Hanukkah Night 8: We light all the candles!
I am sad to see Hanukkah 2024 end. The lights of the menorah have increased every night. My social media feeds are filled up with light. The unique menorahs, lit by diverse families from around the world are amazingly joyful. This Hanukkah with its sparkling light has given me enormous hope.
The Talmud inspires us to proclaim the miracle of Hanukkah by placing our lit menorahs in our windows, shining their light for all to see. It is a mitzvah filled with hope.
At the cusp of 2025, uncertainty is in the air. During precarious times, it can be especially difficult to find hope.
We are beset by images of the war in Israel and Gaza. Meanwhile, our climate continues to burn, species face extinction, and generations struggle to bridge their differing perspectives.
In addition, we are confronted with many unanswered questions. For example, when will the hostages be released, and when will the war finally end? How many more lives will be lost in the process?
Furthermore, concerns about the future loom large. How will vulnerable populations—such as immigrants, LGBTQI+ individuals, women, and minorities—be protected under the policies of the next government?
Yet, despite these challenges, it is essential to hold onto hope. After all, the vision of the world we wish to create shapes our actions today and brings us closer to manifesting the future we desire.
Hope In Uncertainty
The author and activist Rebecca Solnit speaks to moments like these. She connects hope and uncertainty most beautifully. She takes “hope” out of the binary of “optimism” and “pessimism” and shows how our “not knowing” can push us into making a difference.
Hope is not passive or waiting for things to change. The truth is that we are most hopeful when we act toward an imagined future. And yet hope also acknowledges that we do not know the outcome.
“Hope locates itself in the premises that we don’t know what will happen and that in the spaciousness of uncertainty is room to act. When you recognize uncertainty,
Rebecca Solnit
you recognize that you may be able to influence the outcomes–
you alone or you in concert with a few dozen or several million others.
Hope is an embrace of the unknown and knowable,
an alternative to the certainty of both optimists and pessimists…
It’s the belief that what we do matters even though how and when it may matter,
who and what is may impact, are not things we can know beforehand…
Or perhaps studying the record more carefully leads us
to expect miracles – not when and where we expect them,
but to expect to be astonished, to expect that we don’t know.
And this is grounds to act.
Hope In Dark Times
I remember when my husband and I worked tirelessly for the Nuclear Freeze movement. We had nightly living room meetings where we educated friends and neighbors. Others lobbied government officials. We made movies about the dangers of nuclear war. Being part of a mass movement was exciting, even though we were spurred on by the real fear that our planet would be destroyed.
None of us could have imagined that it would be American President Ronald Reagan and the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev who would end up brokering a peace agreement and begin to dismantle nuclear weapons.
This is how Solnit inspires us to take action, without knowing the outcome.
It is a spiritual principle worth embracing.
Happening Right Now
I am drawing hope from groups that are taking action in stressful times. For example, in Israel, there are people actively working for peace between Arab Israelis, Jewish Israelis, and Bedouins. There are thousands of activists in Israel who have protested in the streets of Israel against the current Israeli government, and those that continue to work for the release of the hostages and the war’s end.
Here is the Israeli group Standing Together’s mission:
“We are building a shared home for all those who refuse hatred and choose empathy.
Standing Together
We won’t erase our differences, but rather believe in a true partnership based on shared interests.
This is the meaning of Standing Together.
We envision a society that serves all of us.
A just and equal society that treats every person with dignity.
A society that chooses peace, justice, and independence for Israelis and Palestinians –
Jews and Arabs. A society in which we all enjoy real security, adequate housing,
quality education, good healthcare,
a liveable climate, a decent salary,
and the ability to age with dignity.”
In the US, I am inspired by the activists working to protect women in states where their reproductive choices are diminished or absent.
There are groups like HIAS which is figuring out how to continue to help immigrants. Groups like Ocean’s Initiative dedicate its research to keeping whale and dolphin habitats clean and safe.
The idea of a thousand points of light gives me enormous hope. Thousands of people bring their light to the darkness.
From Where Do You Draw Hope?
Let’s help each other recognize where the light is shining brightly.
From Our Community
Here are some hopes that are shared by members of our Hineni Spiritual Community:
That everyone has a window to display their candles, and feels safe doing so.
Rob
My hope is for a peaceful and more loving, accepting world in which we collaborate to resolve the problems facing us all and distribute our natural resources with equity among all the people of the earth.
Linda Salzman
Peace and an end to the duplicity, hatred, and anger in the collective consciousness. I hope people who are blind with propaganda see the light and why they are being consumed by lies and redirect that to right the ship.
Susan Grissom
Hope that the conflict in Israel will end.
Ter Lieberstein
I hope and pray that children and families feel strength, safety and the deepest depths of their love in this season of darkness.
Shoshana Stombaugh
My hope is that all the hostages will go free, and that there will be a strategic path towards a REAL lasting peace in Israel.
Susan Kronish Grotenstein
Tonight we light ALL the candles! First, light the shamash (helper candle) and then the rest.
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Happy Hanukkah,
Rabbi Jill and the Path With Heart Community Team
I’m feeling hopeful with all the Jewish joy I’m seeing online.
Me too Marina!
I derive hope from witnessing the goodness of so many kind and compassionate people around me. They are like the “angels of our better nature” and this gives me hope, which is essential. As James Baldwin said–“the people we have to fear are those that have nothing to lose.” That means we not only notice the good things but “inquire within” to draw upon our own resilience and not letting “the bastards get us down!” We remember who we are and keep on going. We accept that ambiguity is not emptiness–it challenges us to know ourselves and grow character. But small loving acts and delights of life also generate good thoughts and positivity.
Marilyn Stocker
So beautiful Marilyn.