With conflicts raging in Israel and Ukraine and the frightening rise of antisemitism, this year’s celebration of Hannukah is ever more meaningful and bonding for Jewish communities. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the global Jewish humanitarian organization, is ensuring that the holiday’s message of resilience and hope is felt by vulnerable Jews the world over.
In the battered city of Poltava, Ukraine, unending air raid sirens, blackouts, buzzing of deadly drones, and lethal bombings are daily fare. But Maria Zimina, 17, a local Jewish teen leader, has enormous resolve, especially because her life, and that of two others from her community, were changed last Hannukah.
“I remember this past Hannukah vividly. I visited the homes of people who couldn’t come to our JCC to celebrate the holiday but still wanted the warmth of the candles,” says Maria. She had just become part of a special volunteer initiative run by her local Active Jewish Teens club, a JDC youth program in partnership with BBYO, and her local JDC-supported Hesed social service center, which has been providing humanitarian aid to the local community since the conflict began.
Maria was asked if she would take on helping two elderly homebound ladies, Olga Govorova, 85, and Ludmila Shamraevskaya, 76, both of whom receive social and medical support from JDC. Maria readily accepted. “That’s how it all started — this whole journey began with Hannukah,” she says.
Hannukah’s promise of hope amidst conflict
For a year, Maria has visited Olga and Ludmila a couple of times a week, assisting them with grocery shopping and using their smartphones to connect with family, friends, and the local Jewish community’s online programming, which is a balm during the frequent air raids and power outages. “They call me their Jewish granddaughter.”
As the holiday approaches again, Maria continues to draw inspiration from it. “Hannukah is an opportunity to bring more light into someone’s home or heart and perhaps dispel some darkness through the connection and warmth that it brings. I believe in the miracle of Hannukah and that one lit candle can truly save a life. I try to bring more light into the world every day.”
From Chernivtsi to Zaporizhzhia, amidst the ongoing conflict, JDC’s network of JCCs and Hesed service centers are not only a lifeline of humanitarian aid and vital services but also of community resilience through Hannukah activities and events embracing the very young to the very old, including Holocaust survivors. Currently, the majority of Ukrainian Jews have remained or returned to the country, including the internally displaced.
In cities like Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipro, the local Heseds and JCCs are hosting Shabbatons, culinary classes, and intergenerational craft workshops to celebrate the Festival of Lights. And as people contend with life-threatening crises, fear, and displacement of family and friends, they are also helping their communities prepare emotionally for Hannukah with group therapy sessions and bringing together hundreds of people online for each night of Hannukah to light candles together, spreading the warmth of candles and community.
Lighting the way to resilient communities
In Israel, Hannukah’s message of resilience is especially powerful for those Israelis touched by JDC’s efforts to help them and their communities heal and recover after the October 7 attacks and ongoing war. More than 550,000 Israelis and 90% of the country’s municipalities have been directly impacted by JDC’s emergency response work to date.
During Hannukah, some of the most devastated communities in the South are finding ways to overcome their fears and gather outside together again by drawing on the strength of the menorah’s light. The city of Ofakim lost 52 people on October 7, more than half from the neighborhood of Mishar HaGefen. Through JDC’s Mashiv Haruach (Reviving the Spirit) initiative, a new Community Resilience Center in that neighborhood offers programs and events designed to encourage residents to reengage in public life and restore their sense of personal and community security. For Hannukah, there will also be a festive outdoor public candle lighting to bring people together in celebration.
Community programs like these have helped local resident Lilan Biton recover from the trauma of October 7. Lilan, along with two of her children and a baby grandchild, hid in her attic for hours during the attack, witnessing horrors through a small opening. Originally intent on moving away, Lilan started attending and now helps lead Beit Mishar, another community center addressing trauma and resilience established through JDC’s Mashiv Haruach initiative and which is run by women from the neighborhood.
Among her many roles there, Lilan volunteers in the center’s specially designed multisensory therapy room that is helping neighborhood children cope with the traumatic events they experienced. Lilan sees her activity in Beit Mishar as part of her own healing process, transforming trauma into community action. Here, she meets neighbors who, like her, have gone through the similarly distressing events, and together they strengthen each other and their hometown.
In Ashkelon, another southern city besieged on October 7, the Fathers and Sons program, also part of the Mashiv Haruach initiative, will host a public holiday candle lighting and serve sufganiyot, bringing joy and sweetness to families on their road to recovery.
Rescuing Jews from danger
While hope and resilience are something JDC provides 365 days a year wherever Jews are in need, in just the past four months alone, the organization has come to the aid of Jews dealing with floods in southwest Poland, antisemitic attacks in Amsterdam, and trauma arising from the murder of a rabbi in Dubai.
In September, the small and aging Jewish communities in Dzierzoniow, Klodzko, Bielawa, and Zary, Poland were inundated by calamitous floods. JDC staff was immediately on the scene. The response included the temporary relocation of families, support for those who suffered damage to their homes and businesses, and providing food and hygienic items. Subsequently, JDC has also helped two small businesses reopen, ensuring ongoing livelihood for those hard hit by the disaster.
One of the people helped by JDC is Judyta F., who lives by herself in the village of Wloki, near Dzierzoniow, and works from home as a translator. The floods destroyed the ground floor of her home, which was devastating for Judyta, who is in her sixties and has multiple disabilities. JDC volunteers cleaned out the mud and debris, and the organization funded repairs to her floors and kitchen, enabling her to remain in her home and community.
As it did for Rosh Hashanah, JDC will help these dispersed and mostly elderly Jewish communities gather to celebrate Hannukah together. Nearly 80 people will light the menorah, eat traditional holiday foods including sugar-free sufganiyot as many are diabetic, and attend a concert featuring a community member’s band – all ensuring that Jewish life continues.
In November, violent antisemitic attacks erupted in Amsterdam against visiting Israelis who were attending a soccer match, sending shock waves of fear throughout the Dutch Jewish community. Already engaged with the community, JDC immediately activated its emergency response team and worked through Maccabi Netherlands to provide support for the safe accommodation of Israelis as they awaited their expedited return home. Now JDC is focusing on the expansion of a local Jewish community mental health hotline to address stress and trauma resulting from rising antisemitism and anti-Israel activity.
In Dubai, the murder of Chabad Rabbi Zvi Kogan shook the local Jewish community. JDC, which has had a JDC Entwine Jewish Service Corps fellow embedded in the community to support its development of programs and services, quickly contacted local leaders and set up mental health sessions for dozens of community members who needed space to manage their fears and concerns.
JDC’s efforts in Israel, Ukraine, and 68 other countries around the world are made possible by generous support provided by the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and local Jewish Federations, the Claims Conference, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, individuals, families, foundations, and corporations.
“In the coming weeks, each of us will hold the shamash and light our menorahs, kindling light, warmth, and blessings. In many ways, we at JDC are the Jewish community’s shamash, spreading light, hope, and care to the places where darkness threatens to crush the spirit of so many,” said JDC CEO Ariel Zwang. “During the last year, we have taken that light and forged a path out of the darkness, building a resilient future for our people. That effort, our largest since the postwar period, is a Hannukah miracle worth celebrating.”
A great miracle happened here:
Sunday, December 22 at 7 P.M. EST
Join JDC for a global Hannukah experience celebrating the Jewish community’s strength and resilience.
This online event features acclaimed chef Fany Gerson making a scrumptious holiday treat and guests and performers from Poltava, Kyiv, Budapest, Tel Aviv, and London.
Register today at JDC.ORG/CHANUKAH