The celebration of Hanukkah should continue in the face of rising antisemitism, Orthodox Union Executive Vice President Rabbi Moshe Hauer told The Jerusalem Post.
At the OU’s network of synagogues, and among Jewish communities across the United States, “Hanukkah is proceeding with determination,” he said.
“I don’t think people view themselves as brave,” said Hauer. “They’re not ready to concede on being a Jew in the United States.”
The United States was founded on inclusive values, said Hauer, and Jewish Americans shouldn’t have to stop their celebration of the holiday commemorating the Maccabean revolt against the Hellenist Seleucid empire and the rededication of the Second Temple.
'We can't surrendering our identity'
“People shouldn’t do it if they’re fearful in the moment, but we can’t give up by surrendering our identity,” Hauer advised Jews who might be worried about visibly expressing their religious identity. “The world needs us to be Jews now more than anything.”
Jewish people are “supposed to be a light among the nations,” explained Hauer, adding that this light was impossible not to consider when discussing a holiday in which the hanukkiah is lit each day.
When the Shabbat candles are lit, their light is internal and illuminates the peace of the household, but the light of the hanukkiah, which emanates from its traditional location in a place visible from outside the house, is focused externally.
“The world needs light more than ever,” said Hauer.
While the OU was determined to celebrate the holiday, Hauer assured that security had been heavily enhanced, upon the work that had already been established over the decade.
Hauer recalled how since the September 11 terrorist attacks, the security committees were the most active in congregations, but they once didn’t exist. Now a synagogue without guards didn’t exist.
American synagogue security used to mean “switching the door lock horizontally,” Hauer recalled, while when visiting Europe American Jews “used to find it quaint that they would deal with security at a shul.”
In a discussion about a holiday in which the Maccabees won a victory over the assimilated Hellenistic Jews, Hauer mused about the opportunity cost of working on security and antisemitism rather than focusing on teaching and strengthening Judaism. As a teacher of Jewish tradition, Hauer’s top priority should have been lecturing and leading the discussion, but instead, he was working on external issues.
“Imagine for a minute if all the time and resources that went into security went into positive engagement,” said Hauer. “We have lost more Jews to loss of Jewish identity than from antisemitism, and we’ve been unable to address that crisis.”
In a final piece of advice about the celebration of Hanukkah in troubled times, Hauer cautioned that “Too many donuts aren’t healthy.”