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December 19, 2025 - 29 Kislev 5786
Dear Friends, We are thrilled to celebrate the wedding of Lena Zairis and Brian Bromberg this coming Sunday afternoon in our sanctuary. Please join us as we honor Lena and Brian with an Aufruf this coming Shabbat morning. It's such a wonderful way to add to the joy and celebration of Chanukah and Shabbat! We would like to thank Anna Bromberg for sponsoring this week’s Kiddush in honor of the wedding of her son, Brian, and daughter-in-law-to-be, Lena Zairis. We thank Anna for her generosity and look forward to sharing in her (and Brian and Lena’s) Simcha tomorrow morning! Kermit the Frog used to say, "It's not easy being green." Well, I don't know what it's like to be green. But I do know what it's like to be Jewish. And it's not always so easy either. Especially since October 7, 2023, so many of the moments of celebration on the Jewish calendar have taken place amidst a backdrop of pain and mournfulness. Sadly, the first night of Chanukah this year was also such a moment. Just hours before we were set to light the Chanukiah for the first night, to commemorate miracles done for our people and thanking God for enabling us to reach this moment, we woke up to the devastating news of a terrorist massacre at a Chanukah celebration on Bondi Beach in Australia. Fifteen dead and dozens injured, including children, and hundreds of folks just hoping to mark this season of light and hope, now plunged into suffering and trauma. Simply because they are Jews. While our thoughts and prayers are, of course, with our suffering brothers and sisters, we know that thoughts and prayers, unaccompanied by action, do nothing to bring back the dead, heal the wounded, or help anyone, most especially Jews, feel safe in their own homes and neighborhoods. In these kinds of horrific moments, it can feel strange, almost wrong, to mark moments of joy and celebration like Chanukah. But our tradition says no. Our tradition says, "Even in times like these - especially in times like these - we are commanded to celebrate." To find, recognize, and show gratitude for the good; to create, share, and spread all kinds of light, most especially when it feels so figuratively and literally dark. As I've said before, that is why we're still here. The Jewish people, in particular, know what it means to hold multiple, often seemingly contradictory, thoughts and sentiments within our heads and hearts. Understandably, we struggle to find action and words that respond as effectively as possible to the tragedies and loss that continue to plague our people. We worry that lighting the Chanukiah feels simultaneously inappropriate and yet also somehow not "enough" of a response to the ugliness so regularly aimed at us. But it is. It is enough. If we are unable to send help or words of solidarity, love, and support to the victims, I would argue that lighting the Chanukah candles, saying the blessings, thanking God for what has been done for us throughout ages past, unflinchingly continuing to profess our undying faith, to invoke God's Presence upon the entirety of the Jewish people and the world - this is more than enough. This is how we put even more light out into the world. And this is how we let those whose hearts are filled with hatred know that they will not defeat us. They will never defeat us. This is how we put into action what Martin Luther King famously said, that only love can drive out hate, and only light can drive out darkness. So, light your candles with joy. Sing the blessings and songs with zeal. And share your light, our light, with the world. Because that, in the end and in the beginning, is why the Jewish people are still here. Am Yisrael Chai and Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Joshua Strom
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