‘By creating light, we beat back the darkness.’ Chanukah’s message for our community.

The Jewish fesitval of Chanukah wrapped up its 8 days of celebration last weekend.

Chanukah, known as the festival of lights, celebrates the miraculous victory of the Macabeean army over the Syrian Greeks 2200 years ago, and the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Upon the Liberation of the land of Israel, and the cleansing of the Temple, a small jar of oil was found, which when lit in the Menorah, lasted for 8 days and nights.

To celebrate these miracles, Jewish families light a Menorah in their homes, eat foods cooked in oil, and celebrate the wonders G-d continues to do for us in our daily lives.

In 1973, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the foremost Jewish leader of the modern era, suggested the revolutionary idea of public Menorah Lightings. Citing the need to ensure every Jewish man, woman, and child, regardless of background or economic status had access to and the ability to celebrate Chanukah.

The idea quickly took off, and within several years, the President was lighting a Menorah on the White House Lawn, and today, thanks to Chabad leaders, over 15,000 Grand Menorahs were lit all over the world, from Paris and Dubai to Thailand and Ukraine.

Here in Kentucky, Menorahs were lit all across the state, with communities and public officials joining in the celebration. Governor Beshear inaugurated the Menorah in the Capitol Rotunda, and Menorahs at the Government Center, Triangle Park, the Summit at Fritz Farms, and UK’s Jewish Student Center spread the Rebbe’s message of light all across Lexington. In addition, celebrations took place in Ashland, Covington, Somerset, Louisville, Frankfort, Shelbyville, Georgetown, Versailles, at Fort Knox and Fort Campbell, among other locations.

These public celebrations have special meaning as the Jewish community celebrates the Hakhel Year of Gathering.

In the Hakhel years in the ancient land of Israel, the entire Jewish nation would gather, and listen to their King read from scripture, and gain guidance for their society and their lives. This served as a center for their calendar cycle.

This Chanukah comes amid rising concerns of antisemitism, propagated through social media, from Kanye and Kyrie Irving, and from Neo Nazis and Black Hebrew Israelite cult members. In addition, Lexington has seen a horrifying surge of violence locally, particularly domestic violence and gun crimes, despite the best effort of our community leaders.

This message of Chanukah, particularly in this Hakhel year, grants us insight into how we can begin to address these crises.

Mayor David Dinkins famously met with the Rebbe following the Sharpton-led pogrom in Brooklyn in 1991. The Mayor asked how to bring the segments of the community together, and the Rebbe simply responded, it begins by realizing we are one community.

Lexington is one community, and her issues affect and belong to all of us.

The Menorah reminds us to bring holy light into this world, but also teaches that each branch, no matter how far spread out, is part of the same lamp.

For a Menorah to be acceptable for use, all the lights must be on the same level, and must be in a straight line. Each flame shines out as a unit of a whole.

Each member of our community has value, and we must strive to come together, and ensure each potential candle, and each potential child, shine to their brightest capabilities.

The issues we currently face are communal issues, and can only be solved by a communal response.

The Menorah reminds us that simply by creating light, we beat back the darkness.

And the Hakhel year reminds us that in order to confront our societal issues, our response must be based on morals and must come from all of us.

May the new secular year bring us healing, peace, and light, and may we all commit to being part of the solution.

Rabbi Shlomo Litvin is executive director of Chabad of the Bluegrass.