It is easy amid the bountiful feasts and multi-night gift-giving to forget the essence of two introspective and celebratory holidays that this year come close to converging.
Thanksgiving is an opportunity to say “thank you”:
To the original habitants of this land who assisted the Pilgrims in planting and reaping a meager harvest.
To the Union soldiers who gave their lives to preserve our nation and end the abhorrent, immoral practice of slavery, leading President Lincoln to institute Thanksgiving as a federal holiday.
For most of us, it is a time to reflect on our personal lives and express gratitude for family and friends.
While Chanukah is not associated with gratitude per se, indeed the holiday is an opportunity for us to reflect on all the sacrifices made by previous generations — back to the Maccabees themselves — to ensure the survival of the Jewish people and the Jewish faith.
As the rise in anti-Semitism is witnessed across the globe, including in the United States, Chanukah reminds us, once again, of the importance of Jewish identity and the risks worth taking to fight for religious freedom.
There will always be those who seek to limit religious diversity or impose their religious worldview on others. Just recently, Michael Flynn, former national security adviser, called for the US to have “one religion.” Fortunately we live in a country where the majority of our leadership, across the religious and political spectrum, decried such a statement. Yet, it served as a reminder. Religious freedom may be enshrined in the Constitution, but that doesn’t mean it will not or cannot be threatened.
The Chanukah lights remind us that even in the darkest hours — even when the very existence of Jewish nationhood is threatened — hope for redemption remains.
This will always be a lesson worth remembering and saying “thank you” for.
Copyright © 2021 by the Intermountain Jewish News
