Wherever you are in the world, when you place your candles in your Hanukkiah, pause. Take a moment to reflect on the triumph of our tradition over the forces that would seek to extinguish it.

The 8-day festival of lights that commemorates the rededication of the Holy Temple is an affirmation that we can fix things that are broken, we can heal, and we can rebuild.

The essence of the holiday though, is pirsumei nisa, publicizing the miraculous. We read that as a call to radiate light and hope – an act of holy defiance against darkness.