Rabbi's Hanukkah Message 2025
- Communications TBEW
- Dec 14, 2025
- 3 min read
Dear friends,
As you know, the holiday of Hanukkah begins this evening. For the next eight nights and days, we will light menorahs, play with dreidels, eat latkes and donuts, and celebrate our winter festival of light and freedom.
Tragically, as we begin the holiday this year, we are overwhelmed by the tragic events that took place in Sydney, Australia, last night, where at least 15 people were shot and killed at a Hanukkah celebration. This horrifying act of violence, immediately labeled as a terrorist attack by the Australian government, was a clear act of anti-Jewish hatred, one that darkens our lives and this holiday, and which could so easily discourage us from coming together to celebrate Hanukkah.
The story of Hanukkah is one of desecration, and rededication. After defeating the Hellenistic Syrians who had invaded the kingdom of Israel and desecrated the sacred space that was the Ancient Temple, the Maccabees entered what had previously been the sacred focal point of their community, reclaimed it as their own, and rededicated it for sacred purpose. This act of rededication was such a meaningful and powerful act that the ancient rabbis chose that word - Hanukkah literally means dedication or rededication - as the name of the holiday celebrating both the military victory of the Maccabees, and the religious miracle of one night's worth of oil lasting for eight nights.
The effects of desecration of any kind, in any circumstance, are extremely difficult to counteract. When the forces of darkness find their way into your places of light, their occupation can feel permanent, and impossible to overcome. The festival of Hanukkah, the holiday of literal rededication, shows us that this does not always have to be the case, and reminds us that being dedicated to love and light and community is a proven, successful path to combating this kind of desecration.
Nothing can bring back the lives that were lost in Australia yesterday - the Jewish people will long mourn those who lost their lives, may their memories be for a blessing. We as a people dedicating ourselves to coming together on this Hanukkah, to not allowing the forces of darkness to drive us apart but instead to bringing more light into the world, is the way that we can show the world that we cannot be intimidated into allowing this desecration to take root. The actions of these terrorists were clearly meant to discourage Jewish people from celebrating Hanukkah. It is up to us to show the desecrators that we will not accept their hostile intentions, but instead we will fight to reclaim the sacred spaces that we create whenever we gather together to celebrate light and love and community.
As such, I invite and encourage you to join us for one or more of the several opportunities you have this coming week to celebrate Hanukkah with your community, and to dedicate yourself to light at this darkest time of the year. Please join us tonight in Newport News, on Thursday night in Newport News, on Friday night at services, on Saturday evening at our Hanukkah party, or on Sunday evening in New Town (more information about all of these program can be found in Friday's TBEW Enews). Security will be present at all of these programs, helping to make sure that we can safely and securely celebrate Hanukkah with each other. I invite you to join me in dedicating ourselves to not letting the darkness win, and instead to making this world a better place. May the glow of latkes frying, the joy of gifts being opened and dreidel being played, and the light of the menorah increasing each night, bring more joy into our lives, and more light into a world that can, at moments like this, feel quite dark. I wish you a happy and meaningful festival of light - chag Hanukkah sameach!!!!
