But this once “minor” holiday, commemorating a military victory over the occupying Greeks in Judea in 164 BCE, has grown in relevance in recent decades. And while other Jewish holidays commemorate splashier miracles—10 plagues, a sea split in two, stone tablets hand-delivered by God atop a mountain—Hanukkah’s one-day supply of oil that burned for eight has become a metaphor for the Jewish people’s endurance through hardship, hate and the Holocaust.
It is thus a holiday whose message transcends time and place, offering inspiration to all people, in every season.
Jewish history includes many victories—repelling invaders, toppling usurpers—but the revolt led by the five Maccabee brothers and their father from the tiny village of Modi’in stands apart: It is the only triumph fought and won against overwhelming odds for religious freedom alone—the right, as Jews, to be Jewish.
Those two themes—the right to practice one’s faith and the survival of a small community within a larger, hostile one—resonate deeply with communities everywhere, inspiring celebrations large and small. So from New England to California and from Stockholm to Savannah, towns and metropolises the world over are celebrating Hanukkah proudly and in their own fashion.
San Francisco’s Union Square features a giant menorah. On Hanukkah’s first night it shot a beam of light thousands of feet high, visible for miles around.
New York City boasts two of the world’s largest menorahs, with massive public lighting ceremonies held at sites like Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza and the Manhattan Seaport, where this year’s celebration includes a giant 6-foot LEGO menorah as a special attraction.
Across the Atlantic, Rome, which Jews have made their home for over 2,000 years, features a lively Hanukkah Street Party, with dancing, feasting and marching through the streets. A 20-foot-tall menorah towers over the centuries-old Piazza Barberini, standing beside the Fountain of the Triton.
An homage to Miami’s year-round beach vibe, seashells blanket the giant menorah that stands on Lincoln Road, lovingly curated and maintained by the 91-year-old gentleman who swears he’s not a skilled artist, but who first built it more than two decades ago as a monument to the city’s Jewish heritage.
In Israel, the Hanukkah Torch Relay honors the legacy of the Maccabees, with runners carrying an Olympic-style torch from Modi’in to the Western Wall. There the chief rabbi lights a giant menorah, building a symbolic bridge from past to present.
This year, a mere four days after Human Rights Day, Hanukkah began on the evening of December 14. The world had just honored the anniversary of the UN General Assembly proclaiming the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Article 18 of that bold and enduring document reads: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”
Put simply, Hanukkah—celebrating the courage and perseverance of a people who fought to freely practice their faith—embodies the very religious freedom enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is thus a holiday whose message transcends time and place, offering inspiration to all people, in every season.
And so, Happy Hanukkah to every one of us.
