They tell me that when writing a blog only one organization should be spotlighted. But that is not the way my life works. Sunday was a remarkable day. At the synagogue we had 80 people for the annual Men’s Club prepared Latke Lunch. The Sisterhood Chanukah bazaar was in full swing (and I am told did very nicely). Hebrew School and Torah School enjoyed singing Chanukah songs and prelighting the menorah so everyone is ready. The parents met about fundraising. It was a full, busy, active, vibrant place. Just the kind of community we are trying to create.
In the sanctuary there was a meeting with Rabbi Ari Moffic to discuss the December Dilemma. Now for me, and I think maybe many, December is an opportunity to celebrate. To celebrate many things. To enjoy many things. For me there is no dilemma and no struggle. Many, however, are uncomfortable with the dominant position that Christmas has taken. Not going to lie. Not going to pretend any more. I like Christmas. The lights, the trees, the music, the presents, the food, the family. It doesn’t make me any less Jewish that my neighbors and some of my family celebrate Christmas. December 24th will find me up north with 30 of my relatives. Celebrating Chanukah and Christmas. With menorahs and a tree. Latkes and turkey. Gelt and stockings and Santa. I even bless his sleigh (it is in other duties as described, and he waits for me every year to recite Tefilat Haderech).
For me it is not a conflict. It is the way my family has always done it—as Jews, as long as anyone can remember, all the way back to Germany in the 1840s. Well, not the sleigh part, that only happened after I became a rabbi.
So for me, there is no dilemma. A December Dialogue, a December Discussion, a December Delight maybe!
What Rabbi Moffic did was help us clarify what our values are at this season. And something she said really resonated. She talked about how Jews are people of wild hope. They have to be. For 2000 years, Jews hoped to have a land. For 2000 years they celebrated Chanukah wherever they went. She talked about optimism and joy. And hope. HaTikvah. The hope. A light to the nations because without Chanukah, there would be no Christmas.
Then after the Latke Lunch, my husband and I drove into Skokie to the Illinois Holocaust Museum to hear Ruth Messenger speak about the role of American Jewish World Service. As usual she was great. She talked about how AJWS is present in 19 countries. How AJWS was amongst the first to be on the front lines of Haiti, of Darfur, after the tsunami and more recently with Ebola. Everywhere AJWS goes they spread hope. Hope leads to action. It is like the Edmund Flegg quote, “I am a Jew because at every time despair cries out, the Jew hopes.” And that is very the hope leads to action. That’s what led me to start my celebration of Chanukah at Representative Peter Roskam’s office on behalf of American Jewish World Service asking for support of the International Violence Against Women Act. That combination of hope and action is what makes me proud to be an American Jewish World Service Global Justice fellow.
After Chanukah, the bulletin board in the foyer of the synagogue will be changed. We will focus on Martin Luther King, jr. as part of the national day of service. Our social action chairperson, Elise, told me that she already has the bulletin board planned out. It will include a Martin Luther King quote about hope. Perhaps it is this one. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
These are the values that I choose to emphasize at Chanukah. Hope. Light. Love. So thank you, Ari, Ruth and Elise for helping realize what I am rededicating myself to this holiday season.