A Very Special Hanukkah

December 2, 2025 in Israel

By Larry Sidman

As we look forward to the celebration of Hanukkah, three words tend to dominate: gifts, lights, and miracles. We search for presents for our children and grandchildren. We clean our menorahs, restock our supply of Hanukkah candles, and rehearse the blessings upon lighting the candles. We retell the miracle of Hanukkah, when oil necessary for the rededication of the Temple seemingly sufficient to last only one day lasted eight.

This Hanukkah, these three words take on special meaning. We celebrate the gift of the return of all the living hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas during its barbaric invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023. We celebrate their emergence from the darkness of the tunnel networks in Gaza to the bright light of their physical embrace by their families and their virtual embrace by all Jews. We celebrate the miracle of their survival, for some longer than two years, a testament to their remarkable courage and resilience. The return of the hostages wraps these three words into one unique package that lasts far longer than eight days of Hanukkah holiday cheer. It fills us with gratitude, determination, and hope.

Hanukkah also is special because it highlights the intertwined nature of the religious, historical, and cultural experience of the Jewish people. We observe Hanukkah as a religious holiday, albeit not one mentioned in the Torah or even in the entire Tanach. However, it is intimately linked to Jewish religion because it commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. The Maccabean rebellion was initiated by a Jewish priest, Mattityahu, in response to the decrees of King Antiochus IV Epiphanes, prohibiting Jewish religious practices. Antiochus ordered that a statue of the Greek god, Zeus, be erected on the Temple altar and forbade circumcision of Jewish children. The Maccabees purified the desecrated Second Temple and rededicated it as a holy space where Jews once again could freely practice their religion.

Although the revolt by the Maccabees had distinctly religious objectives, it also had remarkable historical and national significance for the Jewish people. At that time, Judea was ruled by the Seleucid Empire, an offshoot of the most powerful empire of that period, the Greek empire founded by Alexander the Great. Vastly outnumbered and overmatched militarily by the Seleucids, the Maccabees overcame all odds to defeat Antiochus IV and regain control of Judea, Eretz Yisrael. Thus, not only did they regain their religious freedom, but they also regained control of their sovereign territory. They proved that the Jewish people could set aside deep divisions and summon the courage and creativity to defeat an imperialist aggressor and achieve autonomous rule. They established the Hasmonean Kingdom that endured for approximately 100 years until the Roman annexation of Judea.

Today, Hanukkah endures as a religious and nationalist holiday and as a cultural centerpiece of the Jewish experience, especially in the Diaspora. We gather the family to light the candles in the hanukkiah. We exchange presents, play dreidel games, sing songs of merriment and national victory and strength, and eat sufganiot, jelly doughnuts, and latkes. The faces of our children and grandchildren radiate almost as much brightness as the flaming candles. We display the hanukkiah in our window, signifying that we want to share our happiness with others and that we are not afraid to identify as Jews.

Thinking about Hanukkah holistically through an integrated religious, historical, and cultural lens may provide relevant insights into how American Jews might confront the frightening surge in antisemitism/antizionism from both the political right and left and how Israeli Jews might address remaining existential threats, albeit from weakened foes. As much, if not more than any other Jewish holiday, Hanukkah reminds us that we are one people sharing a religious, historical, and cultural experience that has evolved and endured for millennia. Eretz Yisrael, where the Maccabees fought to secure their religious freedom and their national self-determination, remains the center of our struggle for true freedom as a people, just as it was 2,200 years ago.

Despite deep differences about a wide range of political and religious issues among and between American and Israeli Jews, we all came together as one people, am ehad, in welcoming back to Israel our heroic hostages. We could give ourselves a wonderful Hanukkah present by maintaining that sense of unity and empathetic understanding as we rebuild the kibbutzim and economy ravaged by the protracted Gaza war and reimagine our position as Jews in a less welcoming United States.