In a difficult year, where the world has sustained weighty losses, including the deaths of Jewish greats like the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, humanity seeks light amid the darkness, as we await a brighter day. Recognizing the light that shines in each of us, small and great alike, is an act of courage. We magnify the power of that holy light by blazing together. Coronavirus nevertheless persists and we can't draw together in ways we love to do this time of year. This ache of longing afflicts all people in this time, reminding us of the multi-faceted love of God that draws each of us into community and does not let us go.
Jewish communities around the globe tonight (at sundown) commence an
eight day festival of lights commemorating their unique resilience during a particular struggle against oppression and religious persecution in the second century BCE. Goyim (that is, we non-Jews) the world over may or may not recognize the significance of historical figures like
Judas Maccabeas or
Antiochus IV Epiphanes, or comprehend what the destruction and desecration of the Second Temple signifies for the Jewish faithful. But the sacred power of a little light, shining against the darkness, is a potent symbol that ignites universal hope, whatever the contours of our faith.
The challenge of celebrating Hanukkah in 2020 (distanced for public safety) has sparked fresh creativity in this most unorthodox of years. Through virtual offerings shared by Jewish friends and neighbors, we, too, have opportunity to discover the strength of the faith and culture that has sustained them throughout the centuries, from which our own branch of Jesse, Jesus himself, indeed has sprung. Like them, we know the power of sharing our light, however little or large, as a generous act that can transform the world.
A list of virtual Hanukkah offerings, to light up the coming nights, here follows, that you might explore and enjoy as the spirit moves you:
- Hanukkah MFA Community Celebration (12/9, free)
The Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston, Massachusetts holds its seventh annual Hanukkah celebration virtually for the first time ever. Hosted in partnership with Jewish Arts Collaborative, Combined Jewish Philanthropies and Consulate General of Israel to New England, this free evening features a community candle-lighting, music from singer Tamar Radah and multi-instrumentalist Hankus Netsky, a conversation with artists Moshe Zabari and Tamar Paley and the Boston Dance Theater performing “Shadows and Flame,” a new work commissioned for the MFA’s Hanukkah celebration.
The program streams on the MFA website, on Facebook and on YouTube from 6-7:15 p.m. EST.
- Judaism Unbound “Hanukkah Geltraiser” (12/10-12/17, $)
Jewish podcasting initiative Judaism Unbound convenes eight nights of digital events celebrating new ideas, reinvented ritual and community. Beginning Dec. 10, each event features a different guest speaker, along with ritual-making led by Judaism Unbound’s Daniel Libenson and Lex Rofeberg and creative ways of lighting the menorah.
Here are a few highlights: a Dec. 11 discussion with Molly Tolsky, founder and editor-in-chief of news site Hey Alma; a Dec. 16 program with Casper ter Kulle, co-host of the “Harry Potter and the Sacred Text” podcast; and a Dec. 17 lecture with Sarah Benor, a professor of contemporary Jewish studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
Each talk is held over Zoom. With a donation of $36, you receive an invitation with the Zoom link and password to all eight events. Proceeds support the work of Judaism Unbound, a project of the Institute for the Next Jewish Future that aims to reimagine Jewish life in the 21st century.
- Skirball Hanukkah Celebration (12/13, free)
An online program organized by the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles features the klezmer sounds of Mostly Kosher and the psychedelic funk of Israeli superstar Gili Yalo. The event also includes a candle-lighting and a puppetry performance that re-tells the age-old Hanukkah story.
Tune in on Sunday to the YouTube premiere and compete in a virtual game for prizes. RSVPs (recommended) will be taken through Dec. 11 at noon.
The program premieres Dec. 13 at 3 p.m.
- Virtual Menorah Lighting—Boulder, Colorado (12/10, free)
On the first night of Hanukkah, the Boulder, Colorado community comes together for a virtual menorah lighting. The online program features a performance from Denver musician Steve Brodsky; a live latke-cooking demonstration with chef Josh Raderman, “renowned as the best latke maker in town,” according to the Boulder JCC; dreidel games and more.
“The message of Hanukkah is the message of light. The nature of light is that it is always victorious over darkness. A small amount of light dispels a lot of darkness. Another act of goodness and kindness, another act of light, can make all the difference,” Rabbi Pesach Scheiner, co-founder of the Boulder County Center for Judaism and a participant in the event, told Boulder Jewish News.
For the past 20 years, the annual event has taken place on Pearl Street, a pedestrian-only thoroughfare and beloved attraction in the picturesque Colorado town.
This virtual program begins on Zoom at 5:30 p.m. Mountain Time.
- “Hanukkah Hullabaloo”—St. Louis (12/12, $)
For the past nine years, St. Louis Jews have celebrated at the annual “Hanukkah Hullabaloo,” a holiday concert party thrown by the siblings of roots-rock band Brothers Lazaroff. This year, the festivities go online in this fundraiser for National Independent Venue Association, which supports independent venues and concert promoters that have suffered economic hardships during the pandemic.
“If the Coen brothers and Mel Brooks collaborated on a PBS Hanukkah special, that is where we are trying to fall,” David Lazaroff said of the “10th Annual Hanukkah Hullabaloo: A Virtual Miracle.”
This 90-minute live-stream features Brothers Lazaroff; Jamaican record producer Lee “Scratch” Perry; Jeff Tweedy of rock band Wilco and his sons, Spencer and Sammy; Ray Benson of Grammy-winning band Asleep at the Wheel; singer-songwriter Kinky Friedman; comedian Jo Firestone; experimental poet Rabbi James Stone Goodman and others.
Continuing an annual “Hullabaloo” tradition that began at the very first show, when the musicians of Brothers Lazaroff performed while their wives fried up latkes, this year’s program features a performance by the band, while their wives, known as the “Latke Ladies,” engage in latke frying aplenty.
The broadcast begins at 7 p.m. CST. Tickets are $10-$20.
- Jewish Emergent Network “Hanukkah at Home” (12/16, free)
On the seventh night, join the Jewish Emergent Network—featuring IKAR in Los Angeles; Kavana in Seattle; the Kitchen in San Francisco; Mishkan in Chicago; Sixth and I in Washington D.C.; and Lab Shul and Romemu in New York—for a free and online 30-minute program, featuring a candle-lighting, learning and singing, followed by live, light-fueled dance parties on each coast with DJs Mudfoot and Saulomite.
The website for the program offers tools for celebrating Hanukkah at home, from custom mocktails and cocktails recipes—jelly donut shots anyone?—to Hanukkah playlists. Rachel Mylan, the family music specialist at Mishkan, has created a playlist with traditional choices, such as “Ma’oz Tzur” and “Chanukah, Oh Chanukah,” while the “A Little Something for Everyone” playlist features tunes loosely on theme, from “Light my Fire” by the Doors to “This Year” by indie rock band the Mountain Goats.
No registration is needed for the main program, but registration is required for the dance party.
The event begins at 7:30 p.m. ET, 6:30 p.m. CT and 6:30 p.m. PT.
- 2020 Jewish Street Art Festival — Across North America
Have you ever seen an “RBG Menorah,” with the body of the menorah reminiscent of the lace neckwear, known as a jabot, worn by the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg? You will now. Eight Hanukkah murals, including the “RBG Menorah,” are coming to cities including Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Toronto and Detroit this week as part of the 2020 Jewish Street Art Festival.
D.C.-based artist Hillel Smith is organizing the free annual festival, which was reimagined this year as a decentralized art event due to COVID-19. Last year, 10 artists traveled to Jerusalem and painted 18 murals in three locations around the city; this year the artists are remaining in their home cities, and each artist or artist team is painting a Hanukkah menorah mural, linking the eight participating cities through art.
“Street art has the power to inspire new kinds of Jewish engagement while beautifying our spaces, and we hope to build a model that can spark conversations about Judaism and art for years to come,” Smith said.
Artists in Charlotte, Atlanta and Chicago are also participating. The mural sites include Mamilla kosher restaurant in Los Angeles’ Pico-Robertson neighborhood; the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre in Toronto; the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta; and Downtown Synagogue in Detroit.
The muralists include Sheina Dorn, one of the few Orthodox female muralists; Mike Wirth, a street artist, graphic designer and an associate professor of art based in Charlotte, North Carolina; and Toronto-based artist Bareket Kezwer. Wirth’s mural, painted at the Hillel at Queens University of Charlotte, is the “RBG Menorah.” The artists began painting the murals the weekend prior to Hanukkah. Smith expects them all to be completed by Dec. 10, the holiday’s first night.
Once the murals are completed, the artists will be calling on local Jewish and civic leaders and other artists to “light” the menorah murals each night by painting in a flame. “With the closures and cancellations of Jewish and arts programming because of COVID-19, this project will allow artists to engage their local communities,” a festival statement said.
