{"id":245,"date":"2023-12-13T10:07:06","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T15:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/modernmomming\/?p=245"},"modified":"2023-12-13T01:15:39","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T06:15:39","slug":"this-hanukkah-we-are-lighting-two-menorahs-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/modernmomming\/2023\/12\/this-hanukkah-we-are-lighting-two-menorahs-heres-why\/","title":{"rendered":"This Hanukkah, We Are Lighting Two Menorahs.. Here’s Why"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
Hanukkah menorah lighting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Tonight marks the 6th night of Hanukkah, when my family will light six candles to commemorate the holiday.\u00a0 \u00a0We will also light candles for a second menorah in the house, in honor of the 137 hostages who are spending their Hanukkah as captives in Gaza and are obviously unable to light candles or have a menorah.<\/p>\n
What Makes Hanukkah Different This Year\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
The week-long holiday commemorates the revolt of the Jewish Maccabees who rose up against oppressive, anti-Jewish rule.\u00a0 After their victory against the Greeks, the Maccabees lit a menorah with a single vial of lamp oil that should have stayed lit for only one night, and miraculously lasted for eight.<\/p>\n
We are two months into Israel\u2019s war in Gaza and thousands of people have been killed.\u00a0 Jewish people around the world are still in mourning and disbelief over the tragic events that took place on October 7, in Israel, and in shock over the antisemitic reverberations throughout the world.<\/p>\n
Rabbis and Jewish thought leaders suggest lighting a second menorah in consideration for the Jewish hostages still held in Gaza, the Jewish soldiers on the battlefield, and for the Jewish victims who have lost their lives over the past two months.<\/p>\n
Practicing Judaism is a Privilege<\/strong><\/p>\n
What I\u2019ve learned from the worldwide events that continue to astound me on a daily basis, is that the freedom to practice our religion \u2013 including lighting candles for Hanukkah \u2013 is a privilege and not a given.<\/p>\n
The men, women, children and elderly who were violently seized from their homes and from the music festival in Israel on October 7, do not have the option to light candles on Hanukkah, and neither did countless other Jewish people throughout history who were forced to practice their Judaism in secret in fear of violent persecution for practicing their faith and traditions.<\/p>\n
Antisemitism Without a Filter<\/strong><\/p>\n
Until this year, I had never born witness to the scourge of antisemitism on this scale.\u00a0 I believe what I have seen so far is more than enough, yet I am sure it\u2019s not over.<\/p>\n
Just today, a far-right Polish lawmaker used a fire extinguisher<\/a> in a torrid display to put out the candles of a Hanukkah menorah during a ceremony at Poland\u2019s parliamentary office.<\/p>\n
There have been some Hanukkah events canceled, such as the one at a festival in Williamsburg, Virginia<\/a> \u2013 because of the tensions caused the Israel -Hamas war.\u00a0 According to the festival\u2019s founder Shirley Vermillion, the menorah lighting \u201cseemed very inappropriate\u201d given current events in Israel and Gaza.<\/p>\n
Hanukkah cancelled\u2026 the idea of it is alarming, distressing and quite frankly, unbelievable.<\/p>\n
Can you imagine if Christmas was \u201ccancelled\u201d because Christian U.S. soldiers were fighting a war to protect their land and people?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s absurd, yet these anti-semitic, anti-Jewish events continue to occur \u2013 without the backlash that one would expect.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tonight marks the 6th night of Hanukkah, when my family will light six candles to commemorate the holiday.\u00a0 \u00a0We will also light candles for a second menorah in the house, in honor of the 137 hostages who are spending their Hanukkah as captives in Gaza and are obviously unable to light candles or have a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4980,"featured_media":251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[92,86,80,83,56,89],"class_list":["post-245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-antisemitic","tag-chanukah","tag-gaza","tag-hanukkah","tag-israel","tag-menorah"],"yoast_head":"\nThis Hanukkah, We Are Lighting Two Menorahs.. 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