Don't Let the Light Go Out

We awoke this morning not only to the joy of a snowy Chanukah, but also, to the pain of two deadly shootings: the shooting at Brown University (an institution to which several of our congregants are connected) – and the shooting at the menorah lighting on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, where (as of this writing) eleven people were killed, including the Chabad rabbi, Rabbi Eli Schlanger.

It is particularly painful that this act of antisemitic violence occurred at a public Chanukah celebration. Chanukah, after all, is a holiday on which we celebrate our freedom to live proudly and publicly as Jews.

Like the Maccabees before us, we will not let those who’d wish to do us harm deter us from expressing our Jewishness.

Tomorrow evening (Mon 12/15 at 5pm), I’ll be attending the Public Menorah Lighting sponsored by Chabad of the Rivertowns in front of the VFW in Hastings. And this Shabbat (Fri 12/19 at 6:30pm), we’ll be celebrating Chanukah as a Temple Beth Shalom Community in our sanctuary. (Bring your menorah and candles.) It would be great to see one another there.

In their 1982 Chanukah song “Don’t Let the Light Go Out,” Peter, Paul, and Mary asked: 

What is the memory that's valued so highly 

That we keep it alive in that flame? 

What’s our commitment to those who have died 

When we cry out: “They’ve not died in vain”? 

 

This Chanukah, at least one answer to that question is clear. In honor of those who have died, our commitment is to continue to live proudly as Jews. 

Wishing your family a meaningful Chanukah.