Growing up, I used to count down the days until it was time to celebrate Hanukkah. I am not sure whether it was getting together with family and friends to light the menorah, play dreidel, and eat latkes, or whether it was my mom coming into my elementary school classes to talk about Hanukkah. Maybe it was gazing at (and shaking) the presents my parents had stacked up for my brother and me. Either way, it was definitely one of my favorite times of the year.

Over the years, as I’ve gotten older, the holiday has taken on new meaning - no more so than this Hanukkah that just ended yesterday at sundown.

It should not be news to anybody, but the increasing attacks the Jewish community has been confronted with these last several years, from the sheer number of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish incidents (and rhetoric) to the violence we witnessed just 1 ½ weeks ago at Bondi Beach in Australia, the Jewish world needed Hanukkah to fall exactly when it did this year. And that is because this minor holiday in the Jewish calendar, which is not even included in our Hebrew Bible, epitomizes the importance of what Jewish identity and Jewish pride are all about. Of course, because of its proximity to Christmas, Hanukkah has been elevated and, in many ways, is our most prominent holiday in the secular world. And for the first time in a very long time… I am okay with it.

I was struck this year to see my social media feeds flooded with images of friends beside their lit Hanukkah candles each night. I was also moved by the fact that our community had so many opportunities to publicly celebrate Hanukkah. This was thanks to public Hanukkah lightings in several prominent locations across the greater San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys, coordinated by Chabad and a couple of our other local synagogues.

I also think it was very poignant that, on the “darkest” day of the year (this past Sunday, Winter Solstice), we were lighting our eighth and final Hanukkah candles. We brought the absolute most light we could into the world, helping to dispel not just physical but also the emotional darkness so many of us have been feeling.

It is safe to say that our world needs more light to shine. In fact, it was Dr. Martin Luther King, in one of his most famous comments, who addressed this idea when he famously said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.“

As we enter the final stretch of 2025, our Jewish Federation remains committed to bringing as much light as we possibly can and continuing to combat the darkness we see and experience in our community. Thank you for being our partner. As you consider your final end-of-year donations, please keep our Jewish Federation in mind and make a gift to support our work as we move into 2026.