheeks red as she looked around. leave it to grayson best to whip out a sprig of mistletoe after skating with her. okay, that was too specific, but tristan was a stubborn girl and she wouldn’t be bullied into soft submission by her best friend. or, at least that’s what she kept telling herself as she tried to move. “grayson!” she whined, laughing. kissing his cheek, she crossed her arms, “and that’s all you’re going to get,” she said, trying to jump and grab the sprig. “this is truly unfair. this is a crime, grayson! we aren’t a romance novel, this could be a night in jail!” she said laughing. but she looked at him and said, “grayson!” when he kissed the top of her head and held her hand, she leaned into him, hugging his side. “c’mon you fool, we have to find elliott and sienna. but i dare you to give that to elliott so she can torture lucas and sienna,” she said with a cheeky grin before running off ahead of him, stealing the sprig as she went.

dominique and rosalyn

the game room always had a christmas eve party for the kids, and during this time, dominique would’ve been in oliver’s arms exchanging gifts and kissing under a mistletoe. this year, oliver was playing pool with the guys with macy hayes hanging on his every word, and dominique was pretending not to be bothered as she and rosalyn played a game of chess. dominique was awful at chess, she wouldn’t lie, but rosalyn had been her rock this christmas. the two girls had always been close. she was oliver’s stepsister, and they’d become friends by proxy. she had always been the third wheel, but neither her or oliver had ever really cared. with the breakup so fresh, dominique had been grateful for the girl trying to cheer her up and keep her sane. “do you want to get out of here? i think the ice rink is probably deserted,” dominique said brightly and when rosalyn agreed, the two had snuck out and skated. by the time they came back inside, they were freezing and it was almost one in the morning. warming their hands to their mouths, they laughed, making plans to sneak into the kitchens and get cocoa and whatever cookies they could find when rosalyn dropped to tie her boot. dominique was looking out the window of the ski loge and grinned, “wow, look at the lights! it looks so magical!” she gasped, seeing the mountain light up and glow as rosalyn joined her. “god, this is such a good christmas, lynnie! thank you!” she gasped, hugging her best friend tight, and rosalyn tapped her pointing up and laughing, kissing her on the cheek - or she was going to. one moved, and then their mouths connected and they froze. dominique squeaked in surprise and rosalyn pulled back, but dominique stopped her. “i’m - i’m sorry. i wasn’t expecting -” but cutting off rosalyn, she gave a soft, shy smile. “i just haven’t kissed anyone since - well, you know,” she said, looking down at her feet, and then kissing rosalyn lightly. when she pulled away, she gasped in horror hearing a whoop and a cheer and seeing oliver, who was looking at them with a bit of betrayal as he turned away. “ollie - oliver! oliver, wait!” she said, not thinking twice as she went after him.

[theconservativebrief]

For many Jews, this Hanukkah will be a particularly charged time of reflection.

The “festival of lights” is often celebrated by contemporary American families as a child-centric seasonal holiday. In modern times, it’s often been framed in popular media as Judaism’s answer to Christmas. But in the wake of October’s shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, in which an avowed anti-Semite is accused of killing 11 Jewish worshippers, the holiday’s message and meaning are taking on a more defiant turn.

In an America where anti-Semitic incidents are at an all-time high, according to both the FBI and the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy group, Hanukkah has become a more loaded holiday. A time of year that has become synonymous with family and domesticity is becoming a time to reflect on what it means to be Jewish.

Numerous rabbis and community leaders have reported feeling that Hanukkah’s meaning as a holiday about Jewish survival in a diverse religious landscape is more vital in America in 2018 than ever.

“The great strength of America is diversity,” Rabbi Mark Asher Goodman of Brith Sholom Synagogue in Erie, Pennsylvania, told me. “And that’s part of the message of the Hanukkah story. It plays in every year. And it plays in this year even more so.”

As Dara Lind wrote for Vox last year, Hanukkah began as a relatively minor holiday in the Jewish tradition, at least compared to the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. It commemorates an incident that occurred in the Second Temple period of Jerusalem, during the second century BC. During that time, Jerusalem was under the control of a Persian king from the Seleucid dynasty, who pressured his subjects to universally worship the Greek pantheon. The Jews of Jerusalem revolted against the Seleucids — ultimately driving them out of the city — and rededicated their Temple, the holiest place in the city. Although they had very little oil with which to keep the temple candles burning, the fires remained in place for eight nights.

Hanukkah only became a major holiday in the 19th and 20th centuries, primarily among American Jews, many of whom actively sought to find within the Jewish tradition an analogue to more popular “mainstream” holidays like Christmas. In part because it’s primarily celebrated at home, rather than in a synagogue, it’s become more associated with spending time with family, or with selecting presents for children, than with its original historical significance.

But this year, many rabbis say, Hanukkah’s original message — a celebration of Jewish resilience and Jewish identity in a troubled time — is all the more important. Goodman told me, “The thing that I say every year about Hanukkah has more resonance this year than most years.”

Goodman said he interpreted the Hannukah story “as about a minority group that was different than the majority in the dominant culture. And the dominant majority culture said, ‘We’d like you to fit in better or go away.’ And the Jews said, ‘No, that’s not how we roll.’”

In other words, Hanukkah is about both Jewish survival and Jewish individuality: a celebration of Jews’ refusal to surrender their identity and values.

Rabbi Hara Person, the chief strategy officer at the Central Conference of American Rabbis, likewise highlighted the extent to which she saw Hanukkah as a vital symbolic affirmation of Jewish resilience.

After the Tree of Life shooting, Person said, “those themes are particularly resonant. … There is more of a determination to really celebrate our distinctiveness as Jews and our identity as a people. We have to really be proud of who we are as Jews and affirm that loudly and clearly and not be cowed or scared to be Jewish.”

Tammy Hepps, a leader of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Jewish progressive nonprofit Bend the Arc, agreed. Referring to the menorah — the traditional eight-pronged candelabra Jews traditionally light in windows during the holiday — Hepps told me it doubles as a symbol of Jewish visibility.

“It’s not just something that we display in our homes for ourselves,” she said, “but something we light so that passersby can see. For us, this year that feels like an act of resistance. … We’re also showing we’re not afraid; even with what has happened, we’re not afraid to put that symbol in the window and let people know in the boldest way possible that we’re still here.”

Both Person and Goodman highlighted the degree to which being Jewish also meant affirming what they described as a specifically Jewish focus on social justice. Person noted how the Pittsburgh shooter had made numerous public condemnations of Jewish support for more relaxed immigration policies (including the false conspiracy theory that Jewish billionaire George Soros helped fund the Honduran migrant caravan). Now, she argues, it’s more important than ever for Jews to take a moral stance on issues of social concern.

“On the one hand there’s a sense of, let us affirm and celebrate and own our distinctiveness as Jews,” she said. “There’s also an affirmation of our values, our Jewish values: loving the stranger, helping the stranger caring for the vulnerable. That we won’t be scared into submission or scared to go against the values that we hold dear to us, like supporting immigrants.”

After all, Person pointed out, referring to the numerous Jewish diasporas around the world, “We were immigrants; we were refugees.”

Goodman likewise highlighted that point, saying that several members of his congregation saw the aftermath of the Pittsburgh shootings as a “double down moment”: a clarion call to action on the part of the Jewish community to stand by its progressive values. “If you were pissed off that we were supportive of immigrants and refugees before,” he characterizes those members as saying, “you’re really not going to like us now.”

For most Jewish families across America, Hanukkah may not look very different than it does any other year. While all of the Jewish leaders I spoke to said they’d seen increased security surrounding synagogues, Jewish schools, and other Jewish institutions since the Pittsburgh shootings, few anticipated massive changes to the celebration of the holiday itself.

Rather, all highlighted how Hanukkah’s original message seemed to be the one Jews needed to hear most right now.

Person told me her holiday plans — though on the surface similar to those she carried out every year — have taken on a newly political meaning.

“It’s really over the last two years or so — there is an increased sense that I have of fighting back against the darkness, which is one of the themes of Hanukkah,” she said. “That’s how I’ve been framing my Hanukkah parties: Let’s come together and bring some light into the darkness and bring some love and some joy into times that are otherwise bleak.”

Original Source -> Why Hanukkah’s message of Jewish resilience matters so much after Pittsburgh

via The Conservative Brief