Overview
- Writers cite the Sydney Bondi Beach attack as heightening the urgency of how Hanukkah is practiced and discussed this week.
- Rabbi Ariana Capptauber emphasizes the Talmudic focus on the miracle of light and the call to publicize it, using school visits to teach joy, ritual, and culture.
- Samuel J. Abrams urges placing menorahs in windows as a deliberate statement of presence in response to open antisemitism in streets, synagogues, and on campuses.
- Josh Hammer argues Hanukkah’s core is particularist—preserving Jewish identity against assimilation—and criticizes politicians for recasting it in generic universalist terms.
- The pieces note Hanukkah’s deep integration into U.S. holiday culture, boosting visibility while enabling corporate and political symbolism that can blur the holiday’s meaning.