A Hanukkah Message

by Audrey Lichter

This weekend I saw the Nuremberg film with Russel Crowe as Hermann Göring (the second in command of the Nazi regime) and Rami Malek as Douglas Kelley, the psychiatrist asked to make sure the high-ranking convicted Nazi leadership imprisoned would be fit to stand trial. The performances were magnificent… but what really stuck with me was the unraveling of the psychiatrist later in his life, when he realized that these Nazis were not out of the ordinary monsters, but that each of us is capable of delusional, hateful, and demonic actions given the right circumstances. Years later,  Stanley Milgram, in his famous experiments,  proved that ordinary people can cause unthinkable harm to others under duress of authority and perceived lack of agency. 

Which brings me to this past weekend, as we light the Chanukah candles, we once again are surrounded by the darkness of hate…  A shooting of students at Brown University killing 2 students and seriously wounding 9 others, and the heinous shooting at a Chanukah celebration at Bondi Beach in Australia killing 16 people and wounding at least 40 others. Although the motive for the Brown shooting at this time has not been revealed, the Australia shooting, carried out by a father and son, was clearly anti-semitic. Sadly, our own local community had to post a message that there will be extra security at our annual community-wide Chanukah gathering, and not to worry. Where does this dark hatred come from that allows us to believe we have the right to take away another’s life? 

Where does this dark hatred come from? 

There are many lessons in the story of Chanukah, from internal Jewish struggle between assimilation and Jewish particularism and the  political desire for autonomy over subjugation. Chanukah is also a holiday, according to Rachel-Goldberg Polin, where we are encouraged to proudly display our Judaism as the lights of the Chanukiah are to be placed in the window for public consumption. These lights, during the darkest days of the year,  serve to gladden the heart and strengthen the Jewish spirit.  Increasingly, we Jews are challenged to consider the safety of publicly displaying our Judaism. Increasingly, we wonder who is celebrating these lights with us. From slogans like  Globalize the Intifada and From the River to the Sea we are increasingly experiencing the darkness of hate surrounding us. 

So, as Jews have done throughout the millennia, during times of distress and danger, we light our menorah and celebrate this holiday of fortitude, survival, action, and bravery. We acknowledge both the actions of man and the hand of  God in our very existence as an ancient people who have a message to those who hate us. We will not be deterred, and we will continue to enrich the world as a small but mighty people.