Happy Hanukkah

Today is the second day of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah (חנוכה), also known as the Feast of Lights. Hanukkah celebrates that once upon a time over 2000 years ago, a miracle happened in Jerusalem. Read all about the story of Hanukkah on Chabad's website, here: What is Hanukkah, from Chabad.org. Chabad writes:

In the second century BCE, the Holy Land was ruled by the Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks), who tried to force the people of Israel to accept Greek culture and beliefs instead of mitzvah observance and belief in G‑d. Against all odds, a small band of faithful but poorly armed Jews, led by Judah the Maccabee, defeated one of the mightiest armies on earth, drove the Greeks from the land, reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and rededicated it to the service of G‑d.

When they sought to light the Temple's Menorah (the seven-branched candelabrum), they found only a single cruse of olive oil that had escaped contamination by the Greeks. Miraculously, they lit the menorah and the one-day supply of oil lasted for eight days, until new oil could be prepared under conditions of ritual purity.

To commemorate and publicize these miracles, the sages instituted the festival of Chanukah.

To be clear, this is the same Temple from the (later) Christian stories of Jesus visiting and praying and teaching at the Temple in Jerusalem. This is the Temple that sat on the Temple Mount until it was destroyed by the Romans in the year 70 CE, some 200 years after the Hanukkah story. Even today, when they pray, Jews all around the world face the place where the Temple once stood. It is THE most important location in all of Judaism.

Menorah -- Source: My Jewish Learning

Hanukkah is a happy holiday. There's no fasting or lamenting, no Sabbath-like rules to follow saying you can't work, light a flame, or use electricity. People light a candle every night on a menorah known as a hanukkiah, starting with a 'helper' candle known as a shamash which is used to light one candle on the first night, two on the second, and so on. Hanukkah is a feast of lights, of togetherness, of community. 

While I may not be Jewish, I do like to light candles for Hanukkah. This year, to commemorate those who were murdered in yesterday's terrorist attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, I lit my candles with a prayer for peace and understanding in the world. I lit my candles hoping that maybe one day, brutally murdering others because they happen to be Jewish will really be a thing of the past. Over 80 years after the ending of the Holocaust, I can't believe that this is still happening... Innocent people, gunned down and brutally murdered, because they peacefully came together to celebrate a holiday. What kind of world do we even live in where that can happen?