Let us gather around the fifth candle tonight and reflect on the courage it takes to stand up to oppressive forces. To empire. To those who seek to make you small. Or to disappear. Our fifth night is when the light overcomes the darkness on the menorah; we are more than halfway through the week of growing light within the darkness.
Tonight, we stand at a beautiful tipping point. The light is greater than the darkness. Yes, the light is greater than the darkness. Again, we can repeat: The light is greater than the darkness. If by only a touch, a glimmer, a spark. Hold onto this moment and this statement of faith: The light is greater than the darkness.
We will grow light in the year ahead. No matter what happens in the year ahead, we will be like the Maccabees and lead courageously with faith that the light is greater than the darkness. We will stand up. See the light within each of us and collectively shine greater truth, justice, compassion and peace into this world. We will not accept the darkness, a world ruled by a thirst for domination and subjugation. Our ancestors, the Maccabees, stood up to keep the light growing. On this fifth night of Hanukkah, we are part of a sacred legacy of those who courageously brought more light into this world by rising to defeat oppressive forces.
– Rabbi Yohanna Kinberg, J Street Rabbinic and Cantorial Cabinet Chair, Congregation Kol Ami, Kirkland, Washington
Across the country, J Street’s closest congressional champions and partners led the charge against injustice. Rather than retreat into corners or shirk at those who made them feel small, our allies spoke with nuance not extremism, empathy not apathy and fought for the dignity of Israelis and Palestinians alike.
When Netanyahu came to Washington over the summer to play political games in front of Congress, J Street was proud to support a powerful meeting between hostage families and over 100 Members of Congress who recognized that you can be both pro-Israel and anti-Netanyahu. Every leader in attendance looked past Netanyahu’s spin and stood courageously with the hostage families – and the Israeli people – who by and large feel a deep sense of betrayal by their prime minister.
In the name of our values and the name of Israel’s founding principles, our endorsees took charge in pursuing a vision of peace, whether pushing for action to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, release the hostages from Hamas captivity or to combat settler violence in the West Bank.
Most recently, Jewish Senator Jon Ossoff succinctly and clearly articulated what the majority of Jewish Americans believe: US support, even to our strongest allies, cannot be a blank check. “Our commitment is ironclad,” Sen. Ossoff said on the Senate floor. “But no foreign government is simply entitled as a matter of right to American weapons with no strings attached.”