HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – Jews in South Florida and around the world are preparing for Hanukkah. The celebration of finding light in the darkness begins Thursday.
Many say it feels especially timely and relevant this year amid Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas.
One faith leader said uncertainty lingers over this year’s celebrations.
“Uncertainty, if there is one word to categorize what the general atmosphere, is it is uncertainty from moment to moment,” Rabbi Brandon Gaines, who has family members in Israel, said. “You are in war, sirens go off all the time, you are running for shelter.”
He added, “A lot of people are now afraid to walk out of their homes, to walk down the street to advertise who they are.”
“Those two twin evils of helplessness and hopelessness which sort of emerge from that are feeling for the hour, it is a frightening time,” Gaines said.
Dr. Daniel Bober, the chief of psychiatry at Memorial Regional Hospital, speaking about a colleague in Tel Aviv, said “for last two weeks she hasn’t been able to sleep because she hears the sound of barking dogs, jets flying over, explosions.”
All of that uncertainty shows why the message of light over darkness resonates with added relevance during this turbulent time, the two men said.
“It is not just the light that we shine to ourselves, it is how we shine and impact people around us,” Gaines said. “You would be shocked how the littlest gesture can have the most profound impact.”
He added, “The message is going to be that you never stop shining the light because darkness rises. On the contrary, one of our sacred texts called the Zohar it says greater is light that shines from dark than light that shines from light.”
Bober said during this holiday season, it’s important to find the light within our hearts.
“All of us have people we don’t get along with, the best thing is to not harbor animosity, because that just eats us up inside,” he said.
Their advice to all? Find comfort in being present with friends and family.