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Here we are, in the midst of celebrating Hanukkah. Many of us have used this time of darkness to light the candles, sing the songs, eat the latkes, and savour the sweetness of the sufganiyot, all of which are reminders of the miracles we’ve experienced.

When we celebrate the miracle of the oil, the triumph over oppression, and the right to practice our religion, we celebrate not just our history, but our potential. Hanukkah reminds us of our capacity to embrace the miracles around us and to use them to inspire our own – not only in the darkest months, when we yearn to create light, but all throughout the year.

Sometimes I think the fact that we celebrate Hanukkah in darkest winter helps us focus on the places we want to go. In darkness there are no distractions. In darkness everything has to be deliberately lit.

This begs the question: How do we deliberately light the path for ourselves during this dark time of year? I would challenge us to take this opportunity to make resolutions, and to take the darkness as an opportunity to focus on the people we want to help, the good we want to do, and to be the light we want to shine around us.

At Jewish Federation, we turn darkness into opportunity in our own way. There are dark corners of the Lower Mainland – dark in the sense that they are beyond the reach of many of our community institutions. We see in them opportunities to shine a light with the programs and services we fund.

Those of us who live more centrally sometimes do not see just how far our community has spread throughout the suburbs. If you think there aren’t many Jews beyond Vancouver or Richmond, just look at what happened when we shone a light in Coquitlam. More than 100 people attended a PJ Library Hanukkah event for young families living there. That’s just one example. There is so much more we need to - and will - do to help connect these families, who are so clearly eager for Jewish programming.

And in the midst of the darkness of the season, we gathered together last night to stand in solidarity with Israel and light the chanukiyah together as a community. Yasher koach to Temple Sholom, Congregation Schara Tzedeck, and Congregation Beth Israel for spearheading this important event. Our Federation is proud to have been a partner, along with our advocacy agent, The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, and the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, Congregation Beth Hamidrash, Beth Tikvah Synagogue, Congregation Har El, Hillel BC, Ohel Ya’akov Community Kollel, and Chabad-Lubavitch of British Columbia.

Community events like these are powerful because they are an opportunity to take strength in each other, and to give that strength back to each other. I thank each of you who attended and showed our brothers and sisters in Israel that our community stands shoulder to shoulder with them as they endure daily terror attacks. How fitting that this event was held in the middle of Hanukkah, just as we remember the triumph of our people over those who fought to prevent us from honouring our traditions, from praying in our own way, and from being who we are.

Shabbat and chag Hanukkah sameach,

Ezra S. Shanken
CEO, Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver

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